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Ilii.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ii r~~~~~i onso ii' itlli~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~i~~~~~liiriiiiiii~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~i liii~~~~~ILwel MOD ERN AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM: A TWENTY YEARS' RECORD OF THE COMMUNION BETWEEN EARTH AND THE WORLD OF SPIRITS. BY EMMA HARDINGE. (THIRD EDITION.) NEW YORK: PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR, 229 EAST SIXTIETH STREET. TRADE SUPPLIED BY THE AMERICAN NEWS CO., 117-121 NASSAU STREET, N. Y., OR "BANNER OF LIGHT" OFFICE, 158 WASHINGTON ST., BOSTON, MASS. MDCCCLXX. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1870, by EMMA HARDINGE, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York. THE NEW-YORK PRINTING COMPANY, 81, 83, 85, Centre Street. DEDICATION. TO THE WISE AND MIGHTY BEINGS THROUGH WHOSE INSTRUMENTALITY THE SPIRITUAL TELEGRAPH OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY HAS BEEN CONSTRUCTED; TO THE BENEFICENT AND POWERFUL SPIRITS THROUGH WHOSE SUBLIME LABORS THE IMMORTAL WORLD CAN COMMUNE WITH THE MORTAL DWELLERS OF EARTH; THIS BRIEF, FRAGMENTARY, AND MOST IMPERFECT RECORD OF THEIR DIVINE MINISTRATION, UNDERTAKEN AT THEIR COMMAND, AND EXECUTED UNDER THEIR SUPERVISION, IS REVERENTLY AND GRATEFULLY INSCRIBED BY THEIR FAITHFUL AND DEVOTED MEDIUM, EMMA HARDINGE. NEW YORK CITY, 229 East 6oth Street. December i5th, x86. ILLUSTRATIONS. NO. SUBJECT. ENGRAVER. FRONTING I AGE I. AUTHOR. SARTAIN. FRONTISPIECE................. 2. ORESS. RICHARDSON. VIGNETTE TITLE.......... 3. ANDREW JACKSON DAVIS. SARTAIN................................ 24 4. KATE FOX. RITCHIE................. 36 5. S. B. BRITTAN. RITCHIE.....,................... 60 6. C. HAMMOND................................. I 7. PROFESSOR ROBERT HARE. RITCHIE.............................. I15 8 & 9. HIS DEMONSTRATIVE MACHINES......................... II6-I7 IO. JAMES J. MAPES, LL.D. SARTAIN................................. 141 ii. CORA L. V. SCOTT. RITCHIE................................. 156 12. MRS. SEMANTHA METTLER. RITCHIE................................. 202 13. GOV. N. P. TALLMADGE. BUTTRE.................................. 262 14. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. -.............................. 296 15. THE SPHERES. RICHARDSON.................. on P. 33I i6. CHARLES PARTRIDGE. RITCHIE................................. 490 17. JUDGE EDMONDS. RITCHIE................................ 508 i8. DR. J. R. NEWTON. RITCHIE................................. 542 19. PEACE, BUT NOT WITHOUT FREEDOM.........................END OF VOL. TABLE OF CONTENTS. PAGES PREFACE.................. 9-14 INTRODUCTION - "THE TRUTH AGAINST THE WORLD."..... 15-19 CHAPTER I. THE FIRST SPIRITUAL TELEGRAPH.......... a 21-27 CHAPTER II. "AND THERE SHALL BE NO MORE DEATH.".. 27-36 CHAPTER III. THE FIRST SPIRITUAL TELEGRAPH WITH EARTH........ 36-42 CHAPTER IV. THE FIRST PUBLIC INVESTIGATION OF SPIRITUALISM... ~.. 42-54 CHAPTER V. SPIRITUALISM IN AUBURN.............. 55-60 CHAPTER VI. SPIRITUALISM IN NEW YORK FROM I849 TO 1855....... 60-70 CHAPTER VII. SPIRITUALISM IN NEW YORK CONTINUED......... 70-76 CHAPTER VIII. SPIRITUALISM IN NEW YORK CITY AND STATE.......... 76- 83 CHAPTER IX. SPIRITUALISM IN NEW YORK CITY AND STATE CONTINUED. 83-92 CHAPTER X. SPIRITUALISM IN NEW YORK CITY AND STATE CONTINUED... 92-100 CHAPTER XI. SPIRITUALISM IN NEW YORK CITY AND STATE CONTINUED.. 101O-114 vi TABLE OF CONTENTS. CHAPTER XII. PAGES PAGES THE PHENOMENA OF SPIRITUALISM IN THE EASTERN STATES GENERALLY, 115-128 CHAPTER XIII. THE SPIRITUALISTS' MEMORIAL TO CONGRESS......... 128-141 CHAPTER XIV. SPIRITUALISM IN NEW YORK CONTINUED............ 141-147 CHAPTER XV. SPIRITUALISM IN NEW YORK CONCLUDED............ 48-156 CHAPTER XVI, SPIRITUALISM IN NEW ENGLAND............ I57-I64 CHAPTER XVII. SPIRITUALISM IN NEW ENGLAND CONTINUED........... 164-I72 CHAPTER XVIII. SPIRITUALISM IN NEW ENGLAND CONTINUED........ I73-I85 CHAPTER XIX. SPIRITUALISM IN NEW ENGLAND CONTINUED....... 185-I94 CHAPTER XX. SPIRITUALISM IN NEW ENGLAND CONTINUED........ I94-207 CHAPTER XXI. SPIRITUAL MOVEMENTS-SOME OF ITS DARKER SHADES..... 207-217 CHAPTER XXII. THE NEW "MOTOR POWER".............. 217-229 CHAPTER XXIII. SPIRITUAL MOVEMENTS CONTINUED............ 229-239 CHAPTER XXIV. SPIRITUALISM AND SPIRITUAL MOUNTEBANKS........ 239-243 CHAPTER XXV. SPIRITUALISM ON TRIAL............... 249-261 CHAPTER XXVI. SPIRITUALISM IN NEW ENGLAND CONCLUDED... 261-273 TABLE OF CONTENTS. Vii CHAPTER XXVII. PAGE SPIRITUALISM IN PENNSYLVANIA............ 273-285 CHAPTER XXVIII. SPIRITUALISM IN THE WEST......... 286-295 CHAPTER XXIX. WESTERN SPIRITUALISM CONTINUED... 2...... 295-307 CHAPTER XXX. WESTERN SPIRITUALISM CONTINUED- OHIO.......... 307-318 CHAPTER XXXI. WESTERN SPIRITUALISM CONTINUED KOONS'S AND TIPPIE'S SPIRIT ROOMS...................... 319-333 CHAPTER XXXII. WESTERN SPIRITUALISM CONTINUED - INDIANA. CATHCART'S SPIRIT ROOM.... 333-345 CHAPTER XXXIII. SPIRITUALISM IN CINCINNATI........... 346-353 CHAPTER XXXIV. SPIRITUALISM IN MISSOURI................. 353-360 CHAPTER XXXV. SPIRITUALISM IN ST. LOUIS CONTINUED........... 361-37I CHAPTER XXXVI. SPIRITUALISM IN ST. LOUIS CONTINUED........... 371-380 CHAPTER XXXVII. GENERAL FACTS AND FEATURES OF WESTERN SPIRITUALISM..... 380-392 CHAPTER XXXVIII. WESTERN SPIRITUALISM CONTINUED............ 392-403 CHAPTER XXXIX. SPIRITUALISM IN THE SOUTH............. 403-416 CHAPTER XL. SPIRITUALISM IN THE SOUTH CONTINUED........... 416-430 CHAPTER XLI. SOUTHERN SPIRITUALISM CONTINUED......... 430-443 viii TABLE OF CONTENTS. CHAPTER XLII. PAGES SPIRITUALISM IN CALIFORNIA.......... 443-459 CHAPTER XLIII. SPIRITUALISM IN CANADA, CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA... 459-477 CHAPTER XLIV. SPIRITUALISM IN THE TERRITORIES............. 477-490 CHAPTER XLV. SPIRITUALISM DURING THE GREAT AMERICAN CIVIL WAR, 1860-5... 490-507 CHAPTER XLVI. PROGRESS OF SPIRITUALISM AFTER THE WAR OF 1861-5.... 508-519 CHAPTER XLVII. THE "CUI BONO" OF SPIRITUALISM........... 520-532 CHAPTER XLVIII. "CUI BONO?" CONTINUED....... 532-546 CONCLUDING CHAPTER, XLIX. CELEBRATION OF THE TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE "ROCHESTER KNOCKINGS," MARCH 3IST, I868............ 546-565 PREFACE. As these pages seem to imply by their title certain specialties both in regard to time and place, whilst the subject of "Spiritualism," or the record of man's spiritual experiences is one which must be commensurate with the physical history of humanity upon this globe, they require a few words of explanation touching the aim and scope of the subject which the author designs to embrace in this work. The entire history of the race, when recorded in accurate detail and fidelity to fact, ever has, and ever will be found, marked with the shadowy outline of a second world of existence, supersensuous to that of mortality. On the walls of our earthly dwelling-places ever will be seen a writing inscribed by " a part of a man's hand," the form whereof is dimly visible, the full proportions of which no human eye may scan. And these mystic writings are discovered everywhere; they are traced in our holy places, and meet us oil the thresholds of our habitations. They are seen in our very city streets, and the stones prate of their whereabouts. Sometimes we label them "religion," at others denounce them by the weird name of "magic," "witchcraft," or "sorcery;" in a word, we variously denominate them, as time, prejudice, or custom suggests, under all the different titles which are included in the generic synonym of "supernaturalism; " but deem of them as we will, they include a set of experiences, occult and incomprehensible though they be, as irresistible and inevitable in time and space as the more material array of facts which we assume makes up the sum of human history. In truth, this same "supernaturalism" is the woof spun by the hands of a powerful though invisible existence, which incloses all human life and shapes all human destiny. Hitherto, we have either determined to resolve the whole realm of power which makes up man's spiritual existence into the universal solvent of all mysteries, "God," and "His Will;" or else, with still more unphilosophic ignorance, we have striven to stifle the records of its being beneath the pall of unreasoning and senseless materialism. Neither will longer serve our turn. All mental progress tends to the discovery that "God's will" is only manifest in law. Religion, ethics, miracle, and supersensuous life, like tides, and times, and seasons, all resolve themselves at last into stern and immutable procedures of a set of mental laws as stringent as any of those that bind out, (9) 10 PREFA CE. physical existence. The whole realm of visionary supernaturalism melts away, then, before the morning sun of that glorious light that science brings, leaving no refuge for our world of occult facts but to range them within the domain of unexplained but inevitable law, or else, like rude materialism, to deny them altogether, and write upon half mankind's experience the gratuitous charge of "falsehood." Between the horns of this dilemma, and in the age when bold assertions or denial can no longer serve the cause of true philosophy, much less religion, comes the dawning of a day of spiritual science, in the vast and overwhelming tides of occult power that for twenty years have swept the continent of North America. And when we cite this mighty witness to our bar of spiritual inquisition, we stand alone. Acknowledging that every fact we have to record, or every case to cite, bears a strict analogy in point of representation to other facts and cases witnessed in every land and age, we still claim that the American phenomenabased, as their authors insist they are, upon the foundations of natural law, and produced only in accordance with the conditions that law affords form such an array of testimony concerning their origin as renders the modern movement in America a distinct and concrete one in the world's history. Several points of specialty cluster around it, as: first, the astonishing fecundity of its manifestations, crowding up tens of thousands of facts into a period of time that baffles the skill of any earthly recorder to keep track of; next, the marvellous coincidence and similarity of the manifestations, extending over immense surfaces of country-including three millions of square miles of thickly-populated States- within a period of time that renders the possibility of propagandism or the theory of collusion impossible; and next, the deduction arising from this last-named fact, namely, that the same occult and invisible operators that originated the phenomena in one instance, must have been instrumental in producing them in all. It is contrary to the peculiar method of the writer of these pages to attempt the fortification of any position that may be advanced by human authority, however high or valuable; hence no such course will be pursued, and few, if any, authoritative quotations, outside of the American history itself, will find a record here. Were it, however, admissible, hosts of opinions world-wide in renown and acceptance could be cited to prove the worth of such wonderfully'coincident testimony as the above. The exercise of simple reason, however, should suffice to prove that a unique, well-organized, and highly practical,concert of action alone could account for the manifestation of a coincident set of phenomena, spread over the immense geographical area we have indicated, dividing itself throughout the districts of thirty-six separate States, affecting all ranks of persons and classes of mind at once, occupying in this gigantic system of propagandism less than twenty years, and exhibiting on its simply human side scarcely a single evidence of any of the accepted imodes of disseminating strange tidings at present in use, much less of pro-;moting physical changes and developments of the most unprecedented PREFA CE. II nature in thousands of individuals themselves. Still another point of isolated interest presents itself in the modern American movement, and this is in its religious or doctrinal character. Spiritualism, with a large majority of its American adherents, is a religion, separate in all respects from any existing sect, because it bases its affirmations purely upon the demonstrations of fact, science, and natural law, and admits of no creed or denominational boundary. With such a foundation, its philosophy must necessarily ramify through immeasurable realms of natural and unceasing revelation; whilst destitute of the hedge of sectarian limitation, its aims must encompass the whole human race in membership. If the American spiritual movement, therefore, did not stand wholly unrivalled in point of unity of design, wonderful, though invisible concert of action, manifest purpose, and overwhelming numerical strength, the doctrinal isolation of its majorities from all other existing sects would distinguish it from the Spiritualism of all other countries, where the generality of believers appear to accept the phenomena as a means of deepening their convictions in credal faiths, rather than as originating such views of the hereafter as destroy reliance upon ceremonial forms or sectarian beliefs. This religious phase of the American movement has ultimated in gathering together in Pentecostal meetings multitudes of persons for Sabbath-day worship, when, chiefly through the lips of entranced or inspired speakers, descriptions of the spheres and conditions of spirit life have been portrayed with such glowing eloquence, and under such an evident afflatus of supernal power, that these utterances have been by millions accepted as truths, received as genuine representations of immortal life,.and hence superseded in the minds of the listeners the mere theories of mortals concerning the conditions of immortal existence. In connection with such teachings, keenly analytical discourses have been given-under circumstances that rendered their production from the normal condition of the speaker impossible —on the various natural sciences, illustrative of the all-wise and beneficent character of the Deity, the guardianship of his ministering spirits, and the propelling causes of such human actions as tend to elevate or deform the spirit. In this category all the various reforms of the day have been discussed with a profound logic and searching acumen that would tax the far-reaching powers of the most highly cultivated intellects. Combined with such subjects as these, popular opinions [both in matters of religion and politics] have been analyzed; and seeing that the discovery and application of truth has been the sole object claimed by the intelligences that influence these utterances, and that truth has always been defined as "that which is," it may well be supposed that mere fanciful theories or unsound opinions, asseverated upon human authority only, have not been treated with politic leniency or excused by the sophistries of custom and prejudice. And hence it is that American Spiritualism, as a religion, based upon facts, proved by science, and defended with an irresistible tide of burning oratory amply demonstrative of a supra 12 PREFACE. mundane source, has not only taken captive the minds of the masses, but has also appealed, and that most successfully, to the deep thinkers of the land, to whom "religion must be a science" and "science a religion," or one or the other must be false and worthless. As we are not aware of any other country than America, where a popular religion thus appeals to the reason and requires its votaries to do their own thinking, or of any other denomination than "American Spiritualists" who base their belief on scientific facts, proven by living witnesses, so we deem our claim, on these grounds alone, would be justified in describing American Spiritualism as an unique, concrete, and at present isolated movement, demanding from historic justice a record as full, complete, and independent, as itself. Two other considerations induce the author to attempt this record, however unworthy it may seem of the stupendous subject. The first of these is the somewhat remarkable indifference with which modern American Spiritualism has been treated by European writers on kindred topics. From whatever cause the overwhelming importance of the American movement may have been deemed sufficiently disposed of in occasional paragraphs or at most a few chapters of meagre detail, it matters not now to inquire; suffice it to say that Asiatic, African, European, and even American Indian Spiritualism has been fully and ably represented in most of the languages spoken by civilized man, and has engaged the attention of the highest talent of every age and country, admirable compendiums of which may be perused by the student of our own time from the ever-fertile pens of a Howitt, Enemoser, Kerner, DeMorgan, Scott, Brevior, Ashburner, Reichenbach, Kardec, Browning, Bushnell, Crowe, and others, whose honored names command the world's attention and respect for the subjects they treat of. William Howitt alone has exhausted the subject, and as far as a world-wide history can be transcribed and bound up in limited space, that noble champion of divine truth has ransacked the ages to bear witness on the side of God, immortality, and religion. Robert Dale Owen, too, with all the acumen of his keenly-analytical mind and the charming style peculiar to his highlycultivated intellect, has added many a laurel wreath to the triumphs of spiritual versus material philosophy; whilst the venerable and learned Dr. Ashburner has penetrated as far into the adytum of that temple of occult force which enshrines the mystic cord that unites spirit and matter as the investigations of the present time can carry man; and yet the stupendous realities of what the great good God and the spirits have done for man in America, during the last eventful twenty years, remain almost a sealed book, or one which, if opened to the world, no authoritative finger has pointed out to the heedless crowds who think through the leading minds of the day. And who is it, may well be questioned, that dares to raise such an index finger where minds accustomed to grasp the reins which guide the car of popular opinion have deemed the task beyond or beneath their notice? No matter who or what; enough. if the task be done, or at least PREFA CE. 13 the attempt be made; enough if one grateful hand, that the loving clasp of spirits have guided through life's stormiest paths, now wields the encyclopedist's pen, to record their doings, or as much of them as that feeble pen can note or the narrow page preserve. And how small a portion of that mighty sum can here find place, none better knows on earth than the mind that is now bent with reverend purpose to gather up the fragments of those small loaves and fishes that have yet, in the Providence of God, sufficed to break the bread of spiritual life to America's thronging millions. But a score of years ago the name of "Spiritualist" was unknown on the American continent, whilst all the sum of Spiritualism was contained in the persons of three young girls, ignominously designated the "Rochester knockers." According to the last statistical accounts of this movement, furnished by its opponents in I867, Spiritualism now numbers eleven millions of persons on the American continent! And it is to trace some of the most prominent footprints made by the invisible hosts who have wrought this stupendous change; to point to the beneficent effects on some individuals, the marvels enacted in the persons of others; preserve the memory of well-timed though evanescent specimens of spiritual literature, bread of the hour, but long since incorporated in the body of the movement and lost almost to recollection, and gather together the scattered blossoms of that garden of spiritual beauty that angel hands have planted, into one immortal wreath, that this record is attempted. Geographically considered, the harvest ground of this great American movement has been spread over a surface of country extending from Maine to California; and not the path. less wastes of two vast oceans have sufficed to cut off or break the tele, graphic wires which have conducted the sound of the low tap, tap, of "the Rochester knockers" over three millions of square miles. Modern Spiritualism is rife along the length of the far Pacific shores, and skirts the Atlantic seaboard. It is in the cabin of the miner, in the heart of the Rocky Mountains, on the peaks of the White Sierras, and consoles the toiling emigrant in his nightly camp on the desert waste or the wild prairie. It has breathed its first lessons of freedom and refinement to the Carolina slave, and humbled the pride of the Louisiana planter. It has cheered the hours of toil in Massachusetts factories, and stimulated the energies of Minnesota pioneers. East, West, North, and South, its viewless lines have run; whilst mental science, burning oratory, triumph over pain and death, trust in God and hope for man have followed in its march. To count up its triumphs, number its achievements, do faintest justice to its treasures of hope, consolation, moral improvement, or spiritual elevation, would be as impossible as it has proved for the puny arm of man to stay its progress; but to redeem from cold forgetfulness or ungrateful obloquy the memory of some acts, words, works, and writings, that else might be lost in the whelming floods of chance, change and time — this can be done at least, and to the work, the author's highest and most faithful aims are dedicated. 14 PREFACE. One pledge more is offered: though in some special cases, names and dates cannot be fully stated, all incidents related are vouched for on the author's keenest sense of honor. The case of each not personally known or verified by individual testimony, has been searched out and scrutinized with the strictest care. Authoritarian names, having no intrinsic value with "the spirits," possess none with their scribe. But little of philosophy is offered, and few deductions or theoretical opinions will be given on what is here presented. Faithfully to render such well-attested proofs of spiritual intercourse as the multitude of riches with which the author's stores are overloaded can permit her to select from, is all her hope or aim, and yet the half can never be related, and much that is left unsaid may be, and is, of far more worth, perhaps, than what is here preserved.'Tis said, "the vibration of one single note of music will linger on in motion through the corridors of all eternity." Nothing, then, is ever really lost, and whether written or unwritten on the page of mortal sense, all that has been done is done forever. Farewell, then, regrets for half-attempts or ill-executed purposes. In the eternal printing houses of creation, the types of all that is are found. Accept or reject these pages, then, world, as you may! They and their author's aims and purposes, and all that may be said,. or left undone, will meet and greet her on that distant shore, where angel reapers gather in God's harvest treasures —"over there!" INTRODUCTION. "THE TRUTH AGAINST THE WORLD." BEFORE entering upon the main object of this work, the author deems that a few remarks are necessary to elucidate the special aim and scope of her undertaking. A feverish appetite for novelty appears to be as much a specialty with the modern American as with the ancient Athenian. Perhaps this is a providential inspiration, which operates in the minds of every pioneer race as a goad to the action required to subjugate a new country. On the other hand, it may be deemed a psychological attribute peculiar to the American character, or a tendency which has been quickened into abnormal activity by the vast and marvellous outpouring of Spiritualism over the land. From. whatever cause it may arise, certain it is that the cry of " Tell us something new" seems to be a demand far more urgent amongst a great majority of the American Spiritualists than a requisition for the true, the good, or the beautiful; and because we anticipate this questionable standard of novelty will be very generally applied to measure the value of these pages, we desire on their threshold to declare that they make no provision for the demand of "something new." In the first place, this work has been undertaken chiefly in response to the wish of Spirit Friends, who have urgently pressed upon the author the necessity of gathering up the scattered fragments of spiritual literature that has passed out of circulation, and conserving in concrete form the shreds and patches of broken records, which must else be swept away into the shadowy realms of tradition. When it is remembered that no systematic effort has yet been made to unite the multitudinous lines of interest that Spiritualism has woven into one connected chain of history;. that the numbers of the actors who have figured in its wonderful drama must be counted' by the millions (scarcely more than one per-cent. of whose experiences have ever been given to the world), full justice may be rendered to our plea that the very best and utmost we can attempt is the work of an encyclopedeist, who labels and catalogues the variety of phenomena and the names of the personages connected with the wonderful movement, and strings together on the thread of history such pearls of truth as the relentless. forces of the destroyer Time have left ungathered on the line of his march. In connection with the groupings of various phenomenal facts, we shall endeavour to present the leading ideas which have grown out of the intercourse between " the two worlds," cite the revelations of spirits concerning the conditions of the after-life and the philosophy of the communion, and quote the utterances of those public teachers who claim to have been spiritually inspired. We shall point to the idiosyncracies of those who have become prominent in the movement, especially the media for the communications from the spirit-world, and when practicable, give such portions of their biog(15) 16 INTR OD UC TION. raphies as may enable us to solve the problem of their seemingly exceptional gifts. It will be necessary for the elucidation of our subject, and in verification of what may be deemed rash statements, that we make frequent quotations from the press notices of the day, and present verbatim extracts from the spiritual journals, where facts are to be found recorded with a minutiae of detail which cannot fail to be valuable to posterity, however tedious such familiar narratives may be to those who are still realizing similar experiences. The earnest American Spiritualist is one who combines all the restless and inquisitive tendencies of his country with the strong additional propelling power to locomotion which a search after the marvellous supplies; consequently he not only undertakes frequent pilgrimages for the purposes of investigation, but visits distant places and persons on spiritualistic "missions." He reads all the journals of the time and place where he tarries; he visits all the media and joins all the circles held there, whether in garrets, cellars, saloons, halls, steamboats, mines, woods, valleys, Indian wigwams, or amongst the ruins of the "lost races." Either in his own person, or that of some member of his family or acquaintance, he is sure to have available medium power at his command, consequently he has his own store of phenomenal history to add to the general sum. He is a constant attendant on all the Sabbath spiritual services held now commonly in every town and hamlet he may chance to visit, and there he never fails to gather around him a considerable number of the magnates of the meeting, some member of whom becomes his hospitable entertainer for the day, when the joint experiences of the host and his guest are interchanged and fully canvassed between the morning and evening meetings. Some portion of each Sabbath is devoted in spiritualistic associations to the public conference, when our sojourner gives his views with that peculiar facility and occasional touch of eloquence which is an almost national characteristic in America. Most commonly the close of the evening service is followed by several invitations from the ranks of the hospitable brethren to join circles, at one of which the welcome guest is greeted by mortals and their celestial visitors with all that cordiality and fraternal feeling which is,one of the happy and distinguishing marks of American Spiritualism. And it is as much due to these locomotive and hospitable features in the movement that the phenomena has become so widely diffused, and carefully.studied as to any national claim which the American can set up for a peculiarly spiritual nature. From such itinerant experiences, however valuable and,often wonderful they may have been, the author freely confesses she has not felt herself at liberty to make many records. Compelled to withdraw within the stern pale of well-proved and thoroughly attested facts, the floating currents of mere hearsay have necessarily been unwrought mines of wealth. Hence, for every fact recorded there will no doubt be found thousands ready to declare they could have furnished testimony of a far more wonderful character. To such we can only say, we write for that posterity to whom our rfacts of veritable history will be of incalculable value, though to us, the living actors therein, they may be of little or no importance. Besides, the memory of these marvels rapidly passes away from us, and their effect upon our minds becomes lessened with the flight of time. Many there are that require a constant succession of phenomena to renew their faith; and few amongst the best-informed Spiritualists have been at the trouble of carefully recording the facts they have witnessed. Spiritual journals, too, though numerous, and often conducted with remarkable abliity, have all-with the excepti n1 of the INTROD UC TION. I7 Spiritual Telegraph and Banner of Light-been too short-lived to become points of reference to posterity, and most of the other literature o, the movement, though often marked with rare excellence, yet from being issued whilst its events were in transitu, are too premature in time and incomplete in detail for historical uses. Obviously, then, a duty rests on some one to collect the best and most reliable evidence that the circumstances of the case will afford, so as to conserve in a compendious form the records of either the commencement of a new era or an episode in human history as unparalleled in its preternatural marvels as it is rife with instruction, abundant in religious, social, and political influence, and prophetic of a mighty and momentous future for mental and spiritual science. Thus, then, it will be seen that it is not in the interest of the present so much as for future generations that we write; not in the hope of putting forth a volume the tone of which will command, from popular interest, a remunerative sale, but in deep and reverential conviction of a duty performed toward the mighty and beneficent power which has inaugurated this movement, and a grateful desire to share with others the priceless blessings of spiritual revelation which have been so abundantly poured out.upon the actors in this marvellous drama. The whole history of the "Rochester knockings," the disturbances in Dr. Phelps's house at Stratford, the phenomenal life of the "Poughkeepsie Seer," accounts of the Spear, Harris, Spencer, and other fanatical movements, together with a vast array of incidents of a less striking character, are all familiar as household words in the experience of every nineteenth century Spiritualist. But scattered as their records are in solitary volumes, or diffused through a mass of literature which has cost the author years to collect and collate from, they obviously require systematic effort to arrange; and familiar as they may be to the present generation, they demand, in justice to posterity, an orderly place in a compendious history of the whole movement. Besides this candid statement of what the spiritualistic reader may or may not expect to find in these pages, a few words must necessarily be addressed to the critics, by whom, as is the custom, this work is to be heralded forth to that portion of the world who are in the habit of permitting the said critics to do their literary thinking for them. Although we scorn the petty subterfuge of affecting to disregard the world's opinion at the very time when we are publishing a book for the avowed purpose of appealing to it, yet long experience of the course pursued by a majority of the press in reference to unpopular subjects generally, and Spiritualism especially, has taught the author to expect no better treatment for her work than has been experienced by those whose honorable names should have commanded respect for any subject they wrote of. Where the honest truths detailed by an Ashburner or a Howitt have been received by bold denial or insolent ribaldry, and that by self-styled critics who were utterly ignorant of the subjects they reviled, how can an author without their claims to public respect and " decent observance" hope to escape? Whilst candidly yielding, therefore, to that portion of public opinion which is represented in press criticism all the influence and weight it deserves, the author begs respectfully to state that she has heard the epithets of "trash," "falsehood," "imposture," "impiety," a rehash of old ghost-stories and exploded theories," etc. applied to stubborn facts and unpopular truths before, and is prepared to hear them again. Happy in the belief that the assertions of falsehood do not affect the realities of truth, nor the opinions of bigotry and superstition long retard religious progress or hinder the growth of spiritual freedom, the author, in company with a mighty I8 INTR ODUCTION. "cloud of witnesses," is contented to cast her great truths upon the waters of time, and let them sink or swim, as their own inherent vitality shall determine. Well satisfied by the experience of all mankind that truth and logic will survive the shafts which abuse and ridicule aim against them, she commits her record to time and the inevitable justice which this mighty touchstone has ever rendered to the cause of truth. Starting on our undertaking, first, with an overwhelming sense of its magnitude and many difficulties; and next, with but very qualified expectations of a satisfactory recognition from either Spiritualists or outsiders, it may be significantly asked, for whom do we write at all, and on what possible basis do we rest any expectation of public acceptance or sympathy in our work? We answer: "We write for the sake of the spirits, the truth, and humanity," and from each and all we expect to gather such reward as we may merit. On behalf of the spirits we believe that we write of beneficent beings, of whose very existence, much less of their tender efforts to bless and benefit the world, a large portion of it is profoundly ignorant. If they, from their exalted spheres of blessedness, can be content to labor for a dark and ignorant generation, cannot we, in our human insignificance, emulate their disinterestedness? And again, can none of us afford to labor for love of the good and true, without a certain assurance of temporal reward and human appreciation? It were a libel on the race to deem otherwise. Ninty-nine per cent. of the world's brightest immortals have lived, labored, and died, for the sake of the true, the good, and the beautiful, with no other reward than the tardy and remorseful appreciation of posterity. If there be any amongst us who dare to emulate their martyr-like devotion, and humbly seek to walk in the track of their shining though tear-stained foot-prints, why question or sneer at the choice? It is enough that the subject is more than worthy of all the care, labor, and disinterested effort that the many or the few can bring to bear upon it. Through the beneficent action of the mighty though invisible hosts who constitute the legions of the modern spiritual army, thousands of darkened minds have been snatched from hopeless belief in the horrible doctrine of annihilation. The crippled limbs have been made straight, the blinded eyes opened, the dull ears unstopped, the ebbing life called back to gladden the pathway of rejoicing friends; the homes bereaved of frail mortality have been filled with the glorious presence of arisen angels; the sinner has been startled from the paths of crime, and the fainting strengthened in the thorny road of virtue, by the direct and visible guidance and warning of precious spirit friends. A flood of light has been poured on the long-veiled and awful mysteries of the grave, revealing the solemn and stupendous realities of the inevitable hereafter, and a mass of wonderful revelation has illuminated the cherished mysticisms of superstition and sectarianism, breaking the fetters of darkness that have so long hung around the neck of humanity. "Babylon has fallen"-" Mystery, the mother of abominations," is slain, and the angel of truth and judgment has sounded the trumpet of victory in the great outpouring of modern Spiritualism. When we remember that all these results are but a tithe of the blessings which the Spiritualist recognizes as flowing from the dispensation wherewith he has been visited, can it be a matter of astonishment that we deem it the highest of life's privileges to be permitted to write for spirits, and bear witness of their wonderful works throughout the land? To qualify the author for this office, she has borne her part in every phase of the spiritual dispensation. From earliest childhood up to the present time she has seen and conversed with spiritual beings like familiar friends; passed through INTROD UCTION. 19 many of the phases of modern mediumship, and witnessed or taken part in most of the scenes described in these pages. For the performance of professional duties connected with the cause of Spiritualism, she has travelled and lectured through thirty-two of the United States, and gathered her records chiefly from personal observation and the witness of living millions who are still on earth to bear testimony to the truth of her statements. Thus, the facts herein recorded are open to the strictest scrutiny; they are, indeed, still transpiring, and occur constantly in the experience of eleven millions of persons in America, whose numbers include authors, editors, doctors, lawyers, clergymen, professors of colleges, magistrates on the bench, statesmen, traders, operatives, and mechanics-in a word, all gradations of rank and all classes of thought. As keen research and sceptical scrutiny has for the most port characterized the progressive belief of American Spiritualism, these vast masses testify of that which they know and have proved. On the contrary, it will be found that the loudest and most rancorous opposers of this belief are persons who have either never investigated the subject at all, or so slightly as to be in no position to judge of its subtle and far-reaching realities. Let the world determine between these two classes. Both, no doubt, will be represented amongst the readers and critics of these pages, and to both we close our introductory remarks by affirming that we have lived, written, and purpose to abide by, in time present and to come, and under all circumstances, this axiom of invincible strength and never-failing triumph: " The truth against the world." 6 I/s / /A9 - - a::::: f::: A:::::~~~~~~~: i:: Wi5~~~~~~~ MODERN AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM; OR, A TWENTY YEARS' RECORD OF THE COMMUNION BETWEEN EARTH AND THE WORLD OF SPIRITS, FROM 1848 TO i868. CHAPTER I. "'VOICES CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS." "In deep trance-slumbers, when the world, asleep, Lay in the arms of night and wept or smiled, His liberated soul raised from its dust. We led him far beyond the veils, and floods, And labyrinths of sleep; the clouds of death And all the shadowed dwellers in the world Were far beneath him. Through his consciousness Streamed the celestial sunrise. Cities and temples of celestial space Were mirrored in his mind." T. L. HARRIS. THE MESMERIZERS ELECTRO-BIOLOGISTS- ADVENTISTS OF SPIRITUALISM- THE POUGHKEEPSIE SEER AND HIS REVELATIONS. IF it be true that the history of humanity moves forward in epochs, then it is certain that the leading characteristics of one era result from the specialties of the age which preceded it, whilst we in turn plant the seed whose fruitage will be gathered by the hands of our posterity. He who searches for the origin of some great discovery, or the sources from which spring stupendous changes, may invariably trace the germ-thought through a continued series of experimental antecedents. Sometimes the causative idea is sown in many minds, and springs up in many places at once, but it may always be traced in rudimental stages of growth e'er it is exhibited in the maturity of a fully-perfected work. What we call "Modern American Spiritualism" forms no exception to this univerasal method of progressive unfoldment. Startling and unprecedented in many respects as appears to be the achievement of a telegraphic communion between the visible and invisible worlds, the open ear of intelligence will have no difficulty in recognizing the voice of many a John the Baptist who has proclaimed the coming of the New Spiritual Messiah. (2I 22 HISTORY OF 1MODERN Amongst these none has rung out with a more clearly-marked tone than "Mesmerism," with its kindred phenomena of " Electro-biology" and "Clairvoyance." Chemistry, Physiology, Phrenology, Magnetism, and Clairvoyance have all been steps leading up through the once-forbidden mysteries of nature into the realm of imponderable forces, bearing the student onward to the very gates of the temple of mind, within which are now heard the low, telegraphic knocks of the spirit, inviting the earnest inquirers to enter, and prophesying the great day of revelation, when man may ascend, as on a Jacob's ladder, that mighty column where Physics is the base, Science the shaft, Metaphysics the superstructure, and Spiritualism the coronal glory of the capital, whose starry crown pierces the overarching firmament of Heaven. Mesmerism, with its wonderful results in somnambulism and clairvoyance, has often been assumed by the superficial observer to offer a complete solution of the mysteries of Spiritualism. Without attempting at present to show how totally inadequate is this explanation to meet the case in point, we are prepared to admit that mesmerism has performed an important part in ushering in the more comprehensive movement of Spiritualism. For several years antecedent to the advent of the latter, mesmerism, or " animal magnetism," was largely practiced over every part of America. In nearly every city, town, or hamlet, the itinerant mesmerizer made his rounds, operating upon chance subjects as opportunity offered, and alternately exciting superstitious terror or wrathful antagonism by the exercise of his seemingly magical powers. Many professional operators were no doubt skilful, and with a higher realization of the valuable gift with which they were endowed, might have become successful healers of the sick. As it was, and despite the fact that the exercise of their art was frequently interrupted by the insensate fury of ignorant mobs, they often succeeded in effecting what were deemed " miraculous" cures, at which they themselves were not less astonished than their subjects. In view of the superstitious bigotry and scientific ignorance which prevailed on this subject when animal magnetism was first practiced in America, continuous experiment and deliberate investigation was impossible. Nevertheless, the exhibitions of itinerant magnetizers, undignified and occasionally riotous as they were, became suggestive to thoughtful observers, and ultimately produced a wide-spread interest on the subject. Intelligent witnesses, assembled by chance in a village school-house or country barn, set themselves to work to discover the source of the marvels they beheld. Magnetic experiments were practiced in the home circle; more favorable conditions were followed by more remarkable results; the inquiry deepened into profound interest, and the phenomena of animal magnetism became familiarly known to the most progressive classes of the community. Ignored by those scientists who were too proud to investigate anything they did not originally discover, and anathematized by a superstitious and creed-bound priesthood, animal magnetism was openly denounced as "the latest invention of the enemy of mankind," or, " a profound humbug " whilst the luckless itinerant exhibitor was often cited before some grave magistrate, who, in the seclusion of his own home, was a more interested investigator and a better operator than the criminal he was called upon to punish. In a word, magnetism became a fashion, and its legitimate claim to be considered as a science was at length fully established. The result of this movement upon Spiritualism has now become obvious. AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 23 Thousands of persons who are warm advocates of the spiritual phliosophy acknowledge that their attention was first attracted to the subject by their interest in magnetism. In all the principal cities of the Union, gentlemen distinguished for their literary abilities, progressive opinions, or prominence in public affairs, have graduated from the study of magnetism and clairvoyanee to become adherents to the cause of Spiritualism, whilst many of the best mediums-especially the trance speakers and magnetic operators-have taken their first degree in Spiritualism, as experimentalists in the phenomena of mesmerism. All popular movements in America are spread over such immense surfaces of country that nothing less than a question of national interest can form a focalizing point for popular opinion, or its representation in foreign countries; hence, whilst magnetism, electro-biology, and clairvoyance have swept over the land in vast tides of influence, they have acquired more notoriety in a few solitary instances in France and Germany, than in all their magnitude in the United States. Admitting that the modern spiritual manifestations in America first began to assume the form of a concrete movement at Rochester in 1848, it would still be impossible to separate the influence which the prevalence of the magnetic idea exercised upon minds prepared to receive Spiritualism and organisms already imbued with the necessary force to develop mediumship. Between the epochs in which these two great movements have dominated, is an interregnum, rife with the advent of a human phenomenon, connecting both, belonging to both, yet standing alone, and unrivalled in the marvellous character of his occult endowments, and the irresistible nature of the influence he has exercised upon humanity. This personage is Andrew Jackson Davis, more commonly called " the Poughkeepsie Seer." At about the age of fifteen, young Davis first became remarkable in New York and Connecticut for his skill in diagnosing and prescribing for disease through his wonderful clairvoyant faculty. Of a slight and delicate temperament, the young physician possessed a degree of intuitive refinement which in some sense compensated for his total deficiency of educational culture, and an artificial grace which could not be expected from his exceedingly humble origin, which was that of the son and apprentice of a poor country shoemaker. About the age of fourteen he was casually magnetized by a Mr. Livingston, of Poughkeepsie, who, discovering that the shoemaker's boy possessed wonderful clairvoyant powers, and an unusually successful gift of prescribing for the sick, gradually drew him from his trade into association with himself until at length they travelled and practiced together as operator and subject, with unbounded success and benefit to the world. From the period when Mr. Livingston accidentally discovered young Davis's wonderful endowments, his whole time was so disposed of that neither then nor at any subsequent period of his career could he have found leisure, even if he had the capacity, to add one iota of literary information to his slender stock of village scholasticism. The exceedingly humble rank and limited means of his parents deprived young Davis of all chances of culture, save five months at a rustic school and the association of the rude boors of wild country districts. The extraordinary celebrity to which he has now attained has rendered even the minutest details of his early childhood public property; hence it is well known that his highest accomplishment, at the time of what may be called his spiritual illumination, was limited to the capacity to read, write, and cipher very indifferently, whilst his whole stock of remembered literature was a tale called "the Three Spaniards." 24 HISTORY OF MODERN Mr. Davis was about eighteen years of age when he announced to the circle of admirers who had become interested in his wonderful lucidity as a clairvoyant, that a new and astounding phase of spiritual power was about to be revealed through his instrumentality, commencing with the delivery of a course of lectures which were destined ultimately to revolutionize the scientific world and produce a striking effect upon the religious opinions of mankind, In fulfilment of this prophecy Mr. Davis proceeded to give the promised course of lectures, for the production of which he selected Dr. Lyon, of Bridgeport, as his magnetizer, the Rev. William Fishbough as his scribe, the Rev. Y. N. Parker, R. Lapham, Esq., and Dr. L. Smith, of New York, as his special witnesses, whilst several other gentlemen, high in place or distinguished for literary and scientific attainments, were from time to time invited in, or permitted to be present at the delivery of the lectures; and thus was produced the vast compendium of literary, scientific, philosophic, and historic knowledge, entitled "Nature's Divine Revelations." Of the work itself, together with a more detailed account of its author and his subsequent career, we shall speak more fully in our biographical sketches; suffice it to say that the marvellously abnormal character of the book,. emanating as it did from a person so utterly incapable of its production under ordinary circumstances, excited the most profound astonishment in all ranks and classes. "The Revelations" were quickly followed by "The Great Harmonia," " Penetralia," " Present Age and Inner Life," and other voluminous productions, the sum of which, combined with Mr. Davis's lectures, editorial labors, associative movements, and wide-spread personal influence, have effected a complete revolution in the minds of a large and distinguished class of thinkers in the United States, who are known as the advocates of the "Harmonial Philosophy," a belief which emphatically owes its origin to the poor shoemaker's boy, A. J. Davis. Even at the early age of eighteen (the period when the first of the "Revelations" were given) the remarkable attainments of Mr. Davis as a medical clairvoyant, together with the exceeding purity of his life and the modesty of his manners, had drawn around him a circle of distinguished persons who became his warmly-attached friends. Mr. James Victor Wilson, a gentleman of New Orleans, renowned for his literary talents and the author of an excellent treatise on magnetism, writes of him thus, during the delivery of his first lectures: " The world will shortly be apprised of a triumph in clairvoyance through the celebrated Mr. Davis, which it will be totally unprepared for. During the past year this uneducated, unsophisticated, and amiable young man has been delivering verbally, day by day, a comprehensive, well-planned, and extraordinary book, relating to all the vast questions of the age; to the physical sciences; to nature in all her infinite ramifications; to man in his innumerable modes of existence; to God in the unfathomable abysses of his love, wisdom, and power... "Thousands of persons who have witnessed him in his medical examinations or scientific disclosures, live to testify to the astounding exaltation of mind possessed by Mr. Davis in his abnormal state. " The two new planets of our system, conjectured recently, were described in Davis's manuscripts fourteen months ago, namely, March 15 and I6, 1846." Shortly after the lectures commenced, Mr. Davis's rooms in New York City were thrown open to the public for medical examinations, on which occasions his manuscripts were often submitted to the highest intellects of the country for investigation, and his whole career - especially the impossibility of his having acquired the knowledge he exhibited in his clairvoyant state AMERICAN SPIRIT'UALISAM. 