The Republican journal., 1869-03-11
What We Saw at Spiritual Gathering

What We Saw at a Spiritual Gathering.
We are not 4 spiritualist, and In fact know
but little OF the peculiar belief and practices,
Of what is now large and Increasing sect.
Nor have we, on the other hand, felt called up
on to Join in the ridicule III which a large por
ton of the press has INDUCED toward this com
paratiyely new belief. 1t has been enough for
US to know that large and respectable portion
of the community adopt it as their faith, and
| that IL Is no part Of our mission to lampoon
them, more than any other class Of religonists,
on account of their peculiar belief. We have
neither prejudice against noI predoc ton for
the professors Of sprituaisn, as such. There
fore, when We stepped into City Hall, on Sat
urday night, IL Was from motives Of curiosity
solely-to see, if possible, some Of the remark
bic phenomena of which accounts had been
given.
/ We had met Mr, Reed during The eay--a
short, thick set, good umored man, with the
Yankee style of chin whiskets, and smile of
perpetual good-nature-in short, the last man
one would take for wizard or dabbier in the
black art. The audience was small, but one OF
uncommon intelligence. What was there seen
and experienced, we shall endcavor faithfully
| 70 describe, and ask our readers 10 believe that
we do SD sincerely and disintcrestedly.
| Mr.. Reed app ared upon the !,Jatfo, l4., upon
which was u chair, a four-egged stool and a
small table having upon it u guitar, a tambo-
rine, pitcher Of water and tumhler He
stated that he was by trade q locomotive eli
gineer, and for five years ran an engine OF, a
railroad In western New York. \ few wears
ago some mysterious affairs happened in his
house. which he mentioned to some friends,
who told him he was medium. On expert
mentng. he found that III lis presence, under
certain conditions. rare spiritual phenomena
would be manifested and he had gradually
yielded all other pursuits to this. The gas
lights In the chandelier Were then all turned
out save two by Mr.. Reeds assistant. who
stationed himself there to manage the matter
| He then called upon Mr.. A. p. Chase and the
editor Of this paper to come upon the platform
and see that there was no deception. Mr.. Reed
then sat i'll the chair, and Was firmly dashed
there with ropes. His hands were tied at the
wrists the rope made fast to the front round of
the chair, then passed to the back round, and
securely knotted. His ankles were tied to-
gether and dashed to the chair legs. His arms
were then tied to the back OF the chair HAY
ing all retired from the platform, save Mr. Reed.
the lights We're all turned out, and the room
made perfectly dark. Perhaps q minute had
elapsed, When he requested the lights to be
turned on, and it was seen that the heavy stool,
which had been procured at a furniture store
near by, was hanging upon his arm-that is,
the arm was locked through between the legs
and rounds, with the iashing of his arms IN
disturbed, SO far close examination could
show. The lights We're again turned off, and
when turned on, in minute more, the stool
was transferred to his shoulders, his head COM
ing among the legs. Some steel rings made by
a blacksmith that afternoon and produced from
his pocket, were transf erred from the table to
the mediums arms, laid on his head, &c.-the
lashingS being firm all the time. A glass full
Of water was Pit upon his head and left halanc-
ed there. The light was turned of at each
change, for the space Of from one to three min
utes. After several similar phenomena, the
ropes We're taken Off We had taken special
care to make the knots about the wrists secure
and tied them closely that the rope had i'm
printed itself in the flesh, and stopped the cir
cuation of blood. We don't think it could pos
sibly have been taken off during the time the
lights We're out.
But all this was as nothing compared with
what followed The medium then shifted his
table to the floor of the hail, placed on it the
guitar and tamborine, and proceeded to other
manifestations. In these several persons as
sisted-but we shall describe more particularly
our own experience. Standing erect In the
floor few feet from the table, he requested lis
to place our right hand on his left shoulder,
which was done, and we grasped it firmly. BY
his direction, we then, with the other hand,
cenched him firmly by the hair of his head
He placed both his own hands on our left arm,
just above the elbow, one on each side, and
took firm hold. The light was then turned
out. Presently our left hand was touched light
ly by another hand, with a skipping motion, as
fingers are sometimes run across the keys of Il
piano. 1t was apparently small hand, like a
child's, with slender fingers, and a nervous,
elhsh touch, with peculiar thrill, that we shall
not soon forget. 1t passed to the other hand
to the face, ran over our hair, and passed down
our back. We can't say whose hand it was.
We kno,r that Mr.. Reeds hands were resting
on our arm, and that we held him at arms
length. That bis hand should have done it
was physical impossibility. But the most
wonderful part Is to come The light was then