Knoxville journal. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1874-1986, 1874-12-31

q. change in the manner of keeping
]" Katie out of sight. The bolster ON
the bed was so arranged that Katie"
could creep into it, and in this she hid
herself before the seance and after it was
concluded The bedroom was many
times examined after the change, and the
bed was also inspected, but no one ever
thought of looking into the bolster to
find out what it was stuffed with. Katie
King, during last summer, when these
seances were being given at No. 80 North
Ninth street, boarded with Mrs. Holmes,
and was at first suspected by DIR. Child /;
but on several occasions he was request
ed by Mrs. Holmes TO answer the violent
ringing of the door-bell Immediately fol-
lowing the close Of the seance. He al
ways found the suspected lady waiting
very impatiently to be let in, and she
often complained that as she boarded
with Mrs. Holmes tina: lady had no right
to lock her out. The doctors suspicious
were soon quieted by this ruse anu the
young lady was seldom afterward thought
of. During the heated term MIR. and Mrs.
Holmes left the city and travelled through
the West, where they were once exposed,
but as the account was not clearly writ
ten the effect was not very damaging.
Upon the return of the mediums to Phil
adelphia in the fall DR. Child was sent
for by Mrs. Holmes and asked to assist
them in finding house. The doctor
gladly complied with the request, as he
was anxious to have the cabinet placed
in room where it could stand near solid
walls. He found one or two houses
where the front room would admit of
this arrangement, but Mrs. Holmes dis
covered some fault with them all and
finally decided upon the house at 825
North Tenth street. In the second-story
front room of this house the cabinet was
placed in such position that it stood
about eighteen inches from boarded-up
window. AS already described in the
Press, this window was arranged in such
q way that with the sash taken out there
was room for person to stand between
the boards on the inside and the shutters
ON the outside. One of the boards was
fastened by screws, but they
were only dummies" In reality it
swung on pivots and was held in its place
by stout button on the inside. A board
in the back of the cabinet was similarly
arranged. Before the seances began "Ka-
tie King" took her position in the window
and fastened herself in. The space be-
tween the cabinet and the wall was then
concealed by q door, which at first glance
as part of the cabinet, a table
covered with musical instruments was
showed up against it, and the guests, who
were always received in downstairs
room, were invited to ascend A dark
seance always opened the entertainment,
during which Katie would descend from
her perch and, making her way into the
cabinet, take a position in the corner where
she could not be seen when the cabinet
door was opened. Mr.. Holmes would
then enter the cabinet, and between the
two the usual manifestations were pro-
duced. The numerous faces shown were
nothing but rubber masks, so made that
they could be blown up into different
sizes, and ut the same time produce diff
ferent appearances. Mr.. Holmes could
conceal half dozen such faces in his
inside pocket. At the Tenth street
house Mr.. and Mrs. Holmes were sup
posed to live alone, having an old col
ored woman as an assistant. This
g auntie" was quite dumb, and on sew
eral occasions forgot herself, and set the
table for three instead of two, as the
Holmeses usually partook of D. light sup
per after the evening" performance The
dark circles given at S25 North Tenth
street were often quite entertaining to
lovers of the mysterious; and as they
performed almost all of the still-unex-
planned tests given by the best mediums
1t was less difficult for them to avert
suspicion than it would have been
had they confined themselves to
Katie King. Their mediumistic pow
ers are highly attested, and
those who are most familiar
with Spiritualism state that there is no
doubt but that Mr.. and Mrs. Holmes are
really excellent mediums, who have
been led by cupidity TO mix great deal
Of trickery with their natural powers.
There was published in the London
Spirstualist of Feb. l, 1873, record of
sitting held with the Holmeses in London,
ut which Mr.. Luxmore, who reports the
seance, declares that the same katie
King" who materialized through Flor
ence Cook appeared through Mr.. and
Mrs. Holmes. Mr.. Luxmore is a wealthy
living in one OF the fashion
able squares OF London, and it was at
his residence that many of the Florence
Cook seances were given. Some of the
best known Spiritualists seem to believe
from this that Mr.. and Mrs. Holmes have
at some time presented the veritable
Katie King" and failing to reproduce
the manifestations were led to employ
confederate. How long the humbug
would have prospered II the Holmeses
and their misguided assistant had not
disagreed it is, impossible to say;
!" Katie's" conscience, however, began to
trouble her greatly when she learned
what an effect her performances had
created, and at last, feeling that she
could no longer practice the deception,
she left Mrs. Holmes to her own devices.
For several weeks no Katie appeared, as
the medium" found il difficult task to
secure a young woman similar in feat
ures and form to the first confederate
One young lady, whose appearance
pleased her, was asked to play the part
of Katie King but refused with horror,
She afterward related the circumstance
to prominent Spiritualist, and the con-
sequence has been complete exposure
of the whole fraud.
Both Robert Dale Owen and DR.. Child
feel deeply Inundated at having been
30 deceived, and, more than that, lend
ing their influence TO the support of
what is now proved to be trick, and are
doing all in their power to undo at least