25 by any ordinary means - was made the subject of searching and rigid scrutiny. One of the most marked results established by the life of this phenomenal personage was the actuality of clairvoyance and the triumphant revelation that the soul of man could commune spiritually with sul)ra-mundane as well as mundane minds, and aspire far beyond this terrestrial sphere in its acquisition of knowledge. The latter, indeed, was still a mooted point, and a vast amount of logic was expended on young Davis's case in the attempt to prove that all the "revelations" poured through his lips were only the reflex of minds still upon earth, or stereotyped in books, and that the seer's gift was simply clairvoyant perception of mundane existences. It was doubtless very gratifying to the egotism of certain individuals to believe that the clairvoyant had found the source of his remarkable and varied revelations in their own highly-illuminated minds, and they professed themselves willing to become the subjects of this original system of mental piracy for the sake of appropriating the merit of his comprehensive philosophy and disposing of the awkward problem of supra-mundane interference; but whilst many of Mr. Davis's writings give obvious evidence of human clairvoyance, there is still a large amount of original matter which can only be accounted for by admitting the hypothesis of spiritual perception in realms of super-sensuous existence and inspiration from a world of supra-mundane knowledge. Besides this, there are points of coincidence in the testimony of other illuminated persons which must not be lost sight of. Whilst it must be admitted that Mr. Davis's lucidity and breadth of mental power was unparalleled in the records of history, the gift of clairvoyant sight was by no means limited by his experience, even in his own time. The various magnetic subjects who abounded at the period we write of, not only gave evidences of a highly exalted condition and remarkable interior perception, but fiequently perplexed their operators by speaking of spirits, declaring they could converse with " dead people," perceive them in life, enter their habitations, and describe the homes or "spheres in which they dwelt." All this was contrary to the experience of the magnetizers, hence declared by them to be no reflex of their minds or opinions; and as these unaccountable vagaries of entrancement seemed to be on the increase, considerate and candid inquirers began to connect them with the wonderful mental flights achieved by young Davis, and conjecture that the freed spirit in its "sleep waking" condition, might pass into realms of being, super-sensuous in their nature, and supra-mundane in their population. Meantime, as the transcendent powers of Mr. Davis seemed to concentrate into one focal point all the lesser lights of magnetic marvel, so the whole ranks of materialistic antagonism rushed pell-mell upon him, as the head and front of all spiritualistic offending. Nero-like, the anti-spiritual world seemed, to think that in striking at him they could sweep out of being all the obnoxious, occult people and forces that outraged their materialism or bigotry; hence the "Poughkeepsie Seer" earned his newly-acquired fame at the price of becoming a target for the shafts of every form of abuse, ridicule, and slander that ignorance and prejudice could heap upon him. About the early part of December, I847, the general understanding of spiritual philosophy received a valuable impetus from the publication of an excellent weekly journal entitled The Univercalum, or Spirit/lal Phi/osopher. This paper was started at the instance of a few gentlemen whose friendship for and high appreciation of Mr. Davis induced them to make this attempt to popularize his opinions, and call around them a circle of such wise and progressive minds as would sympathize with their views. The projectors: 26 HISTOR Y OF MfODERN and chief contributors to the undertaking were Mr. Davis, then just twentyone years of age; Rev. William Fishbough, Rev. Thomas L. Harris, the insl)ired author of the "Epic of the Starry Heavens," and other equally renowned poelnss; and the Rev. S. B. Britain, to whose scholarly charge and highly-polished intellect the editorial department was wisely intrusted. Besides this accomplished editorial staff, contributors of the highest talent filled the columns of the Uziverclnim. Amongst these were the Rev. W. M. Fernald, J. K. Redfield, Mr. F. M Baker, J. V. Ingalls, Charles Worth, and D. T. H. Chivers. So brilliant an array of writers procured for the Univerclhlum a high reputation, and besides being the first spiritual periodical of modern date in America, it became a compendium of the best thoughts and purest philosophy of the age. In addition to its own intrinsic merits, this journal was favored with the usual amount of advertising, which resulted from the bitter antagonism provoked. by the spiritualistic reputation of its authors and editors. Unfortunately the latter gentlemen were richer in mental than material endowments; hence they had to struggle with the usual amount of financial disability, that seems to be the fate of genius; and hence, too, in all probability, they were as much indebted to the publicity afforded to their paper by the rancor of their opponents as to their own merits; the combination of the two causes, however, enabled them to fill a hiatus in the literature of the time for above two years, during which their paper, sustained by the most indomitable perseverance and bitter self-sacrifice, laid the foundation of a noble and genuine tone of thought, the fruits of which will be felt in ail ages where true spiritual life and philosophy can be appreciated. Besides their untiring efforts in connection with the paper, its noble staff of editors endeavored to distribute the bread of life with which they felt they had been so richly blessed, in lectures given at home and abroad, to which they added public discussions, newspaper and magazine controversies; in a word, they threw their hearts and talents into the work, and formed a nucleus from which the irradiations of spiritual thought and influence flowed out in abundant and startling force. It is simple justice to affirm that "Nature's Divine Revelations," the Univercelum, and the personal influence and diffusive labor of their talented authors, inaugurated a new era in the world of thought, and opened up a new channel of inspiration, whose source, like that of the mighty Nile, may long remain a hidden mystery, but when explored by the enterprise of future ages, will date back to a human Nyanza in theper-:son of the "Poughkeepsie Seer," upheld by the strong hands and sunlit minds of the noble gentlemen who rallied around him. "Honor to whom honor is due." The despised itinerant lecturers on magnetism, the still more contemned experimenters in electro-biology, even the unsophisticated children and rustics who were their subjects, these, as forerunners of the culminating marvel of modern ages-A. J. Davis-were amongst the first to hear the divine command to "prepare the way of the Lord," and re-echo the solemn charge in the wildernesses of materialism. The obscurity of the personages, and the humility of their pretensions, may throw over the origin of the movement the veil of unkind forgetfulness, or ungrateful repudiation, yet the vital fires of magnetism and the subtle forces of psychology will yet be found to underlie the whole science of life and mind, whether incarnate in mortal clay or enfranchised in the free spiritual existence in life beyond the tomb. The waters of Oblivion, muddied by the thick night of human ignorance and human ingratitude, may engulph in dim forgetfulness the name of the author of "Nature's Divine AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 27 Revelations," but his phenomenal life-work and teachings have already formed a glittering star which is set in the firmament of eternity, surrounded by the constellation of unworn minds whom he focalized about him, and through whom the spiritual yearnings of the nineteenth century first found expression, in the shape of a true and harmonious philosophy. A. J. Davis and his friends, ridiculed, despised, contemned and slandered as they were, on the one hand startled the age from the worship of atoms, in which material science pretended to discover the sources of mind; and on the other, embodied the vague transcendentalisms of credal faiths in the distinct and tangible form of an electric, living, silver cord, uniting the shadowy phantasmagoria of matter with the deathless and changeless principle of spirit. Though not the origin of or immediately connected with the phenomenal movement called Modern Spiritualism, though indeed, up to this date, The Harmonial Philosophy of A. J. Davis, and the doctrines of Spiritualism, may maintain lines of separative demarcation between them, the great spiritual unfolding revealed in Mr. Davis's person, and the irresistible influence which he has exercised upon the opinions of the age, unquestionably formed the John Baptist which inaugurated that sunlit day when faith became knowledge, hope of immortality a glorious realization, and the dark, spectral shadow of death became transfigured into the radiant form of a ministering spirit, in the bright illuminating beams of modern Spiritualism. CHAPTER II. "AND THERE SHALL BE NO MORE DEATH." THE. SHAKERS AS "JOHN THE BAPTISTS" OF SPIRITUALISM- HYDESVILLE —THE FIRST RAPPINGS THE FIRST SPIRITUAL TELEGRAPH. A FEW years ago, the author, being on a lecturing tour in the vicinity of a large village of the community known as " Shakers," was waited on by some of their members for the purpose of communicating certain facts which they seemed to think it was essential to the cause of truth should be laid before her. One of the party, a man distinguished for his literary talents and the integrity of his character, read a document which purported to be an account of a special visitation of the "guardian spirits" who openly communed with the members of that society. It seemed that manifestations of spiritual presence, through rappings, movings of furniture, visions, trance, clairaudience, and clairvoyance, had been common amongst the Shakers since the time of their foundation, some seventy years ago; but the particular visitation to which the visitors desired to call attention, took place about I830, when a multitude of spiritual beings, with the most solemn and forcible tokens of their presence, in a variety of phenomenal ways indicated the approach of a great spiritual crisis, in which they designed for a season to withdraw the special gifts enjoyed by the Shakers, and pour them out in mighty floods upon the" world's people," who, for the realization of certain divine purposes, faintly shadowed forth, were to be visited by unlooked-for and stupendous tokens of spiritual presence. The commencement of the promised new era was to be inaugurated by 28 HISTORY OP MODERN an extraordinary discovery of material as well as spiritual wealth. Mines of treasure were to be discovered in the earth, and floods of spiritual light were to descend from the heavens, and both these vast outpourings were, it was predicted, to occur in the year I848, and to continue until about 1870, when fresh sensuous and super-sensuous demonstrations were to proclaim the inauguration of another era. The record of this spiritual visitation, together with the details of the communication, was shown to the author, duly attested by numerous witnesses, and bearing date about 1829 or'30. The document stated further, that the Shakers, fearing lest their beloved "guardian angels" purposed to withdraw from them altogether, wept in such abundance that their tears fell on the ground like rain, and bedewed the sacred floor on which the angelic presence shone. The authenticity, together with the date of this prophecy, has been confirmed by numerous communications from other Shaker communities; and in further corroboration of its truth, we call attention to the fact that the discovery of gold in California and the breaking out of Spiritualism through the "Rochester knockings" both occurred in I847-8. In a most excellent work, published as early in the progress of modern American Spiritualism as 1855, giving a detailed account of its facts and fanaticisms up to that period, Mr. E. W. Capron, its author, relates, chiefly upon his own authority as an eye-witness, a full and interesting account of that initiatory phase of the manifestations known as the "Rochester knockings." Dr. Hare, Judge Edmonds, Hon. R. D. Owen, and other American writers of celebrity have repeated in substance Mr. Capron's narrative, while several journals and a great many ephemeral pamphlets, now out of print, have given the sum of the history with more or less fidelity, so that a repetition of this oft-told tale in these pages might appear supererogatory and almost impertinent, were its insertion not in strict accordance with the principal aim of a work which promises rather a compendious resume of the facts already patent to the public mind than any originality of detail or novel revelation in connection with it. Even the privilege enjoyed by the author of an intimate acquaintance with the famed "Poughkeepsie Seer," the "Rochester mediums," and Dr. Phelps, of Stratford, affords no new sources of information in addition to the facts already detailed in former publications; but as these facts form the opening wedges that rent asunder the rock of ancient supernaturalism, converting it into the light of modern Spiritualism, so the omission of these details from our history would shear effects from their legitimate causes, and display the blossom and fruitage of a great movement severed from the root which gave it birth. The astonishing power of the human mind revealed through the magnetic sleep were not phenomena peculiar to Mr. A. J. Davis alone, nor unfamiliar to the investigators of occult science; nevertheless, it was in his person that they assumed such magnitude and orderly development as to crystalize in one example the experience of preceding ages, and represent magnetism and clairvoyance as facts which admit of no dispute. Strange sounds and apparitions of the socalled dead were not peculiar to the house at Hydesville, inhabited by the Foxes, neither was the aura through which spirits could manifest their presence an attribute special to this family alone. Besides the spiritual manifestations of other times and countries, rappings, movements of ponderable bodies, and all the variety of unaccountable phenomena witnessed at Hydesville, had often startled the inhabitants of other districts before; and although the weird manifestations at Dr. Phelps's house at Stratford, exceeded in power and persistency any. equally well attested facts of modern Spiritualism, AMERIC4AN SPIRITUALISM. 29 their nature was not unfamiliar to those who had ever examined the subject of haunted houses or the doings of the German "Poltergheist." Still the concrete and scientific characteristics of the spiritual movement in America take their origin in the first attempt at telegraphy, commenced at Hydesville and followed out in Rochester, and hence we cannot do justice to the subject without a careful review of this portion of it. From the first working of the spiritual telegraph by which invisible beings were enabled to spell out consecutive messages, they ["the spirits"] claimed that this method of communion was organized by scientific minds in the spirit spheres; that it depended mainly upon the conditions of human and atmospheric magnetisms, and pointed to the ultimation of a science whereby spirits, operating upon and through matter, could connect in the most intimate relations the worlds of material and spiritual existence. They referred to the house at Hydesville as one peculiarly suited to their purpose from the fact of its being charged with the aura requisite to make it a batteryfor the working of the telegraph; also to the Fox family as being similarly endowed. They called this aura the " life principle," represented it as a force which constituted the person or place in which it existed in abundance a medium, or channel through which spirits could communicate. These glimmerings of philosophy form the first stepping-stones to a spiritual science; hence it is to the inauguration of a communion based upon these principles that we trace the commencement of the present era, and we should deem our history incomplete unless it started from that point. In pursuance of this object, we shall now invite the attention of the reader to a few extracts from certain pamphlets, written by E. E. Lewis, Esq., of Canandaigua, New York; D. M. Dewey, of Rochester, published in I850; J. B. Campbell, M.D., of Alleghany, published in I851; E. W. Capron, of Auburn; and the testimony of various members of the Fox family, rendered in familiar conversations with the author. It should be stated that the scene of the following manifestions was a small wooden house in the little village of Hydesville, Wayne County, New York. The place, not being directly accessible from a railroad, was lonely, and unmarked by those tokens of progress that the locomotive generally leaves in its track, hence it was the last spot where a scene of fraud and deception could find motive for or possibility of a successful execution. The family so prominently identified with the phenomena were persons of worth and integrity. Their little dwelling, though so small and simply furnished as to leave no shadow of opportunity for concealment or trick, was the residence of honest piety and rural simplicity. All who have ever known them will bear witness to the unimpeachable character of the good mother, now happily removed from the scene of her overwhelming earthly trials, while the integrity of the simpleminded farmers who were father and brother to the ladies who have since become so celebrated as " the Rochester knockers," stands proved beyond all question. At the time of the manifestations, the house was tenanted by Mr. and Mrs. Fox and their two youngest children, Margaret and Catharine, the respective ages of whom Mrs. Fox's published statement represents as twelve and fifteen years. These details, insignificant as they may now appear, are due alike in justice to the family and posterity. When the future of this wonderful novement shall have become matter of history, and antiquity, if not reverence for spiritual truth, shall induce mankind to follow the example of their ancestors and label the records "sacred," the names now sunk in obscurity 30 HISTORY OF MODERN and masked by slander may perchance be engraved in monuments of bronze and marble, and the incidents deemed too slight for notice may be reverenced as "Holy W/Vrit." These changes of chance and time have happened before. If history repeats herself they will occur again. From a published statement of the early investigations connected with this house, entitled "Report of the Mysterious Noises, etc.," we learn that some disturbances had affected the inhabitants before Mr. Fox and his family came to reside there. Nothing of the kind was noticed, however, until the tenancy of a Mr. and Mrs. -, who, according to the statement of Lucretia P. [a girl who occasionally resided with them], occupied that house for a short time during the winter of I843-4. Miss P., in the deposition called forth by subsequent investigations, states that one afternoon a pedler, apparently about thirty years of age, dressed in a black frock coat, light pantaloons and cap, and carrying with him a pack of goods, called on Mrs. who seemed to recognize him as an acquaintance. Shortly after his arrival, Mrs. called her, and told her, very much to her surprise, that she thought she could not afford to keep her any longer, and, as she was going to Lock Berlin that afternoon, she wished Lucretia to leave the house with her. This the latter agreed to do, but before going she looked at a piece of dress delaine in the pedler's pack, and requested him to call with it at her father's house the next day. The man promised to do so, but she never saw him more. Mrs. - and Lucretia then left the house, the pedler and Mr. remaining behind, the former being apparently likely to remain there for the day. After the lapse of three days, Mrs. - sent for Lucretia P. from her home and requested her to return to her again. From this time Lucretia P. began to hear knockings in the bedroom, and on one occasion, when her employers had gone to Lock Berlin, she sent for her little brother and a companion named Aurelia to pass the night with her. All the young people that night distinctly heard noises which, as they declared, sounded like the footsteps of a man passing from the bedroom into the buttery, then down the cellar stairs, traversing the cellar for a short distance, and then suddenly stopping. They were very much frightened, and scarcely slept the remainder of the night. In the "Report of Mysterious Noises," Mrs. P., the mother of Lucretia, who resided near, deposed that, having called on Mrs. - one day, after the foregoing circumstances, she found her quite ill from want of rest on the previous night. On inquiring the cause, Mrs. - declared that she was sick of her life, and that she heard the footsteps of a man traversing the house all night; a statement which she often subsequently repeated. About a week after the visit of the pedler to the house, Lucretia, having occasion to go down into the cellar, stumbled and fell into some soft soil. Aware that this was unusual, she screamed for assistance, and when Mrs. - came to her, she asked "whatever had Mr. ~ been doing in the cellar?" Mrs. replied that it was only rat-holes; and a few nights afterwards, the witness related that Mr. - was busy for a long time in the cellar filling up "the rat-holes" with earth which he carried there himself The house, as has been stated, was an humble frame dwelling, consisting of two fair-sized parlors opening into each other, a bed-room, and buttery or pantry, opening into one of the rooms; and a stairway between the buttery and bedroom, leading down to the cellar and up to the half-story above. It seems that those who had inhabited this house previously had never noticed any unusual sounds or disturbances in it. A few months from the occurrences above detailed it was occupied by a Mr. Michael Weekman, whose testimony we AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 31 extract from Dr. Campbell's published account of the spirit rappings at Hydesville, which states that - " The first well-authenticated history that we have of the sounds so unaccountable to those who have heard them was in a house occupied by Mr. Michael Weekman, in a little village known by the name of Hydesville, in the township of Arcadia, Wayne County. He resided in the house for about eighteen months, and left some time in the year 1847. Mr. Weekman makes the statement in substance as follows: That one evening, about the time of retiring, he heard a rapping on the outside door, and, what was rather unusual for him, instead of familiarly bidding them' come in,' stepped to the door and opened it. He had no doubt of finding some one who wished to come in, but, to his surprise, found no one there. He went back and proceeded to undress, when, just before getting into bed, he heard another rap at the door, loud and distinct. He stepped to the door quickly and opened it, but, as before, found no one there. He stepped out and looked around, supposing that some one was imposing on him. He could discover no one, and went back into the house. After a short time he heard the rapping again, and stepped up [it being often repeated] and held on to the latch, so that he might ascertain if any one had taken that means to annoy him. The rapping was repeated; the door opened instantly, but no one was to be seen! He states that he could feel the jar of the door very plainly when the rapping was heard. As he opened the door, he sprung out and went around the house, but no one was in sight. His family were fearful to have him go out lest some one intended to harm him. It always remained a mystery to him, and finally, as the rapping did not continue at that time, passed from his mind, except when something of the same nature occurred to revive it. " They were at one time disturbed by a manifestation of a different nature, which might be thought more incredible than the former, had not facts proved that such occurrences were common in the families where the early manifestations were heard. One night their little girl, then about eight years of age, was heard to scream from fright, so that the family were alarmed by her cries and went to her assistance. This was about midnight. She told them that something like a hand had passed over her face and head; that she felt ~it on the bed and all over her, but did not become so much alarmed until it touched her face. It seemed cold, and so badly had she been frightened that it was a long time before she could tell the cause of her alarm. It was several days before she could be induced to go into the same room to sleep. "All this might have occurred, and been only'the idle fabric of a dream;' and we should be inclined to the belief that such was the case had we not had the most conclusive evidence that such manifestations were quite common, not only in that house, but in various others where any of these strange occurrences have happened. " We hear nothing more of Mr. Weekman being disturbed by the rappings or other manifestations, or there being anything of the kind with that exception, until after the house was occupied by the family of Mr. John D. Fox. It was reserved to that family to be the instruments of communicating to the world, or to this part of it, this most singular affair. They were the ones who first, as if by accident, found out that there was an intelligence manifested even in this rapping, which at first appeared nothing more than an annoying and unaccountable noise. "The family of Mr. Fox were well known in the neighborhood where they resided. Mr. and Mrs. Fox were connected with the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which they had for many years been exemplary members, and had sustained a character unimpeachable for truth and veracity. No one who knew them had the least suspicion of their honesty or truthfulness. At the time these occurrences first took place in the family, there were living with the parents three daughters, the youngest about twelve years of age. "There are probably few families in which such an occurrence could have taken place where it would have created a greater degree of surprise and fear than in this one. They were entirely unacquainted with the history of any similar occurrence in the world, and brought up in the common routine of religious belief they were, as in fact all the world really was and still is, entirely unprepared for such a development of the power of spirits to make themselves known to us by sounds or other ways." From the family themselves the author learns that they heard knocking very frequently before the period when they first called in the neighbors, and that they generally seemed to proceed from the bedroom or the cellar beneath. Mrs. Fox was at first disposed to attribute these sounds to a neighboring shoemaker, but the cause soon began to be plainly located in the 32 HISTOR Y OF MODERN house itself, and not only seemed to jar the furniture, but even to occasi ) a slightly oscillating movement of the bed in which the children slept. Sometimes the sounds resembled footsteps, and occasionally the children complained of being touched by something invisible, which at one time seemed like a cold hand, and again a large dog. The family had moved into the house in December, 1847, and in the February of the following year the noises had become so distinct and continuous that their rest was broken night after night, and they were worn out by their efforts to discover the cause. Up to the March of I848 these disturbances, harassing and even serious as they were, affecting their rest and tranquility of a night, had never been heard during the day. At length, however, they became so incessant and distressing that Mrs. Fox communicated the matter to her son David, a farmer, who resided about three miles distant from the troubled house. Her story, however, was listened to with incredulity, and regarded simply as the work of imagination " or something of the simplest kind in the world." On Friday evening, March 3Ist, the family had retired to bed earlier than usual, being completely worn out with the restlessness induced by former disturbances. The mother had strictly charged the children "to lie still" and take no notice whatever of the sounds; but, as if in rebuke of her determined insensibility, they were on this occasion louder and more pertinacious than ever. Rest or silence was impossible; the parents had not yet retired, but were about to do so. The children kept exclaiming, and sitting up in bed to listen to the sounds. Mr. and Mrs. Fox tried the windows and doors, but all in vain; the raps were evidently answering the noise occasioned by the father's shaking the window-shashes, as if in mockery. At length the youngest child, Kate-who, in her guileless innocence, had become familiar with the invisible knocker, until she was more amused than alarmed at its presence-merrily snapped her fingers and called out, " Here, Mr. Split-foot, do as I do!" The effect was instantaneous; the invisible rapper responded by imitating the number of her movements. She then made a given number of motions with her finger and thumb in the air, but without noise, and her astonishment and childish delight was redoubled to find that it could see as well as hear, for a corresponding number of knocks were immediately given to her noiseless motions.' "Only look, mother!" she cried; "look, it can see as well as hear! " What an announcement were these few simple words! It can see as well as hear should have been a text which'all the doctors, professors, sceptics, and scoffers who have subsequently tried to crush out the sublime truth of spiritual intercourse with earth should have studied and learned by heart ere they entered on their rash and irreverend crusade. Happily for the momentous work which the spiritual telegraphers had undertaken to initiate in this humble dwelling, the first manifestations did not appeal to the high and learned of the earth, but to the plain commonsense of an honest farmer's wife, and suggested that whatever could see, hear, and intelligently respond to intelligent queries, must have in it something in common with humanity; and thus prompted she continued her investigations, an act doubtless far beneath the dignity of mighty professors and learned savans, who can work out problems in Euclid, but scorn to descend to the simple task of putting two and two together to make four. Addressing the viewless rapper, Mrs. Fox then said, "Count ten." The raps obeyed. "How old is my daughter Margaret?" then " Kate. " Both questions were distinctly and correctly rapped out. The next response was wrong, however. Querying, "How many children have I?" the raps an AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 33 swered "seven." Mrs. Fox only had six living, but having become surprised and interested enough to wish that the invisible rapper should be correct, she repeated her question, and was again answered by seven knocks. Suddenly she cried, "How many have I living.?" six raps responded; " How many dead? " a single knock; and both these answers proved correct. To the next question, "Are you a man that knocks?" there was no response; but "Are you a spirit?" elicited firm and distinct responsive knocks. To the question whether "it would knock" if she called in her neighbors, an answer was given, whereupon she sent her husband for a Mrs. Redfield, who, after questioning the knocker in the same manner and receiving numerous and always correct responses, in great agitation proceeded to summon others, by whom similar investigations were conducted, with equal success, far into the night. The reader must endeavor to picture to himself the scene which followed the introduction of the neighbors to this weird and most novel court of inquiry. Imagine the place to be an humble cottage bedroom in a remote and obscure hamlet; the judge and jurors, simple, unsophisticated rustics; and the witness an invisible, unknown being, a denizen of a world of whose very existence mankind has been ignorant; acting by laws mysterious and inconceivable, in modes utterly beyond all human control or comprehension, and breaking through what has been deemed the dark and eternal seal of death, to reveal the long hidden mysteries of the grave and drag to the light secrets which not even the fabled silence of the tomb could longer hide away. Those who have been accustomed to dream of death as the end of all whom its shadowy portals inclose, alone are prepared to appreciate the awful and startling reality of this strange scene, breaking apart, as it did, like a rope of sand, all the preconceived opinions of countless ages on the existence and destiny of the living dead. Those who have become familiar with the revealments of the spirit circle will only smile at the consternation evoked in this rustic party by the nowfamiliar presence and manifestations of " the spirits;" but to those who still stand in the night of superstition, deeming of all earth's countless millions. as dead! dead! lost! gone! no one knows whither; never to return; togive no sign, no echo, no dim vibration from that vast gulf profound of unfathomed mystery —what a picture is that which suddenly brings them in an instant face to face with the mighty hosts of vanished dead, all clothed in life, and girded round with panoply of power, and light, and strength; with. vivid memory of the secret wrongs deemed buried in their graves! The wrong doer and his victims face to face; earth's murdered ones in life again;. her loved ones, supposed to be crumbling into dust, in busy, active life, fanning our cheeks with threads of golden hair! Why, sirs, the very air is full of them! Our city streets are thronged with an unseen people who flit about us, jostling us in thick crowds, and in our silent chambers, our secret closets, and our busiest haunts; their piercing eyes, invisible to us, are scanning all our ways. The universe is teeming with them; "THERE ARE NO DEAD." Those who went out from the humble chamber on that night of mingled fear and awe beheld the world they lived in with changed eyes. Every familiar thing to them seemed to wear a different aspect. Something was altered; some mighty, nameless change had fallen on all around them, and though they knew not how to phrase their thoughts in speech,. they all and each felt that they were another man or woman, whilst the air,.. the earth, the dust beneath them, and the sky above, were filled with. a. viewless host 3 34 HISTORY OF MODERN of spirit-witnesses; and that for all they had loved and lost, as for themselves, "there is no death." Returning from this digression to the house at Hydesville on the memorable night of March 3Ist, I848, we again invite the reader to the perusal of the statements collected by Dr. Campbell. After reiterating the questions already quoted, the pamphlet continues the narrative thus: " Mrs Fox then inquired in the same way-i. e. by the raps- if it was an injured spirit, and to request an answer in the same way, and the rapping was repeated. In this way it answered her until she ascertained that it purported to be the spirit of a man, and that he was murdered for his money. To the question of how old he was, there were thirty-one distinct raps. She also ascertained by the same means that he was a married man, and had left a wife and five children; that his wife was dead, and had been dead two years. After ascertaining so much, she asked the question,'Will the noise continue if I call in the neighbors?' The answer was, by rapping, in the affirmative. They then for the first time began to call in their neighbors, to help, if possible, to solve this great mystery. "At first they called in their nearest neighbors, who came thinking they would have a hearty laugh at the family for being frightened; but when the first lady that came in found that the noise, whatever it might be, could tell the age of herself as well as others and give correct answers to questions on matters of which the family of Mr. Fox was entirely ignorant, she concluded that there was something beside a subject of ridicule and laughter in these unseen but audible communications. These neighbors insisted on calling in others, who came, and after investigation were as much confounded as at first. The family, being somewhat alarmed and much fatigued, left the house for the night. The next day the excitement began to spread, and the house was filled with anxious seekers for the unknown and invisible visitor. Through that day and up to that time there were no sounds heard in the daytime. " On Sunday morning, April 2d, the noise commenced in the daytime, and was heard all that day by all who could get into the house, as the crowd which came from all quarters was much greater than the house would hold. We have heard it estimated that at one time there were as many as five hundred people who had gathered to hear the sounds, so great was the excitement at the commencement of these strange occurrences. On Saturday evening, there was a committee appointed to ask questions and report what the result was, but it was nothing of any importance differing from what is here related." As a confirmation of what we have above stated, we give the following extracts from the testimony of William Deusler, of Arcadia, an immediate neighbor of Mr. Fox at the time of the transaction. This statement was published in a pamphlet by E. E. Lewis, Esq., of Canandaigua, New York, which contains the testimony of many persons in the neighborhood. Mr. Deusler says: " I live in this place. I moved from Cayuga County here last October. I live within.a few rods of the house in which these noises have been heard. The first I heard anything.about them was one week ago last Friday evening [3Ist day of March]. Mrs. Redfield came over to my house to get my wife to go over to Mr. Fox's. Mrs. Redfield appeared to be very much agitated. My wife wanted I should go with them, and I accordingly went. When she told us what she wanted us to go for I laughed at her, and ridiculed the idea.that there was anything mysterious in it. I told her it was all nonsense, and that it could easily be accounted for. This was about nine o'clock in the evening. There were some twelve or fourteen persons there when I got into the room. I went into the room.and sat down on the bed. Mr. Fox asked questions, and I heard the rapping which they had spoken of, distinctly. I felt the bedstead jar when the sound was produced. "Mrs. Fox then asked if it would answer my questions, if I asked any, and if so, rap. It then rapped three times. I then asked if it was an injured spirit, and it rapped; I asked,if it had come to hurt any one who was present, and it did not rap. I then reversed this question, and it rapped. I asked if I or my father had injured it [as we had formerly lived in the house]; there was no noise. Upon asking the negative of these questions, the rapping was heard. I then asked if Mr. - [naming a person who had formerly lived in the house] had injured it, and if so, to manifest it by rapping, and it made three knocks louder than common, and at the same time the bedstead jarred more than it had done before. I tthen inquired if it was murdered for money, and the knocking was heard. I then requested AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 35 it to rap when I mentioned the sum of money for which it was murdered. I then asked if it was one hundred, two, three or four, and when I came to five hundred the rapping was heard. All in the room said they heard it distinctly. I then asked the question if it was five hundred dollars, and the rapping was heard. "After this, I sent over and got Artemus W. Hyde to come over.* He came over. I then asked over nearly the same questions as before, and got the same answers. Mr. Redfield sent after David Jewel and wife, and Mrs. Hyde also came. After they came in I asked the same questions over and got the same answers....... I then asked it to rap my age-the number of years of my age. It rapped thirty times. This is my age, and I do not think any one about here knew my age, except myself and family. I then told it to rap my wife's age, and it rapped thirty times, which is her exact age; several of us counted it at the same time. I then asked it to rap A. W. Hyde's age; then Mrs. A. W. Hyde's age. I then continued to ask it to rap the ages of different persons-naming them -in the room, and it did so correctly, as they all said. I then asked the number of children in the different families in the neighborhood, and it told them correctly in the usual way, by rapping; also the number of deaths that had taken place in the different families, and it told correctly... "I then asked in regard to the time it was murdered, and in the usual way, by asking the different days of the week and the different hours of the day, learned that it was murdered on Tuesday night, about twelve o'clock. The rapping was heard only when this particular time was mentioned. When it was asked if it was murdered on a Wednesday, or Thursday, or Friday night, etc., there was no rapping. I then asked if it carried any trunk, and it rapped that it did. Then how many, and it rapped once. In the same way we ascertained that it had goods in the trunk, and that took them when he murdered him; and that he had a pack of goods besides. I asked if its wife was living, and it did not rap. If she was dead, and it rapped..... This was tried over several times and the result was always the same. " I then tried to ascertain the first letters of its name by calling over the different letters of the alphabet. I commenced with A, and asked if it was the initial of its name; and when I asked if it was B the rapping commenced. We then tried all the other letters, but could get no answer by the usual rapping. I then asked if we could find out the whole name by reading over all the letters of the alphabet, and there was no rapping. I then reversed the question, and the rapping was heard..... There were a good many more questions asked on that night by myself and others, which I do not now remember. They were all readily answered in the same way. I staid in the house until about twelve o'clock and then came home. Mr. Redfield and Mr. Fox staid in the house that night. " Saturday night I went over again about seven o'clock. The house was full of people when I got there. They said it had been rapping some time. I went into the room. It was rapping in answer to questions when I went in. " There were as many as three hundred people in and around the house at this time, I should think. Hiram Soverhill, Esq., and Volney Brown asked it questions while I was there, and it rapped in answer to them. "I went over again on Sunday between one and two o'clock P. M. I went into the cellar with several others, and had them all leave the house over our heads; and then I asked, if there had been a man buried in the cellar, to manifest it by rapping or any other noise or sign. The moment I asked the question there was a sound like the falling of a stick about a foot long and half an inch through, on the floor in the bedroom over our heads. It did not seem to rebound at all; there was but one sound. I then asked Stephen Smith to go right up and examine the room, and see if he could discover the cause of the noise. He came back and said he could discover nothing; that there was no one in the room, or in that part of the house. I then asked two more questions, and it rapped in the usual way. We all went up-stairs and made a thorough search, but could find nothing. "I then got a knife and fork, and tried to see if I could make the same noise by dropping them, but I could not. This was all I heard on Sunday. There is only one floor, or partition, or thickness between the bedroom and the cellar; no place where anything could be secreted to make the noise. When this noise was heard in the bedroom I could feel a slight, tremulous motion or jar... "On Monday night I heard this noise again, and asked the same questions I did before and got the same answers. This is the last time I have heard any rapping. I can in no way account for this singular noise which I and others have heard. It is a mystery to me which I am unable to solve... "I lived in the same house about seven years ago, and at that time never heard any * The son of the proprietor of the house at Hydesville. 36 HISTORY OF MODERN noises of the kind in and about the premises. I have understood from Johnston and others who have lived there before - moved there, that there were no such sounds heard there while they occupied the house. I never believed in haunted houses, or heard or saw anything but what I could account for before. (Signed) "April 12, I848. WILLIAM DEUSLER." To the same effect is'the testimony of the following persons, whose certificates are published in the work alluded to, namely: John D. Fox, Waiter Scotten, Elizabeth Jewel, Lorren Tenney, James Bridger, Chauncey P. Losey, Benjamin F. Clark, Elizabeth Fox, Vernelia Culver, William D. Storer, Marvin P. Losey, David S. Fox, and Mary Redfield. CHAPTER III. THE FIRST SPIRITUAL TELEGRAPH ON EARTH. "We are the first that ever burst Into that silent sea." ANCIENT MARINER. So blind, so ignorant is man, That did not God withhold in mercy what we ask We would be ruined at our own request." HANNAH MORE. THE FIRST SPIRIT CIRCLE-THE REMOVAL TO ROCHESTER-PERSECUTION-THE BEGINNING OF SORROWS -THE SPIRITS REJECTED- THEIR RETURN AND GREAT JOY OF THE MEDIUMS-PRELIMINARY ARRANGEMENTS FOR PUBLIC INVESTIGATIONS. As it was deemed best for Mrs. Fox and her children to seek the shelter of a neighbor's house on the night of March 3Ist, when they had departed, Mr. Fox and his neighbors, to the number of seventy or eighty persons, remained to question as best they could their mysterious visitor by the knocks. Through these, obtaining affirmative answers or silence to their suggestions, they learned that the rapper purported to be the spirit of a pedler, who had been, as it was stated in the preceding chapter, murdered in that house between four and five years ago. On naming over the various inhabitants of the house who might have destroyed him, the knocks emphatically and repeatedly pointed to one who had lived there at the time indicated by the spirit. It was in this way ascertained [as far, at least, as answers to leading questions could be held as testimony], that the pedler was murdered on the Tuesday night that Lucretia P., the hired girl, was sent away; that - was alone in the house, and that "the body was dragged through the parlor, into the buttery, and thence down the cellar stairs, and buried ten feet deep in the cellar." When the party adjourned to the cellar, the knocks accompanied them, and repeatedly confirmed the above story in every particular; these sounds also indicated the place where the body was buried, and the rappings were given on the spot above the place pointed out in the cellar. An attempt was made to receive communications through raps, by calling the letters of the alphabet; the sounds responded to C and B, but it was not until a later period that Mr. David Fox succeeded in obtaining the full name of Charles B. Rosna. To the practiced investigator in ...,..,S... S S ~~~~~~~~ — 0 - 0 — 0 — - 000-X — 0 —- | | X f~~~~~..............................0t''''..'62,afX.. X~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.......:.:S................................,.ss,, SS A $'S.......'..........tSE''<"':''S~T 7.....................s.................................t: l s.. l s E:-}0 0 s 0s.............. i.i - T-.