Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1845-11-07
THE ENQUIRER.
cLAlRyoyANCE AN IMPOSITION.

To tie Editors Of The HMs
\ Circumstances have transpred, which call lot
statement OF the means by which De Bonnie
!, ville's Clairvoyan, Exhibition was exposed; oh
Taursiay Oct 10Th, Messis. Lyons, Cash'e' .
III. Myers and Sncad, were appointed BY inc au-
dience. al The instance Of De Bonneville, a Com
mir,ee 10 blindfo.d the pretended Ct@ut'paNts,
girl about 10 or II wears old | was inVltcd py
Them. as also BY the audience, 10 come upon 10"
platform as an observer. The experiments oi
the night were not satisfactory 10 MesS!s Lyons
Caskie nor myself, but entirely 50 TO Messrs. NY
ers and Snead.
On FRIDAY evening, Messls. Lyons, Caskie
Drs. Deane and Dove and myself, were selected
hy the audience 10 blndioldthe Clairroyaate, and
conduct the experiments.
Or. Dove was called away, and did mol Wit
ness the proceedings OF The evening
De Bonneville claimed the use Of his own ban
jase, which was objected 10 by DR.. Deane. Al
length my proposition 10 NEE, De B. hallway,
viz: 10 use his bandage and TWO TIM camofic
handkerchiefs, obtained from ladies' IN The room,
was acceded TO- Mr.. Lyons and myself applied
The bandage, The girl being in The claiivoyan'e
state, as announced 10 the audience by De Bon
neville. Before The application Of The bandase,
Inc Girl stated TO De + that she was entirely wel
and expressed TO me The same before she was PA
ced in the pretended Mesmeyic condition. Aiter
the bandase had been applied, upon inquiry from
De b. she said she was not well; chad PAIN
about her heart; Il have been walking good
deal during the day; 'let me 60 Tor 10,
night, ana | will be ready 10 morrow-ior
will indeed STAY in my room. 10 lhis We q.
ieplied, ooh, you are WELL" when Mr.. Ly-
uns and myself urged De Bonneville not PRO
reed, if the luie girl was unwell. lie linen m
uuired of the Ciai,rorantc, "Don'tyou see met
Won certainly can see me-" She responded Il
see You little" lie then remarked 10 MIR. ~
ons "She cap-sce and you may proceed WIN
your experiments" An engraving OF skull
was placed before her, and as Il was ID oooA she
had no means orknoWins whether II was an or
binary page Of quarlo volume, or piale' a,'ei
feeling il, pressing it 10 the head, the lace, &c,
she said 81 can't see anything" and iidhueu ne
book 10 Mr. Lyons While Mr.. Lions was pre-
.n,ine totte audience, and some alteration be-
tween De g. and him was going on, Or. Deane,
myself and several .. the audience saw her al
tempt to liz the bandage, failing in this TO Mr..
LYONS request 10 make another TRIAL She respond
"a. II can't see 0nbih,ng, and VIII Take OH .he
!,andage"- which she deliberately did, and ieIl
The chair Daring this evening, although MT
Lyons was the only member OF the committee
put in communication with The girl she convelsed
wilh me, and obeyed my directions when ORD, r
"a her no, 70 touch The bandage. Thus ended The
only exhibition in which this Ciarroyantc was
nandaged beyond the possibility OF seeing with
her natural vision. The Committee unanimous,
IL ANNOUNCED the experiments 10 be an entire ana
unmitigaled failure. .
Messrs. Daniel, Peake and S. II. Myers were
apponed the committee 10 examine Inc oanuaSe
and lest whether or not a person could see when
ms (De Bonneville's) bandage was snusly az
piled. The audience then, BY vote, called upon
me 10 test the bandage when applied 10 The com
mittee, and also TO apply il to The CtGpropaue.-
MIR. Peake was selected and although The band
age was applied to him under The direction OF De
Bonneville, said, 81 can see light, but not enough
Tor vision; but give me something A sheet OF
paper was held before him, and he exclaimed, "a
shee, of paper aud there is the word The writ
ten upon H." The bandage was again adjusted,
either by De p. or under his direction. Al en-
craving was held before him, and he described il
as "Shrubbery with two birds upon H." i was
an accurate description of the plate. 1t was
again adjusted under tie same direction, and ne
remarked, al cannot now STE 50 distinctly, gu,
can see the fame OF The candle al my side The
bandage, be il remembered, up 10 tins Time had
been applied or adjusted BY De Bonneville.
