The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1857-05-18
THE DAILY DISPAICH.
- $500, rIoruIu1. May ~. 1887.
snirItuaii.m Rampant

Monday Morning, May 'S' '.~~-
snirttun,i.m Rampant.
The subject Of spirtual'sm Is AgA'n cfe~."s
...;o, in the headquarters Of witcbcrait
"a a;.hol,su, The leading journals ofthe country
~, - think II worthy their attention. and dis'
.r.. TIM poiuts with great gravity Inc sta'd
...o;reucer gives . column to q COM
or the subject from Ell Senator n. p.
-Nm-..ase the Boston papers renquish their bick-
.ssr sl.yery for . spiritual tournament.
,u,,;.ns Journal takes up the cudgels against
'a' invention, whilst the Baltimore Patriot
-. deliberately and at length that the phenom-
80 .n,r,,ualism should be thoroughly scrutinzed
-, ,eported on by men Of unquestioned charac-
ter and talent
The immediate occ.s sion of all this pother, is
Grand exhibition made by one Willis, medium OF
andover College, Miss who was charged with
n.ss,ng his naked foot over the hands of /" cir
Gle. " In a late performance, at Andover. for the
purpose of making them believe that it was the Tin
gers OF . ghost professor of the college, wfo
was present at the performance, graspeo 'Le
Shos,y hand as 1t touched his OVID, and held on 10
It till the gas was rsligtted, when behold IL was
Wjlliss toes. Such was the charge, made at tne
time and the answer given to it Is another exhl'
btiou in Boston, in concert with one hume, a
spirituslist adventurer, who has lately been 10
France and egregousy humbugged that most
superstitious of usurpers since Cromwell whom
he resembles in more respects than one, Louis Ma
noleou About this Hume & Willis exhibition the
Boston Traveller publishes from an eye witness
most extraordinary yarns-traveller's tales, hich
are enough to tax the credulty even of Boston
iufdel. Not only does heavy table move, and
cut up all sorts of surprising antics; not only does
. piano, whilst Willis plays upon 1t, hop an accoms
paniment to Hail Columbia not only does an
ACCORDION discourse music without the aid of fin.
gers, but behold!
Tbs lights were then turned down, thou gh n ot so
far that any object upon the table could not be plain
ly seen. / cCuld have counted the coat buttons of
the person sitting opporite me, and could sse dis
tinsty the countenance and expressions Of the Per
sons At the other end. white cloth was spresd
over the table. Almost Immediately the table, al
ready drawn out to be no longer tight, aha
ken 20 q to loosen entirely one of the leaves and
This was raised and thrust along under tbs CLOTH
noon the leaf next 10 it Dcrink the entire opera.
ton noticed every h and which could have reached
1t, above the able. Neither OF Mr.. Wiliss hands
touched the leaf and only one of Mr. Hume's.
Its removal caused the CLOTH Of course to sink
somewhat over the place from which it was taken
Presently movement wasseen In the cl 9th. som 3
thing was evidently forcing it upwards gentleman
in whose intelligence l have confidence, laid his
hand upon it, and declared to me that 1t felt like hu-
man fingers soft and warm. Every hard was at this
time above the table, as both the sentl smen whom
Ireter and myself noticed. changed seats in such
q manner az to bring me next but one to Mr.. Hume,
and whom perceived the undulation in the cloth, -
laid my hand gently upon it The impression was
precisely ~ the gentleman described, and on holding
.cloth over my fingers punched together, and feel
tried to grasp this thing, whatever 1t might be II
eluded my grasp and disappeared only to reappear
instantly In another place. This attempt repeated
three times Once it sasped my fingers down s. far
90 the second joint but when clutcued att, it was
gone. This appearance continued at Intervals Tor
half an hour.
During this proceeding one of the comosny had
declared that on holding the hand OF Mr.. Hume, be.
meath tn st table his had been conscious OF the
of another hand upon it. and afterwards upon bis
own. 1 requested tbs gentleman to change feats
with me, which he DID clssped Mr. Hume's hand,
conveyed it beneath the table, where held 1t at
least five minutes, feeling nothing of the kind AT
last became suddenly conscious that something was
grasping his wrst, snd not HAT minute afier felt
light and soft touch ss Of q finger, Dpos my own
and. This could not have been produced by any
motion Of tbs fingers Of the hand Of Mr. Hume which
h sid, by those of hls other hand which remain
ed all the while thrust in the boeom OF his wasrcoat
Nethe could it have been produced By the hands Of
the only person IA LADY, within reach OF who're &C.
Cured. Both her hand, were in full view all the
time.
This is an excellent ghost story aud might
figure to some advantage in Mrf. Groves Night
Side of Nature. Now, let it be borne In mind
that we know nothing of the witness who tells
this story, whether he is an observing, unmagiIa,
tive man, or exctable and enthusiastic nor of the
company round the table, numbering in all four-
teen persons, 80 that it is quite possible there
might have been collision between some of them
and the operators But, there some things
we all know and that knowledge is enough to ex
plode the whole imposition. One is that spirits
have not human fingers soft and warm," or
hard and cold reason and revelation both de-
claring that spirits have not flesh and blood
That there were human fingers, soft and warm
under the cloth, we do not doubt but think it
much more likely that they were the fingers of
some of the circle, than that the Word of God, and
the common sense and experience of all mankind
are impostures and fAlsshoods.
1t ia possible that an inanm ate object may be so
surcharged with electricity, some principle or
force not yet fully known as to perform some of
the fea.s attributed to this table. Hence a scru.
tiny of the phenomena by men of science and
sense may be desirable. We have little hope
however that the verdict of scientific commits
sion can put an end 10 spiritualism any more than
to any other species of chArlatanism and humbug
A brain fever Is not to &c cured by an application
of common sense There is proclivty to super.
stition a love of the supernatural in the mind of
almost every human being, and in every honest
believer in spiritualism "the wish is father to the
thought" Therefore whatever science NAV saw
Spiritualsts will hear strange sounds and see won>
derfu sights until the delusion has lost its novelty
and dropt into the same grave with Witchcraft.
and other popular fallacies and frauds
o
Inhospttuble Treatment.
II ia p0vV said that he q 20 ,,,