-!....... -s. -.S is:.;.................... AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 37 spiritual phenomena, it will be readily understood that the confused magnetic spheres of the highly-excited crowd assembled in the cellar at Hydesville on the night of the 3Ist of March, prevented the success of the first attempt of spirits to communicate through raps by the alphabet; and the same considerations show why Mr. Fox, in a calm and prayerful spirit, did succeed on a later occasion. The only marvel is that this attempt was not again resorted to until four months afterwards, when Isaac Post, a member of the Society of Friends and an acquaintance of the Fox family, weary of the unsatisfactory method of prompting questions and only obtaining negative or affirmative replies, suggested the same method of communication as that used by David Fox in the cellar. The result of this experiment has been, as all investigators know, eminently successful, where the conditions have not been broken by over-anxiety, fear, antagonism, or any strong emotion on the part of those present; conditions which, by causing disturbance in the delicate, imponderable aura that surrounds the circle, as conclusively break the affinities through which the manifestations are made as unscientific arrangements will destroy the effect of a voltaic pile or galvanic battery. Notwithstanding the crude methods in which the first investigators at Hydesville endeavored to communicate with their invisible respondent, their report, and the astounding implication of murder involved in it, drew all the inhabitants from far and near to the house. Up to seven o'clock on the evening of April ist, however, no noises were heard, after which they re-commenced, and answered the questions as before, when amongst the hundreds there assembled, it was asserted that not a single incorrect response was given. On the Monday following Mr. David Fox and others commenced digging in the cellar, but as the house was built on low ground, and in the vicinity of a stream then much swollen by rains, it was not surprising that they were baffled by the influx of water at the distance of three feet down. In the summer of 1848, when the ground was dry and the water lowered, "the diggings" again commenced, when they found a plank, a vacant place or hole, some bits of crockery, which seemed to have been part of a wash-bowl, charcoal, quicklime, some human hair, bones [declared on examination by a surgeon to be human], and a portion of a human skull. Such were the results of the examination of the cellar; such the only corroborative evidences obtained of the truth of the spirit's tale of untimely death; and hence it may be proper to add that Mr. -, the party to whom the spirit emphatically pointed as his murderer, came forward from the town of Lyon, N. Y., to which he had removed in I846, and produced a certificate of good character, signed by forty-four persons, to the effect that they had " never known anything against him," and " believed him to be a man of upright and honest life, and incapable of committing the crime of which he was suspected." By way of throwing discredit on the tale rapped out by the spirits, several other missing persons' were said to have been murdered, and after various parties had been accused falsely " by the spirits," reappeared again. Most of these stories proved "bogus," and none of them bear the least relation to the unsought and unexpected spontaniety of the revelations at Hydesville. No further investigations, however, have been deemed necessary into this affair. The presence of human remains in the cellar proves that some one was buried there, and the accompanying quicklime and charcoal testify to the fact that all traces of that mysterious inhumation were purposely destroyed. The Fox family did not immediately quit the scene of this mysterious haunting, but remained to witness still more astonishing phenomena. The 38 HISTORY OF MODERN furniture was frequently moved about; the girls were often clasped by hard, cold hands; doors were opened and shut with much violence, their beds were so shaken that they were compelled to " camp out," as they termed it, on the ground; their bed-clothes were dragged from off them, and the very floor and house made to rock as in an earthquake. Night after night they would be appalled by hearing a sound like a death struggle, the gurgling of the throat, a sudden rush as of falling blood, the dragging as if of a helpless body across the room and down the cellar stairs; the digging of a grave, nailing of boards, and the filling up as of a new-made grave. These sounds have been subsequently produced by request, and spontaneously also, in the presence of many persons assembled in circles at Rochester; but occurring as they did in that "lonely dreadful house," in the stillness of the dim evening, or dark night, and startling them, when not thinking of the subject, with all the ghastly sounds of a murder then enacting in tragic reality close to them, produced upon them the most painful and distressing feelings, aggravated, too, by other circumstances of annoyance that now began to thicken around them. It was perceived that " the spirits" seemed to select or require the presence of the two younger girls of the family for the production of the sounds, and though these had been made without them, especially on the night of the 3Ist of March, when all the family save Mr. Fox were absent from the house, still, as curiosity prompted them to close observation qf, and conversation with the invisible power, it was clear that the manifestations became more powerful in the presence of Kate, the youngest sister, than with any one else. As the house was continually thronged with curious inquirers, and the time, comfort, and peace of the family were consumed in these harassing disturbances, besides the most absurd though injurious suspicions being cast upon them, they endeavored to baffle the haunters by sending Kate to reside with her eldest sister, Mrs. Fish, at Rochester; but no sooner was she gone than the manifestations re-commenced, with more force than ever, in the presence of Margaretta, the second sister. In course of time, Mrs. Fox, with both her daughters, took up their residence in Rochester; but neither change of place nor house, nor yet the separation of the family, afforded them any relief from the disturbances that now evidently attached themselves to persons rather than to places, as formerly. Although the Fox family had for months sedulously striven to banish the power that tormented them, praying with all the fervor of true Methodism to be released from it, and enduring fear, loss, and anxiety in its continuance, the report of its persistent manifestation began to spread abroad, causing a rain of persecution to fall upon them from all quarters. The respectable parents were so severely censured and so impertinently lectured by their minister-who should have been the foremost to sustain them in their heavy visitations-that they were obliged to sever their longcherished and hitherto unblemished relations with their church. Old friends looked coldly on them, and strangers circulated the most atrocious slanders at their expense. Mrs. Fish, the eldest sister, who was a teacher of music in Rochester, be. gan to lose her professional connections; and whilst the sudden blanching of the poor mother's hair in a single week bore testimony to the mental tortures which supra-mundane terrors and mundane cruelties had heaped upon them, the world was taunting them with originating, in wilful imposture, the very manifestations which were destroying their health, peace of mind, good name, and fortunes. Notwithstanding their dislike of the notoriety that these manifestations brought upon them, however, it was impossible to avoid it. AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 39 They had solicited the advice of their much-respected friend, Isaac Post, a highly esteemed Quaker citizen of Rochester, and, at his suggestion, succeeded in communicating by raps with the invisible power, through the alphabet. Thus telegraphic numbers were given to signify "yes," "no," " doubtful," etc., and sentences were spelled out, by which were learned the astounding facts that not only " Charles Rosna," the supposed murdered pedler, but hosts of spirits, good and bad, high and low, could, under certain conditions not understood, and impossible for mortals yet to comprehend, communicate with earth; that such communication was produced through the forces of spiritual and human magnetism, in chemical affinity; that the varieties of magnetism in different individuals afforded "medium power" to some, and denied it to others; that the magnetic relations necessary to produce phenomena were very subtle, liable to disturbance, and singularly susceptible to the influence of mental emotions; that the spirits chiefly concerned in the inauguration of this telegraphy were philosophic and scientific minds, many of whom had made the study of electricity and other imponderables a specialty in the earth-life, and prominent among them the name of Dr. Benjamin Franklin was frequently given. In addition to communications purporting thus to explain the object and something of the modus operandi of the communion, numerous spirit friends of the family, and those who joined in their investigations, gladdened the hearts of their astonished relatives by direct and unlooked-for tests of their presence. They came spelling out their names, ages, and various tokens of identity correctly, and proclaiming the joyful tidings that they all " still lived," " still loved," and with the tenderness of human affection, and the wisdom of a higher sphere of existence, watched over and guided the beloved ones who had mourned them as dead, with all the gracious ministry of guardian angels. The spirits recommended the assembling of the friends of the family together in harmonious meetings, which have since obtained the name of "spirit circles," and at these, the practice of animal magnetism to some of the parties present was suggested, as a means of evoking the phenomena of clairvoyance. But redolent of joy and consolation as is the intercourse with beloved spirit friends at this time when orderly communion has succeeded to doubtful experiment, it must not be supposed that any such harmonious results characterized the initiatory proceedings of the spiritual movement in Rochester. Within and without the dwellings of the mediums, all was fear, consternation, doubt, and anxiety. Several persons possessed of clairvoyant and clairaudient powers had been developed as mediums by magnetism. But in the meantime fanatical religionists of different sects had forced themselves into the family gatherings, and the wildest scenes of rant, cant, and absurdity often ensued. Opinions of the most astounding nature were hazarded concerning the object of this movement; some determining that it was a "mIillenium," and looking for the speedy reign of a personal Messiah and the equally speedy destruction of the wicked. Boisterous sounds accompanied the fervent prayers of the ranters, and wild confusion, in which invisible actors played their weird part, added to the distraction of the already tortured mediums. A Mr. Calvin Brown, who resided in the house of Mrs. Fish, and afterwards became her husband, being particularly opposed to the manifestations, seemed to be selected by the spirits as a marked butt for their Puck-like pranks. They threw books, pamphlets, and other small articles about his person, and though-one occasion alone excepted-they never struck him 40 HISTORY OF MODERN with sufficient force to cause him the least injury, they persecuted him by intelligent signs and movements of so violent, erratic, and even spiteful a character, as to compel him at last to own and respect their power. They often threw about the house blocks of wood with sentences written on them for the encouragement and instruction of the family, who uniformly conducted themselves gently, piously, and in fact admirably, in the midst of the trying scenes they were passing through. It must not be supposed that the clergy were idle spectators of the tumultuous wave that was sweeping over the city. On the contrary, several of them called on Mrs. Fox with offers to "-exorcise the spirits;" and when they found their attempts were futile, and that though the spirits would rap in chorus to the "amens" with which they concluded their incantations, they were otherwise unmoved by these reverend performances, they generally ended by proclaiming abroad that the family were "in league with the evil one" or the authors of a "vile imposture." Honorable exceptions, however, were found to this cowardly and unchristian course, and amongst these was the Rev. A. H. Jervis, a Methodist minister, of Rochester, in whose family remarkable manifestations occurred of the same character as in that of the Foxes, and whose appreciation of the beauty and worth of the communications he received several of his published letters bear witness of. Mr. Lyman Granger, Rev. Charles Hammond, Deacon Hale, and several other families of wealth and influence, both in Rochester and the surrounding towns, also began to experience similar phenomena in their own households, while the news came from all quarters, extending as far as Cincinnati and St. Louis, West, and Maine, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and New York, East, that the mysterious rappings and other phases of what is now called "medium power" were rapidly spreading from town to town and State to State, in fulfilment of an assurance made in the very first of the communion to the Misses Fox, namely, "that these manifestations were not to be confined to them, but would go all over the world." Notwithstanding the fact that many persons besides the Fox family became distinguished as mediums for the sounds, movements of furniture, and other manifestations of supramundane intelligence, and that every day saw some new development of "the power" in families whose wealth and position placed them beyond the reach of suspicion or the possibility of collusion, so startling and unparalleled had been the first appearance of the phenomena that it seemed impossible for the public mind to dissever their origin and continued practice from the Fox family. They were still called the "Rochester knockers," the "Fox girls," the "rappers," and other epithets, equally foolish and cruelly obnoxious to their interests and feelings. Catharine Fox, the youngest girl, had been removed to the house of Mr. E. W. Capron, of Auburn. Mrs. Fish, though generally present when phenomena were transpiring, was not in its earliest phases conscious of being a medium. Margaretta, the second sister, was then in reality the only one through whom the manifestations appeared to proceed, when in November, 1848, the spirits, who had long been urging them to permit public investigations to be made through her mediumship, informed them by raps that "they could not always strive with them," and since they were constantly disobedient to the spirits' requests, and obviously opposed to their presence, they should leave them, and in all probability withdraw for another generation, or seek through other sources for the fulfilment of the high and holy purposes with which this spiritual outpouring had been designed. AMIERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 41 To these appeals the family were inflexible. They constantly prayed that the cup of this great bitterness "might pass from them." They "did not wish to be mediums," and abhorred the notoriety, scandal, and persecution which their fatal gift had brought upon them, and when warned that the spirits would leave them they protested their delight at the announcement, and expressed their earnest desire that it might be fulfilled. There were present at a circle, when communications of this character were made, several influential persons of the city, who had become greatly interested in the manifestations and were warm friends of the family. They could not, however, realize that the threat here implied would actually be fulfilled until the spirits, by rappings, spelled out several messages of a particularly affectionate and valedictory character. The scene became, says an eyewitness, solemn and impressive. The spirits announced that in twenty minutes they would depart, and exactly as that time expired, they spelled out, "We will now bid you all farewell;" when the raps entirely ceased. The family expressed themselves "glad to be rid of them;" the friends present vainly tried to obtain, by solicitations, made, as it would seem, to empty air, some demonstration that this beneficent and wonderful visitation had not indeed wholly ceased. All was useless. A mournful silence filled the apartment which had but a few minutes before been tenanted with angels, sounding out their dear messages of undying affection, tender counsel, wise instruction, and prescient warning. The spirits indeed were gone; and as one by one the depressed party separated and passed out into the silent moonlit streets of Rochester, all and each of them felt as if some great light had suddenly gone out, and life was changed to them. There was a mighty blank in space, and a shadow everywhere, but spirit light came no more to illuminate the thick darkness. A fortnight passed away, during which the former investigators called constantly on the Fox family to inquire if their spirit friends had returned. For the first few days a stoical negative was their only reply; after this, they began more and more fully to recognize the loss they had sustained. The wise counsellors were gone; the sources of strange strength and superhuman consolation were cut off. The tender, loving, wonderful presence, no more flitted around their steps, cheered their meals, encouraged them in their human weakness, or guided them in their blindness. And these most wonderful and providential beings their own waywardness had driven from them. At last, then, they met their inquiring friends with showers of tears, choking sobs, and expressions of the bitterest self-reproach and regret. On the twelfth day of this great heart-dearth Mr. E. W. Capron, being in Rochester on business, called at the house of Mrs. Fish, with George Willetts, a member of the Society of Friends, and one of their earliest spiritual investigators. On receiving the usual sorrowful reply "that the spirits had left them," Mr. Capron said, "Perhaps they will rap for us if not for you." They then entered the hall, and put the usual question if the spirits would rap for them, in answer to which, and to the unspeakable joy and delight of all present, they were greeted with a perfect shower of the much-lamented sounds. Mrs. Fish, now Mrs. Underhill, often declares to this day that if suddenly, fortune, friends, and all they had ever loved had been snatched from them, and as suddenly returned in an hour of despair and agony, their emotions could have scarcely equalled the ecstacy with which they once more greeted those precious returning proofs that their spirit friends had not deserted them. In fact, in the enthusiasm of that returning morning of long-quenched spiritual light, they 42 HISTORY OF MODERN knelt down and kissed the ground made sacred by the electric tones of the heavenly telegraph. And now once more the spirits urged them to make the manifestations public. Again they reiterated the charge with solemn earnestness, and despite of the mediums' continued aversion to the task imposed upon them, the fear of a fresh and final bereavement of the inestimable boon of spirit communion prevented their continued resistance to the course proposed. When the persons who were called upon to aid the mediums and take somewhat prominent parts in the work urged the awkwardness of the positions assigned them, the spirits only replied, "Your triumph will be so much the greater." There is no doubt that the severe warning they had just received, and the fear of its repetition, acted upon the whole party with more force than any argument that could have been used to induce their submission. Certain it is that they at length consented, one and all, to do the bidding of the spirits; but as their first public demonstration of the modern spiritual movement requires more accuracy of detail than history has yet assigned to it, we shall reserve its description for another chapter. CHAPTER IV. CORINTHIAN HALL, OR THE FIRST PUBLIC INVESTIGATION OF SPIRITUALISM. "'Tis bitter to endure the wrong Which evil hands and tongues commit; The bold encroachments of the strong, The shafts of calumny and wit; The scornful bearing of the proud, The sneers and laughter of the crowd. Conscious of purity and worth, We may with calm assurance wait.The tardy recompense of earth: And e'en though justice come too late To soothe the spirit's homeward flight, Still heaven at last.the wrong shall right." PSALMS OF LIFE. ROCHESTER SCIENCE AND PIETY IN 1849 -LAW AND DIVINITY TRYING THE SPIRITS THE BRAVE FOLLOWERS OF GEORGE FOX - TESTIMONY OF GEORGE WILLETTS, REV. C. HAMMOND, AND A. H. JERVIS -DR. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN AS A SPIRIT AND SPIRITUAL ELECTRICITY. THE first public investigation into the possibility of communion between the world of spirits and the earth they once inhabited -between bereaved mourners and the mysterious dwellers of an unknown land, claiming identity with the beloved ones thus mourned-should, as it would seem, have inspired the whole community with feelings of the most profound interest and solemn reverence. The scene of inquiry should have been a place dedicated to the sacred offices of religion, and the inquisitors the men who, above all others, profess to teach the doctrine of the soul's immortality. Far otherwise, however, did the ignorance and bigotry of the times decree that the investigation should be conducted. The spirits, through the rappings, both in the presence of Margaretta Fox in Rochester, and Catharine in Auburn, simultaneoulsy spelled out the same urgent requests that the family would challenge public scrutiny and scientific investigation. The compliance which they finally yielded was not only made on the grounds mentioned in AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 43 the last chapter, but also on the promise of the spirits that they would take part in a public inquiry by rapping loud enough to be heard by an assembled audience. After several trials in private houses, it was conceded that the raps were loud enough to sound distinctly in a large hall, before a crowded auditory. The order of proceedings indicated by the spirits arranged that "Corinthian Hall," the largest public place of meeting in Rochester, should be hired, and a lecture given, narrating in plain and terse language the origin and progress of the manifestations from their commencement to their present date. Afterwards it was directed that a committee should be chosen from the most respectable of the audience present, who should have charge on the following day to investigate the subject in private, and report to an audience each evening on three successive occasions. It was promised that the sounds should be made during the progress of the proceedings with sufficient force to be heard throughout the hall; a promise that was amply redeemed by the spirits in clear and distinct rappings. Mr. E. W. Capron, of Auburn, was selected to deliver the address; Mr. George Willetts and Mr. Isaac Post to attend to the business arrangements; Mrs. Amy Post, a few other ladies, and the Rev. A. H. Jervis, N. Draper, Lyman Granger, and other wellknown citizens, to accompany the mediums on to the platform. Many of the parties thus honored by the selection of the spirits were exceedingly unwilling to accept the equivocal and embarrassing positions assigned to them; better feelings and the urgency of the communications at length prevailed, however, and the first meeting in the exact order prescribed by the spirits took place on the evening of November I4th, I849. The address was given by Mr. Capron in a manner at once so truthful and interesting that it commanded the respectful attention of a numerous audience. The silence was only broken by the clear tones of the speaker, and the distinctly audible, though muffled sounds of the raps, which constantly emphasized the striking passages of the address. At its close, a committee to investigate the subject and report on the next evening was chosen by the audience, consisting of the following persons, all highly respectable and responsible citizens of Rochester: Messrs A. J. Combs, Daniel Marsh, Nathaniel Clark, A. Judson, and Edwin Jones. From unquestionable authority we learn that in the office of the Rochester Democrat, an elaborate article was prepared, announcing "the entire explosion of the rapping humbug;" but though the article in question, to save time, was actually set up in type, yet the editors, to save credit, deferred its publication after the report of the committee was publicly rendered in the following terms: "That without the knowledge of the persons in whose presence the manifestations are made, the committee selected the hall of the Sons of Temperance for investigation; that the sounds on the floor near where the two ladies stood were heard as distinctly as at other places, and that part of the committee heard the rapping on the wall behind them; that a number of questions were asked, which were answered not altogether right nor altogether wrong; that in the afternoon they went to the house of a private citizen, and while there the sounds were heard on the outside of the front door, after they had entered, and on the door of a closet. By placing the hand upon the door, there was a sensible jar felt when the rapping was heard. One of the committee placed one of his hands upon the feet of the ladies and the other on the floor, and though the feet were not moved there was a distinct jar on the floor. On thepavement and on the ground the same sounds were heard. When the ladies were separated at a distance no sound was heard, but when a third person was interposed between them the sounds were heard. The ladies seemed to give every opportunity to the committee to investigate the cause fully, and would submit to a thorough investigation by a committee of ladies, if desired. They all agreed that the sounds were heard, but they entirelyfailed to discover any means by which it could be done." 44 HISTORY OF MODERN This report was delivered to an eager and excited audience on the second public night, and seemed to fall like a thunder-bolt on many of those assembled, who had obviously come in the expectation of receiving one of a very different and far less favorable character. After some discussion, which already pointed to a disapproval of the report, and a wish to find the mediums guilty of imposture, another committee was appointed by the audience, such persons being named as were least likely to be favorable to the spiritual hypothesis of the sounds. The gentlemen thus selected were Dr. H. H. Langworthy, Hon. Frederick [Counsellor] Whittlesey, D. C. McCallum, William Fisher, and Hon. A. P. Hascall, of LeRoy. The ladies had been subject to examinations by the former committee, the rigidity of which was not one of the statements brought before the public. Their feelings were often outraged, their statements doubted, and their peculiarly sensitive natures wounded to agony by the cold, severe, and often sneering scrutiny to which they were subjected. Happily for them the spirit friends behind the scenes encouraged and cheered them, often warning them of the disagreeable nature of what they would have to encounter, of the "hard and angular characters" of some of their judges, and the amenable and spiritual natures of others. The little great men whose verdict was to render forever to mankind the truth or falsehood of man's relations with ministering spirits, had no idea what a shrewd and analytical spirit painting of themselves had already unmasked them to those they pretended to judge, ere they themselves entered on the farce of trying the spirits. Still these two committees were so far honest in their search, and candid enough in their report, as greatly to incense the audiences which each night assembled, not to hear the truth, but rather in expectation of a report which should proclaim the Fox family impostors. The second investigation was conducted, to avoid all possibility of deception, at the office of Counsellor Whittlesey. The ladies were placed in various positions, together and separate, but though the only avowed medium was Margaret, Mr. Fish not deeming she had the " power," and Catharine being absent at Auburn, the sounds were heard on the floor, chairs, table, walls, door, and, in fact, everywhere. Dr. Langworthy tested the possibility of their being ventriloquism by the use of the stethescope, and the joint report of the committee was that "the sounds were heard, and their thorough investigation had conclusively shown them to be produced neither by machinery nor ventriloquism, though what the agent was, they were unable to determine." It would be impossible to describe the indignation that was manifested at this second failure, and a third committee was immediately chosen, whose sneers and scoffing remarks seemed their chief recommendation to the office. As a specimen of the animus of these investigations, it may be mentioned that one of them Mr. Lewis Burtis- declared, "the girls wouldn't have him on the committee for a hundred dollars." Another - Mr. L. Kenyon "'that if he could not find out the trick he would throw himself over Genessee Falls." In addition to these persons were Drs. Langworthy and Gates, and William Fitzhugh. To the honor of this committee be it said, that despite the most severe and inquisitorial treatment, conducted with circumstances of severity that, quite as well omitted from the record, they reported entirely in the ladies' favor, although Mr. Burtis frankly owned himself beaten, and Mr. Kenyon did not either throw himself over the Falls or pretend that he AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 45 could "find out the trick." In addition to this final examination under public auspices, the committee appointed another to assist them in their investigation, composed of ladies, by whom the clothing of the mediums was thoroughly searched, and even their shoes, stockings, and under-garments minutely examined. The poor girls wept bitterly during this ordeal; still they submitted to it, though shame and indignation wrought up their feelings to so severe a pitch that their sobs and lamentations were heard by some of their friends who had been purposely excluded from the room. One of these, a sweet Quaker lady Mrs. Amy Post -who throughout the whole of their bitter trials had lent them the aid of her gentle counsel and the strength of her irreproachable name, at last insisted upon forcing her way into the chamber where the poor girls were disrobed and undergoing examination. No sooner did the sight of her friendly face greet them than they threw themselves into her arms, and the favorable revulsion of feeling occasioned by her presence had the effect of producing what the severe scrutiny of antagonism had neutralized, namely, a perfect shower of raps, from which point the sounds were loud and frequent, responding to questions, and rapping whilst they stood with bare feet on pillows, glass, and other substances [supposed to be non-conductors of electricity], or with their dresses tightly tied to their ankles. In all these positions the raps were distinctly heard on the floor and walls, in proof of which we extract the following passage from the certificate of the Ladies Committee: " When they were standing on pillows, with a handkerchief tied around the bottom of their dresses, tight to the ankles, we all heard the rapping on the wall and floor distinctly. [Signed] "MRS. STONE, MRS. J. GATES, MRS. M. P. LAWRENCE." Notwithstanding the confidence which the poor family had in their own integrity and the strength and fidelity of the spirits, the power of public opinion was so strong against them, and the reports from without were of so alarming a character, that they almost shrank from the final trial that was demanded of them, namely, to present themselves for the fourth time on the platform, during the presentation of the last report. The two first committees had frankly declared to Miss Fox their opinions of her perfect honesty; but it was evident they disliked the task of presenting themselves before the excited crowds that had threatened to assemble at Corinthian Hall that night, and "lynch the rappers and their advocates too," provided the report of the third committee should be in their favor. Although the feeling of those who had come prepared for mischief was unmistakable, the committee, opposed as they had been to the mediums the night before, were honest in their statements. "They had heard the sounds," they said, "and failed utterly to discover their origin. They had proved that neither machinery nor imposture had been used, and their questions, many of them being mental, were answered correctly." Each member of the committee reported separately, and fiully corroborated the others; and then it was that a scene of confusion ensued, equally impossible to describe and discreditable to record. Mrs. Fish and Amy Post, though, to use their own words, they were "no mediums," had accompanied the pale and shrinking Margaretta on the platform, ready to defend or share her danger. But the poor ladies were not alone; Isaac Post, the Rev. A. H. Jervis, and a few other true men, and therefore gentlemen, were on guard, determined to 46 HISTORY OF MODERN protect, or if need be "perish with the martyrs to this unpopular but unques. tionable truth," whilst George Willetts, whose peaceful religion as a Quaker lent peculiar emphasis to his words, declared " that the mob of ruffians who designed to lynch'the girls,' should do so —if they attempted it —over his dead body." Sustained by this faithful little band, Margaretta Fox and her friends presented themselves on the platform; but immediately following the reports of the different members of the committee, Josiah Bissell, writing himself " Esq." and "gentleman," proceeded to distribute torpedoes amongst "the boys," and on every side the explosion of these noisy tormentors distracted the ears and stimulated the ribald jokes of the mob against the "rappers." A "gentleman," who had recently filled the post of alderman, led another gang of disturbers; whilst two more prominent citizens, by the name of Jerome, gentlemen, who, as attached to a daily American paper, were supposed to be leaders of public opinion, together with a certain Major Packard, undertook to state that the sounds were made by leaden balls fastened to the "females' " dresses. They then mounted the platform and invited up the "rowdies" for "investigation," until the police, perceiving the disgraceful turn the proceedings were taking, urged the ladies and their friends to retire, and after carefully guarding them home, were compelled to disperse the meeting by threatening the principal gentlemen present to arrest them as authors and instigators of the disturbance. And thus ended an investigation into the sublime and occult mysteries of the communion between the natural and spiritual worlds, in which gentlemen, magistrates, editors, and professional men were the judges, and enlightened American citizens the jury; and thus too ended the experiment of entrusting any truth that has not yet been endorsed with the label of popularity, to the censorship of the men who assume to be leaders of public opinion. Spiritual agencies were wiser in days of yore, and entrusted the promulgation of divine truth to fishermen and Galileans rather than to Scribes and Pharisees; nevertheless, though the elite of Rochester citizenship was "called but not chosen," the cause they attempted to disgrace rose triumphantly out of the ruins they strove to create. The aim of wide-spread publicity was attained. The very bitterness of the opposition provoked disscussion, and thousands heard of, wondered at, investigated, and finally believed in, spiritual communion who would never have dreamed of the subject but for the persecution and slander that was publicly directed against the " Rochester knockings." But the spirit of persecution did not cease at Corinthian Hall. A feeling of determined and relentless antagonism was excited against the subject by the very impossibility of finding it out or crushing it down. Believers began to multiply; mediums sprang up in families whose wealth and position removed them from the least suspicion of imposture; and since it was impossible to reach these, or strike the hydra-headed monster in its now hourly-increasing magnitude, the only resort of the unreasoning spirit of persecution, which seems to be an unaccountable element developed by the advent of all new movements, was to strike at the humble and obnoxious Fox family. Notwithstanding the fact that up to the date of the first manifestations they had lived in the enjoyment of respect and an unblemished name from all who knew them, from this time forth the malignant blows that were aimed against the cause of Spiritualism were first levelled at them, and even now, their fair fame is blurred in the city of Rochester by meaningless slanders that once launched upon the relentless billows of time drift on forever, and though they may ultimately be swept away by the tides of oblivion, yet AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 47 never return upon their track to render justice at the point from whence they started. Before taking leave of the fortunes of this remarkable family, it will be necessary to the clear understanding of the influence for good which Spiritualism from the first assumed towards mankind, that we should present some of the views of the earliest investigators into this subject, in the form of certain letters which they themselves wrote in private correspondence, but which the irresistible logic of events has converted into testimony, rendered invaluable from its unpremeditated character and the obvious disinterestedness of its authors. The first letter which we shall present is from the pen of Mr. George Willetts, who was known to all his acquaintances as a man of the most unimpeachable integrity and truthfulness. Mr. Willetts's conviction of the spiritual origin of the rappings became strong enough to induce him tc take the noble and prominent part in the Corinthian Hall inquisition above noticed. His letter is addressed to Mr. E. W. Capron, of Auburn, who publishes it in his work on "The Facts and Fanaticisms of Modern Spiritualism." Our extract is taken from Dr. Campbell's pamphlet on the Rochester knockings: " DEAR FRIEND, E. W.CAPRON:-It is with some reluctance that I furnish you with the following statement; not that I am afraid to tell you the truth, but that the world, as I conceive, is not ready to receive such truths yet. Ridicule, probably, will be heaped upon me; but when I consider that it is the ignorant only who use that weapon, perhaps I can afford to stand up and say,' let the storm come.' All who know me can say whether I have been truthful from my youth up, yea or nay; and the strongest language that I can use is to say that the following statement is strictly and entirely true: "'In the summer of I848, I had concluded, from the best judgment that I could bring to my aid, that it was right for my family to remove somewhere amongst the wilds of the West. Accordingly I took a tour of observation, and finding some land in Michigan that suited me better than any other, belonging to a gentleman living in Rochester, I stopped there on my return, in order, if possible, to negotiate for it. I staid with my friend and relative, Isaac Post, and while there he told me of certain sounds being heard in the city, and that they displayed intelligence and purported to be made by spirits, or persons invisible to us. I was really sceptical about any such things, but at his solicitation went to examine it. The person with whom these sounds seemed to be I had never seen or heard of before, and my friend was careful not to tell them who I was or where I had been. It seems that the question was asked whether there was any communication for me, and the direction from the sounds was that three persons be magnetized; two of them were present, and one was sent for from a neighboring family. I did not know the name of any person present; and I was also certain that no one knew me. After the three persons were put in the' clairvoyant state,' one of them said,' We have to go to Michigan.' They all agreed that they had to go there, and began to describe places and things which I had seen, and at length came to a piece of land which they said was the place they came to look at. They then described the land so accurately which I had stopped in Rochester to buy that I began to wonder' who had told them.' They all with one accord then said,' But he must not go there. His father says he had better not go.' As they said this, there came a loud sound close by my chair, and I sat some distance from any other person. They spoke much of my father, and what his mind was, and at each time that same sound was heard and the jar distinctly felt close by myself. They then said,' His mother thinks it is not best.' As they spoke this a different sound, not quite so loud, was heard, still close by me. Then,' that my sister said it was not best.' Another and different sound still was heard. Up to this time I had not spoken a word, but found the big drops of perspiration starting from my face. I gathered courage and thought I would dispel that illusion directly; I said,' As you assume to know my father and what his mind is concerning me, perhaps you can tell his name.' They all seemed to look steadily for some time, then commenced and spoke slowly and deliberately these letters: William Willetts. At each letter the loud sound that I first heard was again heard and felt immediately under my feet. I never was so astonished in my life, and involuntarily said,' What does all this mean?' The sounds then said, by the alphabet being called over,' that they had better be awakened;' and the first loud sound 48 HISTORY OF MODERN said,' I will talk with George and tell him all about it.' The direction was for Mr. Post, myself, and a little girl [Catharine Fox] thirteen years old, to go by ourselves. And here I wish it distinctly understood that all which I shall relate as obtained from these sounds was in the presence only of my friends Mr. and Mrs. Post, myself, and the little girl spoken of. As what follows all purported to be from my father, I will say, that his name was William Willetts, a member of the Society of Friends, widely known at Westbury, Long Island, where he livd1 until nearly sixty years of age, and subsequently at Skaneateles, Onandagua County, where he died in I841. The communication by sounds then went on to say that it was my father that was present and talking with me, and three hours were consumed at the first interview. In saying to me what his counsel was it always assumed to counsel and advise, but never to dictate. He said that it was not best for us to go to Michigan, and gave various reasons, among which were that we should not enjoy ourselves in a new country, and that my health would not be competent for the task of clearing up new land, and he foresaw, if we did go, we should come back again and would be less in number than when we went. I then asked what was best to do. The answer was,' Come to Rochester.' I replied that I knew of no business that I could do in Rochester. The sounds said,' I will tell thee when thee comes.' I asked if I might know now. The answer was,'No, I did not need any business until I came, and then he would tell me.' The sounds then said that after a time it would be best for me to buy some land. I asked where. The sounds then spelled out the name of a man whom no one present knew, and said that he owned fifty acres of land on such a street adjoining the city, and such a distance from the centre of the city; that he would sell any part. I asked the price that would be asked. The sounds were heard and counted by three of us- one hundred and fifty times in succession —to tell us the number of dollars per acre that would be asked. The sounds said that we had better go the next day and see if this was so, and said that we should not see the man until ten o'clock, although we might look for him as early as we pleased. In the morning I looked in the Directory and there found the name spelled out to us, and went to his residence at seven o'clock, and was informed that he was gone to a distant part of the city, and would not be home until twelve o'clock. We then went to find him, and had some difficulty to do so, but after talking with him five or six minutes looked at the time and it was seven minutes past ten! This person said that he owned fifty acres on the street told us by the sounds, and said that he would sell any part. When I asked him the price he showed me a map with the price of each lot marked, and taking the number of acres said by the sounds to be best to buy, and averaging the price, it was just upon one hundred and fifty dollars per acre. I then went home to my family and pondered over these strange things. Many were the conflicts in my own mind, and I heard the cry from all quarters,'humbug,''deception,''fraud,' but I could not believe that I wanted to deceive myself. Three months I thought of these things deeply, and I could not go to Michigan. I concluded if it was deception it would do the world some good to find it out. The first of December, 1848, I moved from Waterloo to Rochester. A few days after getting here, the little girl spoken of came round to our house and said that the' spirit' had directed her to come, for what purpose she did not know. We inquired what it was, and this was the communication:' I told thee if thee would come to Rochester I would tell thee where thee could find employment; in four days from this I will tell thee. In the meantime the anti-slavery folks are going to hold their Fair; would it not be well for thee to help them?' No one was present at this time except my wife, the little girl, and myself. The four days went by, and again, without solicitation and without thinking the time was up, the little girl came again. The communication was,' Apply to William Wiley, Superintendent of the Auburn and Rochester Railroad, to-morrow at two o'olock, at his office, for a situation, and thee will have one before this week is out.' This was Thursday. I was a stranger to Mr. Wiley, and I called on Mr. Post and told him the direction, and asked him if the next day he would go with me. That evening he, happening to be at the depot, inquired if Mr. Wiley was at home, and was told that he was in Boston, and by a letter just received would not be at home till Friday night. I was told by the sounds on Wednesday to apply on Thursday at two o'clock. Thursday at half-past one, instead of going to the railroad office, I went round to where these sounds were heard, and said,' How is this? I am told to apply to William Wiley, and he is in Boston.' The sounds said,'Go to his office now; he is there.' I called for Mr. Post and walked immediately there, and found Mr. Wiley in his office. He said that he had returned sooner than he expected to when he wrote the letter. Mr. Post said that I was a relative of his and wished employment, and Mr. Wiley replied that they were all full, with abundant applications, and he could give no encouragement whatever. We walked back, thinking deeply, and I went where the sounds were heard again. I inquired,'How is this? Mr. Wiley has no place for me.' The answer was,'Thee will have a place, on the cars, and will know it before the week is out.' " AMER rCAN SPIRITUALISM. 