never had touched it, then announced, that
would apply this (De b 81 bandase as had done
The night before 10 the Ciaurouante- the
exposure Of the pretended Clairvoyance was con-
elusive. MIR. Peake then stated, that for The fist
time his eyes were perfectly bandaged and light
excluded Besides The bandase | had used
cambria handkerchief Here the committee ex.
pressed their belief that the bandage by itSeii
could not proven, ordinary vision. DE 3. said
the handage was no. made for an adult and pro
posed 10 call up "a child. | told Mr.. Daniel to
call up Dorsey Cullen, son OF Dr. John CUT
lun; this he did, and The boy refused, bulupon nv
calling him and telling him | would take The
blame, (for his father had forbade him taking
any part in The exhibition which had been going
on nightly, he came 10 The stand. Does any one
ask why | named Dorsey Cullen2 ls,. Because
he is about the age and size OF the little girl for
whom the bandage--ihe offspring OF five hours
labor-was fabricated ID His eyes are retreat
ing 3d. He is quick, intelligent and fearless
4lh, and lastly, because Mrs De Bonneville, in
the presence OF her husband in her own private
apartment, had placed il on him in The morning
OF that day; and when the little boy said he could
see 50 as 10 read, had charged him with talsehood
and denounced him skeplcal little boasler,
cxclaiming, "You can't see" He, however, had
100 much respect for himself and truth, 10 admit
The assertion or deny the truth. This nc COM
muncated 10 me in the presence of Colonel S. S.
MYERS al o'clock on Saturday, on Governor
street The bandase was applied 10 Dorsey chi
len by Messrs. Myers and De Bonneville. The
latter expressed his approval of the application.
Mr. Daniel presented an engraving which he
had brought from his house, and which neither
Dorsey nor myself had ever seen Immediately
The little boy called out, "A man on horseback"
Such was The TACT. De Bonneville here remark
ed, The bandase was made SO that il can be APP
piled SO that you can see, and 50 you cannot see"
Important annunciation: The truth of which
was endeavoring 10 establish TO The satisfaction
OF the audience.
De Bonneville, aided BY Mr.. Myers, again ad-
)usted the bandaee and pushed uoder it plcdgeis
Of rag To enquiries from Mr. Peake and my
self De Bonneville said, The was satisfied with
The application Fihe bandage" ten dollar
hill on the Bank of Charleston, was handed 10 the
little boy and as soon as he cast his eyes upon it,
he called out "a Ten dollar bank note" Some
one in The crowd said, "what bank?" Looking
in the body OF the noe and spelling. By touching
lie letters, he said, "here is Ten Dollars printed
in large type, but don't see any name Of the
bank" pointed 10 The top of the note over The
vigneue, and he replied, "bank Of Charleston"
The shout which was instantly heard, told how
deep conviction oflhe imposition had been i'm
pressed upon The audience. This was a conclu-
Sive test Of the falSeness OF De Bonnevlles ban
dage, for the little boy had never seen bank
mole in which the name OF he bank was not insert
Ell in the body of the bill Here musl be permitted
10 state, that had never ten dollar noe Of
the Bank of Charleston, nor could ], nor Dorsey
Cullen, see this one, as MIR. Peake had brought
in expressly 10 test the pretended Clauroyoate and
had not exhibited it TO me nor Dorsey. farther
state lha, have never applied a bandage upon
Dorsey Cullen, nor have | ever practised upon
him.
De Bonneville and MIR. Myers always applied
The bandage 10 Dorsey Cullen. never applied,
adjusted nor touched it, and any statement 10 the
contrary is false.
My confidence in my ability to convict The i'm
position, was upon common sense principles.
knew that The God OF Nature had given no man
The control of his fellow Ny earliest moral in
s,ruction had taught me 10 know, that as my acts
were prompted by my own will, was alone re-
sponsible; that no one could assume the respon-
sibility, because no one could control my will.
knew that all philosophy condemned the pre,en-