Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1866-01-06
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From tbe Detroit Free Press iath m

4 -
last by tbe discovery ofthe dead bodies lof
| three children under circnmytapoes which
! strongly induced suspicious Of fopl play
4 a corpper's jury was at once, Summoned,
! at d a thorough, inyestig of Abe affair
was, commenced, but, was not concluded
\ when our ftiformsnt left. The ipqnify. has
! developed condition of social affairs
which is almost too niuchfor credhlity TO
swa How. That, 10 this later half of the
bineteenth century, id The midst of q
ehrisllan oeommunity. persons Of both
sexes should herd together like cattle ip
4 orlheranee Of, avid religious fa Daicism.
linost surpasses belief, When they go
alill further and add to their previous
srimes the most heinons ohe khown' 10 the
| eaws Of God or man, Che cotnnriIify In
Which they live may be pardoned for exil
hibiting symptomsiof of lndosaala' excitemeht. 4
noes ofsilGs case, SO far as
developed, appear 10 bs sbout-as follows:
Lislsprinz. a Mrs. Leonard left hyr hus
band al YpsilnDti aud went TO Bsille
Creek, takipg with Der five children, TWO
by Leonard aud three by former husband
1t seems that she was believer in The
doctrines Of modern spiFiualism thnd was
led TO desert ber husband through instfUG
lions from the spirit world She herself
POSSESSED the poSer of communicating With
spirits, being in the parlanee of that sect o
medium" By advice from the same su =
pernatural source she dropped the name Of
4 Leonard, ,aud being matrimonially- joincd.
sceofdingto The ordinances in vogue again
assumed bis pame and called herself Mrs
HavIlaud. When she reached Battle c eek,
with her children she had $500 in money,
and set up housekeeping by herself. About
this period another character appears upon
the stage in the person of DR. Baker, of
Adrian, who was also spirit medium OF
great repute among bis sect. Dr., Baker
bosl ded with Ms. Haviland. The house
was O great resort for spirtsalisis, there
being many Of that sect in aud about Battle
Creek, aud ''cil cles" and "seances" were
the principal occupation Of the gifted
doctor aud his. pupils; for it appears that
The Hayilaud house was sort of spiritual
academy for the training up Of female
mediums through the supetior knowledge
and2 gifts of the DOCTOR "A Miss Merritt,
OF Ionia, a medium, was OF the household,
and Miss Hannas, of Battle Creek, a
| y
o boarder in The family. She was develop,
ing her gifts, With the help of the other
MEDIUMS, as a test medium; that is, the
versciiy Of spirits in general, and loqua
cous ones 10 particular, was tes e ! through
her superior gifts! It., Was O said that she
developed more rapidly than any test me.
dium ever, known in those parts, being
quick-witted and .shrewd. This academy
went on with swimming success throguh
the summer and fall, and furnished incon
trovertrble spiritual evidence for the con
version of the uubelievipg.i .ia'A D. i"' % sa'
About four weeks ago the doctor
borrowed 5000 of Miss Merritt and bought
o lot in the outskirts OF the town.. upon
which be built his isle 10 the shape of a
board shanty with one room. Into this
,, shanty with one room the doctor moved
the three women above mentioned, and
,, the FIVE children, and they all lived to-.
, gether, con, inuing to develop the young
la 1y as test medium Wonderful things
were related of her powers in that capacity
She could 60 into trance, and when she
arrived back again TO this mundane sphere
would relate wonderful things of what she
had seen and heard. She had seen aud
talked with any deceased friend you might
name, aud could describe him or her exactly
as be or she appeared in this life, the dress,
size, color of hair and eyes. .19a 'f.H
Wi mair o. horrible and awful '-.
4, Which en- to name wad be unlawful
The party were getting ready to travel
aud astonish the world by public display
of their intimacy with the spirits. Mrs.
Haviand had procured place for her
two children named Leonard, and had told
the other th ee that she would take care
of them, On Saturday afternoon last some
children living in the neighborhood were
playing near the shanty. when the two
Leonard childreu'made their appearance.
% being asked wbeo their older brothers
and sisters were, they said they we're dead.
The children ran home aud told their
parents, some Of whom Immediately visited
the shanty and found it true The woman
Leonard, alies Haviland, 9sad that the
youngest, a girl aged fonr years. died on
Thursday about noon; the second boy
aged six gears, died on Friday morning at
ten O'Clock and the third, a boy eight
/ years old, died on Fridsy afternoon at Ave
O'Clock. Mss Merritt says she asked the
doctor what they should do with tie chill
dren if they should die, and be said he
would make box and bnry them on bis
lot. They claimed that the children died
with scroiula. 1t was generally believed,
however, that these mediums, wishing to
travel aud not be encuwbered with the
children, determined to quietly remove
them 10 better sphere. Considering that
they could be with them aud enjoy their
society quite as much in the spiritual world,
without the inconvenience Of taking care of
them aud providing them with bread aud
butter aud clothes, the plan, no doubt
seemed very sensible one.
A post mertem examination of the bodies
OF the children was made by Doctors Cox,
French aud Saunders, the result Of which
was that the children were healthy. aud
had the appearance of having been
poisoned. The stomachs were taken out
by the doctors, and the contents were 10
process of being anslyzed when our infor.
mant left The coroner's jury were
awaiting the result Of such snslyzation be-
fore deciding upon their verdict. The
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