49 " On Saturday night, at dark, I met Mr. Post, and he asked if I had heard anything from Mr. Wiley, I replied,'Not a word.' At eight o'clock on that same evening, Mr. Post called at my house, and said that Mr. Wiley had just been at his store and said that he had a place for me, and wished me to call at his office on Monday morning. As Mr. Wiley did not tell what place I was to fill, I again asked the sounds what it was; and they said'that it was to go as baggage-master between this place and Auburn.' On Sund&y morning I wrote to my friend James Trueman, of Waterloo, stating that I should pass through that place on Monday following- in the capacity above stated-before I knew from Mr. Wiley what place he wanted me to fill, and he can testify to that fact. One month after I had been running on the cars, I learned that the person whose place I took had done things worthy of a dismissal previous to my being directed to make application, and which did not come to Mr. Wiley's notice till the day on which I received the appointment. These things have only been known to a few friends; you and the world now have them. I have many communications, penned down at the time they were received, purporting to be from my father, all of the most elevating character, inciting me to goodness, purity, and honesty of heart, and ever pointing to the endless progression of man. In conclusion, I may say that I have examined the matter attentively for one year and a half, and have had abundant opportunity to do so, and am prepared to say, although the sounds may cease to-day and never be heard again, they have displayed a remarkable degree of intelligence, and were not made by any person visible to us. "GEORGE WILLETTS." The next letter we shall quote is from the Rev. C. Hammond, and though it contains no proofs of spirit identity of a very striking character, it is inserted in reference to the singular worth of the writer and the weight which is due to his respected testimony. Mr. Hanmond, subsequent to the dictation of this letter, became an excellent writing medium himself, and the publisher of a voluminous collection of "communications from the spiritworld," written through his mediumship. Considering that Mr. Hammond was content to sacrifice good name, fame, and livelihood in his defence of the unpopular cause he espoused, credence should be assigned to him for his sincerity, if denied on behalf of his moral worth. LETTER FROM THE REV. C. HAMMOND. "MR. D. M. DEWEY: Dear Sir, - In compliance with your solicitation, I will proceedl to lay before you a brief statement of what has fallen under my observation, in regard to the'mysterious sounds' and'demonstrations,' purporting to be made by intelligent spirits, who once inhabited an earthly tabernacle. It is quite probable that many others may have had more convincing and satisfactory evidences of the real presence of their departed, or, as. I should say, deceased friends, than myself; yet I am free to acknowledge my inability to, account for these marvellous manifestations by any law recognized in science or philosophy;. nor am I aware of having an organization so extra-credulous as to admit theoretical. propositions, without facts to sustain them. If, therefore, imposition and deception have'humbugged' me into a conviction that the' sounds' and'demonstrations' which I have witnessed originate in any cause other than those assigned in this narrative, the person who shall disclose the mystery and detect the fraud will receive my grateful acknowledgments. "In the early part of January last, in company with other persons, I gained an introduction to the family in this city in whose residence these sounds had been heard. They received. us politely, and seemed rather more cheerful than what I had supposed would be natural for. those who were hourly exchanging communications with the spirits of the dead. A company of twenty or more persons had assembled; the'three sisters' came into the room; the' sounds were heard, and through the medium of the alphabet, they, and about half the company, were directed to retire to another apartment. Our company in the absence of the'three sisters,' whose presence is generally deemed essential to these spiritual communications, were all seated closely around an ordinary dining table, when one of the ladies, bowing her head, inquired in rather a solemn tone,'Will the spirit answer questions now?' No response being made, I felt the disappointment of the lady, and was half inclined to smile at the ludicrous scene, when the searching glance of her suspicious eye, falling upon me,, bade me maintain my usual gravity and respect toward the company and the occasion which had called us there. After several ineffectual attempts to get responses, the sounds were 4 50 HISTORY OF MODERN heard, and the company generally were privileged with answers to their respective interrogatories. I availed myself of the opportunity, but gained no other satisfaction than a prompt assurance that all my'test questions' should be answered when I should come there again. I went away sceptical, though unable to account for the'sounds' which caused the floor occasionally to vibrate under my feet. "On my next visit I was much more successful. During the interval, I had prepared my mind with certain questions touching events unknown to the family, and of a remote date. The sounds told me my age precisely, though my appearance is such as to indicate a difference of eight or ten years. The names of six of my nearest deceased relatives were given me. I then inquired,'Will the spirit who now makes these sounds give me its name?' Five sounds directed me to the alphabet, which I repeated until the name of'Charles' appeared, which answered to an infant child whom we consigned to the grave in March, I843. To my inquiries, it gave me a true answer in regard to the time it had been in the spirit land, and also the period since my eldest sister's death, which was nearly eighteen years; the latter fact not being recollected then, I found true by dates on my return home. Many other test questions were correctly answered; and yet, notwithstanding the origin of these sounds seemed inexplicable, I was inclined to impute them to mesmerism or clairvoyance. However, as the spirit promised to satisfy me by other demonstrations when I came again, I patiently awaited the opportunity. " On the third visit I was selected from half a dozen gentlemen, and directed by these sounds to retire to another apartment, in company with the'three sisters' and their aged mother. It was about eight o'clock in the evening. A lighted candle was placed on a large table, and we seated ourselves around it. I occupied one side of the table, the mother and youngest daughter the right, and two of the sisters the left, leaving the opposite side of the table vacant. On taking our positions the sounds were heard, and continued to multiply and become more violent until every part of the room trembled with their demonstrations. They were unlike any I had heard before. Suddenly, as we were all resting on the table, I felt the side next to me to move upward. I pressed upon it heavily, but soon it passed out of the reach of us all -full six feet from me, and at least four from the nearest person to it. I saw distinctly its position-not a thread could have connected it with any of the company without my notice, for I had come to detect imposition, if it could be found. In this position we were situated when the question was asked,'Will the spirit move the table back where it was before?' And back it came, as though it were carried on the head of some one who had not suited his position to a perfect equipoise, the balance being sometimes in favor of one side, and then the other. But it regained its first position. In the meantime the'demonstrations' grew louder and louder. The family commenced, and sung the'spirit's' song,* and several other pieces of sacred music, during which accurate time was marked on the table, causing it to vibrate. A transparent hand, resembling a shadow, presented itself before my face. I felt fingers taking hold of a lock of hair on the left side of my head, causing an inclination of several inches; then a cold hand was drawn over my face; three gentle raps on my left knee; my right limb forcibly pulled, against strong resistance, under the table; a violent shaking, as though two hands were applied to my shoulders; myself and chair uplifted and moved back a few inches, and several slaps, as with a hand, on the side of my head, which were repeated on each one of the company, more rapidly than I could count. During these manifestations, a piece of pasteboard, nearly a foot square, was swung with such velocity before us as to throw a strong current of air in our faces; a paper curtain attached to one of the windows was rolled up and unrolled twice; a lounge immediately behind me was shaken violently; two small drawers in a bureau played back and forth with inconceivable rapidity; a sound resembling a man sawing boards, and planing them, was heard under the table; a common spinning-wheel seemed to be in motion, making a very natural buzz of the spindle; a reel articulated each knot wound upon it, while the sound of a rocking cradle indicated maternal care for the infant's slumbers. These were among many other demonstrations which I witnessed that evening, amid which I felt a perfect self-possession, and in no instance the slightest embarrassment, except a momentary chill when the cold hand was applied to my face, similar to a sensation I have realized when touching a dead body. That any of the company could have performed these things, under the circumstances in which we were situated, would require a greater stretch of credulity on my part than it would to believe it was the work of spirits. It could not, * "The Spirit's Song." At one of these circles the spirits rapped out by the alphabet a simple melody, which being given by letters to Mrs. Fish with instructions how to divide it into bars and rhythm, that lady being a musician, readily arranged the given letters into the air. The spirits then requested the circle to sing to those notes the words of Mrs. Heman's charming poem, "The Haunted Spring;" requiring the singer;, however, to substitute the word sacred for haunted. AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 51 by any possibility, Aave been done by them, nor even attempted, without detection. And I may add, that near the close of the demonstrations at this visit, there was a vibration of the floor, as though several tons in weight had been uplifted and suddenly fallen again upon it This caused everything in the room to shake most violently for several minutes, when the force was withdrawn. " Ihave also tested the intelligence of these spirits in every way my ingenuity could invent. On one occasion, I wrote a word on a slip of paper privately, placed it in my wallet, went there —and the sounds, through the alphabet, spelled that word correctly as I had written it. That word was'Sibyl.' " On the 20th of February, the two youngest sisters made my family a visit. Here the sounds were heard; questions involving subjects wholly unknown to them, were answered; a large, heavy dining-table was moved several times; and on expressing thanks at the table to the Giver of all Good, some six or eight sounds responded to every sentence I uttered, by making loud and distinct sounds in various parts of the room. "Yours, truly, "C. HAMMOND.' ROCHESTER, February 22, I850." A great variety of other manifestations began to appear in families residing in and about Rochester, besides the rappings. Volumes might be written on the extraordinary intelligence manifested by spirits in various ways, especially through clairvoyance, premonition, and mental telegraphy. Ashort but rather striking instance of the latter kind is inserted here, occurring in the family of the Rev. A. H. Jervis, a Methodist minister of Rochester, who was warmly interested in the Fox family, and who had the advantage of the same kind of medium power as theirs, produced in members of his own household. It will suffice to illustrate multitudes of similar cases that were now transpiring hourly. Writing to E. W. Capron, Mr. Jervis says: "There are many facts that have come under my observation equally convincing of the intelligence and utility of the communications from these unseen agents, who I believe are now continually about us, and more perfectly acquainted with all our ways and even our thoughts than we are with each other. But the fact in reference to our friend Pickard is what you require. He was at my house on Friday, April 6, I849. None of the Fox family were present. While at the tea-table we had free communication on different subjects. Mr. Pickard was requested to ask questions. He desired to know who it was that would communicate, and was answered,'I am your mother, Mary Pickard.' Her name, or the fact of her death, was not known to any of us. The next Monday evening Mr. Pickard was at Mr. G-'s, and tarried there over night. He then received a communication purporting to be from his mother, saying,'Your child is dead.' He came immediately to my place, and said he should take the stage for home [Lockport, sixty miles distant]; accordingly [and wholly on the faith of the spirit's communication, remember], he left in the stage at eight A. M. At twelve that same day I returned to my home, my wife meeting me with a telegraph envelope, which I first read mentally, and then breaking the seal, read out as follows: "'ROCHESTER, April IO, 1849. "'By Telegraphfrom Lockport, to Rev. A. H. Jervis, No. 4 West Street: "' Tell Mr. Pickard, if you can find him, his child died this morning. Answer. R. MALLORY.' "I then added to my wife,'God's telegraph has outdone Morse's altogether.' "Yours, truly, "To E. W. CAPRON, Auburn. A. H. JERVIS." Several attempts were made by the spirits to reduce the communications to something like an orderly system of spiritual telegraphy. One of the most frequent names spelled out in the Rochester manifestations was that of "Benjamin Franklin," who claimed to be actively interested in promoting them; a claim not at all at variance with the pursuits of this renowned 52 HISTORY OF M1ODERN philosopher whilst an inhabitant of earth. Had the instructions of this wise and beneficent spirit been strictly followed out, there might possibly have long since resulted that order which was sadly lacking in the chaos of the earlier manifestations; but in the meetings which now began to take place in hundreds of families, the ignorance and superstition which had formerly prevailed on all subjects connected with the life beyond the grave, either continued to characterize the communications or became apparent in an excess of fanatical credulity. The seances of the Misses Fox were constantly broken up by inharmony, rudeness, and determined opposition, on the part of some of the visitors. The company were driven from room to room by incessant intrusions; and the nervously excited state of the poor mediums' minds, together with their entire ignorance of the necessary conditions for scientific communion, rendered orderly experiments almost impossible. In some of the circles where entranced clairvoyant or impressional media presided, the wildest scenes of confusion would often prevail. Two or three of "the prophets" would be jabbering in unknown tongues at once, whilst others would be shouting the war-whoop of the red Indian. "Apostolic" letters, in miserable grammar and worse spelling, were palmed off as genuine productions from the seventh sphere; and all the crudities of impressible minds, stimulated half to frenzy by the contagious excitement of the times, were set down as direct communications from exalted ancients whose authoritative teachings no doubt emanated from the fantastic imaginings of self-psychologized persons. It would indeed have required a more re-creative power than any that Divine wisdom has yet intrusted to spirits or mortals to fashion these elements into order, or to bring forth the wise dicta of science from such disturbed magnetic conditions. A few phenomenal evidences were from time to time developed out of the chaos, proving the power possessed by spirits to achieve marvellous results in mental science, could favorable conditions be afforded. One of these experiments has been so amply recorded by Mr. N. Draper, of Rochester, a very worthy gentleman and the husband of a most excellent magnetic clairvoyant, that we subjoin his statement in full: "To Messrs. 7ervis, Willetts, Jones, and others: "GENTLEMEN, -As we are required by authority, that we think we have no right to disregard, to make public the extraordinary communications witnessed at my dwelling, it becomes necessary to give you, and through you the public, the facts which gave rise to the first interview, on Friday, the I6th inst. The novelty of the subject and the state of the public mind are such that I feel prompted to do this, not only correctly but as minutely as possible. Circumstances had placed me in a way to witness those remarkable communications called the'mysterious rappings,' from the time of their origin in this city in the summer of 1848. After the severest tests, under a variety of circumstances and at various places, for about one year, incontestible evidence addressed to my senses baffled my scepticism, and fully convinced me that they were the production of no human agencies. And as they profess to emanate from invisible intelligences, called spirits, I had not allowed myself the liberty to attribute them to any other source, at least until some other origin could be detected. In hope of eliciting some further light on the mysterious subject, I proposed to a member of my family, who is susceptible to magnetic influence. to be put into a clairvoyant state, and see what might be presented in relation to it. She complied, and for this purpose was magnetized on the evening of the 12th inst. "The questions and answers were as follows: "Q. Do you see anything? A. I see a stranger who I never before saw. He is not prepossessing in appearance, but is very elevated in his position, and is busily employed. Q. What is he doing? A. He is preparing work for you. Q. What is the nature of the work? A. He is establishing a line of communication. Q. Ask him'Is it practicable to the communications between two distant points by means of these rappings?' A.'To be AMERICAN SPIRITUALISMf. 53 sure,' he says. Q. Can you ascertain who this stranger is? A. Benjamin [and after a pause ] Franklin. Q. Will you ask him to give you some signal by which we may know it is really Benjamin Franklin? After a silence of one or two minutes, a violent shock of her person induced me hastily to say,' What is the matter; are you waking up? A. No; you wanted a signal and I told him if it was Dr. Franklin he might electrize me, and he di: it. Q. Has it injured you? A. No; I feel better; my head is clearer; I can see plainer. Q. Will you ask him where communications between distant points at the same time can be tested. A. He says at your own house. Q. Is there anything required of us in the matter? A. He says, get two of these young ladies about whom there is so much excitement in your city, place them in extreme parts of two rooms, and you [ meaning herself ] be put in the same state in which you now are, and I will communicate with you. Q. Who else may be in attendance? A. Mr. Jervis and a few others who have been acquainted with the subject. Q. Will he direct as to time? A. He says consult the convenience of those concerned, and I shall be advised of it. Q. Are there any further directions to be given at this time? A. That is the end of the chapter. "In compliance with the above, the interview on Friday, the i6th, was called, you and others notified, and the attendance of the two young ladies, Margaretta and Catharine Fox, secured; from whom, for prudential reasons, the above facts and preliminaries were withheld. " Respectfully yours, N. DRAPER." "To the Editor of the Daily Ml~agnet:" Pursuant to the notice as above stated, we, the undersigned, met at the house of Mr. Draper on Friday, the I5th inst., about four o'clock P. M. We inquired for directions, and were answered by alphabet,'Let Mrs. Draper be magnetized.' Through her the two young ladies were directed to retire to another room. The directions then were for Mr. Jervis, Mrs. Fox, and Catharine Fox, to be placed in a room at the opposite end of the house, and for Mr. Jervis to take notes. Margaretta Fox should be with the company in the parlor, and Mr. Draper take notes. This was done. The sounds were then heard in both rooms by either company, exactly similar to the sound heard in the telegraph office. " Question to the Clairoyant-What does that rapping mean, unlike any other sounds before heard by rapping? Answer - He is trying the batteries." The signal for the alphabet was heard, and on calling the letters it was spelled,' She must be waked in ten minutes.' A watch was plac6d on the table, after noting the time, and covered up, and the question asked, if we could have a signal by sounds at the exact time, and was answered affirmatively. At the precise time the signal was heard. The question was then asked,'Who shall wake her?' and she was instantly awakened with an apparent electric shock. " At this point there was much interruption, by persons coming into both rooms. The question was asked for further directions, and the answer was by alphabet,' Things are not as I directed; therefore, you cannot proceed at this time. There should be but four in each room.' Mr. Jervis and company came into the parlor, and his notes read as follows:'Things are not as I directed them; therefore, you cannot proceed at this time.' Q. Can we have another opportunity? A. If I set the time and name the company there shall be no fail. Q. Shall the appointment be now made? Answered affirmatively. The following persons were then named by the alphabet: Mr. Jervis, Mr. Jones, Mr. Draper, Mr. Willetts, Mrs. Jervis, Mrs Draper, Mrs. Brown, Mrs. Fox, Margaretta Fox, and Catharine Fox. Q. May we know the time? A. Wednesday next, at four o'clock P. M. Q. The place? A. Here. On the day appointed, February 20th, the above-named persons convened; some of the company were late, and as soon as order was observed, the question was asked' What are the directions of Benjamin Franklin? A. Hurry, first magnetize Mrs. Draper.' This was done, she immediately saying:'He says we are behind the time, but he will forgive us this time; we must do better in future.' The company was divided as follows: Mr. Jervis, Mr. Jones, Mrs. Fox, Mrs. Brown, Catharine Fox, in a retired room, with two doors closed between them. Mrs. Draper, Mrs. Jervis, Mr. Draper, Mr. Willetts, and Margaretta Fox remained in the parlor. Sounds unusually loud were heard in each room by either company, as before, resembling the telegraphic sounds. They were so unusual that Miss Fox became alarmed and said,' What does all this mean?' Mrs. Draper, while her countenance was irradiated with animation, replied,' He is trying the batteries.' Soon there was the signal for the alphabet, and the following communication was spelled to the company in the parlor:' Now I am ready, my friends. There will be great changes in the nineteenth century. Things that now look dark and mysterious to 54 HISTOR OF MODERN you will be laid plain before your sight. Mysteries are going to be revealed. The world will be enlightened. I sign my name, Benjamin Franklin. Do not go into the other room.' "After waiting a few minutes, Mr. Jervis came into the parlor, saying that he was directed by the sounds to come and compare notes. They read as follows: Q. Are we all right? Answered affirmatively; signal for alphabet, and the following was spelled:' There will be great changes in the nineteenth century. Things that now look dark and mysterious to you will be laid plain before your sight. Mysteries are going to be revealed. The world will be enlightened. I sign my name, Benjamin Franklin. Go in the parlor and compare notes.' Mr. Jervis returned to his company, and by alphabet was spelled:' Now all go into the parlor.' The notes were then compared in presence of the whole company. Q. Is there anything more from Dr. Franklin? A. I think I have given tests enough for this day. Q. Will it not be better to keep this matter private? A. No; it should be published. Q. In what paper? A. In Democrat or Mlagnet. Q. Who shall prepare it for publication? A. George Willetts.' Time and place were then designated for the same company to meet again, with two other persons added to the number. " We sign our names as no parties, but as witnesses. If our testimony is incredible, impeach and reject it; if admissible, hand it over to the judge and jurors- the publicand charge them that we claim no interest aside from their own in their verdict. "REV. A. H. JERVIS, NATHANIEL DRAPER, EDWARD JONES, GEORGE WILLETTS, RACHAEL DRAPER, MARY JERVIS, MARY BROWN, MARGARET FOX. "ROCHESTER, February 23, 1850." And here for the present we must close our account of doings of the spirits in Rochester, and that rather from the pressure of other subjects than the lack of material, as the records of that city alone would amply suffice to fill up many volumes in connection with the early history of Spiritualism in America. Many highly interesting narratives are necessarily omitted, and above two hundred letters, printed and in MSS., in the author's possession, containing graphic accounts of first interviews with the spirits and subsequent conviction of their truth, are withheld for want of space. Many gentlemen connected with the press of different cities joined in the Rochester investigations, and many reported in favor of the honesty and truth of the mediums. Frequent acknowledgments were made that the phenomena exhibited were marvellous, the intelligence unquestionable, generally correct, and out of the sphere of the mediums' knowledge, but admissions made thus far generally concluded by declaring that, while acquitting the media of any concocted plan in the production of said phenomena, "they were not prepared; or could not, would not, must not believe, etc., that it was the work of spirits." There were many others connected with the press, especially the religious papers, who first refused scornfully to investigate "the thing," and after pluming themselves on their virtuous ignorance, proceeded in unmeasured terms to revile it, heap scandal and denunciation on the heads of all connected with it, and fill their columns with unreasoning abuse of that which they "knew nothing at all about." Whole columns of the daily journals were filled with trash of this character, which though temporarily injurious to the feelings of those concerned, served the purpose of giving the manifestations precisely that publicity which the spirits demanded, and for which, as it would seem, a great majority of the press actually became "mediums." And thus the fiery cross, carried by the hands of unseen messengers, sped from point to point; the beacon fires lighted by invisible hands gleamed on every mountain-top, and the low muffled sound of the spirit-raps that first broke the slumbers of the peaceful AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 5 inhabitants of the humble tenement at Hydesville, became the clarion peal that sounded out to the millions of the western hemisphere, the anthem of the soul's immortality, chorused by hosts of God's bright ministering angels. CHAPTER V. SPIRITUALISM IN AUBURN, NEW YORK. "The argument that nothing ever came From spirits or the spiritual world Is very ancient. The philosopher Said to the seer,'All that you see I know.' The seer in his deep wisdom made reply,'All that you know I see."' T. L. HARRIS. PROGRESS OF SPIRITUALISM FROM 1849 To I855-CATHARINE FOX AT AUBURN -MRS. TAMLIN AND MRS. BENEDICT-SPIRIT MUSIC-THE OPPOSITIONTROUBLES WITHIN THE CAMP THE APOSTOLIC CIRCLE. IT was in November, I849, that the scenes were enacted in Corinthian Hall, Rochester, described in the last chapter. The immense geographical areas embraced in the thirty-six States of the Union, and the fact that no regular system of human propagandism issuing from a central source and ramifying through the country, or, indeed, anything analagous to such a procedure, has ever been attempted, to account for the spread of Spiritualism, embarrasses the historian in describing its progress. " Progress," in fact, it can scarcely be called; for, if modern Spiritualism had been promulgated as well as inaugurated by the Rochester mediums, its course might have been traced in their footprints; but whilst we are considering the effects upon some town or State which the visits of the Misses Fox produced, behold we find a great spiritual outpouring in sections of country where the echoes of the Rochester vibrations could never even have reached. Spiritualism did not radiate from a definite centre, but sprang with a spontaneous and irresistible life of its own, independent of human propagandism, the contagious force of public sentiment, or the psychological effect of common report. If the ends of the countless threads that with sudden and magical rapidity appeared to be inclosing the whole continent of America in one vast woof of spirit-power, were not spun, held, and intelligently directed by the unseen people of the spirit country, then all theories of causa — tion must fail, and the marvellous growth and blossoming of Spiritualism, the germs of which no visible hands had planted, will forever remain one of the unfinished problems of the universe. Apart from the obviously supramundane character of its production in various sections of country at once, it is not difficult to trace the secondary causes of its rapid growth in the allabsorbing nature of its revealments and the passionate emotions of love and hatred which it excited in its friends and foes. In fact it would be difficult to determine which was the most effective form of propaganda for the spread of the belief, namely, the zealous enthusiasm of its admirers or the bittel persecution of its antagonists. 56 HISTORY OF MODERN To do justice to the uprising of this mighty power, we must consider its manifestations in different States about the same period of time. The first point which we shall notice is the State of New York, in which the com. munion between mortals and spirits first took the form of a scientific telegraphy. In the city of Auburn, New York State, resided Mr. E. W. Capron, to whom allusion has already been made in connection with the earliest manifestations and the Corinthian Hall investigation. To strengthen the convictions of a spiritual source for the phenomena, an opinion which had irresistibly forced itself upon his reason, Mr. Capron induced Mrs. Fox to permit her youngest daughter, Catharine, to spend some time in his family. During the seances conducted through the mediumship of this young lady, many of the principal inhabitants of Auburn had the opportunity of witnessing the most astounding phenomena under circumstances which precluded even the suspicion of deception. Spirit music was produced; hands were seen, felt, and even examined, forming and melting apparently in the clasp that held them; messages of affection, timely warning, and prescient intelligence were constantly spelled out through the raps; the furniture moved in supra-mundane feats of power, and almost every conceivable phase of intelligent spiritual phenomena was exhibited to all who chose to come and witness it. Two remarkable results followed the first introduction of "the power" into Auburn. The first was the fact that though the press were permitted free access to the circles, and the most abundant opportunity for investigation, yet the strength of the occult force, whose evidences they beheld, only seemed to arouse in the most of their number a vindictive and unreasoning spirit of antagonism, which broke forth in unqualified and often senseless slander. For example: The Auburn Daily Advertiser coolly stated that old Mr. Fox [a quiet, inoffensive farmer, chiefly remarkable for simple-minded devotion to the Wesleyan Church and his retired, peaceful habits] had by a cunning contrivance of springs and wires managed to produce all the marvels witnessed at Hydesville! The fact that every plank, board, and brick, or inch of matter connected with the possessed house had been ransacked in vain by hundreds of persons in the attempt to detect any trickery, all went for nothing with this shrewd editor. The still more awkward fact that the phenomena had continued to increase in strength and variety for upwards of a twelvemonth, moving about from place to place, house to house, person to person, involving the action of above a hundred different mediums; and that the poor old gentleman accused of its production had never, except in the first two or three months of the Hydesville excitement, been in the spirit circles or in any way connected with the movement -all this was with equal sense and candor utterly disregarded, and good Mr. Fox's "springs and wires," invisibly fixed into nothing, still continued to stretch from the cottage at Hydesville and to rap over hundreds of miles, sounding down to the valley of the Mississippi, along the vast seaboard of the New England States, and up to the northern regions of Lake Superior! Wonderful invention of a quiet little New York farmer! and marvellous springs and wires, the intelligent action of which could reveal past, present, and future with an accuracy that would have put to shame Egyptian magic or Chaldean astrology! We must here remark that if from time to time we insert the puerilities and baseless slanders which have been levelled against "the cause" and its adherents, it is not for their worth or efficacy, but rather to show the utter futility and even desperation of that opposition which has been forced to create such childish fictions in order to discredit the spiritual hypothesis. AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 57 The second result of Miss Kate Fox's visit to Auburn seemed to be the unfoldment of medium powers not less remarkable than her own in many persons who attended her seances. The most prominent cases of this kind occurred in the persons of Mrs. Tamlin and Mrs. Benedict, mediums whose names have since become an integral part of the great American spiritual record. Several other ladies were also developed in the Auburn circles as mediums and clairvoyants. A great variety of gifts in the direction of physical, writing, healing, seeing, and trance mediumship also became rapidly manifest in various families of the highest respectability, and the great majority of these developments took place irrespective of Miss Fox's presence, although her visit first called the attention of the community to the subject, and induced the formation of the circles in which these powers in the various media became externalized. In Mr. Capron's work on the early Spiritualism of America are recorded some very interesting accounts of the manifestations at Auburn; amongst others, the following incidents, which were also verified to the author by Mr. Henry C. Wright, an eye-witness of the scenes. Mr. Capron writes: " Mrs. Tamlin was, so far as I have been able to learn, the first medium through whom the guitar or other musical instruments were played, without visible contact, so as to recognize tunes. In her presence it was played with all the exactness of an experienced musician, although she is not acquainted with music, or herself able to play on any instrument. The tones varied from loud and vigorous to the most refined touches of the strings that could be imagined." At a circle held at Mrs. Tamlin's, when about seven or eight persons were present, whose testimony was afterwards publicly tendered for the truth of what follows, Mr. Capron goes on to say: " I had magnetized the medium, and, after various manifestations of the spirits, she said that they. were about to do something new which she could not understand. After sitting a few minutes, we heard a low sound like a distant locomotive whistle. Soon, however, the sound grew louder, and softened into the most exquisite music. One of the company was requested to sing and she did so; the most beautiful music accompanied. It was like the notes of an exquisite IEolian harp, but any attempt to describe its beauty would fail.. We frequently had the same kind of music in the presence of Mrs. Tamlin...... At times it would resemble the finest conceivable tones of the human voice, and almost seem to be dissolved into words. "Another phase of this musical manifestation was the imitation of'Fabyan's' horn. This was first produced when Henry C. Wright was present. He called for the spirit of N. P. Rogers and asked him to sound the horn, when immediately a sound came like the sounding of a horn and its reverberation among distant hills, echoing and re-echoing for a long time. Mr. Wright had visited the White Mountains in company with N. P. Rogers some years before, and there had heard Fabyan, the hotel-keeper, wind his horn among the hills, and it was this sound that was so exactly imitated. Mr. Wright afterwards published a description of this scene in a pamphlet." So long as the manifestations continued to be of the character above narrated, their appearance in Auburn was hailed with delight by bereaved mourners, to whom conclusive evidences of the presence and watchful guardianship of beloved spirit friends was clearly proven. It excited the interest of the scientific from the fact that wonderful phenomena of a novel and interesting character were produced. It startled the learned by the exhibition of ignorant adults and uninstructed children speaking in foreign languages, and often with marvellous eloquence. Clairvoyance, psychometry, and healing by the laying on of hands or spiritual prescriptions, testified to the beneficent character of the intelligence and the vast range of uses which it included. 58 HISTORY OF MODERN But the profound ignorance of all psychological phenomena in which this material age has been steeped, soon operated to mar and deform the infant movement. The world had to learn that the spirit country is peopled from earth, and that spirit-life commences from the point where mortal existence ends. Unconscious of this solemn truth, the early communicants with the unseen world were unprepared for the visitation of the dark spirits whom the sad experiences of earth had manufactured into criminals. Unaware that life, whether here or hereafter, is progress, not violent and unnatural change, investigators were appalled at the representations, produced through media, of the same vicious tendencies in spirits which they had beheld with indifference from the same spirits whilst inhabitants of earth; in a word, they did not realize the fact that spirits were still human, and that the soul in many respects remained unchanged by the mere act of physical dissolution. In this state of perplexity and ignorance the return of earth's criminals was generally met, either by the superstitious and unavailing exercises of old Catholic rites, or submitted to blindly in the idea that all spirits must necessarily be authoritative, until the unwary medium became the subject of the distressing condition now known as "obsession." Still, though the first circles were conducted in a condition of mental blindness scandalous to the religious teachers who should long since have instructed mankind concerning "spiritual gifts" and spiritual existences, in course of time the investigators learned experimentally to realize the true character of the spirit-world, and that more conclusively by their failures than they could have done by contemplating the sunlit side of the picture only. But whilst the philosophical Spiritualist began to realize the true conditions of immortality from communion with the beings who were living in its experience, the egotist and fanatic appropriated as their share of the great spiritual outpouring, precisely those elements which were best calculated to stimulate their vanity and pander to their superstitious imaginings. Amongst the Auburn Spiritualists were to be found several extremely ignorant but strongly bigoted persons of the Second Advent persuasion. The phenomena of modern Spiritualism, interpreted through their own narrow credal views, appeared to them to be the actual inauguration of the long-promised "millennium," whilst they-the "true believers"- must of course be the chosen ones through whom the millennial dynasty was to be established on earth. Quite early in the movement a circle had been formed, which at first had received the modest title of "The Auburn Circle;" but no sooner did the "chosen few" of the millennial belief gain a foothold in this happy gathering than they bent themselves to the work of converting it to their own purposes and using the manifestations as an endorsement of their peculiar opinions; in fact, as an eye-witness of the scenes here enacted described to the author, "in return for their conversion to Spiritualism they strove to convert the spirits to Second Adventism." In pursuance of this notable idea they secured the services of Mrs. Benedict, an impressible rapping medium, through whom the influences mortal and immortal that operated in this circle, dictated plans of action designed to make "the universe rock," and that portion of it which they modestly called this little planet, a convert to their faith and a subject to the spiritual authority of John the Divine, Daniel the Prophet, Paul the Apostle, and other Biblical worthies whom they assumed to have become temporarily reincarnated in their mediumship. The title of the circle was changed from the "Auburn" to the "Apostolic Circle; Mrs. Benedict, the AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 59 medium, was dispatched to New York, where, under spirit direction, she summoned a certain Baptist preacher, named James D. Scott, to come to Auburn to minister in the work. A series of papers were published purporting to emanate from various distinguished personages of Jewish origin and of the Apostolic age. Some of these publications were well calculated to produce the results which their authors predicted for them, namely, a revolution, though not exactly in the universe, or even in the "little' planet" earth, but simply in the fortunes of the luckless publishers, who found the issue of the said pamphlets exciting a very revolutionary effect upon their worldly prosperity. To the disbelievers in the Divine origin of these papers they certainly created no little feeling of indignation at the audacity which could append the names of prophets and apostles to their absurd puerilities, whilst even the most credulous of the well-educated Spiritualists had' cause to mourn over the deterioration in grammar and orthography which befalls the exalted dead by a long residence in the spirit-world. About the commencement of the year I850 the Apostolic Brotherhood" assumed a more respectable literary shape under the authority of the Rev. James Scott, and actually rose into eminence by the accession to their ranks of the renowned poet, preacher, and medium, the Rev. Thomas L. Harris, who was also spiritually called to" the work." With the leadership of these accomplished gentlemen, -who claimed to act under the highest spiritual guidance, -the movement gained in numbers and in importance until it seemed to absorb and control nearly all the Spiritualism in Auburn, reflect itself through the chief of the communications, crystallize into a numerously attended religious meeting, and finally to culminate in the famous " Mountain Cove movement," of which a detailed description will be given in a later chapter. And here it may be asked whether these shadows, cast by human pride, presumption, and fanaticism, did not irrevocably quench the dawning light of the still embryotic spiritual movement? We answer, most unquestionably not; although many were the confident predictions of such a result; indeed certain journalistic magnates who had hitherto been indefatigable in castigating the cause through their columns, now abandoned their efforts with the complaisant remark that "the Spiritualists themslves were performing the work of self-destruction, and it was only necessary to give them rope enough and they would inevitably hang themselves." In view of what has been already narrated, there is no doubt but that this enlightened policy would have had the desired effect had it so happened that all the Spiritualists of Auburn were included by the followers of Pope Harris and Cardinal Scott; but besides a very considerable number outside of their ranks, even some of those who had been subject to their authority gained by their experience some very wise and useful lessons, and not a few of these deluded ones, instead of rushing to the destruction so liberally predicated for them, exchanged their leadership for Pope Judgment and Cardinal Reason, dignitaries who were henceforth enshrined in plenary authority over the spiritualistic circles at Auburn. Amongst the lessons that these rulers taught was the very important one that no spirit, mortal or immortal, should stand between the creature and the Creator; that it was necessary to try the spirits out of the form by precisely the same rules of good and use as those which applied to spirits in theform, and finally that the spirit-world was of no more authority as spirits unbodied than the earth-world as spirits still embodied. These lessons the recipients deemed cheaply learned, even though the price paid for them was the ridicule of a community profoundly ignorant of the subject they ridiculed. As to the "faithful" amongst the "Apostolic Brotherhood," they soon 60 HISTORY OF tIMODERN disposed of the question, as far as the people of Auburn were concerned, by quitting that "reprobate community" for the holy retreat of "Mountain Cove" under the leadership of their inspired shepherds. After this instructive episode Spiritualism in Auburn rose, Phenix-like, resurrected from the ashes of fanaticism into purified life, strength, and increasing numbers. Mediumis began to multiply, the gifts of the spirit became constantly more abundant, and the ranks of Spiritualism were swelled with daily added converts. Sunday-meetings were in due time established, and a well written weekly paper entitled The Spiritual Clarion, together with an annual statistical register, was issued from the office of the Rev. Uriah Clark, an ex-Universalist minister, who established the above-named periodicals in Auburn, from whence they long continued to go forth as welcome evangels of the spiritual Gospel to the world. The city now numbers thousands of Spiritualists; nor, with all the " rope" that Christian ministers and learned editors so generously allowed them, have they yet "hanged themselves," or permanently hindered the progress of their glorious cause. CHAPTER VI. SPIRITUALISM IN NEW YORK FROM 1849 TO 855. "They wrought with sad sincerity; Themselves from God they could not free; They builded wiser than they knew The conscious stone to beauty grew." SPIRITUAL SPRING-TIME IN NEW YORK —REV. S. B. BRITAIN, HIS SPIRITUAL BIRTH- THE "UNIVERCGELUM" DR. HALLOCK AND THE PROPHETIC CLAIRVOYANT- A LITERARY CIRCIE-JAMES FENIMORE COOPER, GEORGE BANCROFT, N. P. WILLIS, WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT, AND OTHER INVESTIGATORS —THE PRESS EXPLAINING, IGNORING, ABUSING, DECRYING, DEFYING, AND MYSTIFYING THE MYSTERY- THOSE ROCHESTER KNOCKINGS AGAIN — GRIMES, CHAUNCY, BURR, AND MRS. CULVER. No year in the first epoch of modern Spiritualism has been more fruitful with events of interest than I850. It was in that year that manifestations of the most violent and astounding character appeared in the family of Dr. Eliakim Phelps, D.D., of Stratford, Connecticut. It was then also that rappings, automatic writing, and other intelligent modes of communing with spirits became familiar in Boston through the mediumship of Mrs. Margaret Cooper, daughter of the eminent lecturer and writer, LeRoy Sunderland. On February i, I850, a party of ladies and gentlemen, in Philadelphia, Penn., formed themselves into an experimental circle, and after a very few sittings succeeded in obtaining, through raps, clairvoyance, and other methods, satisfactory communion with the spirit-world. Circles were inaugurated in the same year in Providence, Rhode Island; Binghamton, Westfield, Albany, Troy, Waterford, and numerous other places in New York State; in Cincinnati, where the test rappings were remarkably powerful and intelligent; in Memphis, Tennessee; St. Louis, Missouri; California, Oregon, Texas, South America, Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire, similar manifestations appeared, and all before the personal influence of the "original Rochester .,~-..:',^-c j ~^M ffilllftlilli:ffii.. l/ -"" I^ ^ W ^~ ~^ llll lllll;>I.....~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.... AMERICAN SPIRITUALISiL. 61 mediums" could give the least color to the supposition, put forth in many instances by the press, that these persons were the authors or "teachers" of the "awful delusion" that had seized on the dwellers of these wide-spread districts of America. In New York State it cannot be questioned that the rumor of the Rochester investigations, the visits of the mediums to its different towns, combined with the powerful effect which the phenomenal career of A. J. Davis produced, contributed to fill up the overflowing measure of spiritual life which has specially distinguished this State. In the cities of Troy and Albany, with the neighboring villages of Waterford and Lansingburgh, most excellent mediums were developed, at a very early period of the movement, for various phases of "the power." The visits of the Misses Fox and the reports from Rochester first called attention to the subject, but communion with the spirit-world by no means depended on these agencies. For example: In the family of Mr. Anson Attwood, of Troy, a gentleman of prominent position and high character, one of his little daughters, a child of about ten years of age, became suddenly developed for marvellous phases of the strongest physical character, besides rapping, writing, and clairvoyance; and similar manifestations continued to spring up like grass beneath the feet in every place and with every variety of development. For the present, however, we shall limit our observations to the progress of Spiritualism in New York City. One of the main features of interest in tracing a movement for which a supra-mundane origin is affirmed, must necessarily be derived from the proofs that can be offered in verification of that claim. The history of the rise and progress of Spiritualism in New York City forms as valuable an item in this class of testimony as can well be selected, for we see the principal actors in the great drama being prepared in methods peculiar to themselves long before they were called upon to take part in the seances by which they have since become publicly identified with Spiritualism. A striking illustration of this occurs in the person of the Rev. S. B. Britain, a gentleman widely known as an author of eminent literary and scientific attainments, but more especially distinguished as one who has filled the various positions of editor, lecturer, essayist, magnetizer, psychologist, and magnetic physician in the spiritual ranks. By his eloquent advocacy, public discussions, and editorial labors, Mr. Britain has rendered services to the cause of Spiritualism which can never be over-estimated; yet his adherence was not secured through phenomenal evidence or any of the ordinary channels of human propagandism. Whilst officiating as pastor to the First Univeralist Church in Albany, New York, and during the progress of a severe fit of sickness, Mr. Britain was thrown into a state of profound trance, which for a period of twelve days held his consciousness in abeyance, neither did he receive the least nourishment for twenty-one days. From this condition, hovering between sleep and death, Mr. Britain returned to life, awakening from the trance as mysteriously as he had sunk into it. With the restoration of health and consciousness, however, his feelings experienced a complete revulsion, which marked him for a changed man. Either a fresh train of thought was infused into his mind by the still, small voice whose utterances can never be interpreted into human speech, or the presence of a strange spiritual visitor [whom he described as of majesic aspect and benevolent bearing, often standing near him during the period of his trance] engraved on his mind a set of impressions wholly distinct and at variance from those which his former life's images had left. Certain it is that he arose from his couch of suffering like a 62 HISTORY OF MODERN soul resurrected from the ashes of a buried past. For a brief period only, he resumed his ministerial duties; and though earnestly entreated by his congregation to remain with them and distribute the living bread of which it was evident that he had partaken, he felt a strong mental pressure compelling him to sever his connection with any credal organization where he might be fettered in the free range and expression of the newly-born thoughts that were animating him. It has already been noticed that the appearance of Mr. A. J. Davis's extraordinary work, "Nature's Divine Revelations," was followed by the publication of the Univercceaum of which the Rev. S. B. Britain was the editor. Mr. Britain had taken a warm interest in the young " Poughkeepsie Seer's" supra-mundane development; and having himself become an earnest investigator into magnetism, clairvoyance, and those occult mysteries of which he reasonably judged his own case was an evidence, he naturally gravitated to the ranks of the philosophic Spiritualists, amongst whom his literary attainments and highly-cultured intellect procured him a distinguished place. Thus it was that he became, by universal consent of his new associates, the editor of a paper which was designed to embody the most spiritually illuminated thoughts of the age. But Mr. Britain's phenomenal preparation for entering the ranks of Spiritualism was by no means an isolated evidence of spirit agency. Nearly all the persons connected directy or indirectly with Spiritualism have some remarkable experiences to relate - some evidence to give that they were each being prepared in their place to become one of the highly-wrought and polished stones in the great temple of the "New Jerusalem" so that when at last they came together as if by the force of mutual and inevitable attraction, they found that they had but been instruments in the hands of the supreme power, who was fashioning each, through their separate experiences, to the work of Divine ministration. At the New York Conference, established in I85I, for the discussion of psychological subjects, Dr. Hallock, one of the most able and prominent advocates of the truth of Spiritualism, related several experiences he had enjoyed with magnetic subjects about the time of the advent of the Rochester knockings; amongst these is a case strikingly illustrative of hundreds of others that were occurring in various parts of the country. Dr. Hallock, being a skilful operator, was asked by a clairvoyant to magnetize her for the purpose of examining an article which had just appeared in the New York Tribune of December, I848, on the subject of the "rappings" at Hydesville. "The clairvoyant passed," says the doctor, "into a kind of religious ecstacy, and in a solemn but happy frame of mind, evinced by a great change in her manner and appearance, went on to say that the newspaper statement of the Rochester phenomena was true. That it would not end there, but would be repeated in various places in America, Europe, and Asia. That its object was to convince the world of the realities of spiritual life and communion, and that these manifestations would not cease until the end was accomplished. She said it appeared to her as if a man by the name of Swedenborg had a great deal to do with it. That the rapping seemed to be made by the strong will of a man trying to impress himself on others. She described the appearance of Swedenborg while on earth, related anecdotes of his life, and added, "Why, he was like me; that is, he could be in one place, and tell what was going on in another. " All her statements with regard to Swedenborg were verified by history, and those concerning the Rochester mediums, besides other collateral circumstances, were found upon inquiry to be AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 63 strictly true; yet this person was very illiterate, and could have had no instruction upon the historical and scientific points she discoursed of. When questioned in her normal state if she had ever heard of Swedenborg, she replied, with unmistakable sincerity, "No; does he live in New York?" and thus the effects which magnetism and clairvoyance exerted in preparing the public mind and mediumistic organizations for the reception of Spiritualism was strikingly illustrated, and the advent of the Rochester knockings in New York found the ground ploughed, harrowed, and seed-bearing, long before the first visit of the Misses Fox to the city. Notices of "the mysterious rappings in Hydesville" had already been widely circulated in the papers. Startling accounts of similar manifestations had reached the citizens from their friends in different parts of the States. "Rappings," it was said, had "broken out" in several towns in the immediate vicinity of Rochester, but above all, public attention was painfully excited by the report of the manifestations occurring at the house of the Rev. Dr. Phelps, of Stratford. The unquestionable veracity and high ecclesiastical position of Dr. Phelps, and the frightfully preternatural character of the events transpiring in his family, had excited a feeling of curiosity mingled with terror which was heightened by the accounts of marvels transpiring in other places with which the public were made familiar through the press, especially the New-York Tribune, the columns of which, through the influence of its progressive editors, were open to a free representation of the subject from all quarters, and on both sides of the question. It is from a file of this paper for the year I850 that the author is enabled to present an account of a circle which was held through the mediumship of the Fox family soon atter their first professional visit to New York City in the spring of I850. The reader will perceive that the whole recital points to the mere infancy of the movement, and does not offer a view of any phenomena even commonly interesting or startling; but as presenting a fair specimen of the cautious tone of newspaper narratives of that period-however favorable the writer's opinions might be on the subject-but still more in view of the interest with which we must associate investigations, connected with names so distinguished in literature as those which figure in this circle, we deem the verbatim report of the Tribune may prove an acceptable record. The paper from which we extract this report being torn and the date defective, we are only enabled to indicate the time as being about the spring of 1850. The report was drawn up by one of the editors, a man of great learning and intelligence, Mr. Ripley. "AN EVENING WITH THE'SPIRITS'-NEW YORK, 1850. " We were present on Thursday evening at a party of gentlemen who had been invited to the chambers of the Rev. Dr. Griswold, in Broadway, to meet the Rochester ladies, whose connection with the mysterious knockings has called forth such general curiosity. The party had been arranged by Dr. Griswold, who has been incredulous from the first with regard to any preternatural character in the manifestations.. "It consisted of persons whose general character for intelligence and probity was a guarantee against their being deluded by hasty impressions, and who probably without exception had no prepossession in favor of the principal actors in the movement. "Among the guests of Dr. Griswold we may without impropriety mention the names of Mr. J. Fenimore Cooper, Mr. George Bancroft, Rev. Dr. Hawks, Dr. J. W. Francis, Dr. Marcy, Mr. N. P. Willis, William Cullen Bryant, Mr. Bigelow of the Evening Post, Mr. Richard B. Kimball, Mr. II. T. Tuckerman, and General Lyman.... "The ladies had been previously consulted, and after ascertaining that manifestations would take place, consented to meet the party. In order to prevent any suspicion as to the 64 HISTORY OF MODERN arrangement of the room, furniture, closets, etc., the reunione was appointed at the house of Dr. Griswold, which neither of the ladies had ever entered before the party was assembled. A little past eight o'clock they made their appearance- Mrs. Fox, an elderly lady, the mother of the'ghost-seers' [which word we use for want of a better], Mrs. Fish, a married daughter, and her two younger sisters... "For some time, perhaps a little over half an hour, after the arrival of the ladies no sounds were heard, and the company gave obvious symptoms of impatience. They were then requested to draw nearer the table, which was in front of the ladies, and form themselves into a compact circle. Soon after faint sounds began to be heard from under the floor, around the table, and in different parts of the room. "They increased in loudness and frequency, becoming so clear and distinct that no one could deny their presence nor trace them to any visible cause. The question was now asked by the'ghost-seers,'' Will the spirits converse with any one present?'