The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1874-11-17
III Eddy MEDIUMS.
FRAUDS.

REVELATIONS OF ASHARP
The New York Graphic of the 9th inst.
contains a long letter from DIR. George M.
Beard, of New York, on the spiritual mani
ifestations and CONGRATULATIONS" of the
Eddy brothers, at ChiItenden, VT. The re-
suits of the examination by DIR. Beard, and
some of the tests are given in the following
extrcats: We were seated, about fifteen or
twenty of us. in two rows. TIL front row
was about ten or twelve feet from the plat
form on which the spirits were TO appear.
No one was allowed TO go nearer, except a
Mr." anu a Mrs., who were seated at
either end of the, platform. Mr."isn near
sighted. simple hearted. and in
definitely credulous, as Colonel Olcott
we'll knows. His opinion of anything he
saw would be worth nothing in daylight;
for with him a gridiron would have an
swered for the ghost of his mother. Mrs.
- was as ignorant and about as simple
minded as MI. - and was dependent on
the Eddys for patronage Whatever either
of these parties could say on the subject
must be ruled out as less than worthless
Mr. and Mrs. - are, 1 believe, both
honest; but honesty can never take the
place of eyesight or reason. / was seated
at the end of the front row, anu a
little IN front, nearer to the platform than
any one except Mr.. Horatio EDDY. and a
musician lust in front of me, and Mr.. -
and Mrs.. Col. Olcott was seated be-
hind me. The front circle joined hands TO
get up the "msgnetism." The light, a
| small kerosene lamp, was now lowered by
one of the confederates and was placed IN
the back part of the long hall and enclosed
i'm an old handbook. Mr.. Eddy, the medium
who was to materialize, now went into
the cabinet. He was dressed in his
usual hammer. Just before he came up
stairs he had allowed me to examine his
pulse, the boating of the heart, his clothing,
and the muscles of his arms. Now the flute
and violin struck, and nearly all hands
Joined for perhaps fifteen minutes in some
OF the worst singing ever heard by mortal
ear. The object of this singing and
banging is to distract and divert the
spectators, and prevent the noise made
bv the medium getting up his per-
sonations in the cabinet from being heard
In the midst of this singing L studied the
light, or rather the darkness in the room.
Ny own eyesight is perfect; no one, so far as
1 know, can see better than 1 can by night
or day. But / could not distinguish the face
of any one three feet from where / sat. i
was familiar with the faces in the house;
but as they sat there only their forms
and the generalities OF their dress
might have been seated in the midst of the
Gil Gle or on the platform where Mr.. was.
and L should not have known him. NV
own wife and child, whom 1 had seen two
days before, might have come out from the
CABINET, ana Il SOOulu nOb ndN04 T0cOSulLSQ
them. This dimness OF light was owing to
the fact that the room was a long one that
there was but one light in it that the
light was in the back part of the
hall and enclosed in a coverless band
box; and, finally. that a. confederate sat
directly between the cabinet and the light
so as to intercept the direct rays that might
come from it to the spirits when they should
appear. The shawl in front of the cabinet
was now thrust aside, and there appeared
what? A nimble, 1.-THE, and ~sprightly
Indian girl, splendidly dressed, as Colonel
Olcott has described in his letters? MOI .9I
ABURLY, ROUND -sHoULDERED FARMER
of the size, shape, and height of Mr.. Eddy,
slightly STOPPING, and in his stocking feet or
slippers. He appeared to have On the In
dian cap that L had seen in the cabinet. He
had taken off his coat and his boots, rolled
up his pants, wrapped about his body one or
two dingy garments of a browny yellowish
color, and had come out STOPPING a little
more than usual. His clothing could not be
studied with any distinctness. L was
not sure whether shawls or some thin
ner garment covered his body. His face
could not be distinguished at all, except in
very indefinite outline. / bad carefully
studied the height of the cabinet door in the
afternoon, and / had found out that it was
Just easy for me to come out OF IL without
stopping. l am an inch or so taller than
Mr.. Eddy. Whether there was a mask on
his face or not / could not tell, although /
tried very hard to find out. 1 believe
that there was none. 1t certainly must
have been an unnecessary precautioD. Mr..
Eddy's face is dark and brown, and in that
darkness would answer well enough for any
Indian character. l now know why the In
dian spirits were favorites with them. /
could not tell whether or not he wore a
necklace, but something looking much like
a braid of hair hung down his neck. And
this was "Honto," the materialiZed
spirit of the Indian girl whose
fame is now filing the world.
He then danced a little about the platform,
sleigbt of hand, appeared to pull out from
beneath her clothing a piece of thin dark
cloth of very light texture. This trick,
which they call Undertaking. substances out
of nothing, is a very old and familiar one
with the Eidys, and with other tricksters;
and withal in that darkness was
perfectly easy for any one to do
without preliminary practice. I had
taken a Faradic Induced currently bat
terry of moderate strength with me, in order
the spirits; and TO my surprise the Eddy's
allowed me to get Mr., who sat on the
platform, to apply a current to the hands
of "Honto." During the afternoon i had
made all tne arrangements, and had in
strucied Mr.-how to make the applica-
ton. fused the metallic brush and a pretty
strong current. Il had also tried the
battery on Mr.. Eddy, and 1 had
found that, although he jumped on the
shock, he could not bear very strong cur
rents through the hands when the electrodes
were pressed on it; as, indetd, is usually
the case with those who work out of doors
and have thick skins. "Honto' Jumped
whan the current first touched his fingers,
but returned to the charge and took, SO far
as 1 could see, a steady current for a few
nAD-Ia A.DnDA HE Aa~1 - 10 I-I 1--~
ia the afternoon. But / attach little i'm
p~ortance to this experiment. 1 had ex-
pected to make the applications with my
own hand, but like ths rest of the visitors
I could not approach within
EIGHT OR TEN FEET.