Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1868-08-15


That they depended in some way on the
boy is evident They occurred only
when he was present or near at hand and
they ceased when he went away. Some
Of them, very few however, may have
been merely roguish peformances-such
as any bright lad could practice on q
fond and unsuspecting grandparent
Very clearly the greater part Of the
movements were Of class that canuot
be explained on grounds OF mere dex-
Iteriiy or as feats of legerdemain. No
copjuror, however cunning, could have
created such part. The flying missiles,
the clashing kettles, the dancing and
vaulting andiroDs, were evidently sub
jected TO an influence aud moved by
some power quite out OF the common
range of motive forces. That such o
power over matter has repeatedly been
manifested by persons Of peculiar con-
stitution we regard as an established fact.
The capers OF the New Rowlsy meal
chest, an incident which occurred less
than hundred years ago, 10 what is now
called Georgetown, we're OF the same
type. A meal chest in those days was q
cumbrous and heavy article, and this
meal chest got bewitched, and trotted
round the room with three or four men
sitting on it in very lively fashion.
Still more, akin to the story of our little
| Newbury boy, is that of the young
French girl, whose remarkable case was
scrutinized and described by the cele-
brated Arago and other learned French
men. And finally, in our own times,
the many hundred we'll authenticated m
stances Of tables tipping, turning and
walking about, and Of pianos self-sus-
pended, must be set down under the
same category. That spectacles of this
sort have been witnessed by thousands,
is as much matter of fact as
anything else that we accept on
sufficient and undoubted testimony
That impostors should take advantage
Of it by playing tricks on the credulous
is Just what we might expect. To dis.
tinguish the false from the true, is not
always easy, but is none the less neces-
sity. =
Had these manifestations of peculiar
and exceptional force been regarded
only as phenomena which, though not
explicable on any known principles, how
widely different would have been their
influence and their consequences 10
the days of William Morse the belief in
witchcraft ard demoniscle agency was
all but universal, and offered the easiest
way of accounting for anything out of
the common course As late even as
the adventure of the Rawley meal-chest,
the belief still fingered in many minds,
and furnished q ready solution of that
remarkable problem. We claim to be
more enlightened now. We are well rid
of witchcyaft. But are we quite out of
the woods? There is in our country q
class of persons who call themselves
Spiritualists. They hold that after
death mans incorporeal part still walks
the earth, conscious of what goes on
among the living aud capable of COM
municating with them. They claim to
count by the hundred thousand, and we
| know that they are numerous, for we
have seen them out on picnics. To our
mind it is clear that Spritualism rests
| on the same foundation with Elizabeth
Morse's witchcraft. It began through
table, tipping; it still keeps its hold
Thus it appears, that here and now,
there exists, as the majority OF our
countrymen believe, an actual delusion-
not fierce and dangerous, like the old
epidemic in Salem Villsge--but still
deep and widespread, with tendencies
which, in the opinion of not few,
are mischievous and immoral. The
great question in regard to all such
balucinations of the popular mind is
or should be--how best to meet and dis
pei them. Many, with slight knowledge
of the actual facts, rank all such appear
ances as those above mentioned under
the convenient head of humbug, and
think they are due solely to deception
and collision, with some help from jug.
glery. If it be so, it is ouS solemn duty,
at all times and everywhere, to detect and
expose the fraud, show up the miserable
tricksters, and consign them to the de-
rision and disgrace which they deserve.
In matters of this sort, all honest folks
have common interest and an impera-
tive duty.
It is our belief that there have been,
and probably still are, persons who pos
sess a peculiar power over matter near
them, to which they often impart motion,
either with or without conscious volition;
and that this property, where it exists, is
as truly physical energy as any other
human function. Just where it resides,
Just how it acts, we do not know yet, and
perhaps never can know. But this is
not the only unexplained mystery of our
animal mechanism. 1t is case that
calls for careful observations and pro-
found study. 1t should no longer re-
main under the custody and cultivation
of the ignorant, the credulous, or the
crafty.
We commend the whole subject to the
practical men of our dsy-to the earnest,
truth-loving, truth seeking philosopher
as eminently worthy of calm and can
did and thorough investigation.
This case of ours on Orleans street is
clearly one of the like obsession, an able
exposition of which subject may be found |
in a late number of the Banner Of Light,
from the pen of Mr.. PEBBLES, showing the |
person obsessed beyond volitiou, and con-
trolled without cognitiou, as the mundane
medium or agency of gratifying revenge, |
or other personal object, by super-mun-
dane or excarnated intelligence, with |
which history abounds, called in the
Bible possessed of devils.
SIS REMBERT.
RALEIGH, TENN, August IL, 1868.