The evening Argus. [volume] (Rock Island, Ill.) 1861-1871, 1868-02-08

| placed on the staHu was MISS Altnea Reeves,
daughter of Mrs. Reeves, whose spiritual
intercourse with the accused has created the
present sensation. Miss Reeves is a hand
some girl of 10, with clear complexion,
: perfectly healthy, and possessing a calm and
testimony, but owing to its indelicacy. much
of it is necessarily omitted The following
is a portion Of the testimony
At the time the exhibition occurred,
mother was greatly excited, owing much,
think, to the death of her sister, who diea
short time previously; do not remenper
the exact language she or McEwen useo At
the time, but am sure nothing improper
was said by any one of us; neitne. aio we
make any immodest gestures AZ TINS or any
other time; have known Mr. McEwen
since last November; our peiief Is about the
same rs we get from tne ploie, ana IL is
l;avsd that we should do as Christ did-that
is. commune with the spirits; nothing was
done, on the occasion referred to, either from
| mischievousness or wantonness l do not
exactly believe the same as the others do,
| though | did on New Years day consider
ing the state of Mr.. McEwen's mind, I think
| it was right for him to do as he did; if he
was called to do so now, think it would be
perfectly right; we had to mind what mother
and the spirits commanded US to do they
| said ma must go into the streets naked if we
| did not show ourselves to the public at the
window; | went according to the teaching
of the scriptures, and they say children
| obey your parents" consequently did so !;
| ma made every one in the house do Just W hat
she wanted them to; do not think that Mr..
McEwen would do so again, for do not be-
heve the spirits want him we believed in
spiritualsm before McEwen came to our
house IN all of our actions we acted on the
principle 'that to the pure all things are
pure"
In reply to the question as to whether Nc
Even ever undressed before in her presence,
she said that she would rather not tell Her
| answer being insisted upon, she answered,
Il have seen him do so BEFORE but not very
often. | think it was about month before
New Years when he first commenced these
exhibitions in our house Mr.. McEwen is a
| tailor and mother worked with him; they
attended to the business, while / did the
house work | have four brothers and one
sister; my oldest brother is Is years old,
and the youngest three these exhibitions
were made before ma and myself, the others
| not being present at the time these things
were done under excitem ant, and
| were never only performed at mothers re-
quest or with her consent; all we did was to
| strip ourselves, and do not remember ever
| hearing an improper word, or seeing an in
decent act; McEwen occupied single bed
| room, aad he generally slept alone, except
| when one of the children slept with him;
sometimes mother and myself passed the
| night with him; l did not ever think there
was any harm in so doing, as nothing i'm
| proper was done; McEwen was not in the
| habit of praying, when We retired; we slept
| together; ma and | reclined on either side
| of McEwen; nothing was SAID or done which
was in the least improper; | have never
heard of these things being done anywhere
| else; | have good opinion Of Mr.. McEwen
and would not do the same with any other
man, for | know that none are so pure as
he; | was little timid at first, hut had no
great fear. Mr.. MeEwen slept with us sew
eral times before New Years day; ma did
| not request me or Nc Even to be together;
the bed was single one; | generally sleep
with mother, which / have done most of the
time since father died; was with MeEwen
alone one night, when ma was sick, because
she could not rest well when crowded:
McEwen retired FIRST, and was asleep when |
went to bed; remember nothing that was
said; | have never known him to take. or at.
tempt to take, any personal liberties at all
while in our family; do not know why Mr..
McEwen appeared as he did on New Years
day, only that he did it at the request of nv
mother: ma did these things several times
herself; | think four times previously: she
wanted to cruelty the flesh, and show to the
world she was pure; when she put her arms
around mothers neck, she represented her
self as the mother of Christ, but | did not
believe 1t, and thought that we were all or
binary men and women; I did not feel any
shame at the time; thought mother was the
first to undress on this occasion
DIR. Wickes, of New York city, author of
The Bible Revealed" also a lecturer and
Spiritualist was called and sworn. He tes-
titled as follows:
1 saw McEwen On the night of the arrest,
he came rushing into our publication house;
and seemed to be perfectly crazy, and had
nothing on but his pants, shoes and under
clothes; sitting down on the floor he pulled
of his shoes; he said, with glaring eyes, he
had just seen sights over at Mrs Reeves:
she had done wonders, and the world was
surely coming to an end; l talked kindly to
him, and finally got him to go and take
bath, where he staid so long that thought
he would never come out: at last drove
him out, and he raised his hands, and whirl-
ing around his arms. he said the world was
spinning around and around; and he wonId
blow the roof off the house: while EATING
supper he sprang from the table and ran up
ladder, and yelled out that he was God
himself, and that the world had got to strip
naked and show itself, and also that | must
undress and show myself; every man on
earth had got to strip, so that if they were
pure they could be seen; he further stated
that he was going to jail. and was ready and
willing to die for the truth; on the evening
OF the arrest heard gentle knocking. but
DID not reply at first; on its being repeated
l opened the door, when lot of doctors and
policemen rushed in; l have been bothered
very much by boys coming to my windows, |
so as to get peep at my adopted hairy
child, which Is now on exhibition at Bar |
NUNS museum, New York; travelled 700 |
miles to get the child, which I found in Vir. |
ginia; Barnum agreed to pay me 5000 for |
the use of it while in his museum; this child |
is no relation of mine; it is covered with |
hair; have made it partner in my bust.
ness, and have named it Anna Jones |
Wickes.
Judge Mills, the next witness. testified as
follows:
l was present at the time of the arrest
McEwen brought in chair and took a seat
by my side; after talking awhile on differ
on he Ill