Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1866-01-10
Strange Story of FanatIcism

lFrom the Detroit Free Press.l
r The quiet village of Battle Creek wa
. thrown into great excitement on Satul
/ day last, by the discovery of the dea
bodies of three children, under circun
stances that strongly induced suspicion O
, foul play. A COroner's jury was at one
summoned, and a thorough investigation
, of the affair was commenced, but was no
concluded when our informant left. Tn
. inquiry has developed a condition of 50
cial affairs which is almost too much fo
cFedulity to swallow That in this latte
half of the nineteenth century, in tn
midst of a Christian community, person
of both sexes should herd together lik,
cattle, in furtherance of a wild fanaticism
almost surpasses belief. When they Q,
still further, and add to their previous
crimes the most henious one known t.
God and man, the community in whicL
they live may be pardoned for exhibit
ing symptoms of unusual excitement.
4 The circumstances of the case, so fal
as developed, appear to be about as fol
lows: Last spring a Mrs. Leonard lef
her husband at Ypsilanti and went tC
Battle Creek, taking with her five chill
dren, two by Leonard and three by for
/ LlGI AuStLAlA IL eEtulS Eudb she WAS Z
believer in modern spiritualism, and was
led to desert her husband through in
structions from the spirit world. She
| herself possessed the power of cOmmunt
eating with the spirits, being in the par
lance of the sect a medium" By ad
vice from the same supernatural source
/ she dropped the name of Leonard, and
being matrimOnially Joined, according to
the ordinances in vogue in the spirit
world, to her first husband, again assum-
ed his name and called herself Mrs. Hav-
| iland. When she reached Battle Creek
with her children she had $500 in money,
and set up IN housekeeping by herself
About this period another person appears
upon the stage in the person of Doctor
Baker, of Adrian, who was also a spirit
uaf medium of great repute among his
sect. Dr.. Baker boarded with Mrs. Havi-
land. The house was a great resort for
spiritualists, there being many of that
sect in and about Battle Creek, and ''cir-
cles" and ''seances" were the principal
occupation of the gifted DIR. and his pu-
pills; for it appears that the Haviland
house was a sort of spiritual academy for
the training up of female mediums
through the superior knowledge of the
doctor. A Miss Merritt, of Iona, me-
dium, was of the household, and Miss
Hannas, of Battle Creek, young lady of
seventeen years of age, was a boarder in
the family. She was developing her gifts
with the help of other mediums, as a
'.test medium;" that is, the verdict of
spirits in general, and loquacious ones in
particular, was tested through her supe-
riOr gifts. 1t was said that she developed
more rapidly than any test medium ever
known in these parts, heing quick-witted
and shreWd. The academy went on with
swimming success through the summer and
fall, and furnished incon tTovertible spir-
itual evidence for the conversion of the
unbelieving.
Abont four weeks ago, the doctor bor-
rowed 5000 of Miss Merritt, and bought
a lot in the outskirts of the town, upon
which he built his castle in the shape of
q board shanty with one room. Into
this shanty with one room, the DR.. NOV
ed the three women above mentioned
and the five children, and they all lived
together, continuing to develop" the
young lady as a test medium Wonder
fu things were related of her powers in
that capacity. She could 60 into a trance
and when she arrived back to this mum
dane sphere world relate wonderful
things of what she had seen and heard.
She had seen and talked with any de-
ceased friend you might name, and could
describe him or her exactly as he or she
in this life, the dress, size, color |
Of hair and eyes,
xvi mair o. horrible and awful,
Which cen to name wad be unlawful"
The party were getting ready to travel
and astonish the world with public dis
play of their intimacy with the spirits
Mrs. HaYiland had procured a place for |
her two children named Leonard, and /
had told her other children that she ]
would take care of them. On Saturday /
afternoon last, some children living in /
the neighborhood were playing near the 4
shanty, when the two Leonard children
made their appearance. On being asked /
where their older brothers and sisters
we're, they said they were dead. The
childred ran home and told their parents,
some of whom Immediately visited the
;hanty, and found the report to be true.
The woman Leonard alias Haviland, said 4
that the youngest, girl aged four years,
lied on Friday morning at ten o'clock,
md the third, boy eight years old, died
Merritt says she asked the doctor what
hey should do with the children if they
should die, and he said he would make a
box and bury them in his lot. They
,laimed that the children died of scrofula.
It was generally believed, however, that
hese mediums, wishing to travel and not
)e encumbered with the children, deter
mined quietly to remove them to better
phere. Considering that they could be
With them and enjoy their society quite
S much in the spirital world, without
he inconvenience of taking care of them
nd providing for them with bread and
,utter and clothes; the plan, no doubt,
eemed very sensible one.
A post mOTtsm examination of the bodies
# the children was made by Drs. Cox,
french and Saunders, the result of which
vas that the children were healthy, and
lad the appearance of being poisoned {
he stomachs were taken out by the doc
ors, and the contents were in process of
,eing analysed when our informant left.
me Coroner's jury were awaiting the re-
ult of such analyzation before deciding
pom their verdict. The parties had been
laced under arrest until the facts of the
ase could be more fully investigated
he affair naturally created considerable
xc tement in the town, and the greatest S
was manifested toward the {
nhuman mother who could perpetrate {
lch deed upon her own offspring. S
Regularity in Feeding