The Lancaster ledger. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1852-1905, 1855-02-07

A rich Ess6te--A Veritable Sheep Thief
-Four Ne,p Homicide Cases-The Mar
kets dc.
At the solicitation of several friends
strongly tinctured with beliefin the spirit
rappings doctrine your correspondent re-
Gently paid visit in their company to pro-
fessional medium in this city, who holds
regular circles every day when visitors call
upon him. The regular charge is 81 from
each individual. We were ushered into a
neat little room, tasteinlly and peculiarly
furnished. Upon the walls hung number
of choice engravings, among which were
several well executed heads Of tn, Saviour
-boquets and garl tnds Of flowers were
neatly arranged over the doorways-the
windows were hang with neat curtains, and
although there WIS no show Of expense, n
certain iIdef nablc air Of elegance and grace
pervaded the apartments, and involuntarily
impressed the visitor with the idea that the
Spirits had a very pleasant place Of resort
prepared for them, whether they honored it
with their presence or not. Presently the
Medium appeared. He was young man,
apparently from twenty-five TO thirty years
Of age-with peculiar but pleasant coun.
tenance-light auburn hair of n fine and
glossy texture, light blue eyes; aboat five
feet six inches in height. We soon sat
down 10 an old table, having previously ex-
amined its bottom by turning Il upside down
and observing that there were no springs
or traps underneath il. Soon after forming
the circle, the table rapping commenced in
response to almost every question asked;
some of which were answered properly,
others were not One of my friends re-
ceived through the medium. who Processes
to be a rapping, writing, and some times
speaking medium, a written communication
from deceased friend, which spoke chiefly
of the happiness Of her condition, and urged
him to pursue his spiritual Investigations
further. obser that in its style the
Quaker idlum "the' and "thy" was adopted
when asked him whether shc had used
that system Of speaking while alive, to
which the table answered affin ,tivsly, and
my friend also said she had. Asking wheth.
er any spirits friendly to myself were pres
ent, received an affirmative response--and,
in bricf-received from the mouth Of the
medium, after he had undergone n series Of
nervous twitchings, and closed his eyes
much in the same manner rs the clairvoyant
subjects of mesmerizers do when they be-
come highly excited in n communication
II purported TO be from near and, to me,
very dear relative--its style was beautiful
Its advice tender, touching aud appropri-
ate-its breathings Of affection and express
sions af enjoyment in its present condition,
were highly eloquent, and the soul Of pocsy
seemed to breathe throughout it. II was
proceeded by the end Of the table at which
was sitting rising about six inches from
the floor, and stamping upon il with con-
siderable violence.
Some Of the "experimen Is" made on the
occasion smacked very strongly OF decep-
tion--others were of a somewhat rcm,rka-
bic character. A portion of our party lcfi
strongly inclined to place implicit reliance
in the doctrinc-othcrs were just as emphat-
ic in their declarations that it was all hum.
bug. That certain sin :ulir demonstrations
were made which your correspondent is au-
able to satisfactorily explain aud account
for is quite clear-that tho agency or sys-
tenn which produced them was a spiritual
one, is, however, by no means necessary
or a logical deduction. II has been the IA
vorite refuge OF ignorance in sll ages Of the
world when IL witnessed any effect which
II could not satisfactorily account for, TO at.
tribdte it to a supernatural agency, but
nearly all such delusons have in time been
dispelled by the light of science and inyes-
iigation. 1t may, and perhaps will be so
with Spiritua!ism.
George G. Foster, whose sketches ofNew
York by Gas. light nude him something ofa
star in the literary world, and who has late
ly been committed to our country prison on
charge Of forgery, was last week married
there Gin PRISON. to q lady who has also
gained some considerable literary celebri-
ty.
Our hremen still manage to keep the
town in an uproar by their constant broils.
The other evening fight occurred In one
Of their rooms which resulted in the death
of one young man and the inHiction Of We
~ serious and probably fatal wound upon
another. On the anne night gang ofrow-
dics broke into hose house aad run of
with "the machine probably with the de-
sign Of destroying il, and thu, laying the
foundation for feud which would last for
severals years; but a police officers Atten-
ton was directed to Il While it was running
through the streets, and the parties on be-
ing question ned, all fed, with the exception
Of one elevated indisiduel, who was arres-
ted and bound over for his appearance al
Court.
Wife beating has become crime so com
mon here that two or three arrests for il are
announced In our papers nearly every day.
In many eases jealousy IL probably the ex-