The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1866-07-03

covered q bracelet and some ribbons hidden
upon Miss Van Wie-where she declines, ''as :
lady" to state-and rushing out to the audi.
ence she exhibited these articles, told her story
and ended the s<anoe amid great Excitement
"Colonel" Goodwin, the manager Of The
medium, whom he terms the child Of God"
was rash enough to give currency to this new
spiritual scandal by bringing the matter before
the courts. He had Mrs. Bodley arrested upoa
the charge Of stealing the bracelet which she
had found. Mrs. Bodley repeated her ciroum-
stantial account Of the affair to the Justice and
was at onoc discharged, the spirits, as in the
Colchester case, not appearing In court to give
any evidence In their own favor. II Mrs-
Bodley had taken the bracelet the spirits wore
the only parties who could have claimed he
property and brought an accusation against
her. Miss Van VIE, the medium, denied having
any jewelry concealed upon her; so the braos.
let could not belong to her. "Colonel" Good
win was loud in his declarations that all The
jewelry was supplied by the spirits, snd
by no other parties; 80 that the brace.
let could not belong to him. The JUS
tlce decided, therefore, that as no com
plant had been made by the spirits, and
as no ono else had any jewelry to lose, Ara
Bodley had done nothing wrong. Popular
opinion endorsed the Justices Judgment On
Sunday numerous audience assembled to fol.
low up what was generally regarded as an on
posure Of q spirltualist trick. "Colonel" Good,
win made long. rambling, and as reported, an
indecent speech Miss Van VIE was tied in her
box and meiiasely tainted. There was great
excitement and finally Goodwin was kicked.
bonneted and otherwise maltreated by tho
crowd and led Of to the station house by the
police
or course the respectable, religious spirit
ualists like our old friend Judge Edmonds'
will disown the whole Of this business. They
always do dlsown those mediums who are de-
tected, and we really cannot blame them for
this prudence. There have been true miracles
and false Miracles, true prophets and false
prophets, and It Is not necessary to have faith
In those who are exposed because one happens
to believe In those who are unimpeaohed
That some spiritualists accomplish many won-
derful things for which we cannot reasonably
account 1t would be useless to deny, but
whether these phenomena form a sufficient
foundation for new religion Is yet disputed
question. About the impostures Of other mo.
diums however, there can be no possible
doubt When they attempt to start q spiritual
opposition to the dollar jewelry stores II u
quite proper that they should come to grief
and jail, and when they charge for admission
to their sSances and refuse to pay the Internal
revenue tax 1t is right that they should bs
sued. We have also remarked that the major.
ity Of this lower class Of mediums
cannot get the spirits up without
pouring quantity Of spirits down. In fact,
the kind Of spirits with which they commune
are distilled. They can do nothing unless
they summon TO their aid the spirits Of cham
payne, OF brandy, Of whiskey or Of gin.
Against all Of these second class or bogus
mediums. we believe, the genuine religious
spiritualists set their faces with holy horror
and pious reproof; but the difficulty Is to tell
one class from the other before they perform.
After they perform the task Is easy for those
who are detected are pronounced impostors
and those who are not detected are accepted -
true prophets. This, however, prevents spir
itualism from ever being brought to public
test, since II leaves the spiritualists at liberty
to disown and denounce any medium who tails.
The best way would be for Judge Edmonds
and other respectable believers 10 appoint
committee to examine the credentials Of ell
performing mediums and Issue certificates 10
those who are worthy. Then the public would
not waste Its patronage upon impostors; spirs
itualism might gain numerous votariss II the
authorized mediums played their pranks sus-
cessiully, and II a medium with . certincats
should happen to be found out, even so enthu-
siastic convert as Judge Edmonds might be
dissnchanted and convinced OF his illusions.
The BOARD OF Health.
NO cHoLEsA-THE PUBLIC HEALTH aooD-con-