Litchfield enquirer., 1865-10-12

person submitting them was uniformly required to write the names of several deceased persons. by which his attention was directed from the manifestations and movements of the defend ant j; that the defendant had confessed to a wit ness that the pretence that he had received spiritual communications by reason of table rappings was a hunnbug; that other jugglers who are themselves witnesses) could, and did, by sieight Of hand deceive persons watching l them, In such matters as opening envelopes. anfireading the questions therein that the so called spirit rappiogs could be and were pro, duced by the witnesses by the foot or other me chanical means; that, the defendant, after he had written answers to questions contained in sealed envelopes without it's being seen that he had opened such envelopes was careful to ap- pear.to open them before they were handed
 back to the questioner. so that the evidence of their having been before partially opened would be destroyed; that the answers given were mi. formly pertinent answers to the questions pro. | pounded, but that such answers, when they re- latedzto past events or existing circumstances,
 were very frequently untrue in fact, thus show ing that the Intelligence which framed the an- swers knew what the questions were, but that such answers were at best but shrewd guesses, and not the offspring of spiritual intelligence i; that the answers containing pretended spiritual information in regard to future events were wholly untrustworthy. mere pretensions which
 might impose upon the creduious, but were ut
 terly unreliable @A-@. '55 "s saS 9t
 A little. further on the judge attacks the
 whole system of spiritualism in the following decisive way #-. ...
 The theory upon which the defence was
 based is opposed to the reason and the expert.
 ienee of mankind, and the proof to sustain it
 should be of the most reliable character Our reason, as we'll as our instinct, teaches us that l if our departed parents, and children, and I friends, can communicate with us, and give us
 information and advice for the regulation of 1 our conduct they would not refuse to exercise this power for. our benefit because We decline I to contribute to fill the pockets of strolling performer. or because we failed to address them through the brokerage of some professed spir- itual medium. And our experience, like our reason. teaches us to require strong and rel:a- ble evidence of the exercise of supernatural power when the effects produced are evidently the results of human volition, and must. there fore. be presumed to be the product of human
 agency .. -,..., ... ,.a...is f st..f .. ,..,st
 The spirits it seems are not very good citi- zeps, at least they do not work for the public good, for the judge tells us: 2, '1
 l The defendant, it was proved, was in Wash ] ington last spring, and in such need as to re-
 quire loan of money, and yet he had not exer-
 ted this power to discover the hiding place of
 the fendish murderers of President Lincoln, Or
 of those. who attempted to assassinate other
 high efsoa nf 4hA sA.sa-s>.AAnE and fhns to SC. | = Al- -c At l. @f 1~l1n H~ I rewards for such service nor had he or any I pearsd, even exercised this power in any simi
 lar case, where immense profit to himself could
 have been realized by it's praiseworthy exercise in aid of the operations of ths government and
 in the interest of all good citizens. '.''4 7
 In conclusion, and very conclusivey, the se- date judge says: s4 .....r....,4--....., ...- l ( It might we'll be supposed that this class of persons, who, it was said by the defendants 8 counsel, were as conscientious and confident in their beliefiof the truth of their professions as
 were those martyrs who have suffered at the stake in attestation of the sincerityo of their re-
 ligious belief, would gladly embrace an oppor- tunity to prove, upon a judicial trial, tue sin:
 cerity and truth of the pretensons, if such proof CUuiu Oo {ltluO6s ludb uO Uu0 VI ittItS CtdSS Ot
 persons was called upon the stand, or vo,rn-
 teered his testimony, unon this trial, probably the first widely advertised opportunity of re
 moving this vexed question of the truth of their
 pretensions from the regions of dreamy specu-
 lation and dogmatic assertion. and bringing t
 to a legal and public trial in the modeaud upon
 the evidence to which, after all the worlds ex-
 perence. we are still obliged to resort for the determination of all questions of fact in which
 the liberties and lives of our people dspend- l is circumstance of much signi6ca nee and
 weight, upon, the question of the guilt or inno- cence of the defendant Not only the pecunia
 " interests, and perhaps the personal liberty, of the defendant, but the interest and reputa- ] ton of all the so called spiritual mediums were
 involved in this question and yet not one of these persons, who upon their own knowledge, 'could have given direct and important testimo 1 ny, was placed upon the stand, and the defend
 ants defence was suffered to rest mainly upon
 the efforts of his able counsel and the proof by
 those who had consulted him. that he had re. turned pertinent answers to their questions, and shown the writing upon his arm without their
 being able to discover the manner in which he
 learned the nature of the questions, or that there was any slight of hand used in his per- jformances.a a To deceive the eye, to perform
 lrlckS Wllu SuCu SurpttSlux SAiit anu fagIuiey nS
 to prevent hls manper of proceeding from be-
 ing discovered, is the ordinary skill of juggler,
 and the proof given was not sufficient to shake the confidence of the jury in the case made by
 the prosecution. In short, tue affirmation proof Fof the defendant guilt was very strong, if not
 absolutely conclusive the defence set up re-. quired the jury to disregard the reason and ex
 perience upon which we are accustomed to rely
 as citizens and as jurors; and the unsatisfactory
 character of the defendants proof, and the fail- ure to resort to the most. obvious and direct mode of disposing the case made by the prose- | cution, left the jury no alternative, for they could not resist their conviction of the defend kant's guilt.'yzs | 9a ,gissaa5E @ohuia 5t4 'l
 pa Another volume of the sCompanion
 Poets for the People, has been issued. It is
 entitled sLyricsr of Iifs,' and consists ofehoice
 selections from the shorter poems of Robert Browning iTs any one acquainted with the \ Jliteraturelof:the day. the name of the Author is
 sufHcient guarantee for the value ofithis5 little
 book5,J butIto this can be added the fams ofshs ipublisher,s who have made these among gths