...... " After a good deal of coquetting it was said that replies would be given to any questions proposed by Dr. Marcy. He inquired whether the spirit which he wished to converse with was a relation, was a child, and what was its age at the time of its death, etc. We understood Dr. Marcy to say that the answers were correct... " Mr. Henry T. Tuckerman was the next to propound inquiries which, contrary to the usual custom, he expressed audibly, so as to be heard by the ladies and the whole company. Having fixed in his mind the name of an individual he asked,' Did he live in New York?' No answer.'In Baltimore? In Cambridge? In Boston?' Three distinct raps, which is the sign of an affirmative answer. A negative reply is indicated by silence. Mr. T. continued,' Was he a lawyer? A merchant? A physician? A clergyman?' Knocks.' Was he an Episcopalian? A Presbyterian? A Unitarian?' going over the names of the principal sects. No answer. At the suggestion of a gentleman, Mr. T. asked,' Was he a Christian?' Knocks. Mr. T. then asked the age of the person in a series of tens.'Was he twenty years old at the time of his death? Was he thirty? Fifty? Sixty?' Knocks.'Has he left a family?' Knocks.'Children?' Knocks.'Five? Three? Two?' Knocks.'Did he die in Boston? In Philadelphia? In Albany? In Northampton? In Bennington?' Knocks.'Did he die of consumption? Of fever? Of cholera? Of old age?' Knocks. "The person in Mr. Tuckerman's mind was the late Rev. Dr. Channing, of Boston, who died in Bennington, Vermont, while on a journey. The degree of correctness in the answers may be judged by the reader. It may be stated, however, that for the last few years of his life Dr. C. disclaimed the use of all sectarian names, preferring to be called only Christian, and that, though under seventy, his physical powers had long suffered from premature exhaustion. " Rev. Dr. Hawks -vwa then urgently requested by several of the party to propose inquiries, to which, after sone hesitation, he reluctantly consented. He did not meet with any great success. The sounds uttered were faint... " After several more ineffectual attempts he resigned the floor to Dr. Francis, who was welcomed with a general roll of knockings from the mysterious agents, seeming to claim the privilege of old and intimate acquaintance. With his proverbial urbanity, seating himself as if at the bedside of a patient, Dr. F. asked in terms of the most insinuating blandness whether the spirits present would converse with any member of the company. Would they vouchsafe to speak to his illustrious friend, the world-renowned author, Mr. Cooper? Would they converse with the great American poet, Mr. Bryant? To these flattering invitations no reply was given. Would they speak to so humble an individual as himself? Loud knocks. Dr. F. then asked, fixing on a person,'Was he an American? Was he an Englishman? Was he a Scotchman?' The knocks were loud and unanimous.'Was he a merchant? Was he a lawyer? Was he an author?' Loud knock/s.'Was he a poet?''Yes,' in distinct knocks.'Will you tell his name?' Here the spirits called for the alphabet, by sounds intelligible to the'ghost-seers.' The answers by this method are given in knocks at the letter desired, when the alphabet is repeated by one of the ladies. It then spelled out B-u-r-, when the company indiscreetly, but spontaneously, interrupted, by crying out,'Robert Burns.' This was the true answer, and after the interview with the favorite Scotch poet Dr. F. declined any further communication. "Mr. J. Fenimore Cooper was then requested to enter into the supra-mundane sphere, and proceeded to interrogate the spirits with the most imperturbable self-possession and deliberation. After several desultory questions from which no satisfactory answers were obtained, Mr. C. commenced a new series of inquiries.' Is the person I inquire about a relative?''Yes,' was at once indicated by the knocks.'A near relative?''Yes.''A man?" No answer.'A woman?'' Yes.''A daughter? Amother? Awife?' No answer.'A sister?''Yes.' Mr. C. then asked the number of years since her death. AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 65 To this the answer was given in rapid and. distinct raps, some counting forty-five, others forty-nine, fifty-four, etc. After considerable parleying as to the manner in which the question should be answered, the consent of the invisible interlocutor was given to knock the years so slowly that they might be distinctly counted. This was done. Knock, knock, knock, for over a minute, till the number amounted to fifty, and was unanimously announced by the company. Mr. C. now asked,'Did she die of consumption?' naming several diseases to which no answer was given.'Did she die by accident?''Yes.'' Was she killed by lightning? Was she shot? Was she lost at sea? Did she fall from a carriage? Was she thrown from a horse?''Yes.' Mr. Cooper did not pursue his inquiries any further, and stated to the company that the answers were correct, the person alluded to by him being a sister who, just fifty years ago the present month, was killed by being thrown from a horse. " The evening was now far advanced, and it was not thought desirable to continue the colloquies any further. At the suggestion of several gentlemen, the ladies removed from the sofa, where they had sat during the evening, and remained standing in another part of the room, producing a vibration on the pannels which was felt by every one who touched them. Different gentlemen stood on the outside and the inside of the door at the same time, when loud knockings were heard on the side opposite to that where they stood. The ladies were at such a distance from the door in both cases as to lend no countenance to the idea that the sounds were produced by any direct communication with them. They now went into a parlor, under the room in which the party was held, accompanied by several gentlemen, and the sounds were then produced with great distinctness, causing sensible vibrations in the sofa, and apparently coming from a thick hearth-rug before the fire-place, as well as from other quarters of the room. Such are the most important facts which we can recall of the manifestations of the evening. We believe we have stated them without any coloring whatever, as they appeared to every one present; but with regard to their origin or their nature, we are as much in the dark as any of our readers. The manners and bearing of the ladies are such as to create a prepossession in their favor. They have no theories to offer in explanation of the acts of their mysterious attendants, and apparently have no control of their incomings or outgoings." Many of the persons then present for the first time at a spiritual seance have since become firm believers in the truth of the communion between the natural and spiritual worlds, while some have themselves entered into the sphere of those sublime verities which they then began to investigate as a. matter of simple curiosity or pastime. Amongst these, it is gratifying to know that the distinguished author and poet Fenimore Cooper and N. P. Willis partook of the illuminating influence of the bright homes to which they were so soon after summoned, as premonitory whispers which cheered their earthly way and prepared their pilgrim feet for the brighter path they are now treading. In how many thousands of ears have these same low telegraphic raps sounded the triumphant words,. "O death, where is thy sting? 0 grave, where is thy victory?" on the eve of the very hour when some earthly pilgrim was about to take his "leap in the dark?" How many a footprint to the tomb has been illumined into the highway of eternity by the spirit lights which flashed before the eyes of: mortals at these same "evenings with the spirits." Precisely the same results which followed the introduction of Spiritualism: in Auburn, grew out of the Misses Fox's visit to New York, namely, the unmitigated bitterness with which the press and pulpit commenced to assail the cause, and the unmistakable progress which it seemed to make under the stimulus of their fierce denunciations. In fact, the opposition became so violent and unreasonable that it provoked investigation, were it only to inquire into the calumnies that were launched against the mediums and their friends, and the absurdly fallacious theories that were set up to account for the phenomena. The result of this feverish excitement was the formation of circles in every other house in town, and the rapid development of media in every other family. 5 66 HISTORY OF NMODERN We have before stated that a psychological society of which A. J. Davis's revelations formed the concretive power, was in existence at the time of the Hydesville disturbances, whilst the issue of the Uzivercltum preceded that event for more than a year. The visit of the Misses Fox in 1850 was most opportune, however. That which had hitherto been regarded as the mysterious power of clairvoyance and the revelations of the magnetic sleep, now assumed a normal place as part of the direct communication which had ever subsisted between " the two worlds," and all the preternatural spontaniety of the magnetic movement was justly regarded as the inspiration of wise spirits; a belief that was perpetually being strengthened by a variety of fresh phases of mediumship, all rife with intelligent proofs of the agency of individuals who had long been deemed lost to earth and its interests in the dim mystery of the grave. To arrive at any just conception of the excitement to which the public mind was stimulated by the development of open spiritual communion with the so-called "dead," and to appreciate the motives which compelled the wise and candid to enter upon the field of investigation with the generous purpose of protesting against the calumnies and one-sided action of the press towards Spiritualism, it will be necessary to quote some of the journalistic slanders that were thus put forth, and in so doing we shall make a few extracts from a small pamphlet on the early facts of Spiritualism by Messrs. Capron and Barron, in which the authors, amongst other matters of interest, give a statement of the New York Express to which we especially desire to call attention. It would seem that some time antecedent to the Rochester knockings, a certain Professor Loomis had set forth a theory in the Scientific American, concerning the vibratory effects of mill-dams, and this the sapient editor of the Express tortured into a full explanation of all the mysteries of modern Spiritualism, no doubt thinking that if he could destroy the spiritualistic basis of the rappings, the entire hydra-headed monster, whose existence he innocently attributed to the Fox family, would be destroyed at one fell swoop. His explanation reads thus: "THE ROCHESTER SPIRITS.-We have referred in our literary notices to various noises heard at Rochester, New York, and attributed to supernatural causes. "In the New York Scientific American we find the following very plausible and very simple explanation: "'SUPERNATURAL KNOCKINGS. —A'knocking at the door at nights,' which has alarmed the good people of Rochester who attributed it to spiritual agency, is explained in the American Journal of Science, by Prof. Loomis, as the effect of the vibration of a dam over which the water falls. Prof. Loomis describes this vibration as producing sounds like a loud knocking on the doors and walls of buildings, and gives a particular account of the phenomena as observed at the dams of Cayuga Falls, Ohio; East Windsor, Conn.; Springfield and Northampton, Mass., etc. He attributes the vibrations to the friction of the water falling over the dam, and shows how these sounds are transmitted to a distance by the earth and produce that sudden and alarming knocking sound in dwellings. Prof. Loomis has pointed to a very simple and easy method of checking this vibratory action of the dam; and the people of Rochester, who have been troubled by an invisible spirit, will find it easily exercised by mechanical means.' "'O philosophy and common sense, ye play the devil with theories!' said one of the snarlers in the days of the Encyclopedists." It will be seen that the New York Express makes no allowance for the locomotive character of these sounds, nor provides for their exorcism in its own city, nor in any other place except those afflicted by vibratory noises AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 67 from the neighborhoood of waterfalls, whilst the agency by which these noises could communicate intelligence is disdainfully untouched altogether. On the other hand, one Professor Dewey, of Rochester, challenged the "respectable papers in New York, Boston, etc," to discredit the vibratory theory because it was [as he justly declared] inapplicable to the facts of the case; but in its place he substituted the bold and. wholly unsustained assertion that the Rochester nanifestations were the simple production of fraud, on the part of the Foxes, a statement which if true in their case, never touched similar manifestations which were now beginning to thicken in every part of the country; nevertheless, the New York papers, unable to furnish weapons of their own wherewith to annihilate Spiritualism, eagerly repeated Prof. Dewey's assertions as facts, instead of perceiving that they were simply the ghosts of dead arguments, and as such could never enter into successful warfare with living spirits. One of the committee who had been appointed to examine the mediums at Rochester, and had actually signed a report in their favor which was read at Corinthian Hall, without any further investigation or assignable reason, save the desire to swim with the tide of popular opinion, coolly published in several papers an uncalled-for denunciation of the Rochester mediums, on the ground of fraud, a charge which his own former report had utterly repudiated. A number of base and groundless falsehoods were published also by one John W. Hum, of Rochester, and though they were noted, answered, and triumphantly refuted one by one in the spiritual literature of the day, the papers that circulated the scandal almost invariably refused to give place to the refutation. A man calling himself Reverend (?) and a Doctor of Divinity, stood on the platform in Corinthian Hall, Rochester, and before a literary association whom he was called upon to instruct, and with less skill than would have been exhibited by an itinerant conjurer at a country fair, cracked his boots to the delight of his literary auditory, and declared that to be the explanation of all the disturbances at Hydesville. The learned and Christian gentleman's "complete explanation" was another item which found a wide and ready circulation in the leading journals of the day. Several other theories of equal value and pertinence were afforded extensive publicity through the same sources. Amongst these, "ankle joints," " toe joints," and "finger snapping;" "machinery," and every description of imposture generally, largely figured; the characters of nearly every person connected with the movement, were recklessly assailed, and scarcely a single opportunity of redress was afforded to the victims of these falsehoods by the press through their columns. One or two more specimens of the blindness which partisan feeling imposed upon the antagonists of this movement are selected from hundreds of similar lucubrations, not for their worth, but rather to show the exhaustive and illogical positions the opposition were compelled to assume. The New York Commercial Advertiser writes: "THOSE ROCHESTER KNOCKINGS. —We perceive that a gentleman in town * is lecturing on divers matters of inscrutable physiology, and endeavoring to establish some connection between them and the rappings of the pretended spirits at Rochester. We are satis. fled, so far as the rappings are concerned, the gentleman may spare himself the trouble of discoursing on the subject. * (Rev. S. B. Brittain.) 68 HISTORY OF MODERN " We have had a long and instructive'conversation with a gentleman of intelligence from the vicinity of Rochester, and his account makes it clear to our minds that the mystery is not only an imposture, but a very clumsy one; indebted for its success entirely to the credulity of the auditors and spectators who are impressed by it. We say entirely to the credulity, for the clumsiness of the imposture is so great, there is so little art in the means adopted to avert detection, that people have literally to shut their eyes to avoid seeing. The only point upon which there is any successful trick is the manner in which the rapping is effected. It is easy enough to see, if people will not shut their eyes wilfully, that the girls effect the rapping somehow. For instance, if they are prevented from placing themselves in close proximity to a door, a table, a piano, or some object to rap on, the rapping soon ceases... As for the moving of the table, anybody can see how that is done. A slight impulse with the foot gives a movement to a table which runs very readily on rollers, and as the spectators are required to gather close round the table when it is to be moved, nothing can be easier than to give it a start, or an imperceptible push merely with the toe of a boot." etc. Other statements of a personal character were made in relation to the friends and associates of the mediums in this article, so grossly false that Mr. E. W. Capron wrote to demand, in simple justice, a contradiction of the misstatements, inreference to himself at least. This was refused, and the editor who claimed to represent the piety as well as the commercial interests of New York, wilfully committed himself to the circulation of known and proven falsehoods. Since the day when the New York Commercial Advertiser warned the world " only just to open its eyes " and they would discover the whole thing, and discover it to be the trick of girls and the impulses of "boot toes," upwards of five thousand portraits of deceased persons have been executed under circumstances that rendered deception or mistake as impossible as to mistake the light of the mid-day sun for the glaring lamps of the city gas; thousands and thousands of heavy, ponderable bodies have floated in space without human contact; spirit-hands have been formed and melted in the grasp of the examinant; pages, even to the amount of volumes, have been written by spirit hands alone; millions of forms have been seen, described and recognized as well-remembered friends, through the mediumship of total strangers; hidden things have been dragged to light; secret crimes revealed; thousands of darkened souls have been convinced of their immortal destiny by facts tested through the severest and most exhaustive scrutiny, and the few hundreds of "credulous, gullible" believers, in the genuine character of the manifestations, whom this editorial sage so bitterly satirizes, have swelled to a mighty army of eleven millions of persons! And who are they whom he declares have only to open their eyes to detect the imposture? Magistrates on the bench; statesmen in the Senate; lawyers, counsellors, judges, professors of learning and divinity, schoolmen and editors, doctors and divines, writers, thinkers, chemists, and men and women of science, learning, intelligence and high repute; plain farmers, shrewd mechanics, common-sense operatives; the wise and the ignorant, the rich and the poor - every class and every grade of mind but those whom bigotry determines to remain blind, prejudice keeps so, lack of opportunity deprives of the knowledge, or those in whom lack of common-sense prevents its appreciation. The Northern Christian Advocate, the organ of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and as such, no doubt, the source from which the members of that respectable body felt authorized to expect truthful instruction concerning spiritual subjects, writes thus: AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 69' For the information of several friends at a distance who have written to us to know about the strange noises which are heard in this city we would say, that we know nothing of the matter. " Not being overstocked with gullibility and having very little taste for the low marvels which furnish entertainment to some people, we have left the thing to take care of itself. " The class of persons who deal in those mysteries -we mean juggling, sight-seeing, and sceptical- makes all inquiry into the subject disgusting to a firm believer in revelation." After this cool assurance that the writer "knew nothing at all about the matter," and was deterred from inquiry about "the thing," from the character of the " class of persons" that generally took an interest in such subjects, this faithful "watchman on the walls of Zion" proceeds to make deliberate assertions of the fraud, imposture, and impiety of all the actors in the scene, with as much assurance as if he had actually performed his duty by a thorough and searching investigation of "the thing" he denounced. But still more audacious warriors were provoked to do battle with the spirits than the flock of illogical scribblers whose only arguments were abuse and slander. Perceiving that the success of Spiritualism was based upon facts, against which mere theories were but as swords brandished to the winds, a tribe of heroes arose who concluded that as the strength of Spiritualism lay in its facts, the force of the opposition must be based upon the same ground. Foremost in the van of these attacks appeared Mr. John Stanley Grimes, a professional mesmerist and exhibitor of the art of electro-biology. Amidst a mass of other daring affirmations published in the Tribune, defamatory of the character and pretensions of all spirit mediums, Mr. Grimes goes on to assert that Mrs. Benedict, of Auburn, confessed to him, " that the raps heard in her presence were made by a board under the floor, poised like a lever, and so arranged that when she stood near the window she could rap upon a peg which was connected with one end of the lever and cause the other end to rise and knock against the middle of the floor." For the production of all the other marvels occurring in her presence, Mr. Grimes added " she - Mrs. Benedict - charged a young woman living in the next house, and two male cousins as confederates; " and as a climax to this confession, the trickster is made to declare, "that she had become acquainted with the women who practiced the same deception at Rochester, and had learned the art of them." As a full exposition of the value of this kind of testimony against Spiritualism, let it be remembered that Mrs. Benedict's mediumship was constantly exhibited in other houses besides her own, where pegs, loose boards, and mechanical contrivances were impossible; also in various other towns besides Auburn, where her only acknowledged confederates resided; that she appeared and acted as a medium on numerous occasions with the most acute and analytical investigating circles; that her own house, boards, walls, carpets, and flooring had been repeatedly searched by sceptics, and above all, that up to the time of the pretended confession, Mrs. Benedict and the "Rochester women" had never met, and except by report, could have had no knowledge of each other's existence. Of the same character and value was the pretended expose afterwards elicited in I851 by the bold attempt of the Rev. Chauncy Burr to present as genuine the statement of a woman who from family differences had become an enemy of the Foxes, after having been at one time on intimate terms with them. o70 IHISTORY OF MODERN This person-a Mrs. Norman Culver —deposed to having been the mother confessor to Catharine Fox, who informed her that the manifestations were the artful concoction of herself, her sister, and cousin; that the sounds were produced by the snapping of their ankle joints, and that when their feet were held by the committees in Rochester, the working of this wonderful piece of human machinery was supplied by a Dutch servant-girl, who rapped with her knuckles on the floor from the cellar below. Without attempting to controvert a statement so miserably flimsy in all its bearings that it cannot cover a single phase of "the manifestations," had they all been made, as this explanation would require, by raps on the ground and by the feet of the Fox sisters, it is enough to say that on the night when upwards of three hundred people conversed by these same raps with the invisible knocker at Hydesville, not one of the Fox family was in the dwelling; that at the time when the investigating committee at Rochester held the young ladies' feet, they were not in their own house, but in places selected by the committee, and that if they had been at home, they could scarcely have availed themselves of the presence of the Dutch servant-girl, no such appendage ever having formed a part of their household. And yet there is scarcely a leading journal of the day which did not retail this bold falsehood, and so few were willing to admit the clear, candid, and well-attested refutation of the family and their friends, that to this day the "confession of Mrs. Norman Culver" is quoted as an argument why Spiritualism, slain at the hands of Rev. Chauncey Burr in I851, cannot be alive this day, although eleven millions of American Spiritualists arise to testify to the fact of its existence. Truly it may be said that the hand that once ventures to launch a slander on the ocean of public opinion has signed the death-warrant of truth in that direction, and committed an act irrevocable even in his own person. No matter how frail be the craft in which the falsehood is launched it never returns to its source, but drifts on forever! He who encounters the poison rarely finds the antidote by its side, and so the tides of eternity bear onward forever the condemnatory verdict which brands the slanderer as the murderer of truth and a traitor to the well-being of humanity. CHAPTER VII. SPIRITUALISM IN NEW YORK-CONTINUED. " 0 pure reformers, not in vain Your trust in human kind, The good which bloodshed could not gain, Your peaceful zeal shall find. The truths ye urge are borne abroad By every wind and tide; The voice of Nature and of God'Speaks out upon your side.' " J. G. WHITTER.a HON. HORACE GREELEY AND THE FOX FAMILY THE NEW YORK CIRCLE AND CONFERENCE THE PRESS OUR VIEWS OF SPIRITS AND SPIRITUALISM NOW AND THEN. AMONGST the many instances of ignorance, bigotry, and misrepresentation, which assailed through the press the first attempts of spirits to communicate AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 71 with mortals, it is gratifying to notice the candid spirit in which the New York Tribune opened its columns to evidence on both sides of the question. About the time when the Misses Fox took up their temporary residence at Barnum's Hotel, in the city, several letters from investigators were published in its columns, detailing their experiences at the various circles they had attended, and even when the writers withheld their own conclusions on the results of the seances, their narrations- presenting as they did an array of evidence of a test character-impressed the public mind, and prompted a wide-spread spirit of investigation. Some of the leading journals became rabid in their denunciations, others considerably modified their tone, but the rappings went on; circles were formed in every direction, and fresh phases of the phenomena perpetually sprung up to meet and overwhelm the vain theories that professed to explain thehn away. Little children, sensitive women, grave men, and even learned professors found themselves suddenly possessed of the gifts that had been so ridiculed or questioned. The leading minds of the city thronged the hotel of the Rochester mediums, and distinguished visitors from far and near took part in their seances with ever-increasing astonishment and interest. Numerous good test-mediums became developed for "the power," and filled the city with available means for general information and research into this new and occult telegraphy with the "beloved ones gone before." The following letter from the Hon. Horace Greeley, containing a statement of his views respecting the rappings produced through the Fox family, though written with characteristic caution, becomes highly interesting from the fact that, as editor of the Tribune, Mr. Greeley's generous and manly treatment of the matter through its columns had already exposed him to the calumnious sneers which were everywhere directed against those who, without avowed partisanship for the subject, ventured even to treat it with candid impartiality: "Mrs. Fox and her three daughters left our city yesterday, on their return to Rochester, after a stay here of some weeks; during which they have subjected the mysterious influence by which they seem to be accompanied to every reasonable test and to the keen and critical scrutiny of hundreds who have chosen to visit them, or whom they have been invited to visit. The rooms which they occupied at the hotel have been repeatedly searched and scrutinized; they have been taken without an hour's notice into houses they had never before entered; they have been unconsciously placed on a glass surface, concealed under the carpet in order to interrupt electrical vibrations; they have been disrobed by a committee of ladies, appointed without notice, and insisting that neither of them should leave the room until the investigation had been made, etc., etc.; yet we believe no one to this moment pretends that he has detected either of them in producing or causing the'rappings,' nor do we think any of their contemnors has invented a plausible theory to account for the production of these sounds, nor the singular intelligence which [certainly at times] has seemed to be manifested through them. Some ten or twelve days since they gave up their rooms at the hotel, and devoted the remainder of their sojourn here to visiting several families, to which they had been invited by persons interested in the subject, and subjecting the singular influence to a closer, calmer examination than could be given to it at an hotel, and before casual companies of strangers, drawn together by vague curiosity more than rational interest, or predetermined and invincible hostility. Our own dwelling was among those they thus visited, not only submitting to, but courting the fullest and keenest inquiry with regard to the alleged'manifestations' from the spirit-world by which they were attended. " We devoted what time we could spare from our duties, out of three days, to this subject; and it would be the basest cowardice not to say that we are convinced beyond a doubt of their perfect integrity and good faith in the premises. " Whatever may be the origin or cause of the rappings,' the ladies in whose presence they occur do not make them. We tested this thoroughly, and to our entire satisfaction. Their conduct and bearing is as unlike that of deceivers as possible; and we think no one acquainted with them could believe them at all capable of engaging in so daring, impious, and 72 HISTORY OF MODERN shameful a juggle as this would be if they caused the sounds. And it is not possible that such a juggle should have been so long perpetrated in public. "A juggler performs one feat quickly, and hurries on to another; he does not devote week after week to the same thing over and over, deliberately, in full view of hundreds who sit beside or confronting him, in broad daylight, not to enjoy, but to detect his trick. A deceiver naturally avoids conversation on the subject of his knavery, but these ladies converse freely and fully with regard to the origin of these'rappings' in their dwellings, years ago; the various sensations they caused in the neighborhood; the excitement created; the progress of the developments; what they have seen, heard and experienced, from first to last. If all were false, they could not fail to have involved themselves ere this in a labyrinth of blasting contradictions, as each separately gives accounts of the most astounding developments at this or that time. Persons foolish enough so to commit themselves without reserve or caution could not have deferred a thorough self-exposure for a single week. "Of course a variety of opinions of so strange a matter would naturally be formed by the various persons who have visited them, and we presume that those who have merely run into their room for an hour or so, and listened, among a huddle of strangers, to a medley of questions-not all admitting of very profitable answers- put to certain invisible intelligences, and answered by'rappings,' or singular noises on the floor, table, etc., as the alphabet was called over, or otherwise, would naturally go away, perhaps puzzled, probably disgusted, rarely convinced. "It is hardly possible that a matter, ostensibly so grave, could be presented under circumstances less favorable to conviction. But of those who have enjoyed proper opportunities for a full investigation, we believe that fully three-fourths are convinced, as we are, that these singular sounds and seeming manifestations are not produced by Mrs. Fox and her daughters, nor by any human being connected with them.' How they are caused, and whence they proceed,' are questions which open a much wider field of inquiry, with which way marks we do not profess to be familiar. He must be well acquainted with the arcana of the universe who shall presume dogmatically to decide that these manifestations are natural or supernatural. The ladies say that they are informed that this is but the beginning of a new era, or economy, in which spirits clothed in the flesh are to be more closely and palpably connected with those who have put on immortality; that the manifestations have already appeared in many other families, and are destined to be diffused and rendered clearer, until all who will may communicate freely with their friends who have shuffled off this mortal coil. " Of all this we know nothing, and shall guess nothing; but if we were simply to print [which we shall not] the questions we asked and the answers we received, during a two hours' uninterrupted conference with the' rappers,' we should at once be accused of having done so expressly to sustain the theory which regards these manifestations as the utterances of departed spirits. H. G." The ball once set rolling in New York City, sped on with an impetus which soon transcended the power of the press, pulpit or public to arrest, despite of every force that was brought to bear against it. In January, I85I, Judge Edmonds, whose potential influence on the progress of Spiritualism is too widely known to need comment here, commenced a series of investigations which even in their earliest stage formed the nucleus of most important developments, extending far beyond the circle of even his wide-spread influence. Many other distinguished persons, strengthened by the example of the learned Judge, devoted themselves to the investigation of the subject with the almost invariable results of conviction that follow. One of the most important conversions to Spiritualism that marks this period was that of Mr. Charles Partridge, a merchant of New York, whose probity and public spirit had already secured for him the highest consideration of his fellow-citizens. After the return of the Rochester mediums to their home, Mr. Partridge and wife, being on a tour in Western New York, took occasion to visit the Fox family at Roclester, and there pursued their inquiries into Spiritualism with more leisure and deliberation than the crowded seances in New York City afforded. Mr. Partridge was an entire stranger to the mediums, and a man of keen AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 73 perception, and acute power of observation. These, together with his usual habits of business-like preparation, he brought to bear upon his researches, and so astonishing were their results, both in respect to physical power and mental intelligence, that the whole structure of his preconceived opinions was overthrown, and an array of testimony.presented which completely "rolled back the stone from the door of the sepulchre" for him, and disclosed within it the glorified forms of the white-robed angels of eternal life, instead of the corruptible ashes of death's unfathomable mystery. To afford the most perfect opportunities for deliberate investigation to himself and his circle of friends, Mr. Partridge procured the services of Kate and Margaretta Fox at his residence in New York City, when the most extraordinary and varied forms of intelligent phenomena became so common and abundant that to resist conviction on the part of those who were privileged to attend these circles became impossible. Although Mr. Partridge's conclusions were only arrived at through slow processes of rigid and exhaustive scrutiny, their results [when once his powerful mind apprehended the fulness of the stupendous truth of spirit communion] were practical and important. In the summer of I85I Mr. Partridge became one of a society entitled the "New York Circle." It was the first organic movement that had yet been established in connection with spirit communion.'The principal medium of the circle was Mr. Edward P. Fowler, then a student, but subsequently a distinguished member of the medical profession. Accompanied by many physical signs of a startling character, Mr. Fowler's mediumship was of the most varied and interesting kind. The spirits wrote manuscripts in different languages and Oriental characters without the aid of human hands, and his communications, spoken or written in the trance condition, were often of the most exalted and scientific nature. Fortunate in securing from one of their own number the aid of a telegraphic operator whose position removed him beyond the suspicion of interested motives, the "New York Circle" continued for some years to meet together with delight and profit to themselves, and benefit to the world, which was occasionally favored with reports of their wonderful and instructive manifestations. Amongst the earliest members of this association were, Hon. J. W. Edmonds, Dr. J. B. Gray and lady, Charles Partridge and lady, Dr. and Mrs. Warner, Dr. and Mrs. R. T. Hallock, Robert T. Shannon, W. J. Baner, Dr. Hull, Mr. Edward Fowler, Miss Fowler, Professor Bush, Rev. S. B. Britain, Almon Roff, etc. Besides these, many persons eminent for their talent or of distinguished public position, were from time to time invited to take part in the seances, and mediums of remarkable phenomenal gifts were not unfrequently developed under their influence; in fact it has been asserted that all the regular members of this interesting association were baptized with the Pentecostal fire, and became in their own persons mediums for various forms of spirit communion. It was at one of these sittings that Mr. Henry Gordon, a medium from Springfield, Massachusetts, first exhibited in New York the astonishing feat of floating in the air. After the first manifestation of this kind, the marvel was frequently repeated in the person of this same medium, and his transit through the air for a distance of sixty feet at the residence of Dr. Gray, in 74 HISTORY OF MODERN Lafayette place, occurred in the presence of a large number of unimpeach able witnesses, including the venerable master of the house and Mr. Charles Partridge. But these new and grand fields of observation seemed to their deeply-interested participants to be misused when limited within the circle of private families, especially of the distinguished position occupied by most of Dr. Gray's visitors. It was resolved that a conference should be established where the experiences of all present could be freely exchanged, and to which strangers from a distance could be admitted without the formalities attending more exclusive gatherings. Mr. Partridge, whose wealth and standing shielded his motives from the least suspicion of interest, but whose genial, large-hearted, reformatory nature was peculiarly attractive to the community, generously tendered a handsome suite of reception rooms in his own house for the accommodation of the proposed conference. As the initiatory step towards forming a basis for the future guidance of those attending the conference, a circular was issued of which the following is a copy: "DEAR SIR, -Understanding that you entertain the following views, I cordially invite you to a social meeting of persons of like sentiments to be held at - on, etc. " st. That the Divine Author of the Universe is a conscious Spiritual Being. "'2d. That he has revealed somewhat of the spiritual world in ages long since passed, and especially that the Jewish people were a medium of such revelation. "3d. That in our own day and through our own American people, manifestations are being made from the spiritual into the natural world, whereby the immortality and unbroken continuity of the personal existence of all men is being daily demonstrated. "4th. That an honest, frank, and tolerant interchange of views and conclusions will tend to promote a beneficial use and extension of such spiritual manifestations. " My purpose in inviting this meeting is furthermore, after due consideration, to ascertain whether anything, and what, can be done by associative action in reference to the advancement of harmonious and profitable intercourse with the world of spirits. "I am, etc., ~." This unassuming little circular was not issued even under the authority of the gentleman whose house was the place of gathering, so careful were the real leaders of the spiritual movement to avoid any appearance of dictation or assumption of a power which they justly felt was in the hands of higher and wiser beings than themselves. Astounded with the revealments which had been made to them, convinced, if the communion between this and higher worlds was a truth, it was one of the most solemn and important kind that humanity had ever been blessed with, and predicated future revelations of almost illimitable use and grandeur to mankind, the early pioneers of Spiritualism felt they had been entrusted with the discovery of mines of wealth which it would be sacrilege for them to reserve to themselves, yet blind and helpless as they were in the hands of a world almost unknown to them either in power or purpose, they were unable to acknowledge aught but the agency of intelligent spiritual beings, and the assurance that they were dealing with them, in a wisdom beyond their own, and a control which was as resistless as the breath of life that animated them. The first meeting of the New York Conference, took place on the I4th of November, I85I, when several persons besides the members of the New York Circle were present. The views of the assemblage were kindly solicited, and their personal experiences listened to and discussed, and during their deliberations, the frequent AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 75 movements of the table and the sounds of rappings, etc., testified that the interest of the scene was shared in by a host of invisible witnesses. From that time the weekly conferences continued without interruption for more than two years in their original form; that is, in the semi-private character of social gatherings. Being obliged to seek another place of meeting in consequence of the repairs going on in Mr. Partridge's house, the conference assumed a more public though somewhat heterogeneous character. In connection with the Sunday meetings of the Spiritualists, or at halls hired for the purpose, they have now continued with but little intermission for some eighteen years. It is not, however, from a casual visit to the New York Conference under its present aspect that the faintest idea can be gathered of its utility in promoting the dissemination and discussion of spiritual verities. The free and unconservative character of its present platform renders it liable to intrusion from all classes of mind, and all shades of opinion; hence the meetings are now often inharmonious, controversial, and even anti-spiritual; but in its earlier sessions, it faithfully fulfilled the original design of its founders, and formed a rallying point for the believers, a source of instruction and information to the auditory, and a fountain of inspiration for those who, assembling together under the stimulus of high and often sublime thoughts, felt "the tongues of fire descending on their heads" in the unity of these accordant gatherings. Media were often present at these meetings, and either by rappings or trance speaking, afforded the invisible projectors of the mighty spiritual movement an opportunity of representing their views and offering wise counsel on the various plans of action that were suggested for the wider dissemination of spiritual truths. In the following chapter we shall present a few extracts from the minutes of the first conferences held in New York prior to the publication of the Spiritual Telegraph. A faithful record of these interesting meetings was made and preserved by the Secretary, Dr. R. T. Hallock, to whose courtesy we are indebted for the valuable testimony it affords. It may seem a matter of surprise and even of indignation, that the early facts of modern Spiritualism should have found no wide-spread or truthful field of representation until the publication of organs especially devoted to the subject could be accomplished. It is almost incredible that in America, where the newspaper is the necessity of the people's life, its columns should have left either unrepresented, or worse still, misrepresented, a subject of such vast and universal interest and phenomena so wonderful and well attested as Spiritualism abounds with. Yet the marvel of this treatment ceases when we attempt to compare the nature of the movement with our own preconceived opinions concerning the possibilities of spiritual existence. Were not these of the most vague and undefined character? and have not all our views of disembodied spirituai life been full either of the sepulchral awe which threw over it the veil of mysticism and terror, or else we were taught to treat this most sublime and momentous subject with the fool's arguments ridicule, unreasoning denial, and senseless satire. The immortal soul of man has either been imprisoned by dreary superstition in the loathsome charnel house, or banished by ignorance to the nursery and ale house. There has been no midway in man's unphilosophical treatment of the great theme; hence when Spiritualism came, with its commonsense realities, scientific methods of communion, and analytical philosophy, its form was so totally at variance with all preconceived notions of what a 76 HISTORY OF MODERN spirit should do, or how a "ghost" should act, that the human soul was an unrecognized stranger in the land of its birth and the world of its kindred humanity. To the superstitious, its dignity was shorn of its shroud and the attendant horrors of the grave. To the pious, a spirit was a bodiless idea, a gnome, a sylph, an archangel or archfiend; anything, rather than the ripe fruit of a purified humanity; and nothing, rather than aught that humanity could conceive of. To the bigot, all spiritual existence but that which was manifested in Judea eighteen centuries ago was "satanic" in its origin and "evil" in personality. To the scoffer, the only idea of any existence that could not be pounded in a mortar or manipulated in a chemist's retort was "humbug," imposture, "old woman's fables, or nursery tales," and thus, as there is but a step from the sublime to the ridiculous, the demoniac theory on the one hand, and the illogical breath of ridicule on the other, was all that the world's representatives in press and pulpit could bring to bear on the subject. In fact they only knew enough to condemn the souls of their ancestors to the keeping of the evil one, or drive them back from their work of angelic ministry by the jibes of cold materialism. Whilst our sense of reverence for the exalted themes of immortality and our gratitude to the beloved immortals is shocked and offended by the denunciations of bigotry, and the painfully irrelevant misconceptions of ignorance, let us with modest humility ask ourselves, with such teachings as the world has received on such subjects, what right we have to look for a more general spirit of enlightenment. The status of human opinion on the sublime questions of immortal life are precisely what priestcraft and indolent superstition have made it. If the spirits had come in accordance with the cherished fables of antiquity, or the shapes which this same superstition had devised for them, they would doubtless have been received with more welcome and credit than in the simplicity of their risen humanity. But whilst the true believers had great cause to be thankful that the scales had fallen from their eyes, who could censure the multitude for "walking in gross darkness" so long as the people and their teachers were "the blind leading the blind?" CHAPTER VIII. SPIRITUALISM IN NEW YORK CITY AND STATE. "The weapons which your hands have found Are those which heaven hath wrought - Light, truth, and love; your battle ground, The free, broad field of thought." J. G. WHITTIER. THE CONFERENCE AND ITS INFLUENCE- SPIRITUALISM IN WATERFORD, N. Y. —THE ECCLESIASTICAL COMMISSION AND WHAT CAME OF IT-NARRATIVES GIVEN AT THE CONFERENCE, NEW YORK-MR. HOOPER'S INVOLUNTARY MEDIUMSHIP-EDWARD FOWLER AND WARREN BOYNTON- EXCOMMUNICATION. As the meetings of the New York Conference became more fully attended by strangers from a distance, the recital of the phenomenal facts transpiring in various sections of the country increased the interest of the gatherings and tended to disclose the universality of the movement. AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 77 During the first session of the conference in I85I Mr. Smith, of Norwich, related many instances of fine test communications received through various media residing in that city, who presented the t/en rare faculty of imitating the writing of deceased persons, and by pantomimic action graphically representing their peculiarities, and identifying their names by symbolical pictures psychologically impressed upon the media. The Rev. R. P. Ambler, the editor of the Spiritual Messenger, already in successful operation in Springfield, Massachusetts, related many extraordinary facts of spiritual phenomena occurring in that city, where the number of mediums, public and private, was believed already to exceed two hundred. Drs. Brewer and Beebe testified to the extraordinary interest that was manifested in the city of Brooklyn, New York, on the subject of Spiritualism. At circles held in their own families, many media had been rapidly developed, and within the range of their immediate acquaintance above fifty circles had been formed, at which rapping, writing, spirit-lights, movement of heavy bodies, and various other phases of "the power" were abundantly manifest. Rev. William Fishbough related still more striking and numerous proofs of the progress of the cause in Williamsburgh, New York, where he stated that hundreds of circles were being held nightly, and openly-avowed believers were multiplying on every side. Several other gentlemen gave similar reports from other sections of New York State, especially from Troy, Waterford, Utica, Central and Western New York. Although not in connection with the New York Conference, it belongs to our subject and period to relate the origin of Spiritualism in Waterford, a village about four miles from Troy, where the manifestations had already taken strong hold of a large number of the community. The reports from this city were so startling, and the effect of conviction was becoming so obvious and wide spread, that a reverend gentleman; one of the officiating pastors of the large manufacturing village of Waterford, waited upon General Bullard, a distinguished lawyer of the place, and begged him, in company with four other of the most prominent men of the district, to institute inquiries into the " obnoxious thing," with a view to crushing its infidelic and satanic tendencies. Without questioning as to how far the reverend gentleman's duty, as a minister to human souls, might have required his personal inquisition into the "dangerous delusion," the good-natured friend to whom he delegated the duty promised compliance with his request, and as himself and two others of the investigating party were famed for their legal acumen, and the whole number were selected for the qualities which especially fitted them for the office of spiritual " detectives," it was confidently believed that if Spiritualism had not already been exploded- a consummation which each succeeding day was expected to produce-its annihilation at the hands of the Waterford investigators was so inevitable that their reverend employer already began to busy himself in preparations for celebrating its funeral obsequies in his ensuing Sabbath-day sermon. Having learned that "spirit rapping" was to be found in its most startling prominence in the person of a little daughter of Mr. Anson Attwood, of Troy, and that the parents of the child had generously opened their house free of charge to investigators, the party, headed by General Bullard, proceeded to fulfil their mission by calling at the house in question. They were freely admitted by Mrs. Attwood, who, without requesting even the formality of their names, introduced them to her little girl, who at the time was amusing herself with the toys proper to her age. 78 HISTOR Y OF MODERN This total unconcern, together with the childish appearance and occupation of the young priestess, somewhat disconcerted the grave magisterial party who had come prepared to detect well-laid plans of imposture, or confront the impious craft of satanic agency, but " not to play doll games with children, or learn metaphysics from babes and sucklings." The little medium was "out of sorts," the mother said, and having been tortured into ill temper and impatience by "incessant attendance on circles," she had to be coaxed by a liberal supply of candy, under the stimulus of which she consented to " sit for the gentlemen." At this crisis there was not one of the party but would have gladly retreated from a scene where they felt their dignity as " sensible men and magistrates" ridiculously compromised by the initiatory steps of their mission. They could well understand-and some of them even reverently accord their belief to —the idea that the Supreme Being, the Ruler of the Universe, had delegated to man the right to sell passports to a Roman Catholic heaven at so much a head, put a tariff on the liberty to commit sins at so much apiece, or that a Deity of infinite goodness and wisdom should commission two she-bears to come out of a wood and tear forty and two little children because they called Elisha the Prophet, bald head.