Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1870-12-14
From the New York Herald.l


From the New York Herald.]
An interesting case, and one tha
promises to be important to all spiritual
lists, was tried before the city court O
Bridgeport Wednesday, being that O
"The State VS.. Miss Lottie Fowler" /
clairvoyant or trance medium, wei
known in the circles of spiritualism. TIL,
law under which the Indictment agains
Miss Fowler was found is an old one
and is denominated as section seventy
five of the "acts concerning prisons" il
the revised statutes Of the State of Con
necticut. 1t provides that all the idle
persons who have nothing wherewith tC
support themselves, sturdy beggars, yag
abonds, vagrants and fortune tellers
/ shall be deemed offenders against the
State, and may, upon the complaint of q
grand Juror, be sentenced to an impris
onment of not exceeding sixty days, at
the discretion of the court before whom
they are tried. 1t is claimed by the pros
ecution in this case that the latter one oi
these titles is applicable to Miss Fowler
and the complaint preferred against her
goes on to state that upon divers occas
ions within the past three months "she
became and was fortune-teller, pre-
tending to tell fortunes and the future
destiny of all who applied to her, against
the peace of the State and in violation
of the statute in such cases made and
provided" By Miss Fowler and her
friends, on the other hand, it is claimed
that she does not profess TO be, and is
not within the meaning of the law, a
fortune-teller, but rather a medium or
clairvoyant, simply transmitting the
messages received by her from the spir-
itual world when in trance state. Ii
is doubtful whether case of this nature
has ever come up for trial before since
the law was enacted, nor would the com
plant have been brought in the present
instance but for the circumstances which
have placed the fair defendant promi-
nently before the public in connection
with the recent explosion at the cartridge
factory of East Bridgeport, resulting in
the death Of one Of the workmen, which
had been predicted by her. These cir
cumstances in brief were as follows
MISS Fowler, as charged in the indict-
ment, took up her residence at the At
lantic House, in Bridgeport, several
months since, and advertised her bust
mesa in the local papers as that of test
medium or clairvoyant. AT first she did
not excite much'notice; but after time
her rooms began to be thronged with
eager inquirers, chiefly of the female
sex, anxious to receive messages from
the spirit world and to learn respecting
their future destiny. The complaisant
prophecies was found not unwilling to
enlighten them upon these points, and
/ besides relating to them with more OF
less accuracy the events of their past
lives, gave utterance to numerous pre-
dictions respecting their future welfare
places of abode, ayocations, state OF
health, ETC., and, in particular, Of that
subject dear to every female heart, de-
scriptions of their destined partners in
life, thereby not only exciting for her
prophetic powers great admiration, but
winning for herself
AGOLDEN HARVEST.
Among her first visitors chanced to be
a girl employed in the Union Metallic
Cartridge Company in East Bridgeport
who very naturally, considering the in
hammable and dangerous nature of the
substance which she and her companions
were in the daily habit of using, asked,
among other questions, whether any ac-
cident was likely to occur in this estab-
lishment. Here was an opportunity for
the prophecies, who is certainly by no
means lacking in shrewdness, to make q
decided impression. She was equal to
the occasion, and informed her trem-
bling auditor that there would shortly be
fearful explosion. The news spread
in the factory from one employe to an
other, and Miss Fowler's rooms were
crowded with girls, anxious to learn of
the fate that awaited them. Practice
made her perfect in repeating her tale,
and from time to time new particulars
were added. The version finally given
was that upon a certain Monday, at
eight o clock in the morning, there would
be preliminary blow up, and that ere
Saturday night of the same week had
come the whole establishment would
co UP SKY HIGHl
The story was widely discussed, and
the panic spread from one to another,
until, upon the appointed Monday morn
ing, when the doors of the factory were
opened, about one-half of the girls and
some of the men and boys who were
employed were found to have absented
themselves from the factory, in anticipa-
ton of the doom that was to befall it.
This circumstance, for the first time,
brought the matter to the attention of
the superintendent. The detention was
unbearable. A recent test of the Bridge
port cartridge, made by the English Gov
ernment in one of the famous mitrail-
leuses, had been extremely successful,
not single one out OF the ten thousand
rounds employed having failed to ex-
plode, and had made the agents Of all
the European governments eager to
secure supply Of them. The war in
France and the pacific (2) intentions Of
the Russian Emperor had also contrib
uted to increase the demand, and the
factory, though running night and day,
and employing about 400 hands, was un-
able to keep pace with its orders. The
superintendent accordingly called upon
the officer of the Bridgeport police force,
requesting him TO interview Miss Fowler,
and to explain TO her the amount of mis-
chief she was producing, and the nature
of the penalty to which she had made
herself liable. On presenting himself at
the ante-room of Miss Fowler, at the
Atlantic House, there was at first some
delay on account Of the
CROWD OF EAGER IYoUIRERs
who had preceded him, but the officer
finally gained the presence of the siby,
ard, preventing her from going off into
a magnetic sleep, as she was upon the
point Of doing, explained to her the ma
ture of his errand. At first incredulous,
the ruddy hue of health soon forsook her
countenance, she grew pale and appeared
as if about to faint away. Touched by
the sight of beauty in distress, the gal
liant officer refrained from arresting her,
but proceeded TO explain the serious ma
ture of the offense of which she had been
guilty. She vas shown the amount Of
mischief she was creating, and the ter
rors of the law were held up before her
imagination and impressively dwelt upon
When she appeared sufficiently fright
ened and penitent a list was produced Of