* All this and volumes more of the same nature, "they could believe and still adore; " but the idea of bribing a child with a piece of candy to telegraph a message from a departed spirit! The very bare thought was so full' of impiety and absurdity that, but for the lady-like self-possession of Mrs. Attwood, the doughty champions of truth would have run away and hid themselves for sheer shame. A single quarter of an hour's experience of the marvels outwrought through this most undignified means, however, soon changed their views, rivetted their profoundest interest, and made them forget the agency of the unconcerned little one altogether. Seated on a high chair, with her tiny feet resting on a footboard, the medium all-unconsciously munched away at her sweetmeats whilst the spirits lifted her about and moved her from place to place with the ease of a feather blown by the winds. Meantime the heavy table around which the party were gathered rocked and rolled like a ship at sea; the chairs of the gentlemen, with their occupants, were moved bodily, whilst loud raps sounding from various parts of the room spelled out names, dates, and messages, identical with numerous deceased friends of the astounded witnesses. The wonderful and occult science hidden in these mysterious forces, and the preternatural mass of intelligence spelled out in choice and characteristeric phrases, soon stamped the dignity of a stupendous revelation from the hitherto mysterious realms of immortality upon this phase of spiritual telegraphy. The sitters became the deeply-moved recipients of many an affecting token of a love that death cannot change and a mental fire that the grave cannot quench, and thus they soon forgot the youth and insignificance of the little telegrafphic wire that the spirits were using. The lonely and bereaved heart of one was cheered by the precious tokens of identity which proved the undying love of a still living friend. Another, who had long groped in the blindness of cold materialism, beheld the glorious sunlight of immortality proved in the continued life of a cherished parent. Others perceived the key which unlocked the dim mysteries of religion and the problem of miracles wrested from the skeleton hand of death and cast * Vide II. Kings, ii. 24. AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 79 into the open lap of humanity. All felt that they stood on the threshold of the once-closed temple of immortal mind-that they were in the sublime presence of "the mighty dead," and, putting the shoes of their materiality from off their feet, they felt that they were treading " on holy ground." This deeply interesting seance was prolonged to an unusual length, and just as it was about to terminate a spirit, identifying himself with a deceased brother of General Bullard's, expressed a desire to communicate. Up to this time the "detectives" had wholly forgotten that the purpose of their visit was to expose the manifestations and disprove their spiritual origin rather than to yield up their own convictions in the opposite direction. Struck with a sudden sense of his duty towards his reverend friend, and with something of remorseful feeling for his breach of faith in the premises, the General determined to make one final effort to prove the whole thing a delusion. His reason was strongly in favor of the communicating spirit's identity with that of his brother, but ere he would allow his judgment to pronounce in favor of his reason, he mentally framed this sentence: " If this be indeed the spirit of my brother, let him move that child in her chair towards me." General Bullard was sitting at the side of the table opposite to the medium, and as it was a very large one there was room between any of the party for the movement of a chair. His wish was that the child's chair should be moved a little towards the end of the table which was nearest to himself, but before he could conclude the sentence in his own mind which he was endeavoring to frame, the child, chair and all, was lifted, carried, or moved, none present could define how, completely round the table and set lightly down by the side of General -Bullard. The whole party were so paralyzed by the sudden action, the little girl herself was so unconscious of any force being exerted to cause this change of locale, involving the movement of the chair, without the least disturbance of her attitude, for a space of at least ten feet, that no one could utter even an ejaculation, until General Bullard, to whom alone the movement was peculiarly significant, started up with an irresistible impulse, exclaiming, "By Heaven, it is all true!" When the investigating party at length returned with their very unexpected report, the reverend gentleman in whose behalf they had undertaken it was so struck with consternation at the result that he concluded to continue the inquiry in his own person, and as the spirits had promised mediumistic gifts to some of the party if they would "sit for development," the worthy minister joined them, and actually became a fine writing medium, and ultimately a confirmed believer in the truths of Spiritualism. Our space does not allow us to follow up the interesting records of circles which grew out of this first introduction of the subject to Waterford. Many remarkable mediums were developed soon afterwards, amongst whom was Mr. Warren Boynton, a most excellent writing medium; a lady who subsequently became the wife of General Bullard; Mr. John Proper, a celebrated and reliable test medium, and many others of equally remarkable mediumistic gifts. Miss Fanny Davis, a young lady residing at Lansingburg, about two miles from Waterford, also caught the afflatus and at a somewhat later period became the subject of a protracted trance, during which she lay motionless and unconscious for forty-five days. On awakening from this remarkable condition of coma, Miss Davis became a highly-developed trance speaker, in which character her ministrations have instructed and delighted public audiences of many thousands of persons from that period to the present day. 80 -HISTORY OF MODERN At Ballston Spa, Saratoga, Glenn's Falls, and especially in the capital city of New York - A_^rv- new and wonderful phases of spirit-power began to arise about this time. The rumor of the "opening of the gates" reached these places, and induced the members of various families to' sit round the table to see what would come of it." When the New York Conference were first holding their sessions in 185I, and earnestly discussing the means of extending the knowledge and cultivating the gifts of spiritual communion, thousands of circles were being held in different sections of the State. Few if any experiments of this kind continued beyond the third sitting without unfolding mediumistic powers in one or more of the parties present, and the reports which were weekly rendered at that conference tended to show that there was at least one public medium for every town, city, and hamlet in the Empire State of America, besides thousands of individuals in families whose names were denied to the public, though their gifts as spirit mediums were the subject of popular comment and notoriety. At a meeting of the conference early in the year I852, Dr. Greaves, of Milwaukee, a gentleman eminent for his truthful character and success as a physician, related a new development of "the power," as it occurred under his own observation in the city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. As a scientific man, ever prosecuting his researches into nature's laws with the humility of a sclolar, Dr. Greaves had investigated animal magnetism, and realized with considerable interest its singular results in clairvoyance and the cure of diseases. In the year I850, and before he had more than heard a faint rumor of the "Rochester knockings," a clairvoyant of remarkable lucidity informed him in the magnetic sleep that the spiritual manifestations now so rife in the East would appear in that city in a few days, mentioning two individuals [patients of the Doctor's], who would become mediums. To the mother of one of these young ladies the Doctor soon after communicated the singular prophecy, when the lady expressed herself greatly pleased with the intelligence, as being likely to account for certain strange noises which they had heard for several nights past, and which had caused them equal alarm and annoyance. At that time the family had never even heard of the "Rochester knockings;" but, acting under the advice of their trusted physician, they formed a circle, obtained loud rappings and intelligent responses, and within a few weeks afterwards, the father of the young lady informed Doctor Greaves with great emotion that "they had received, through Mary, communications from all their friends that had died, and that strangers visiting them could obtain equally satisfactory responses." In this, as in one or two other cases he detailed, Dr. Greaves could trace his own agency, and occasionally the influence of his magnetic operations, in evolving medium power in this city, but he added that it no sooner became known that he was interested in the subject than he was invited to attend circles in every part of Milwaukee, and witness the mediumistic gifts of at least thirty or forty families, who had but just caught the faint echo of the glad tidings of the communion, as it made its way thus far West, inducing them, as in New York, "to sit round the table" for mere curiosity, and arise from it startled by the conviction that the humble domestic board had become the family altar, at which the beloved immortals had been the ministering spirits. At one house the most astonishing feats of strength were performed AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 81 through the mediumship of a fragile young girl. A sofa on which four fullgrown persons were seated was rocked to and fro as violnntij as the strength of the sofa would permit. Odic lights of a deep _ed color floated around a darkened room, forming, melting, and being subjected to the closest scrutiny, affording to the narrator [a scientific chemist] the most conclusive assurance that they were not of mundane origin or composition. On several occasions a very heavy dining-table was held suspended in the air with several persons seated on it whose feet did not even touch the floor. Mr. Train, of Kenosha, Wisconsin, detailed at the same conference many equally astonishing evidences of phenomenal Spiritualism, which had arisen in his section of the State. Mr. Train seemed disposed to attribute the origin of the manifestations in part to the influence of magnetism. His own investigations, he stated, had conducted him from the study of Swedenborg to the writings of A. J. Davis, and from thence to the practice of animal magnetism, in the course of which his subjects not only became clairvoyant, but were often attended by loud rappings and strange movements of the furniture. Up to the time when the reports of spirit circles at the East reached them, they attributed these unusual sights and sounds to magnetism, or a peculiar action of electricity evolved by the condition of magnetized subjects. After reading the experiences of others, they resolved to test by alphabetical signs the possibility of communing with spirits through these means; and in their success, numbers were induced to form circles, and thus, he added, during the last year [1851] Spiritualism had extended over the State, and into adjoining sections of country, with inconceivable rapidity and power. Mr. Nimthorne, of Bridgeport, Connecticut, related instances of the rapid development of medium powers in quite one half of any given number who would consent to sit in circles. He mentioned a striking case of phenomenal power that had been exhibited at a recent circle in Bridgeport, in which a spirit who had died by a railway accident produced the sounds of the whistle and locomotive, and besides imitating the sound of escaping steam, succeeded in imparting to more than a dozen people assembled the sense of strong currents of air rushing through the room. Early in February, 1852, Mr. Partridge, having returned from a visit to Massachusetts, gave a most encouraging account of the progress of the cause in that State. About the beginning of the year I850, a gentleman of Fitchburg, Massachusetts, Mr. Edward Hooper, whilst sitting writing at his desk, found his hand moved by a strange and irresistible influence to inscribe, without any volition of his own, these words on the page- Yourfather is dead. Mr. Hooper's father at that time resided in England, and at the last account received from him was in the enjoyment of perfect health; hence, the writing, strange as it seemed to be, originating from no impression on his mind, caused little anxiety until it was repeated under precisely similar circumstances a few hours later, and was confirmed in five days by the receipt of a letter from England, announcing his father's death. The singularity of this involuntary and prophetic act of mediumship stimulated Mr. Hooper and several of his friends to hold circles, from which had arisen a great variety of phenomenal facts, strong medium powers, and a remarkable degree of interest in the subject. Mr. Partridge, at the request of a large body of Spiritualists in Templeton, Massachusetts, gave a lecture on the subject, which was listened to by an immense auditory with the most profound interest. 6 82 HISTORY OF MODERN Many other places in Massachusetts and the rest of the New England States, were represented in the conference to be progressing with astonishing celerity in the knowledge of spiritual communion, and the unfoldment of new and powerful phases of mediumship. Tidings of this nature, however, were still more remarkable from the West, and even from California and the Pacific Islands. Visitors brought the assurance that circles for spirit communion were being held simultaneously with the meetings that were discussing the best means of reaching them in New York. Besides constituting a focal point, where all the radiating lines of wide-spread interest could converge and be gathered up for future edification, several important modes of action were devised and executed by the good pioneers engaged in these New York Conferences. A circular was issued and sent to various parts of the country, calling for facts and requesting the narration of experiences in different States. The result of this wise measure was the accumulation of a vast amount of information, forming an almost inexhaustible treasury for research in future time. A committee was drafted also to attend to the formation of circles in various parts of the city, which, being numbered and communicating with the Conference or New York Circle as head centre, for a long time supplied a very satisfactory chain of telegraphic offices, whose records were full of interesting phenomena. The rapid progress of Spiritualism, and the privacy and reticence which has marked its reception in hundreds of families since the time of which we write, has completely outgrown the fostering care of a parent circle, the influence of which was only temporarily felt in the infancy of the movement. Another highly important step was taken when the conference came to the conclusion to represent their views in the most public and forcible manner possible through the rostrum. For this purpose the services of the Rev. S. B. Britain were secured, and a series of addresses commenced, the first of which was given at Hope Chapel, Broadway, on the evening of February 26th, 1852. From this time, with few interruptions, Spiritualism, its claims, facts, theories, and all its general features of interest, have been ably represented on New York platforms on an average once in every week, until regular Sunday services, morning and evening, and an afternoon conference, has placed it prominently before the New York public as a great religious no less than a reformatory and scientific movement. The most momentous result which the deliberations of the conference achieved, however, was the publication of a weekly journal, entitled the Spiritual Telegraph, which for a period of several years formed one of the most complete and well-conducted records of the spiritual movement of which its literature can boast. It was started in the first place by the enterprise of Mr. Charles Partridge and Rev. S. B. Britain, who, with certain financial guarantees from many of the leading Spiritualists of the city, commenced their admirable and valuable serial on May 8th, I852. The publication of this paper was an era in the history of New York Spiritualism from whence a stupendous impetus was derived. As its character and influence will be particularized in treating of the literature of Spiritualism, we need enter no further at present into the details of this important undertaking. Several pamphlets of timely use and value in the early stages of the cause were published by aid of liberal subscriptions from the members of the conference. Amongst these was an excellent essay on circles by Mr. Hunt, and some remarkable communications from the spirit-world through AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 83 the mediumship of Mr. Edward Fowler. Large issues of this pamphlet were made for gratuitous circulation. The conference also made large contributions towards the publication of many printed communications, which, at that particular stage of knowledge, or rather ignorance, on the subject of spirit-life and communion, became of great importance. Amongst these, we find printed for gratuitous circulation a number of communications purporting to come from spirits whose exalted names on earth were freely used as authority for the instructions conveyed. They were given through the mediumship of Mr. Warren Boynton, of Waterford, New York, of whom Mr. King, a gentleman of good standing from the same place, gives the following sketch: " He [Mr. Boynton], having sat in circles for spirit influence, found his hand automatically controlled to write whole pages of matter, the sentiment of which was often at total variance with his own opinions on religious subjects. Mr. Boynton was a devoted adherent to the tenets of the Wesleyan Methodists, and yet for many months he found himself impelled, under an influence he could not resist, to write sentiments whose broad liberality he knew to be inimical to the dogmas of his own creed, and, what was to him a still more perplexing act, to sign to many of the heretical papers he so bitterly condemned the honored name of the founder of Methodism,'John Wesley' himself. Amongst these infidelic protests against his convictions was an essay, [which formed a part of the printed pamphlet above alluded to], commencing thus:' Salvation is progression. Christ is a principle. Reason is a divine attribute of the soul. Nature is a book unfolding the wisdom and goodness of the Deity,' etc. Before the publication of this pamphlet, however, Mr. Boynton's convictions had become harmonized with those of his spiritual teachers, and to some extent in a feeling of disgust and revulsion produced by the action of his Christian instructors, who no sooner heard that he had become'a spirit medium' than they forthwith excommunicated him from their fellowship." It is proper here to remark that ecclesiastical thunder of this description was now becoming a very frequent resort for the purpose of quenching the spiritual lightning that preceded it; but, as in the case of Mr. Boynton, it generally had the effect of stimulating the excommunicated to seek consolation in a more Christ-like, if not a Christian community, whilst its effect upon the world in general was precisely that which abuse or injustice ever produces on the brave and true-namely, to arouse a spirit of indignant resistance which ended in making a hundred Spiritualists for every excommunicated Christian. CHAPTER IX. SPIRITUALISM IN NEW YORK CITY AND STATE-CONTINUED. "The wind bloweth where it will, and thou hearest its voice, but knowest not whence it cometh or whither it goeth. So is every one that is born of the Spirit." "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, we speak what we know and testify what we have seen, and ye receive not our testimony." SPIRIT AUTOGRAPHS - SPIRITUAL LITERATURE - JUDGE EDMONDS - THE EARLY INVESTIGATORS AND THEIR TREATMENT — REACTION -MARGARETTA FOX AND HER ASSAILANTS -GOVERNOR TALLMADGE AND HIS NOBLE TESTIMONY-Y. C. CALHOUN AS A SPIRIT. AMONGST the most remarkable manifestations which were preserved in the archives of the New York Conference, none are more interesting than those which relate to the mediumship of Mr. Edward Fowler, the medical student to whom allusion has already been made. 84 HISTORY OF MODERN Besides the faculty of seeing and conversing intelligently with spirits, Mr. Fowler's mind, being of a scientific cast, was frequently instructed through vivid pictorial imagery or direct communications with the methods adopted by spirits to effect their communion with mortals by means of raps, movements of bodies, entrancement, etc. Languages of the most unfamiliar nature, hyeroglyphical figures, and Oriental writings, were constantly found in his chamber inscribed on scraps of paper, vases, and other objects, under circumstances that rendered the action of human agency impossible. Many excellent and philosophical descriptions of spirit-life and teaching were written or spoken by him in the trance condition, some of which will be found under the head of "spiritual communications," but the one which excited the most interest at the time was a sentence of which a facsimile and brief account will be found in the subjoined extract from the Spiritual Telegraph of I852. It is proper to add that a number of the signatures were facsimiles of the hand-writing of private individuals of whose existence as spirits or mortals Mr. Fowler could have had no knowledge; also that their relations-some of whom were members of the New York Circle-testified to the correctness of the signatures, and the perfect resemblance which each signature bore to that of the writers whilst onf earth. The "sentiment" contained in the document was often referred to by Spiritualists during the late great American conflict, and its prophetic character as regards the issue of the war must not be overlooked: SPIRITUAL TELEGRAPH -1852.-NEW YORK. " AUTOGRAPHS OF THE SPIRITS. —Many of our readers are perhaps aware that among the Spiritual manifestations in this city have been a number of mystical nmanuscripts, mostly in foreign and ancient languages, and other documents to which the names of numerous individuals who have left the earth have been signed. "These we have had engraved at great expense, and for the satisfaction of our readers we shall publish them in the Telegraph. We submit the following brief history of its origin: "' At a regular meeting of a circle convened for spiritual intercourse at the residence of Charles Partridge, in New York, December IIth, I85I, the subject of Kossuth's mission to this country having been incidentally referred to, the spirits addressed tle medium, E. P. Fowler, as follows:'Edward, put a paper on your table and we will write a sentiment and subscribe our names, then you may all sign it too.'' In accordance with the above directions Edward placed a paper on his table in his sleeping-room, which was duly written upon in the course of the night and signed by fortythree spirits. It was subsequently signed by the members of the circle, but owing totihe omission of the history and the irregular mode of affixing the signatures of the members, the spirits made the following communication at the succeeding regular meeting:' Burn that, and we will write upon another.' "'Accordingly, the first paper was destroyed, and a parchment was procured and placed on Edward's table on his retiring for the night. On the morning of the 23d of December, when the medium arose, he found the sentiment,'Peace, but not without freedom,' and the signatures, as here published, inscribed on the parchment. "' At the meeting of the circle held on the 25th of December Dr. Hull asked the spirits whether each spirit executed his or her own name as they occurred on the parchment, when the spirits answered emphatically,' Yes!' "' We, the undersigned, believing that these are the signatures of the spirits themselves, and fully concurring in the sentiment expressed, hereunto affix our names this 25th day of December, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-one: "' JOHN GRAY, EDWARD P. FOWLER, JQHN F. GRAY, M.D., WILLIAM J. BANER, S. T. FOWLER, MIss ALMIRA L. FOWLER, F. F. CAREY, MRS. S. A. PARTRIDGE, MRS. CHARLOTTE F. WELLS, ALMON ROFF, ROBERT T. SHANNON, WARD CHENEY, DANIEL MINTHORN, DR. R. T. HALLOCK, CHARLES PARTRIDGE, MRS. MARTHA H. F. BANER. " AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 85 About the year I85I New York Spiritualism received a great impulse from the fact that Mrs. Fish, the eldest of the Fox sisters, took up her residence in the city, and opened rooms for public seances which were constantly thronged by eager and intelligent investigators. At this time also the S/hekinah, a fine literary monthly journal, devoted to the interests of Spiritualism, entered upon its second year of successful propagandism. Its talented editor, S. B. Britain, joined Mr. Charles Partridge in the production of the Spiritual Telegrafph, the first issue of which appeared in May, 1852. The Spiritual Messenger, edited by R. P. Ambler and Apollos Munn, of Springfield, Massachusetts, was already enjoying a wide circulation, and New England Spiritualism was further represented in Boston by the commencement of an excellent paper, conducted by the Rev. S. Crosby Hewitt, called the New Era. Even the far West was represented in this constellated mass of spiritual journalism, as a large and ably-conducted paper was started in St. Louis, Missouri, called Light from the Spirit W;orld, which detailed the spread of "the cause" from the banks of the Hudson in the East, to the shores of the Mississippi in the Southwest. Besides the periodicals already named, there was a great mass of ephemeral literature constantly issuing from the press, containing narratives of new and wonderful phenomena; reports of lectures, circles, discussions, and also of conventions, the first of which, held at Cleveland, Ohio, was speedily followed by others in Boston, Worcester, and other parts of the country. Amongst the more important publications of this period were the works of A. J. Davis, which, besides "Nature's Divine Revelations" and three volumes of the "Great Harmonia," comprised a considerable number of tracts and widely-circulated pamphlets. A list of the spiritual publications in the NVew Era of November, I852, announced as of recent date and American authorship, a volume of communications called " Light from the Spirit-World," received through the mediumship of Rev. C. Hammond, of Rochester; "The Spiritual Pilgrimage of Thomas Paine," from the same source; "Elements of Spiritual Philosophy," a finely-written and scholarly production by the Rev. R. P. Ambler, of Springfield, Massachusetts; "Voices from the Spirit-World," by Isaac Post, medium, of Rochester; "The Clairvoyant Family Physician," by Mrs. Tuttle; several pamphlets published at Cincinnati, Rochester, and Auburn, giving a history of the manifestations up to that time; "Modern Miracles," and other works, by S. B. Britain; "The Spiritual Experiences of Mrs. Lorin L. Platt, medium;" "Spirit Manifestations," by the Rev. Adin Ballou; "The Microcosm and Macrocosma of the Universe," by the Rev. William Fishbough; "Messages from the Superior State," by the Rev. John M. Spear; "The Spiritual Teacher," by the Rev. R. P. Ambler; "Supernal Theology," and "The Spiritual Instructor," etc. All these works were produced during the first three years of the modern manifestations; and that the shadowy side of the picture should not be wholly left to the uncandid coloring of the opposition, a publication, was issued, called The Mountain Cove Journal, fuller notice of which will be given hereafter; but as a specimen of human audacity, impiety, and egotism, this paper, though professedly indited by orders of "apostolic, angelic, and arch-angelic spirits," was only prevented from destroying Spiritualism by the transient nature of its existence and its very limited circulation. From the year 1851, spiritual manifestations engaged the attention of Judge Edmonds, one of the ablest and most prominent legal men that has adorned the New York bar since America could boast of an historical 86 HISTORY OF MODERN record. Miss Laura Edmonds, a daughter of the Judge, also pursued her researches in the same direction, and became developed as an excellent medium for trance speaking, the discerning of spirits, the gift of tongues, including several dead and living languages utterly unknown to herself, the ability to travel clairvoyantly to distant places, and communicate with absent friends by the mental telegraph. All these gifts Miss Edlonds nobly devoted, without money or price, without distinction of rank or fortune, to the service of the world; and as her seances were held in her father's private residence, amidst those surroundings of wealth and refinement which rendered the suspicion of complicity or fraud impossible, her influence upon the minds of her vast throng of visitors can never be fully appreciated, until her own transfigured spirit shall stand face to face with the glorious host of enfranchised souls who have wrought out their mission of revelation through the ministrations of this estimable lady. It cannot be supposed that a man of Judge Edmonds's distinguished position, could be long permitted to throw his powerful advocacy into the scale of an unpopular cause, without becoming a target for all the shafts of ridicule and mendacity which were being levelled against Spiritualism and its friends. Keenly must those shafts have rankled, aimed as they were at the man whom public opinion had before lauded to the skies, and promoted to the highest places of trust and honor; but though the Judge must have suffered with all the acuteness of those finely-strung sensibilities which are at once the bane and blessing of rare genius, no expression of contempt or anger testified to his disdain of his mean and inconsistent assailants, until some two years of settled conviction had given him that impregnable anchor of truth to lean upon, from which he could afford to bear witness against human injustice and falsehood without fear lest his superstructure of metaphysical philosophy, based upon physical facts, should be injured by the fierce storms of public discussion in which he soon found himself compelled to take an active share. The legal acumen which had heretofore commanded the highest meed of public admiration, and the same amount of carefully-sifted evidence which he had been wont to gather up in the public service, he now hurled in thunderbolts of proof for the despised truths of Spiritualism. In company with other gentlemen who became distinguished as advocates of Spiritualism, Judge Edmonds was actually pointed at in the streets "as a crazy Spiritualist." As believers in Spiritualism, himself and various members of the bar and medical profession were treated with contumely, and shouldered out of practice, office, and the good opinion of their fellow-men. Wealthy merchants like Mr. Charles Partridge were compelled to assert their claims to be considered sane, and maintain their commercial rights, by the most firm and determined action. Professional men and tradesmen were often reduced to the very verge of ruin by the evil reputation that clung around the dreaded name of "Spiritualist," and a relentless persecution, originated by the press, maintained by the pulpit, and stimulated to frenzy by the rank and number of the powerful adherents that began to swell its ranks, directed the full flow of its evil tides against "the cause" and its representatives. Many of the houses where circles were being held were disturbed by crowds, who would gather together after night-fall, and with yells, cries, whistles, and occasionally with the breaking of windows by stones and other missiles, endeavor to molest the quiet investigators in their " unholy work of waking the dead," as one of the Brooklyn papers piously denominated the act of seeking for the " Ministry of Angels." AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 87 The principal leaders of the movement, no less than the mediums themselves, were seriously obnoxious to this kind of rowdyism. The mediums, especially the ladies, were turned out of their offices and boarding-houses. Hotel-keepers often declined to receive them, and in the streets they were constantly subject to the most insulting and sometimes even threatening language. Their public meetings were disturbed, the characters of every person connected with the movement indiscriminately assailed; the appearance of a Spiritualist in any public trial was the signal for ilmediate decision against their side of the question, and their mere opinions in favor of the cause subjected them to inquisitorial persecutions, and the excommunicating ban of the church to which they belonged. Those who have not endured the ordeal of this strange paroxysm of civilized barbarism could never imagine the pitch of injustice to which it was carried, nor the sufferings of the victims. It is a remarkable and significant token of " the retributive and compensative power behind the throne," that nearly all who suffered in the first years of spiritual persecution, loss of fortune, practise, custom, or reputation, have experienced a reaction in their favor, which seems to proceed from an involuntary appreciation, on the part of the public, of the superior intelligence which some of the Spiritualists display. Thus, after Judge Edmonds, General Bullard, and other distinguished legal practitioners had been robbed of the well-earned laurels of an honored career at the bar, because, as Spiritualists, "they must be insane;" whilst merchants who had long been esteemed as first on change and in the market were compelled to threaten legal prosecution, in order to obtain the erasure of the word " Spiritualist," labelledpublicly against their names; after teachers had been ignominiously thrust out of their places, operatives dismissed, and tradesmen almost reduced to ruin, a period of reaction came, when spirtualistic lawyers were found to be "possessed of sources of knowledge" which rendered their services invaluable; the most skilful doctors were found to be "those wonderful magnetic physicians," and the word "Spiritualism" began to be interpreted as a challenge to the world to expect superior excellence in art and science, wisdom in judgment, or success in commerce. But this happy revulsion of feeling was still but partial, and only became manifest at a late period of the movement. Its first initiatory steps necessarily demanded and obtained its martyrs, like every other great reform, which has had to march to its success over the conquered legions of ignorance, prejudice, and superstition. Even the sufferings endured by the Rochester mediums were not ended with the public inquisition at Corinthian Hall. Absurd and far-fetched theories were still put forth by so-called scientific men in their useless attempts to kill the hydra-headed monster through the original promoters of its notoriety, and their failure in so doing seemed to incite the opponents to a bitterness which found vent in forms of persecution not always stopping short of peril to life itself, as will be shown in the following case, one out of many similar annoyances that tracked the footsteps of the unfortunate mediums. When Miss Margaretta Fox visited the city of Troy, New York, in I850, an evidently organized attempt was made on her life by a party whose agents consisted chiefly of a set of rough men, said to be Irish Catholics. After dogging her footsteps, trying under various pretexts to get admission to the house where she was holding circles, and seriously endangering the peace and safety of the family she was visiting by hurling stones and other 88 HISTORY OF MO0DERN missiles against the windows, they proceeded to fire several shots at the house, which were no doubt aimed at Miss Fox. The circumstances of the case are best detailed in a letter written to a friend of the cause by Mr. Bouton, the gentleman at whose house Miss Fox was staying. A portion of that letter we subjoin, as follows: "WEST TROY, November I3, 1850. " We are endeavoring to make an arrangement for her [Margaretta] to go to another place. If she has mentioned the name to you, do not mention it to others, as you value her life. A deep plot is laid to destroy her. My house is beset every night by assassins after her, and we guard her every moment. "We think, if we can place her where we wish to, she will be safe. I shall defend her and her reputation at the risk of my fortune and my life. I will advise you of our progress. Suppress the name of the place if you can. I write with difficulty, not having rested for some nights. Five Irishmen, from some motive, are watching Margaretta. We have seen them all together. " She has never left my family without being attended, which has given them no opportunity yet. " In returning from Troy, late the night before last, with my family and Margaretta, in a coach, we came to the river and found no boat. Five Irishmen tried to persuade our driver to go to the long'Troy bridge,' a glorious place for murder. We did not go, but they followed us home, and, after we had retired, they attempted to break into the room occupied by Margaretta and my sister-in-law. " They were furious on being foiled, and threw stones against the house. I have prepared means of defence, and cannot sleep much, and my family less. I fear they will return again to-night, but they will meet with a warm reception. " Last night Mrs. B. and Margaretta went to the door of a shed together, and a stone was thrown at them. One man on the roof made an angry exclamation on finding that the two were together, instead of Margaretta alone. They were large, stout men."..... A postscript to this letter, dated the next day, the 14th, says: "As I feared, the Irishmen did return last night, and threw a stone through the window, and broke into the house; but we were prepared for them, and they did not effect anything. We would like to have you come here immediately, if you can." The small party of " Irishmen" continued to increase until at last Mr. Bouton's house was surrounded by a mob, and when Mrs. Fish, the elder sister, arrived on an imperative telegraphic summons from Rochester, she had to be escorted to her hotel by a party of brave and well-tried friends, in disguise. The ladies were finally conducted in safety and secrecy to Albany, where a better and more genial reception awaited them, and then it was found that Catholics and Irish did not make up the bulk of the rude and jibing mobs that surrounded Mr. Bouton's house, fired the shots, and threw stones at the windows, uttering meanwhile threats and imprecations against the "unholy witch woman within." Yet these very demonstrations it was that ultimately caused a strong and irresistible spirit of investigation in Troy, and ended in confirming the belief in that place to' an extent which time and the mutations of public opinion elsewhere have never shaken. Troy, in fact, is now one of the spiritual fortresses of New York State. Similar results, but of far more striking and important character, grew out of the malevolent attacks that were levelled against Judge Edmonds. Some of these being circulated in the Vational I2telligencer, of Washington, attracted the attention of the members of the Legislature, many of whom were warm friends and admirers of the Judge, and caused an eager interest in Spiritualism to arise in the very heart and focus of national influence. Many excellent mediumns were developed in the progress of the investigations that followed, and the visit of the Fox family completed the triumph of the cause in Washington. AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 89 Amongst those who protested most justly and indignantly against the vituperative spirit in which the remarks of the Washington National Intelligencer denounced Judge Edmonds and his belief, was the Hon. N. P. Tallmadge, a distinguished Senator, ex-Governor of Wisconsin, and a warm personal friend and colleague of the Judge. In a letter equally fearless and judicially acute, Governor Tallmadge wrote to the National Intelligencer, indignantly repudiating his denunciations of the Spiritualists, of whom he proclaims himself to be one. He adds: "And, let me assure you, there are throughout this widely-extended country, some of the brightest and most exalted intellects, who have, from a thorough investigation of the matter, come to the same conclusion." In writing of Judge Edmonds he says: "I had heard for a long time of the'Rochester knockings,' but had paid no heed to them; on the contrary, had considered them a delusion which would soon pass away. I continued under these impressions till some time last spring [I852], when my attention was called to a newspaper attack on Judge Edmonds for being a believer in these spiritual manifestations. I had known Judge Edmonds for thirty years, had practiced law in the same courts, had served in the Senate of New York, and been associated with him as a member of the Court for the Correction of Errors, the highest court in the State; had known him since that time as a Justice of the Supreme Court, and more recently as a Judge of the Court of Appeals, where he holds a deservedly high and distinguished rank amongst the able judges of that court, the last resort in the State of New York. I also knew him as a gentleman of finished classical education, and as a lawyer of acute mind and decided talent for investigation; and, above all, I knew him to be a man of unimpeachable integrity. Knowing all these things, I concluded that if he had become a believer in' spiritual manifestations,' it was at least a subject worthy of investigation." In connection with this letter Governor Tallmadge published several others, addressed to some of the most distinguished persons in the country, who were numbered amongst his intimate friends. As all of these were replete with incidents of the most astounding character, their perusal excited the utmost interest and astonishment, especially when the unquestionable nature of the authority is considered from whence they emanated. Our space will only allow us to reproduce one or two of these narrations, for which purpose we select, in the first instance, a published letter of Governor Tallmadge's addressed to Mrs. Helen N. Whitman, the celebrated poetess of Rhode Island. This letter has already been published in substance, but the author prefers to quote from the manuscripts supplied by the honored writer himself, as, though occasionally varying in language, it is possible that the memoranda, made immediately after the manifestations were produced, may contain a truer transcript of the writer's feelings at the time of their reception than the entire letter as it was subsequently prepared for publication. "BALTIMORE, April I2, 1853. "Hon. N. P.. Tallmadge to.Mrs. Helen N. Whitman: "DEAR MADAM, - I seize a few moments whilst detained here to give you a more extended account of the physical manifestations alluded to in a former letter. "In this account I shall confine myself to those which purport to come from the spirit of John C. Calhoun. I have received numerous communications from him from the time of my commencing this investigation. They have been received through rapping, writing, and speaking mediums, and are of the most extraordinary character......After the arrival of the Misses Fox in Washington, in February last, I called on them by appointment, and at once received a communication purporting to come from Calhoun. I then propounded mentally the following question: 9o HISTORY OF MODERN "' Can you do anything to confirm me in the truth of these revelations, and remove fiom my mind all shadow of unbelief?' "To which I received the following answer: "' I will give you a communication on Monday, at seven and a half o'clock. Do not fail to be here. I will then give you an explanation. JOHN C. CALHOUN.' "I must here remark that al the communications referred to in this letter were made through the alphabet; every letter being rapped out, letter by letter, and taken down by me as received, until they spelled out words and sentences. "I called on Monday, as appointed, and received the following communication: "'My friend, the question is often put to you,'What good can result from these manifestations?' I will answer.' It is to draw mankind together in harmony, and convince sceptics of the immortality of the soul.' " I will here interrupt my narrative to remark that when in Bridgeport, in 1850, I received a communication through other mediums from a spirit purporting to be W. E. Channing, which strongly reminds me of the above sentence. " In answer to the question,' What do spirits propose to accomplish by these manifestations,' it was spelled out,' To unite mankind, and convince sceptics of the immortality of the soul.' "During the above communication, at Washington, the table was moved first one way and then the other, and when we all moved back, so that no one was touching it or within two feet of it, it moved- wholly without contact - some three or four feet, and then returned to its original position. This was repeated on the other side, and then one side of it was raised for a few moments and was again rested on the floor. Desirous to test its weight, it being a heavy dining table capable of seating some dozen persons, I placed my hands under the leaf and endeavored to raise it, but without succeeding in stirring it an inch. I then stood up and exerted all the force I was master of in vain. I requested the three ladies to take hold and try all together to lift it. We lifted upon it until the top began to crack, but without raising it a particle. Perceiving that a spiritual force was being exerted to keep it down, I said:' Will the spirits permit me to raise the table?' " I then took hold of it alone and raised it without the least effort. After this the following dialogue ensued: " Q. Can you raise the table entirely from the floor with me on it? A. Yes; get me the square table. The square table required was of cherry, with four legs - a large-sized tea-table. "Being brought out and the leaves raised I took my seat in the centre, the three ladies sitting at the sides with their hands and arms resting on it and thus adding to the two hundred pounds weight already on it. Two legs were first raised from the floor, then the other two to a level with the first, until the whole table was held suspended in the air about six inches from the floor. While thus seated on it, I could feel a gentle vibrating movement as if floating in the air. After being thus suspended for a few moments the table was gently set down again to the floor. "At a subsequent meeting, the spirit claiming to be my friend Calhoun directed me to bring-for the purpose of exhibiting physical signs of spirit-power-three bells and a guitar. These were accordingly procured, the bells being of different sizes, the largest a dinner-bell. A drawer was to be put under the table upside down, and the bells placed on the drawer. " The three ladies and myself then took our seats, leaning our hands and arms upon the table. The bells were played upon in a sort of melodious and rhythmical chime, whilst numerous raps were made, as if keeping time to a march. When the raps ceased the bells rang violently for several minutes; they were also pressed on my feet and knocked most vehemently against the under side of the table, raising up the candlesticks by the concussion. "After the bells had ceased, I distinctly felt a hand grasping my foot, ankle, and knee, several times. I was then directed to place the guitar on the drawer. When all were seated as before, the guitar was at first touched softly and gently, giving forth sweet and delicious sounds like an accompaniment. Presently the tones grew louder and louder, and struck into a bold symphony. Then they diminished, becoming softer, sweeter, and almost dying away, as if at a long distance; then they returned, increased in power, grew louder and nearer, and anon died away again in long, vibrating echoes of the most indescribable beauty and sweetness. "I have heard the guitar played by the most skilful and scientific hands, but I never could have conceived of that instrument being able to produce sounds of such marvellous and fascinating beauty, power, and even grandeur as this invisible performance that night executed. "After the music had ceased, it was spelled out by the raps,'It was my hand that touched you and the guitar. CALHOUN.' AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 91 " The following phenomena occurred at my next sitting with the Misses Fox, there being then present General Hamilton, General Waddy Thompson, of South Carolina, and myself. We were directed to place the Bible, closed, on a drawer under the table. It was a small pocket Bible in very fine print. " For some time numerous raps were heard beating time to a march that had been suggested. These raps died away like receding feet, until the sound entirely ceased, when other loud raps gave the signal for the alphabet, by which was spelled out the single word,' Look.' I took up the book most carefully, finding it was open, and desirous to preserve the place. It was then spelled out,' Read'; and the verses of the open chapter which it was desired I should read were also spelled out. During the reading loud and vehement rappings seemed to indorse the sentiments rehearsed with a power that was fearfully startling, as coming from an invisible source. " The book was open at St. John's Gospel, third chapter, and the verses indicated to be read were the 8, I I, I9, 34, and were as follows: "' 8. The wind bloweth where it will, and thou hearest its voice, but knowest not whence it cometh or whither it goeth; so is every one that is born of the spirit.' I' II. Verily, verily I say unto thee, we speak what we know and testify what we have seen, and ye receive not our testimony.' "' i9. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil.' "' 34. For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God; for God giveth not the spirit by measure.' "After this I was directed to place several sheets of letter-paper, together with a pencil, on the drawer beneath the table. We soon heard the sound of the pencil on the paper; when it was rapped out,' Get the pencil and sharpen it.' I looked under the table, but at first could not find the pencil until, on continuing my search, I found it lying three or four feet from the table with the lead broken off within the wood. "I sharpened it as directed and replaced it again upon the drawer. Again I heard the sound of the pencil, but when directed by the raps to take up the paper, we found it marked on each side, but no intelligible writing could be found. By the raps, however, it was spelled out,"' The power is not strong enough to write a sentence, but I wish to convince you I can write. If you meet on Friday exactly at seven, I will try a short sentence. "' JOHN C. CALHOUN.' "We met pursuant to appointment, took our seats as usual, all our hands and arms resting on the table. I placed my silver pencil-case on the drawer beneath the table, and being in communication with the spirit of Calhoun through the raps, I said,' My friend, I wish the sentence to be in your own handwriting, so that your friends will recognize it.' He replied,' You will know the writing.' We soon heard a rapid movement of the pencil on the paper, the rustling of the latter, and the movement of the drawer. I was then directed to look under the drawer. I found my pencil outside the drawer, and all the sheets I had placed on the top now underneath it; they were disarranged, and on the outside sheet was written,' I'm with you still.' "I have shown that sentence to General Hamilton, former Governor of South Carolina, General Waddy Thompson, late Mexican Minister; General Robert Campbell, of Havana, together with many other intimate friends of Mr. Calhoun. I also showed it to one of his sons, and he, as well as the rest, pronounced it to be a perfect facsimile of the handwriting of yohn C. Calhoun. General Hamilton and Mrs. General Macomb-both of whom are in possession of many private letters from Calhoun —state as a fact of peculiar significance, that he was constantly in the habit of abbreviating' I am' into'I'm,' hence this sentence, short as it is-I'm with you still -is peculiarly characteristic of his expression no less than his singularly terse style. "Very truly yours, "N. P. TALLMADGE." On this, as on other and constantly-recurring occasions, it has been remarked that a communication so brief, pointless, and therefore so inconsistent with the character of a statesman as dignified and eloquent as the late John C. Calhoun, was either at variance with his earthly career or unworthy of his exalted spirit. To such arguments, let us apply the responses so often rendered by spirits on similar occasions. " The power by which spirits can act upon matter at all is limited, ill understood even by themselves, and at present in a merely experimental state of control; hence the quantity and 92 HISTORY OF MODERN power of the manifestations is determined by conditions too complex and subtle, and as yet too remote from the sphere of material science, for human comprehension. Moreover, every communication, howsoever transmitted through a human organism, partakes so closely of the idiosyncracies of the medium that whilst the idea may originate in the spirit-world, the form of the communication must assume the shape of the medium's mind and the measure of their force. Beyond the occasional introduction of a few words, sentences, or forms of writing and expression, it is almost impossible for the mightiest controlling spirit far to transcend these limits; hence their ideas not only sink to the level of the medium's capacity in transmission, but often become so merged in their magnetism as to lose the stamp of their spiritual origin altogether. " The communion may grow into more-assured identity, and a better system of telegraphy may supervene when mortals industriously study the science of Spiritualism, and reverendly prepare themselves to honor it as a religion." CHAPTER X. SPIRITUALISM IN NEW YORK CITY AND STATE-CONTINUED. "Stand for the right! though falsehood rail And proud lips coldly sneer, A poisoned arrow cannot wound A conscience pure and clear. "Stand for the right! and with clean hands Exalt the truth on high, Thou'lt find warm, sympathizing hearts Among the passers-by." PSALMS OF LIFE. SPIRITUALISM EXPLAINED BY CHAUNCY C. BURR - S. GRIMES - MR. JOEL TIFFANY LEO MILLER- SAUL AND PAUL- JUDGE EDMONDS'S "APPEAL TO THE PUBLIC"THE PRESS AND THEIR CHANGE OF TONE - DR. DEXTER "THE SACRED CIRCLE." FROM the time when the truth of spirit communion with the earth became a fact so fixed that investigators could venture to call public attention to the subject with the most perfect confidence in the results, an infatuation appeared to have possessed certain individuals with little or no reason for their action, determinately to array themselves for a war of opposition, which they conducted with singular bitterness and indiscriminate rashness. Thus at Buffalo, New York, three gentlemen, whose position as leaders of science should have deterred them from the committal of their names to a published verdict of which subsequent events should have made them heartily ashamed, gravely rendered their testimony to the effect that the manifestations produced through the Fox sisters were all the result of the snapping of their knee and ankle joints! The details of the notable theory announced by "the Buffalo doctors," together with all the physiological definitions involved in their astounding discovery, will be found in a subsequent chapter. It is only necessary to state here that like all similar attempts to explain away a substantial truth on visionary grounds, the discussion to which the affair gave rise served as exceedingly valuable propaganda for the cause of Spiritualism. AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 93 The resort to deliberate falsehood on the.art of the professed mesmerist, Grimes, has already been noticed, and soon after the sage Buffalo doctors had assigned to knee and ankle joints the new function of producing the whole range of varied and intelligent spiritual phenomena, the ex-Rev. [?] C. Chauncy Burr took the field to expose the whole "trick" in several public lectures delivered at Hope Chapel, New York, and other places, in which all the former exploded theories were re-hashed, with the addition of several grave and utterly unfounded falsehoods. It would scarcely be in keeping with the spirit of serious narrative to recur to these pitiful arts, were it not advisable to note the flimsy and desperate character of the opposition. After making a living, such as it was, for a few weeks out of platform "expositions" of Spiritualism in various places, where himself and his confederates cracked out by their toe joints, etc., names and sentences previously agreed upon; after disgusting and disappointing even their best friends by the shallow character of their imposture, and subjecting themselves to far more bitter and contemptuous remarks from the press than had ever been levelled against the cause they sought to defame, Messrs Burr & Co. were finally prosecuted for slander by Mrs. Fish [Leah Fox], and in the encounter with that lady's lawyer- Mr. Joel Tiffany -lost even the rags of public credit, wherewith they had been striving to clothe themselves as antagonists of Spiritualism. It may here be mentioned that Mr. Joel Tiffany became so deeply interested in the manifestations through the Fox family that he not only undertook their defence against the slanders of Burr, but devoted his talents as an orator and writer to the advocacy of the cause. His lectures at the Spiritualists' Sabbath meetings, his pungent replies to the attacks of the clergy and secular press, and his able conduct of one of the most popular periodicals of spiritualistic literature - namely, Tiffany's Mont/hy Magazine"- entitle him to a foremost place amongst the ranks of spiritual celebrities, and challenge our gratitude even to the venomous Chauncy Burr, for first prominently identifying Mr. Tiffany with Spiritualism, in Cleveland, Ohio. Antagonists of a similar character to the above were multiplying on every side, encouraged by the unchristian ardor with which their juggling attempts were received by the clergy, many of the press, and a large proportion of the community. A young lawyer named Leo Miller, who was studying for the bar and anxious to fit himself for forensic display, determined to exercise his talents in a course of lectures through New York which should enlist public interest in his favor, and for this purpose he found no theme so generally acceptable as the announcement that he would "expose the pretended spiritual manifestations." For many weeks Mr. Leo Miller ran a most successful career in this direction. His lectures were crowded, his addresses lauded to the skies by the press, while notices of his meetings were read from many of the popular pulpits, and his handbills industriously circulated by the clergy. As Mr. Miller was an eloquent and attractive speaker, his services in conducting' the attack" in Central New York were gladly accepted in lieu of the broken fragment of the Grimes and Burr forlorn hope. Unfortunately, however, for the peace of mind of his Christian supporters, Mr. Miller suddenly became a "speaking medium." A spiritual trance overshadowed him in one of his most powerful flights of defamatory oratory, and Baalam-like, he who came to curse Israel was compelled with unwilling lips to pronounce a blessing instead, and to pour forth prophetic assurances of the unconquerable 94 HISTORY OF MODERN triumphs of the power he had hitherto assailed. Returning from his truly improvised lecture scarcely less confounded and dismayed than his audience, he retired to his couch to find himself serenaded by "raps," and assailed by voices of invisible beings who tenderly rebuked his past perversity, assured him of the consoling presence of loved and loving spirit friends, and urged upon him the solemn duty of going forth to atone for the errors he had committed by proclaiming the irresistible truths of Spiritualism to the ends of the earth. In the midst of the perplexity which this overwhelming change occasioned in his mind, he received from a man of whose very name and existence he had had no previous knowledge, an exquisite drawing of a female head, which the stranger informed him had been executed whilst in a trance and blindfolded. He the artist-declared that he had no knowledge whatever of who the lady was, or why it should be given to Mr. Miller, beyond the request of the spirit, whose portrait it was. Mr. Miller inquired the name of the artist, and learned that he was a Mr. Rogers, of Columbus, Ohio, a tailor by trade; totally unacquainted with drawing; an involuntary automatic medium for the production of spirit portraits, hundreds of which had been eagerly claimed and recognized as beloved departed ones by their astonished relatives. In some instances, as in Mr. Miller's case, Mr. Rogers was instructed by the spirits to whom he should send or give the pictures, and it was under a charge of this kind that he had presented to Mr. Miller a drawing which the latter instantly recognized as the most inimitably faithful portrait of a beloved sister of whom there was no other likeness extant. It. was impossible to mistake the resemblance; the friends of the young lady, as well as her brother, at once perceived the correctness of the portrait, whilst the most careful inquiry into the circumstances of its production only strengthened the facts as detailed by the artist. Scores of similar cases, many of them far more marvellous than the above, were brought to Mr. Miller's notice in connection with this same artist, and the result was that Mr. Rogers became celebrated for his success as a delineator of the forms of the beloved inhabitants of the spirit country, and Mr. Leo Miller a renowned and powerful champion of the truths of spiritual existence, and communion with mortals. One of the chief results to Mr. Miller in his capacity as a public speaker was the remarkable fact that within a few weeks from the time of his "change of base," his audience fell off in numbers about the ratio of ninety per cent.; whilst his revenue from this source of course endured a proportionate decrease. All this was more than compensated for, however, by the enthusiasm of the young orator's purpose, the joy of his heart, the peace of his conscience, and the manifest improvement of his style; still, no sooner was it discovered that around his pathway hovered an angel sister, who by her pure and glorified influence made him a better and wiser man, than the pious withdrew their countenance; the press no longer advertised his lectures, or devoted a column's admiring criticism to "his able expose of spirit rapping;" and saddest of all, the clergy either forgot to announce his meetings and distribute his notices, or only remembered him in their sermons to cry "Maranatha," and warn all followers of Christ to shun the daring infidel who presumed to give the signs which their master had promised should follow those who believed in him. It was in the year 1853 that a course of virulent and scandalous attacks made upon Judge Edmonds through the public press, determined him to resign the high office of Judge, which he had so nobly and honorably filled to the satisfaction of his fellow-citizens and the benefit of the community. AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 95 The incitements to this course of action are briefly stated in the simple yet dignified "Appeal to the Public," which the learned gentleman published on the occasion. The mental trials which forced this statement from Judge Edmonds must necessarily have been very severe, but it is impossible that any one can peruse it without coming to the conclusion that "in the sufferings of the just, the world is made wise unto salvation," and that whatever may have been the inducing motive, the cause of justice and truth were greatly benefitted by the publication of so noble and manly a document, and such a clear and succinct account of the aspect and status of Spiritualism at the date of the following "appeal:" " To the Public: "On my recent return from an excursion into the country, I found that during my absence a decision lately pronounced by me had been seized upon as an occasion for an attack, in several quarters, on my religious belief. I was fully aware that that judgment, running counter as it would to popular sentiment, would subject my action to severe criticism; but I confess, I did not anticipate that thence would flow an assault on my religious opinions. Were I a private citizen, I should content myself with merely claiming the right, which belongs to every one in this country, of entertaining such faith on this-the most important of all topics-as my conscience might dictate. And as it is, I might perhaps rest satisfied with challenging those who assail me, to point out a single article in my creed that aims at aught else than exalted private worth and public virtue. But as the position which I occupy renders the soundness as well as the integrity of my judgment a matter of public interest, I am bound to acknowledge the right of others to question my faith, and my own obligation to defend it. "I acknowledge a still further obligation. And inasmuch as I accepted my present position under the implied understanding, at least, that I believed in the Christian religion, and would administer our civil law according to the principles of the divine law, as it had been revealed to us, on which all our institutions were based, so I am bound to certify to those who have intrusted me with the divine attribute of administering justice among men, that my reverence for that revelation has not been shaken, nor my obedience to that moral law impaired. "I have not, however, waited for these assaults, to be impressed with these obligations, but have already so far felt them that I have prepared to publish a volume on the subject, which, but for my other avocations, would ere this have been in the printer's hands. To that I must refer for much in elucidation and proof of my belief, which the limits of this communication will not allow me to dwell upon, and content myself on this occasion with such general statements as may tend to give a correct idea of what it is that I believe or have done. Even this would not have been necessary if those who assail me had but done me the justice themselves to have published anything I have said or written on the subject. But hitherto I have been able to reach the public only through publications of very limited circulation; and the wildest and most erroneous notions have therefore been imbibed as to my belief, and the mischief has been increased by the recklessness with which those erroneous statements have been fabricated by those who could not know them to be true, but who could easily have ascertained them to be false. " Thus one writer,* with a want of feeling not perhaps surprising, speaks of my'consulting my dead wife' in making up my decisions. Another says, that it is' rumored' that I have consulted spirit manifestations in regard to my decisions. Another, that my belief is' at irreconcilable variance with all divine revelation,' and is'fit for no other system than devil worship;' and still another, that it constitutes an abandonment of all self-control, and a surrender of the supremacy of reason, as informed and enlightened by the senses, to the most nonsensical jugglery.' "'All these statements are as wide as they can be of truth, and I might with some justice complain at being subjected to such grievous imputations, merely because I had made a decision which was unacceptable to a portion of the community. " But it is not for the purpose of complaining that I sit down to write. I am aware that it is not so much me as it is the faith which I profess, which is the object of attack. " It is' the mighty theme, and not the inconsiderable advocate,' which offends. I am also aware why it is that so much error exists in the public mind on that subject; and my whole purpose is, so far as I am concerned, to correct that error; to state truly, as far as I can in * Daily Chronicle, of New London. 96 HISTOR Y OF MODERN this connection, what it is that I do believe, and generally the grounds on which my belief is founded, that all who take interest in the matter to read what I may say, may have the means of judging for themselves as to what I really do believe, rather than what others erroneously impute to me as a belief.' I am sincerely grateful to my assailants for not imputing to me any unworthy or selfish motives, for conceding that as a private citizen I'stand exempt from public criticism,' and that I am'not a fool,' and for confining themselves to the mere imputation that I am laboring under a delusion. It is, therefore, to that point I shall confine myself in what I have now to say. "It was in January, I85I, that my attention was first called to the subject of'spiritual intercourse.' I was at the time withdrawn from general society. I was laboring under great depression of spirits. I was occupying all my leisure in reading on the subject of death and man's existence afterwards. " I had in the course of my life read and heard from the pulpit so many contradictory and conflicting doctrines on the subject, that I hardly knew what to believe. I could not, if I would, believe what I did not understand, and was anxiously seeking to know if after death we should again meet with those whom we had loved here, and under what circumstances. "I was invited by a friend to witness the' Rochester knockings.' I complied, chiefly to oblige her and to while away a tedious hour. I thought a good deal on what I witnessed, and I determined to investigate the matter and find out what it was. If it was a deception, or a delusion, I thought that I could detect it. For about four months I devoted at least two evenings in a week, and sometimes more, to witnessing the phenomena in all its phases. I kept careful records of all I witnessed, and from time to time compared them with each other, to detect inconsistencies and contradictions. I read all I could lay my hands on, on the subject, and especially all the professed'exposures of the humbug.' "I went from place to place, seeing different mediums, meeting with different parties of persons; often with persons whom I had never seen before, and sometimes where I was myself entirely unknown; sometimes in the dark and sometimes in the light; often with inveterate unbelievers, and more frequently with zealous believers. In fine, I availed myself of every opportunity that was afforded, thoroughly to sift the matter to the bottom. I was all this time an unbeliever, and tried the patience of believers sorely by my scepticism, my captiousness, and my obdurate refusal to yield my belief. "I saw around me some who yielded a ready faith on one or two sittings only; others again under the same circumstances, avowing a determined unbelief; and some who refused to witness it at all, and yet were confirmed unbelievers. I could not imitate either of these parties, and refused to yield unless upon most irrefragible testimony. At length the evidence came, and in such force that no sane man could withhold his faith. " Thus far the question I was investigating was, whether what I saw was produced by mere mortal means, or by some invisible, unknown agency; in other words, whether it was a deception, an imposition, or what it professed to be-the product of some unknown, unseen cause. To detail what I witnessed would far exceed the limits of this communication, for my records of it for those four months alone fill at least one hundred and thirty closely written pages. I will, however, mention a few things, which will give a general idea of that which characterized interviews now numbering several hundred. Most of them have occurred in the presence of others besides myself. I have preserved their names in my records, but do not give them to the world, because I do not desire to subject them to the obloquy which seems, most strangely, to be visited upon all who look into the matter with any other feeling than a resolute and obstinate incredulity, whatever the evidence. But these considerations grow out of this fact: first, that 1 have thus very many witnesses, whom I can invoke to establish the truth of my statements; and second, that if I have been deluded and have not seen and heard what I think I have, my delusion has been shared by many as shrewd, as intelligent, as honest, and as enlightened people, as are to be found anywhere among us. "My attention was first drawn to the intercourse by the rappings, then the most common, but now the most inconsiderable mode of communing. Of course I was on the look-out for deception, and at first relied upon my senses and the conclusions which, my reason might draw from their evidence. But I was at a loss to tell how the mediums could cause what I witnessed under these circumstances: the mediums walking the length of a suite of parlors forty or fifty feet, and the rappings being distinctly heard five or six feet behind them, the whole distance, backward and forward, several times; being heard near the top of a mahogany door, above where the mediums could reach, and as if struck hard with a fist; being heard on the bottom of a car when travelling on a railroad, and on the floor and the table, when seated at lunch, at an eating-house, by the side of the road; being heard at different parts of the room, sometimes several feet distant from the medium and where she could not reach; sometimes on the table and immediately after on the floor, and then at different parts AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 97 of the table, in rapid succession, enabling us to feel the vibration as well as hear the sounds; sometimes, when the hands and feet of the medium were both firmly and carefully held by some one of the party, and sometimes on a table when no one touched it. "After depending upon my senses as to these various phases of the phenomena, I invoked the aid of science, and.with the assistance of an accomplished electrician and his machinery, and eight or ten intelligent, educated, shrewd persons, examined the matter. We pursued our inquiries many days, and established to our satisfaction two things: first, that the sounds were not produced by the agency of any person present or near us; and, second, that they were not forthcoming at our will and pleasure. "In the meantime another feature attracted my attention, and that was'physical manifestations,' as they are termed. Thus, I have known a pine table with four legs lifted bodily up from the floor in the centre of a circle of six or eight persons, turned upside down and laid upon its top at our feet, then lifted up over our heads and put leaning against the back of the sofa on which we sat. I have known that same table to be lifted up on two legs, its top at an angle with the floor of forty-five degrees, when it neither fell over of itself, nor could any person present put it back on its four legs. I have seen a mahogany table, having only a centre leg, and with a lamp burning upon it, lifted from the floor at least a foot, in spite of the efforts of those present, and shaken backward and forward as one would shake a goblet in his hand, and the lamp retain its place though its glass pendants rang again. " I have seen the table tipped up with the lamp upon it so far that the lamp must have fallen off unless retained there by something else than its own gravity, yet it fell not, moved not. I have known a dinner-bell taken from a high shelf in a closet, rung over the heads of four or five persons in that closet, then rung around the room over the heads of twelve or fifteen persons in the back parlor, and then borne through the folding doors to the further end of the front parlor, and there dropped on the floor. I have frequently known persons pulled about with a force which it was impossible for them to resist, and once, when all my own strength was added in vain to that of the one thus affected. I have: known a mahogany chair thrown on its side and moved swiftly back and forth on the floor, no one touching it, through a room where there were at least a dozen people sitting, yet no one was touched, and it was repeatedly stopped within a few inches of me, when it was coming with a violence which, if not arrested, must have broken my legs. " This is not a tithe-nay, not a hundredth part of what I have witnessed of the same character, but it is enough to show the general nature of what was before me. " At the same time I have heard from others, whose testimony would be credited in any human transaction, and which I could not permit myself to disregard, accounts of still more extraordinary transactions, for I have been by no means so much favored in this respect as some. "' While these things were going on there appeared in the. newspapers various explanations and'exposures of the humbug,' as they were termed. I read them with care, in the expectation of being assisted in my researches, and I could not but smile at once at the rashness and the futility of the explanations. For instance, while certain learned professors in Buffalo were congratulating themselves on having detected it in the toe and kneejoints, the manifestations in this city changed to ringing a bell placed under the table. They were like the solution lately given by a learned professor in England, who attributes the tipping of tables to a force in the hands which are laid upon it, overlooking the material fact that tables quite as frequently move when there is no hand upon them. " What I have thus mentioned has happened in the presence of others as well as myself. I have not alluded to any of the things which have occurred to me when I have been alone, for as that would depend upon my testimony only, I have preferred not to subject my veracity to the rash and reckless contradictions of those who venture to denounce as an'atrocious imposture' that of which they are profoundly ignorant, and which has been examined and is believed in by thousands and tens of thousands of their fellow-citizens, who are, to say the least, every whit as honest and as intelligent as they are; nor am I very anxious to submit my faith to the judgment of those who would have persecuted Galileo nigh unto death for discovering our planetary system, and have united in the cry of'folly' at Fulton's steamboat,'humbug' at Morse's telegraph, and'insanity' at Gray's iron road. " Having thus by a long series of patient inquiries satisfied myself on this point, my next inquiry was, Whence comes the intelligence there is behind it all? For that intelligence was a remarkable feature of the phenomena. " Thus I have frequently known mental questions answered-that is, questions merely framed in the mind of the interrogator,, and not revealed by him or known to others. Preparatory to meeting a circle I have sat down alone in my room and carefully prepared 7 98 HISTORY OF MODERN a series of questions to be propounded, and I have been surprised to find my questions an-. swered, and in the precise order in which I made them, without my even taking my memorandum out of my pocket, and when I knew that not a person present even knew that I had prepared questions, much less what they were. My most secret thoughts, those which I have never uttered to mortal man or woman, have been freely spoken, too, as if I had uttered them. Purposes which I have privily entertained have been publicly revealed; and I have once and again been admonished that my every thought was known to and could be disclosed by the intelligence which was thus manifesting itself. "I have heard the mediums use Greek, Latin, Spanish, and French words, when I knew they had no knowledge of any language but their own; and it is a fact that can be attested to by many, that often there has been speaking and writing in foreign languages and unknown tongues by those who were unacquainted with either. " Still the question occurred, May not all this have been, by some mysterious operation, the mere reflex of the mind of some one present? The answer was that facts were communicated which were unknown then, but afterwards found to be true; like this, for instance: when I was absent last winter in Central America my friends in town heard of my whereabouts and of the state of my health seven times; and on my return, by comparing their information with the entries in my journal, it was found to be invariably correct. So in my recent visit to the West, my whereabouts and my condition were told to a medium in this city while I was travelling on the railroad between Cleveland and Toledo. So thoughts have been uttered on subjects not then in my mind, and utterly at variance with my own notions. This has often happened to me and to others so as fully to establish the fact that it was not our minds that gave birth to or effected the communication. " Kindred to this are twvo well-authenticated cases of persons who can read the thoughts of others in their minds. One is an artist of this city, of high reputation; and the other the editor of a newspaper in a neighboring city. The latter wrote me that in company with three friends he had tried the experiment, and for over forty successive attempts found he could read the secret thoughts of his companions as soon as they were formed, and without their being uttered. So, too, there is the instance of two persons, one of them also resident in this city, who can give a faithful delineation of the character, and even the prevailing mood of mind of any person, however unknown to them, upon whom they fix their attention. "These are not apocryphal cases; the parties are at hand, and in our very midst, and any person that pleases may make the investigation, as I have, and satisfy himself. "But all this, and much, very much more of a cognate nature, went to show me that there was a high order of intelligence involved in this new phenomenon-an intelligence outside of, and beyond, mere mortal agency; for there was no other hypothesis which I could devise or hear of, that could at all explain that, whose reality is established by the testimony of tens of thousands, and can easily be ascertained by any one who will take the trouble to inquire. "If these two points were established-and there are now in these United States hundreds of thousands of sentient beings who have investigated and believe they are- then came this important question, cui bonoo-to what end is it all? For what purpose? With what object? "To that inquiry I have directed my earnest attention, devoting to the task, for over itwo years, all the leisure I could command, and increasing that leisure as far as I could by,withdrawing myself from all my former recreations. I have gone from circle to circle, from medium to medium, seeking knowledge on the subject wherever I could obtain it,.either from books or from observation, and bringing to bear upon it whatever of intelligence I have been gifted with by nature, sharpened and improved by over thirty years' ipractice at the bar, in the legislature, and on the bench. "I found there were very many ways in which this unseen intelligence communed with us, besides the rappings and table tippings, and that through those other modes there came very many communications distinguished for their eloquence, their high order of intellect, and their pure and lofty moral tone. At the same time I discovered many inconsistencies and contradictions that were calculated to mislead; I saw many puerile and some very absurd statements, and many that were admirably calculated to make man better and happier, and I set to work to see if I could not, out of this chaos, gather something that might be valuable. "I was satisfied that something more was intended than the gratification of an idle curiosity; something more than pandering to a diseased appetite for the marvellous; something more than the promulgation of oracular platitudes; something more than upsetting material objects to the admiration of the wonder-lover; something more than telling the.age.of the living or the dead, etc. AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 99 "For that something I have industriously searched. I thought that was wiser than to condemn without investigation, and denounce without knowledge. What I have discovered in that regard I have intended to give to the world, that all may judge for themselves whether there is anything in it worthy the attention of intelligent beings. It would have been done ere this if my leisure would have allowed me time to prepare my manuscript for the press. Now I expect that my book will be published by the first of September, and to that I refer, as I have already said, for particulars. "I went into the investigation originally thinking it a deception, and intending to make public my exposure of it. Having, from my researches, come to a different conclusion, I feel that the obligation to make known the result is just as strong. Therefore it is, mainly, that I give the result to the world. I say mainly, because there is another consideration which influences me; and that is the desire to extend to others a knowledge which I am conscious can not but make them happier and better. "If those who doubt this could but spend a few days with me in my library, and witness the calls I have from strangers from all parts of the country; if they could but look over my portfolio, and read the letters which pour in upon me from all sections, and from persons whom I have never seen, and never may see, they would be able, from the evidence thus furnished of the good that has been done, to form some idea of what may yet be accomplished; and they would not wonder that I find a compensation for the obloquy that is so freely heaped upon me by the ignorant, in the grateful outpourings of hearts which have, by my means, been relieved. One of them says [and it is a fair specimen of the whole]'you have acted the part of the good Samaritan, and poured oil into the wound of one like to die, and you will have rendered a death-bed, sooner or later, calm and hopeful, which might have been disturbed by doubts.' " This, then, is the offence for which I am arraigned at the bar of the public with so unsparing a condemnation, declared unworthy of my high office, falsely accused of consulting aught else than the law of the land and my own reason in the judgments which I officially pronounce, and have had invoked against me'the fires of Smithfield and the hangings of Salem.' From such a condemnation it is that I appeal to the calm, unbiased judgment of my countrymen, with a firm reliance upon its justice. "J. W. EDMONDS. "NEW YORK, AZugust I, I853." One result of Judge Edmonds's appearance in public as defendant against the reckless attacks of his adversaries, was a change of tone in the press, which, though strongly confirmatory of his triumphant position, is nevertheless characteristic of the truth of an old proverb which suggests a close alliance between the bully and the coward. The following extracts will suffice to justify this insinuation: From the New York Courier. " The letter from Judge Edmonds, published by us on Saturday, with regard to the socalled spiritual manifestations, coming as it did from an eminent jurist, a man remarkable for his clear common-sense in the practical affairs of life, and a gentleman of irreproachable character, arrested the attention of the community, and is regarded by many persons as one of the most remarkable documents of the day. Judge Edmonds has at least shown that he does not shrink from a full investigation of his case; and his error is, perhaps, upon the right side, under the circumstances. "With regard to the extraordinary phenomena which Judge Edmonds testifies to, as having occurred in his presence, it is worthy of note that others far more incredible are testified to by other persons equally eminent with himself. We have the word of a gentleman of acknowledged high social and professional position, one whose bare word on any other subject we would receive without question, that he saw a man carried through the air for seventy feet at the height of three yards, although no one touched him or brought any mechanical power to bear on him. The story is entitled to exactly the same faith which is due to those of Judge Edmonds; no less, and no more." The Evening Mirror remarks: "John W. Edmonds, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court for this District, is an able lawyer, an industrious judge, and a good citizen. For the last eight years, occupying without interruption the hightest judicial stations, whatever may be his faults, no one can 00oo HISTORY OF MIODERN justly accuse him of a lack of ability, industry, honesty, or fearlessness. No one can doubt his general saneness, or can believe for a moment that the ordinary operations of his mind are not as rapid, accurate, and reliable as ever. Both by the practitioners and suitors at his bar, he is recognized as the head, in fact and in merit, of the Supreme Court for this District." After reviewing that portion of the letter in which Judge Edmonds records the experiences which led him to embrace the spiritual faith, the Mirror remarks: "Judge Edmonds, with characteristic energy, has not been silent on the subject of his recently-formed opinions. He has repeatedly published his experiences in some of the periodicals devoted to the new faith, and several of his articles were copied extensively by the daily press. Of course, these have furnished food for those editors who prowl about in search of a paragraph or a satire, and have afforded a target for many blunt but not inocuous arrows." It may be unjust to hold the individual members of the press responsible for the tone assumed by the majority, but the organization of that mighty body in America no more admits of these nice distinctions than the case of Judge Edmonds, and the circumstances cited above, can be considered apart from the gigantic movement of which this distinguished jurist was but an integral part. Judge Edmonds himself defines the truth of this position when he says, "I am aware that it is not so much me as the faith which I profess, which is the object of attack. It is the mighty theme, and not the inconsiderable advocate, which offends." It has been the general tone of the press, as a body - not the opinion of its individual members, hundreds of whom are devoted Spiritualists-which makes its insolent, profane, and persistent persecution of Spiritualism a subject of equal surprise and discredit. In 1852, Judge Edmonds formed the acquaintance of Dr. Dexter, who with his two young daughters of the respective ages of nine and fourteen, had become developed, by sitting in a family circle, as excellent mediums. In company with Dr. and Mrs. Dexter, Mr. Owen G. Warren, the author of "Supernal Theology," and Mr. and Mrs. Sweet, the latter a medium of the highest intellectual nature, Judge Edmonds formed a circle the result of which was a series of communications, chiefly written through the hand of Dr. Dexter, or spoken by Mrs. Sweet and written down by the Judge in shorthand, which he gave to the world in September, 1853, under the title of "Spiritualism, by Judge Edmonds and Dr. Dexter." A second volume, differing somewhat in character and style from the first, was published by Judge Edmonds and Dr. Dexter in the following yearnamely, I854. The changes manifest in this work are attributed by the Judge, in his preface, to the addition of Miss Laura Edmonds, and Miss Keyes, her cousin, to the circle of mediums, besides aid received from Mrs. A. T. Hall and Mrs. Helen Leeds, mediums of Boston. As these productions have been long and widely circulated amongst the American public, it is needless to make any other comment upon them than to record the profound impressions which their issue from such a distinguished source created, and to add the fact that the press and pulpit found in garbled extracts from their pages all the fresh food for ribaldry and insult which the literary and Christian spirit of these two potential. leaders of public opinion could demand. AMERICAN SPIlRiTUALISML. 10I CHAPTER XI. SPIRITUALISM IN NEW YORK CITY AND STATE-CONTINUED. "It is a taith sublime and pure, That ever round our head Are hovering on noiseless wing The spirits of the dead. "It is a beautiful belief, When ended our career That it will be our ministry To watch o'er others here." J. H. PERKINS. CHARACTER OF THE PHENOMENA-STATISTICS OF SPIRITUALISM IN 1853-4-5MEDIUMS IN NEW YORK-SPEAKING WITH NEW TONGUES-SPIRIT PORTRAITS -FLOATING IN THE AIR~-MRS. METTLER- CORRESPONDENCE-MRS. WHITMAN AND SENATOR SIMMONS —REV. C. HAMMOND-THE RING EXPERIMENT IN WASHINGTON. BEFORE proceeding with the historical course of Spiritualism in New York it would be well to review the character of the manifestations which had during five years only, grown out of the first simple raps that awakened the inhabitants of the humble "spirit house" at Hydesville to the conscious presence of disembodied human souls. By a reference to the admirable compendium of Spiritualism in 1853, as detailed by Judge Edmonds in his "appeal," given in the last chapter, the character and standing of the personages interested in the cause may be understood, together with the nature of the phenomena which was most operative at that time. It was roughly estimated by Mr. N. P. Willis, editor of the Homle Jozurzalhimself an interested investigator-that the number of Spiritualists in New York City could not be less than forty thousand; the magnetic circles held at this time about three hundred; in Brooklyn and Williamsburgh at least twice that number; whilst several thousand mediumistic persons, over twenty public test mediums, and at least a hundred clairvoyant and medical mediums could be found in and about the city through whom strangers could acquaint themselves with the phenomenal facts then transpiring. Besides the ordinary phases of rapping, the movement of conderable bodies, and the production of many varied and wonderful feats of power, spirits afforded the most striking proofs of supra-mundane intelligence. Hundreds of mediums were astounding the world by speaking fluently in many tongues, of which they had no previous knowledge. In New York, Miss Laura Edmonds conversed fluently, when under special influences of that kind, in Greek, Latin, Italian, Portuguese, Polish, Hungarian, and several Indian dialects; her only branches of lingual education having been English and French. Miss Jenny Keyes was influenced to sing in Italian and Spanish. Mrs. Shepherd, Mrs. Gilbert Sweet, Miss Inman, Mrs. Tucker, Miss Susan Hoyt, A. D. Ruggles, and several others whose names we are not privileged to give, all residents of New York, spoke frequently, under influence, in Spanish, Danish, Italian, Hebrew, Greek, Malay, Chinese, and Indian. Of Mr. Edward Fowler's writings in Oriental languages we have already spoken. They were often submitted to eminent scholars, amongst others to the learned Professor Bush, of New York, and pronounced to be pure Hebrew, Greek, Sanscrit, etc.; Mr. Fowler being, according to the testimony of his 102 HISTORY OF MODERN friends and family, utterly incapable of writing, speaking, or comprehending any of the languages in which these communications were given. On one occasion Professor Bush being present with Mr. Fowler and desirous to test the possibility of communicating in Hebrew through the raps, called the alphabet in that language, and received highly satisfactory answers which he afterwards translated, bearing testimony to the indisputable test character of the communication, and its purity and correctness of orthography. The value of the gift of tongues may be estimated from the recital of an incident that occurred in the experience of the late celebrated agricultural chemist, Professor Mapes, who vouched for the verity of the statement. A medium of great phenomenal powers-whose name we are forbidden to mentionwas one day influenced to go into the streets in company with Mr. Henry Vail, a pupil of Professor Mapes, when she was accosted by a miserablelooking woman, who addressed her in a foreign language. The medium, who was an uneducated person, was immediately controlled to answer the stranger intelligibly, and under an irresistible spirit influence, was led into a low quarter of the town, where she found fourteen Italians crowded together in one room, in a state of deplorable destitution and sickness, but unable, from their ignorance of the English language, to make their necessities known. The medium conversed with them fluently, administered to their relief, and prescribed clairvoyantly and in their own language for the sick amongst them. Governor Tallmadge, the Honorable J. M. Giddings, and many prominent New York Spiritualists, have testified to numerous cases of a similar nature, in which the same medium, besides performing wonderful cures through clairvoyant agency, conversed with poor strangers in the streets in various foreign languages, she being, from defective education scarcely mistress of her own. The above incident will remind many New York Spiritualists of a person who for years was famous amongst them as one of the most remarkable mediums of the age, but whose name on her own solemn char6ge will find no record in these pages. We must here add that, actuated by different motives from the party above alluded to, and we regret to say, most commonly from the unworthy one of fear of public, opinion thousands of the most striking proofs of spiritual communion are suppressed, because the parties concerned refuse their names or other tokens of authenticity absolutely indispensable to the plan of this work. Amongst other varieties of phenomena was the production of magnetized water, by which many sick persons were cured, and the changing of the color of the water whilst enclosed in tightly-corked and sealed bottles. The following extract is a specimen of the latter phenomena: " MR. S. B. BRITAIN: Dear Sir, - The cause of Spiritualism in this vicinity is moving forward, regardless of the opposition which it meets on various hands, though mostly from the Church. We have all kinds of manifestations, such as are common in the East with you; but the newest are the spirit lights and the coloring of water. The lights are seen by all present in different parts of the room. But lately the medium was directed to take a bottle and fill it half full of water, and cork the same tightly, when the spirits promised to appear in it. This has been done, and the light appeared so bright that objects in the room could be distinctly seen. The bottle was passed around the circle, and all saw and handled it. " The water is placed in a bottle and left on a table from five to fifteen minutes, when it is changed to any color desired. These things are being constantly witnessed in this vicinity. I saw them myself last evening in a crowded circle. They can be attested by hundreds. Water was changed to various colors; and when a sceptical lady present requested that it AMERICAN SPIRITUALISMI. I03 be colored red, it was instantly done, and afterwards, by request, it was turned to a pale yellow. The orthodox folks have called it'humbug,''collusion,'' magnetism,' and various other things, till they are headed in them all, and now they cry, lastly, that it is' the devil.' " We have all kinds of media here, but these last manifestations are produced through a gentleman who is quite unlearned. He has submitted to the most rigid examination, and the people are satisfied that he is not in possession of any art by which to produce these things. "Yours for philosophical truth, "E. P. WILSON. "FARMINGTON, Fulton County, Illinois." About this time the papers began to circulate tidings of the most astounding phenomena occurring in Athens County, Ohio, in the family of Mr. Koons, who had built a "spirit room" in the woods to facilitate the performances of "the invisibles." Without anticipating details which belong to a separate notice, it may be mentioned that the spirits commenced, through the mediumship of the Koons family, to perform upon many instruments in concert, and through a speaking trumpet actually dictated a small volume of communications, and drew diagrams of the spheres and other remarkable details of the unknown country which they claimed to inhabit. In Columbus, Ohio, Messrs. George Walocutt and Rogers-the medium who was instrumental in the conversion of Leo Miller —were convincing sceptics by hundreds through their astounding gifts of spirit painting, reproducing faithful portraitures of deceased persons wholly unknown to them, and often sending them to strangers at distant places under spirit direction. To increase the marvel of these productions, they were mostly drawn either in darkened apartments, or when the mediums were blindfolded and surrounded by crowds of carping sceptics. In Springfield and Boston, Massachusetts, D. D. Home - afterwards renowned for his extraordinary mediumistic gifts throughout the courts of Europe — Henry C. Gordon, George Redman, and Rollin Squire, were all developed for physical manifestations of the most wonderful character. These young men were frequently lifted up in the air and floated over several feet of ground in the presence of hundreds of witnesses. Notices of these performances were freely circulated in the secular as well as the spiritual press, and because from such a source the statements are never in danger of erring on the side of credulity, we select the following from the New York Dispatch: "'SUPER-MUNDANE,' WITH A VENGEANCE-' MEDIUM FLOATED IN THE AIR." "Mr. Henry Gordon, a well-known medium for spiritual manifestations, being at a circle in this city one evening last week, was repeatedly raised from his seat and carried through the room, without any visible power touching him. The room was partially darkened, and the members of the circle could distinctly see him floating, with his lower extremities some two or three feet from the floor and some fifteen or twenty feet from the nearest person to him. The idea of any mechanical contrivance in this case is out of the question, as the circle was gotten up extemporaneously by persons too intelligent to deceive themselves and too honest to deceive others; and the occurrences took place at a house where Mr. Gordon was an invited guest only for the evening. Full particulars of the affair were related by eyewitnesses, at the spiritual conference in Bond street, on Tuesday evening last. Our fiiend Dr. Hallock was one of the party who witnessed this phenomenon, and perhaps may be induced to write out a more detailed account of it. "The same event took place with Mr. Gordon in this city some two years ago, of which an account was published." 104 HISTORY OF MODERN In Buffalo, the most intense excitement was prevailing on the subject of the manifestations. Besides a number of mediums for the ordinary phases of spirit telegraphy, Miss Brooks, a young and interesting girl of a highly-respectable family, became developed for the production of spirit music, which was performed in her presence in the most masterly and brilliant manner by an invisible piano-forte player, whose magnificent symphonies were produced when the instrument was turned with the keys to the wall, whilst one hand of the medium rested lightly on the cover and the other was held by a member of the circle. Hundreds of healing mediums were also exercising their beneficent gifts at this time. Amongst many who have since acquired a wide and deserved renown, none was more instrumental for the working of "miraculous" cures than Mrs. Mettler, of Hartford, Connecticut. The suffering and afflicted crowded her rooms from morning till night, whilst the records of the cures she performed under the avowed influence of spirits would fill a volume. The four daughters of Governor Talimadge, of Wisconsin, became mediums, and by their influence and the exercise of their admirable gifts of seership, trance, musical improvisation, writing, and tongues, created an immense sensation in the fashionable circles in which they moved. Reports from the West and California were far more startling and abundant even than those at the East, and no day passed in which the spiritual journals were not filled with narratives of the marvels that were transpiring on every part of the continent. The following extract, from the "Telegraph Papers" of I853, is taken from the notes of the distinguished writer and tourist James Sargent, Esq., of Boston: "Mr. Sargent's route lay principally through tracts of country most remote from the influences of civilization. He was for a portion of the time surrounded almost exclusively by an Indian population in a state but little removed from barbarism. It need hardly be added that no vestige of literature, even to the establishment of a district post for the benefit of travellers, had ever penetrated these wilds. No means for the dissemination of information existed, yet Mr. Sargent found that the rafpinzgs and al the other Spiritzal manifestations were of common occurrence. "It was not by any means unusual, on entering a log cabin, to find the good, simple people seated round the rude table upon which raps were being made, and replying in the usual mode, to questions put by the auditory. There were to be found, moreover, both writing, talking, and seeing media, and these in considerable numbers. " The villagers themselves appeared to be in total ignorance of the nature and character of the phenomena; only replying, when questioned, that they'did not understand it; didn't know but that it might be the devil,' etc. "These sylvan rappings first occurred, it appears, when a number of people were sitting together in conversation, and created no small consternation. "Soon tables and chairs were moved, tipped over, and lifted, and many other Pucklike gambols performed. The idea that these wonders originated in some superhuman intelligence, seems to have occurred to these unsophisticated beings naturally, and without any kind of prompting or suggestion from persons already acquainted with the demonstrations; and having arrived at this conclusion, and ascertained that the rappings could reply to them, they no longer hesitated to enter into conversation with them." Amongst records of incidental phenomena poured iuto the editorial sanctuims of the New York spiritual journalists, the author selects, from overfive thousand similar paragraphs, a few that have been thoroughly well attested, as specimen signs of the times. The letter from which the following extract is taken was written for the Spiritual Telegraph by a thoroughly reliable correspondent. AMERICAN SPIRITUALIS:M. I05 " Mr. Vinson Stockwell, in Thomson, Geauga County, Ohio, has in his family a little girl about twelve years old, who became first a rapping, then a writing, and lastly a clairvoyant medium. "She describes the nature of disease, tells the symptoms and feelings of the patient, prescribes for the same, and has performed wonderful cures. One case is as follows: A little girl nine years old had been under the care of four very eminent medical gentlemen nearly two years, and during that time over one hundred pieces of bone had been taken from her limbs. The physicians finally gave her up as incurable, at which time she could only be moved from one bed to another on pillows. She is now entirely cured by a prescription made by spirits through this medium. "Another was a case of deafness of four years' standing. The patient is a lady, a neighbor of mine, and I knew her to be so deaf that it was with much difficulty that she could be made to understand by loudly speaking in her ear. This case, too, had baffled the skill of several physicians. She was entirely healed by spiritual agency through this medium. "Another astonishing fact is as follows: Mr. Stockwell, father of the medium, left here for California; afterwards his family had news of him by spiritual agency almost daily, stating his whereabouts, and many little incidents occurring in hisjourney, which statements were found to correspond exactly with his letters afterward received. But the most astonishing fact of all was, that after being absent about one year, and the family not hearing from him for some time, they sat for spiritual communications, and to their surprise the spirit informed them that Mr' Stockwell was on his way home. This information was quite unlooked for, as Mr. Stockwell was not expected home until the year following. The question was asked,'Is he on the water?' Answer,'No he is on the Isthmus.' The spirit stated at the same time on what day of the month he would be at home; and, strange as it may appear, he arrived on the very day foretold,and stated that he was on the Isthmus at the time stated in the communication. The Harfford Tim'es, Connecticut, publishes in March, 1853, the account of a seance which one of its regular correspondents held with Mr. D. D. Home. After relating at length the extraordinary feats of marvel performed through tables, bell-ringing, playing on various instruments, and moving about of heavy pieces of furniture, etc., the writer goes on to relate an incident of such an interesting character that we quote the description entire, only premising that the editor vouches for the full faith and reliability of his correspondent's statements: " Later in the evening, when the company were preparing to retire, and after some of the party had gone from the room, the spirits requested us to wait; and tlose that remained were permitted to see the most remarkable part of that evening's proceedings. The gas-light had been turned down, but sufficient lihlt remained in the room to render ourselves, and most objects, quite visible, and the hands of the party, which rested on the table, could be distinctly seen. The spirits asked: "' How many hands are there on the table?' There were six of us in the party, and the answer, after counting, was'twelve.' "'Reply~-' There are thirteen.' "And there, sure enough, on that side of the table which was vacant, and opposite to the medium, appeared a thi-rteenth hand! It faded as we gazed, but presently up it came again-a hanz ad a an narmt, gleaming and apparently self-luminous; and it slowly moved onward toward the centre of the table! To make sure that we were not deceived or laboring under a hallucination, we counted our own hands, which were all resting in sight upon the table. There it was, however, an arm and a hand, the arm extending back to the elbow, and there fading into imperceptibility. We all saw it, and all spoke of it, to assure each other of the reality of the thing. It had the color and appearance of silver, but with this difference-it seemed to be, to a certain extent, self-luminous; it emitted a faint but perceptible lig/ht. Presently it vanished, but we were soon permitted to see not only the same thing again, but the process of its formation. It began at the elbow, and formed rapidly and steadily, until the arm and hand again rested on the table before us. It war so plainly seen that I readily observed it to be a left hand. I inquired: "'Can you wriite with that hand, in plain silght?' "Answer (by raps) -' Perhaps.' o6 HISTORY OF MODERN " A sheet of paper and a pencil were placed in the centre of the table, the hand receded meanwhile from view. In a moment it came up again [always appearing from the vacant side of the table] and slowly moved forward to the paper, which it grasped and drew back to the edge, and there shook and rattled it for some moments, but failed to write anything legible. It then disappeared, and the next moment the bell was taken from beneath the table, carried from the circle some six feet toward the centre of the room, and there rung by invisible means, and so distinctly that persons in another room, beyond an.intervening wall or passage-way, plainly heard it. " Presently it was brought back and dropped upon the table —and this while each of us sat quietly, without moving. The hand again appeared, was seen to take the bell from the table and place it in the hands, first of one, and then of another of the party. At length it was placed in mine; but, slipping my hand over the bell, I grasped the hand that held it, desiring some more tangible knowledge of its character than that afforded by sight. It was a real hand-it had knuckles, fingers, and finger-nails; and what was yet more curious [if possible], it was soft and warm, feeling much like the hand of an infant, in every respect but that of size. But the most singular part of this [to me] strange occurrence is yet to be told-the hand melted in my grasp! dissolved, dissipated, became annihilated, so far as the sense of feeling extended. It subsequently reappeared on the table and again vanished, after a statement [by the raps] to the effect that this hand had been produced by a near relative of some of those in the circle, who had been in the interior life a number of years. This question was then spelled out: "' Would you like to see the hand of a colored person?' "In a moment more there appeared a rather dull-lookinggray hand, somewhat shadowy, and not quite so clearly defined as the first, but it was unmistakably there, and its gray hue could be clearly seen. "But this account grows lengthy, and must close. Occurrences yet more astounding than any here related remain untold. Perhaps in another chapter I may give some of them, and also a glance at one theory concerning the philosophy of the production of these startling realities. FACT. "IIARTFORD, M1arch i8, I853." "SPIRITS IN CALIFORNIA-I852. " Jesse Hutchinson writes from California that the spirit rappings are quite prevalent in the land of gold. There are now said to be some twenty good mediums in San Francisco. They have seized upon the editors and conductors of the public press. The Herald is now the only sheet as yet unblest by their presence. One of the editors of the Alta has become a medium; also the principal editor of the Whig, and one of the editors of the Places Times is an enthusiastic believer and medium." Spiritual Teleg-rnaph. In a very interesting article written by Hon. Horace Greeley for Putzniam's Ifonthly Afagazine the talented author gives several striking narratives of the spiritual experiences of some of his friends, together with his own keenly acute though non-committal comments thereon. Amongst others, the following recital, though it has frequently been republished, will not be out of place, as illustrative of the character of early phenomenal facts, vouched for on the authority of Mrs. S. Helen Whitman, the celebrated poetess of Rhode Island. The narrative is given in part of a letter addressed by Mrs. Whitman to Mr. Greeley, who introduces it with strong affirmations of the unimpeachable character of the testimony he cites, also with the following postscript added to his letter in Putnamn's Magaazinze: "P. S. - Since the foregoing was in type, the writer has received the following letter from Mrs. Sarah H. Whitman, of Providence, R. I., in reply to one of inquiry from him as to her own experiences in Spiritualism, and especially with regard to a remarkable experience currently reported as having occurred to Hon. James F. Simmons, late U. S. Senator from Rhode Island, and widely known as one of the keenest and clearest of observers, most unlikely to be the dupe of mystery or the slave of hallucination.' " The most material portion is as follows: AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 107 "' DEAR SIR, —I have had no conversation with Mr. Simmons on the subject of your note until to-day. I took an early opportunity of acquainting him with the contents, and this morning he called on me to say that he was perfectly willing to impart to you the particulars of his experience in relation to the mysterious writing performzed znder his very eycs in broad daylight, by an invisible agent. In the fall of 1850 several messages were telegraphed to Mrs. Simmons through the electric sounds, purporting to come from her step-son, James D. Simmons, who died some weeks before in California. The messages were calculated to stimulate curiosity and lead to an attentive observation of the phenomena. Mrs. S. having heard that messages in the handwriting of deceased persons were sometimes written through the same medium, asked if her son would give her this evidence. She was informed - through the sounds —that the attempt should be made, and was directed to place a slip of paper in a certain drawer at the house of the medium, and to lay beside it her own pencil, which had been given her by the deceased. Weeks passed on, and although frequent inquiries were made, no writing was found on this paper. "' Mrs. Simmons happening to call at the house one day, accompanied by her husband, made the usual inquiry, and received the usual answer. "'The drawer had been opened not two hours before, and nothing was seen in it but the pencil lying on the blank paper. At the suggestion of Mrs. S., however, another investigation was made, and on the paper was found a few pencilled lines, resembling the handwriting of the deceased, but not so closely as to satisfy the mother's doubts. Mrs. Simmons handed the paper to her husband. IHe thought there was a slight resemblance, but should probably not have remarked it had the writing been casually presented to him. Had the signature been given him he should at once have decided on the resemblance. IHe proposed, if the spirit of his son were indeed present - as alphabetical communications, received thrqugh the sounds, affirmed him to be-that he should, then and there, affix his signature to the suspicious document. "' In order to facilitate the operation, Mr. S. placed the closed points of a pair of scissors in the hands of the medium, and dropped his pencil through one of the rings or bows, the paper being placed beneath. Her hand presently began to tremble, and it was with difficulty she could retain her hold of the scissors. Mr. Simmons then took them into his own hand, and again dropped his pencil through the ring. It could not readily be sustained in this position. After a few moments, however, it stood as if firmly poised and perfectly still. It then began slowly to move. Mr. S. saw traced beneath his eyes the words JAMES D. SIMMONS. The letters were distinctly and deliberately written, and the handwriting was a facsimile of his son's signature. But what Mr. S. regards as the most astonishing part of this seeming miracle is yet to be told. "' Bending down to scrutinize the writing more closely, he observed, just as the last word was finished, that the top of the pencil leaned to the right; he thought it was about to slip through the ring, but to his infinite astonishment he saw the point slide slowly back along the word Simmon's, till it rested over the letter i, where it deliberately imprinted a dot. This was a punctilio utterly unthought of by him; he had not noticed the omission, and was therefore entirely unprepared for the amendment. He suggested the experiment, and hitherto it had kept pace only with his will or desire; but how will those who deny the agency of disembodied spirits in these marvels, ascribing all to the unassisted powers of the human will or to the blind action of electricity —how will they dispose of this last significant and curious fact? The only peculiarity observable in the writing was that the lines seemed sometimes slightly broken, as if the pencil had been lifted and then set down again. "' Another circumstance I am permitted to relate, which is not readily to be accounted for on any other theory than that of spiritual agency: Mr. S., who had received no particulars of his son's death until several months after his decease, intending to send for his remains, questioned the spirit as to the manner in which the body had been disposed of, and received a very minute and circumstantial account of the means which had been resorted to for its preservation, it being at the time embalmed. "' Improbable as some of these statements seemed, they were, after an interval of four months, confirmed as literally true by a gentleman, then recently returned from California, who was with young Simmons at the period of his death. Intending soon to return to San Francisco, he called on Mr. Simmons to learn his wishes in relation to the final disposition of his son's remains. "' I took down the particulars in writing by the permission of Mr. S., during his relation of the facts. I have many other narratives of a like character from persons of intelligence and veracity; but they could add nothing to the weight of that which I have just reported to you.' " o08 HISTORY OF MODERN The following "test" of spiritual identity is inserted both on account of the ingenious method of representation employed by the spirits, and for the sake of Mr. Bartlett's valuable and well-accredited testimony. TELEGRAPH PAPERS. "Among the numerous investigators of the subject of spiritual philosophy is Mr. Bartlett, the well-known Mexican boundary commissioner. Mr. B. is a man thoroughly versed in science and natural philosophy, and is widely known, either personally or by reputation, throughout a large section of the United States. " On the occasion of which I speak, Mr. Bartlett had gone, in company with ex-Senator Tallmadge, to the residence of Mrs. C. Laurie, of Washington, for the purpose of witnessing some of the manifestations. Mr. L.'s family are all mediums. Mr. B. was a stranger to the family, and was merely introduced by Governor Tallmadge as Mr. Bartlett, a friend of his. Soon the hand of Mr. L.'s daughter was moved to write the letters'M. B.' "No one present recognized the personage whose presence was thus indicated, and it was asked: "' Were you a relative of this gentleman?' [Mr. Bartlett.] "' No.' "The hand of the medium was then made to draw the picture of a covered baggage or camp-wagon, drawn by a team of mules. To these objects were added, at a little distance, a large tree and the prostrate figure of a man, apparently dead, beneath it. "'This,' said Mr. B.,'looks like a scene in Mexico. The wagon and the mules are just like those we used there. But I do not understand the man lying under the tree.' "Hereupon Mrs. L., who is a very impressible medium, remarked: "' I receive the impression that that man died a vioient death; and further, that his Christian name was Marcus.' "Soon after, she added: "'He lost his life by some means in connection with that tree, and I think his body must be buried beneath it. "At this jnncture Mr. Bartlett was startled by the thorough recognition of the individual who was thus endeavoring to make himself known. He recollected him at once, as a man who had been attached to the boundary commission and whose name was _Marcus B. This individual, in company with two others, had acquired a bad name among the members and attaches of the commission, and at length the three committed a high and daring crime, for which they were arrested and tried before a jury empanelled by Mr. Bartlett upon the spot, consisting of six Americans and six Mexicans, and the result was a condemnation to be hung upon the nearest tree. This sentence was promptly executed, and the three bodies were buried beneath the tree on which they had been hung! "The invisible presence showed unmistakable evidence of satisfation at the recognition, and proceeded to say that he had come to ask Mr. B.'s pardon for his wrong deeds, adding that he did not impress Mrs. L. with his whole name, for the reason that he had a brother and a mother living in the State of -, who did not know of his death or his journey through Mexico, and he did not wish to lacerate their feelings by any announcement which might spread from others. "Mr. B. subsequently said that this statement was strictly true. He remembered the surname of the man who had thus unexpectedly and strangely come to him, and stated that his family were actually living in the remote State which had been designated by the spirit. "No member of Mr. Laurie's family had ever heard of' Marcus B.' or knew aught of his tragic death." "NEW PHASE OF THE MANIFESTATIONS-SPIRITUAL TELEGRAPH, 1853. "WAUKEGAN, ztune 7. "DEAR BRITAIN,-Among numerous and remarkable facts occurring all over the land, furnishing incontestable proof of spiritual communion, the one I am going to relate may not be considered the least curious or interesting. "A lady medium in this vicinity, Mrs. Seymour, when entranced, is in the habit of writing communications on her arms with the point of her finger -first on the left arm with the index finger of the right hand, and then vice versa. The' writing is for some minutes illegible, but soon it begins to appear in raised letters that can be both seen and felt distinctly. AMERICAN SPIRITUALIS=M. T09 "At first these lines have a whitish appearance, but afterwards become a bright red, and can be as plainly seen and deciphered as chalk-marks on a wall. When examined by the sense of feeling, they impart the same unyielding impression to the finger as the ridges inflicted by the stroke of a whip, though the finger, in writing, is passed over the surface very lightly and rapidly. To the eye they look like a burn, or not unlike erysipelas. They remain thus distinct and legible for fifteen or twenty minutes, causing no pain or even unpleasant feeling, and then gradually fade away as they came, leaving the skin natural, smooth, and uncolored. "The lady is also a speaking medium, and at the close of her address, in this manner, usually gives the name of the spirit who has been speaking, or answers questions by'yes' and' zo.' Sometimes, however, she will write short communications, covering the whole arm from wrist to shoulder, in two or three lines, often commencing on one arm and finishing on the other. It is curious to witness the facility with which the arm is twisted to receive the successive lines. The philosophy and rationale of this is as puzzling to the sceptic-and I may say also to the believer-as many other wonders of this wonderful visitation to man. "How the unseen operators manage to thus use the different portions of the living organism, the finger for a stile, the vital fluid as ink, and the living cuticle as parchment, it remains, perhaps, for Dodds, or the Devil, or some other aspirant for fame to account for, on the score of'the involuntary powers of the mind,' or some such theory equally satisfactory and assininely luminous. W. B." Since the publication of the above letter, written by an esteemed and reliable correspondent, many hundreds of persons have seen and borne witness to Mrs. Seymour's remarkable mediumship. Several other mediums have recently been developed for the same phase of spirit-power, but as the above is the first public notice that appeared of this phenomenon it is deemed worthy of insertion here. The following is an extract from the "notes of travel," written for the Boston New Era by the Rev. Charles Hammond, of Rochester, New York. This gentleman, it may be remembered, was one of the earliest investigators of Spiritualism through the mediumship of the Fox family. At the first few interviews which Mr. Hammond enjoyed with "the spirits" he became powerfully controlled as a personating, speaking, and trance medium. His physical system was violently exercised, and that contrary to his wish, or in view of his ministerial capacity to his sense of propriety. In course of time, however, he became a writing medium and gave several interesting and voluminous works to the world, purporting to be communications dictated by spirits. He subsequently became a popular inspirational speaker, and it was in this mission that the observations were made, a few of which will be found as follows: "NOTES OF TRAVEL. " ROCHESTER, JZly 14, 1852. "FRIEND BRITAIN,- Believing that the readers of the Telegraph would be gratified with a brief account of what I witnessed during my six weeks' tour to the West, I am induced to write to you, leaving you to judge and dispose of the matter as you may think proper.. "Along the entire path of my journey I found individuals of the highest respectability anxiously inquiring into the truth, and gladly receiving the light of spiritual communications. I made a short stay in Chautauque, where I found one rapping medium who received such instruction through my hand as resulted in developing her condition so as to become a writing medium. Several other persons were exercised very powerfully, even beyond their power of resistance. One young man took the pen without the least expectation that he could be moved, and in less than five minutes his hand began to shake, and shake more violently, as he offered resistance, then both hands, and afterwards his limbs, so that he could not sit or stand still, but began to dance to the astonishment of himself and friends. This exercise was continued for more than an hour, when he was released. He said it did not tire him in the least.. Iio HISTORY OF MODERN "From this county, I passed on to Cleveland, where I arrived on Sunday too late for the meeting of the Spiritualists. I, however, found a circle in the evening, far advanced in the philosophy of spiritual intercourse. "During ten or twelve days, I had the pleasure of attending circles of Spiritualists every evening, beside visiting some forty or fifty families in the daytime. It is nearly impossible to describe the peculiar manifestations which I beheld, or the manner in which persons are exercised by spirits. " The most remarkable are the speaking, pointing, and dancing mediums. The speaking mediums sometimes act and speak in a dialect wholly unintelligible to me, yet apparently well understood by those who are conversing. The circles being formed, mediums are instantly affected, as it were with a magnetic shock; their eyes become closed, and yet they act and move about the room with as much readiness as though they were conscious of everything about them. When the medium rises, however silent they may be, by a simple motion of the finger another is brought on the feet, and another, and so on, till the required number are unwillingly led into a circle, when the speaking commences, each alternately participating in the subject, under the control of spirits, who act upon the organs in such a manner as to force the utterance of words very readily and correctly. I have in my possession a very interesting dialogue which was repeated at the house of Mr. Kirkpatrick, in Ohio city. This dialogue was uttered in the Indian language, and was not at first understood until a translation was written out by my hand. The manner of its delivery was purely characteristic of the red man, and yet I had no idea of the subject until my hand involuntarily wrote it out. I also heard a French dialogue spoken by the same mediums, not one of whom understood the language. And however incredible it may seem, these mediums do not, as they inform me, become unconscious of the presence of the company, nor have they the power to sit down or do differently than they do. All that is done seems to be wholly mechanical, and the mediums may be regarded as the machinery, acted upon by an invisible power so as to induce manifestations of spirits, who control the voice, words, and gesticulation, and thus correctly identify themselves. "The pointing mediums signify to each other by signs what is required, and their silent language is readily obeyed. I saw whole circles formed and placed in their proper order without a word being uttered. " The dancing mediums are old and young, and of both sexes. Sometimes the dance is performed in a circle of three or four persons, but not always. The movements are very eccentric, yet often exceedingly graceful. " There was a peculiar feature in this display of spirit-power which arrested my attention. No one who danced desired it, neither could they stop it. They sometimes made an effort [for they were conscious] to sit down or fall down, but they could not do either. "A lady who had joined the Methodist Church in Cleveland, only two weeks previous, was thrown into a magnetic condition, and called for music, and after she had danced fifteen or twenty minutes was suddenly released and returned home. "I saw several exhibitions of dancing during my stay in Cleveland, and I have reason to believe that such exercises may be necessary to prepare persons for mediumship. " Accompanied by Dr. A. Underhill and Mr. H. Camp, I visited Akron. We were cordially received, and met a large circle, convened on short notice at a private house. "The most remarkable feature of spirit manifestations which I witnessed in Akron was the exercises of Miss R. and a daughter of Mr. Bangs, who had scarcely reached her teens, both of whom were unacquainted with music, yet acted upon by spirits in a way to play the most exquisite tunes upon the piano. I heard a great many pieces, difficult and plain, performed by both in a style that would do credit to the learned in musical science. "My time being limited I pushed on to Adrian. Here I gave a public lecture, at the request of the Spiritualists, in the evening, and have only to regret that the largest hall in the place was too small for the congregation. "There are several good mediums in Adrian, and I found them progressing. From Adrian I proceeded to Rome. Here I met a circle at the house of Rev. Robert Wooden. Some four or five mediums met me here, and the number was doubled in twentyfour hours... "In Addison I spent two days. A circle was formed, and we enjoyed a very pleasant season. "Indeed, throughout the State there is scarcely a neighborhood without mediums and friends of the truth. "In Chicago I tarried two days, met with two or three circles, and delivered a public lecture, which was well attended. In Illinois and Indiana there has been some excitement during the past winter, and I learned that it was constantly increasing. Mr. Eddy, of Chicago, is erecting a hall to accommodate a large congregation... - 6Ad7 ^ ~ ~ 7 - 27 - - ~/ v4-2^^/ ^g f//'-^~\/ S t ~i~/,/ / (~L-'^ AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM.I III "I next proceeded to Waukegan, by invitation of the several members of the'Excelsior Society.' Here I gave three public lectures on Spiritualism, and found a great many warm friends of the new philosophy.' The Excelsiors' number among them the most talented and respectable portion of the city, and they have held meetings twice every Sunday during the past year. "In the morning a lecture is delivered on such moral or philosophical subjects as the lecturer prefers, and in the afternoon a conference, in which all are permitted to speak who wish. "On the 3d of July I reached home, and nothing occurred during the whole journey to lessen the conviction that a great reform is contemplated by the spirits among the inhabitants of earth. I saw enough to satisfy me that no human power is competent to arrest or over throw the work of progress. "Yours, truly, "C. HAMMOND." The circumstances detailed in the following letter are inserted as illustrative of an immense array of facts of a similar character, which were occurring in the experience of the clergy shortly after the first manifestations at Roches ter. It answers the captious inquiry of those who marvel why the " elect and ap. pointed ministers of God" were not favored with the out-pouring of the spirit in the same ratio as laymen. The truth is that hundreds of these reverend pastors of souls were called with the same urgency as the one in question, but unlike the Rev. S. B. Britain, R. P. Ambler, William Fishbough, Thomas Benning, and many others [now prominent as spiritual speakers] but few of the reverend body have had the courage or honesty to acknowledge fearlessly the source of their inspiration, or the supra-mundane nature of the power that attempted to deal with them. To "quench the spirit," and, "despise prophecyings," has hitherto been the approved clerical method in treating Spiritualism; hence it is that we select from many cases [some recorded in print, but still more, carefully suppressed, though known to and witnessed by the author] the opinions with which one honest though not very enlightened minister of the gospel viewed the approaches of the spirit in tangible demonstrations. SPIRITUAL TELEGRAPH, NEW YORK.-A CLERICAL MEDIUM. " It appears that the Rev. B. S. Hobbs, of Webster, New York, a clergyman of the Universalist denomination, has of late )Fien controlled by spirits in a forcible and irresistible manner. His own account of his experience recently appeared in the Christian Ambassador of this city, and has since been copied into the secular journals. We subjoin the concluding portion of his letter: "' By the request of the friends here I assumed the pastoral duties of this society, and I continued my labors for a period of nearly six months. I had then nearly came to the conclusion that the days of trial were past, and a better and brighter future would soon be mine. But the cherished hope was vain. In a moment when I least expected it, the bolt again fell, and I was crushed, in great sorrow, humiliation and anguish, to the dust. " It is proper here to say that this exhibition was the most painful, if not the strangest, of any I have experienced. My speech was first controlled while in the solemn act of prayer; and then I again was compelled to speak in a manner that, as before, led me to think it spiritual, and others to think me strangely diseased, if not partially insane. Before, when these more than dreadful trials were mine, the strange influence was of short duration. Not so, however, in the present instance. I was obliged, in spite of all my effrts to prevent it, to exhibit the character of the speaking medium in full, by addressing an audience on two different occasions, and going through the strangest ordeals common to the Spiritualism of the present age. "'Nor did it end here; nor is it my duty now to say, the end is yet apparent. Soon my hand, as often before, was seized by the strange spirit-power and I was obliged to write its prophecies and sayings.. This has continued for a few months past and the same work is yet going on, and from Sabbath to Sabbath I am acting, not as a Gospel minister, but as a spirit medium.' 112 ZIS TOR Y OF MODERN "By this time the reader will inquire,'Does not the writer believe in the fact of spirit intercourse?' The question shall be answered. I am unable to understand my strange experience in any other manner. It has from the first been my opinion that no derangement of mind could possibly do the work with which I have long been acquainted. But the ordeal has been so terrible that I have tried to account for it in some other way than it has ever claimed to originate.. "I commend myself into the Father's hands, and to your Christian charity and brotherly love. "B. S. HOBBS. "WEBSTER, NEW YORK, Ap5ril 27." We shall conclude this chapter by a few extracts from the digest of correspondence received by the editors of the Spiritual Telegraph. The cases selected are neither phenomenally strange, nor will our space allow us to insert more than about one per cent. of the number that one year alone could furnish; they are chosen simply for what their title signifies, namely: a "digest of correspondence," also as specimens of the progress of the movement; but above all, they are records, the entire authenticity of which the author is personally cognizant of. "DIGEST OF CORRESPONDENCE. " We have received a long communication from G. H. Baker, of Demming, Indiana, detailing some curious spiritual proceedings in that place. We have not room for the communication entire, but the leading facts which it details are, that the writer and others were on one occasion directed by the spirit to meet at a particular house and take a fiddler with them, and they were promised some demonstrations that would astonish them. The assembly having taken place, as soon as the fiddler commenced playing a number of persons became entranced, and commenced dancing in the most graceful manner, though several of them had been brought up Quakers and were entirely unused to that kind of exercise. A young girl of fifteen being also entranced was made to assume the position of moderator; and when some sceptical persons had for sport intruded themselves into the circle of dancers, she would seize them and lead them to the door. "By mutual consent of the Spiritualists and Methodists a meeting was subsequently called with the understanding that the Methodist clergyman should preach a discourse against Spiritualism, and that Mr. D. Mong, a speaking medium who then happened to be in the place, should reply to him. The evening of the appointed meeting having arrived, the band of dancing mediums, some fifteen or twenty in number, were the first to enter the house. They commenced their gyratory operations to the no-small scandal of the Methodists, one of whom, being the moderator of the church, commanded them to take their seats. " The only response he received was a blow upon the mouth, inflicted with the palm of the hand by the medium who was the moderator of the dancing circle, and the spirits insisted on taking their own time to finish the dance. " A long discourse from the clergyman ensued, which was replied to by the spirit, through Mr. Mong; and during the proceedings a Methodist lady, the proprietor of the house where the meeting was holden, came under spiritual influence and bade adieu to the church; and an impression decidedly favorable to the spiritual cause appeared to be left upon the minds of the generality of the audience. " Upon the question whether these spirits acted an orderly or disorderly part we have nothing to say; but if they were disorderly spirits, and those Methodist friends were really Christians, it does seem strange to us that they had not the power to rebuke them and cast them out-a power which, in the olden times, was considered as one of the necessary marks of true Christian discipleship. [See Mark xvi: I7.-Ed. Telegraph.] " The editor of the Piedmont Whzig, published at Warrenton, Virginia, who is not a convert to Spiritualism, says, in answer to the cry that the manifestations are all a juggle and humbug: "' Here are many thousands of'mediums,' many of them children four or five years old, exhibiting these things daily and nightly in the presence of hundreds of thousands of spectators, many of whom are shrewd, intelligent sceptics. Supposing the thing to be a trick, all these mediums, men, women, and children, must be respectively provided with a set of AMERICAN SPIRITUALISM. 13 juggling apparatus of the most delicate and complicated character, sufficient to produce results which have all the outward appearance of miracles, but which must nevertheless be so easily managed and understood that a child can operate with it, and yet be so carefully and artfully concealed that thousands of eager, prying eyes cannot find it out. All these thou.. sands of juggling machines in operation, and controlled often by young children, for four or five years, in the presence of hundreds of thousands of spectators, and not one solitary case of detection occurring in all that time! We cannot believe it. It seems to us as great an.absurdity as the wildest theories of those who believe in the spirits. And if the thing is not a contrivance-a trick of the mediums-what is it? That's just what we want to know.' "SPIRITS AND MEDIUMS IN TROY. "Mr. W. H Vosburgh, of West Troy, writes us concerning some interesting developments which are occurring in that place, the essential particulars of which we condense as follows, not having room for the communication in full: A brother of Mr. Vosburgh, a lad of some sixteen years, becomes possessed by the spirits, who use him for various purposes, and among others for the purpose of diagnosing disease and prescribing its remedies. If while he is under spirit-influence, a stranger enters the room who is in any way diseased, ~the spirit who controls and speaks through him will detect the disease instantly, without a word being spoken by any person in the form, and will proceed to describe it without failure, proving thus that he has access to a source of knowledge which is beyond the reach of ordinary physicians in the body. Through another medium the spirits are giving lectures upon a variety of high subjects pertaining to natural and spiritual philosophy. The medium's education embraces the knowledge of no language besides the English, and yet his hand has been used to write different languages, and further, both hands have been used at the same time, one writing on one subject and the other on another.' These latter facts afford a knotty question for sceptics to solve consistently with the denial of spirit presence and influence. "- 7 elegraph Papers. The following is an incident occurring in the mediumship of a very gifted and well-known family of the highest respectability in Washington: SPIRITUALISM IN WASHINGTON. "THE RING EXPERIMENT-A GREAT TEST-SPIRIT LIGHTS —NEW YORK SPIRITUAL TELEGRAPH [1853.] "DEAR SIR, -On Sunday, January 8, the spirits manifested their presence and their power in the following beautiful manner. The phenomenon occurred at the residence of Mr. C. Laurie in broad daylight and in the presence of several persons, among whom: was the writer: " Mr. Laurie's daughter, under spirit-influence, was directed to go to the piano, and place thereon a heavy gold ring. Having done so, her hand was brought up and placed over the ring in such a position that the fingers pointed downward toward it at a distance of about four inches. Presently the ring began to rise. The medium's hand was then moved stillhigher, and the ring followed it, approaching within some two inches of the tips of the fingers. It then slowly fell down toward the piano; when, having fallen some six inches, it gradually rose to its former position. It soon fell again, in the same gradual manner,.'but this time to a greater distance, a foot or more. As it once more slowly rose, the medium was made to bend backward, her head being thrown back, -while her hand was raised and carried over her head, until the fingers pointed downward to the floor. The ring followed the hand, describing an arc in its passage over the medium's head, and dropped down some six inches from the tips of the fingers behind her, where it hung suspended in air. After remaining in this position a few moments, it dropped nearly to; the floor, so slowly and beautifully as to satisfy every one present that physical magnetism was not the agent employed in producing its movements. Then it gradually rose again some fourteen inches or more. In this manner it kept rising and falling for some time, as if to convince each beholder that a power outside of and beyond any physical law controlled its motions. "The hand was next moved slowly back, followed by the ring, and as the medium's body slowly regained its upright position, her hand was carried toward the wall, to which it approached within about three inches. The ring then commenced striking against the wall with a clear, ringing sound, like that of a glass bell. The hand at no time touched the8 114 HISTORY OF MODERN, wall, nor came nearer to it than the distance above stated; but the ring would leave the tips of the fingers, dart against the wall, return, and then repeat the act. It then followed the hand while it came back to its first position over the piano, where it again went through with the motions of falling and rising. "The above beautiful experiment was plainly seen by all in the room, and the circumstances were such as to exclude all possibility of deception, if the medium had been disposed to deceive. But the persons present were only those of her own family, and one other besides myself; and the character of Mr. Laurie and his family would forbid the idea of trickery, even had the circumstances been otherwise. "On one evening subsequently, the ring experiment was again given, but not quite so perfectly. It rose, however, some feet from the table, and followed the medium's hand again over her head, dropping down from behind her as before. Among the spectators on the latter occasion was the Hon. Joshua R. Giddings. Mr. E. W. Capron and a Senate reporter were also witnesses of the sight. "In remarking on the above experiment to Mr. Giddings, I observed that it was a most beautiful one. The medium, who was then in a trance, soon after wrote as follows: "'Well may you say how beautiful is the communion of the spirits with those of the lower sphere! And far more beautiful it will be as the cause progresses. Joy, peace, and Heaven, -all, all, shall be yours, and all connected with you in this holy cause. Glory to God the Most High! "'BEN. FRANKLIN.' " The following'clincher' of a test occurred, I think, on the same day; but I will not be positive as to the precise time. Mr. Laurie, while quietly seated by the fire, was suddenly impressed with the presence and the name of the Rev. Mr. Wardlaw, of Glasgow, Scotland. So strong was the impression that he was forced to speak the name, and say,' I am here.' In a moment more, on coming to himself, Mr. Laurie recollected that he had not heard of Mr. Wardlaw's death, and so remarked to his family. [Mr. Wardlaw had been an intimate friend of his father, the late Rev. James Laurie, who was long and well known to the people of Waslington, and who in early life lived in Scotland.] "The next week's steamer brought the news of Mr. Wardlaw's death, which had occurred at a date shortly previous to that of the visitation received by Mr. Laurie. Although Mr. Wardlaw was an eminent divine, and well known in Scotland and in this country, no one was further from the thoughts of Mr. Laurie at that particular time than he was, and his death was not then known in this country. " On Sunday afternoon, January 22d, the little daughter of Mr. Laurie [in the spheres] manifested herself to her parents in the form of a large, bright star, which appeared on the wall. It was seen by all the family, and was so luminous as to light the otherwise darkened room to a high degree. It appeared as large as a saucer at first, but gradually contracted until it finally disappeared. One of the most remarkable things connected with this manifestation was the outline of a tiny human form - resembling the figure of a little girl - which was distinctly seen inside of the radiant star. The hue of the star is described by those who saw it to have been apparently like that of the most brilliant colors of the rainbow combined. It was seen by all the family who were present, which fact proves that it was no psychological effect, but a positive presence of spiritual elements and forces, presented in this most beautiful form of manifestation. The curtains were lifted from the windows, and the sunlight allowed to stream into the room and upon the wall where the star was fixed, but the latter still remained, and its "super-solar blaze" paled the ineffectual fires of the god of day. At length, upon the mother's involuntary approach toward the vision with outstretched arms, in an instinctive desire to retain the presence of her child, it vanished altogether. "Yours, B." E:'1i. —i-'\0'i; (i$L lTLE i~R~ ~~~~~~