Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1874-03-01
The Manifestations Of " Red Chief"-
Spiritual Arms and Hsnds-Physl.
cal Tests-WOnder on Wonder.

piainabie upon any known natural the
ories He is yet our special won
der. The simplicity 8i h ms rssndPnded PediSdrn, 70
the mental or written queries OF his guests
and the nlcety with which ne entered lnlo
even the details and miR1tig of family lie
and nersonal history astOnished us and hun
dreds who, like us, Were permitted 10 eployln
undisturbed quiet his sednces, so Wonderiul
for their development either of spiritual me-
Ciiumistic power or of still more dangerous
power-that which would enable MN at VIII
to become the reader OF the innermost secrets
alike of the tenderest, purest and loVe-
liest virgin. or the most speculative
or most debased and dangerous OF
men. Foster to us was no charlatan, no
humbug, no mountebank. What he promised,
that he did, DO less; and that in broad day
light, in an ordinary hotel bedroom, devoid
of any means or media OF tr1cK or decepuo9.n1: p9.1;
We tried him four times, and each time with
like satisfactory results. He said these resultS
were achieved by spiritual power. We know
they were beyond any to us known human
power, and yet we are not spiritualists,
STILL WE DOUBT.
We have read after Owens and An
drew jackson Davisi have for years
poured over the leading organs OF
spiritualism, but never having reached
any SATISFYING result we remain skeptical.
We have interviewed healing mediums, see
ing mediums, test mediums and mediums OF
all grades and classes, but we nave not yeI
been convinced. We remain skepticsl, and
have almost grown matertallst from our
doubts and questionings. we are therefore
cool head, a heart in the right place, q Ialnu
bent on knowing what is possible TO II,
prompted by that love of the mysterious and
that desire to look beyond, common TO every
one of our race. Stranger than ever, resist
ing more than ever, all appeals 10 our sKepFl-
cism we visited, Fl
@E MRS. MILLER, a
the now developing medium, residing in the
Gayoso house, last night, and though we shall
tell of many strange things we saw, the re-
suit of her mediumship, we are still skeptcal,
~ saNTn
spirits of the dead are permitted to haunt the
earth and communicate with those who still
stand on the threshold OF the unknown world,
Yet this will not prevent us from telling
.e -HI lr THE STORY,
wonderful in some of its Details, and all be-
yond our powers of eXplSnatton. The room
oil Mrs. Miller is in the fourth story OF tne
Gayoso house, once our best hotel, and as rich
in incident and story as any similar house in
the country. 1t is poorly furnished; Is utter
ly devoid of anything that could appeal to
taste or eulture-a mixture of bedroom and
kitchen, barren of any seeming or Pretense
of comfort even, not TO speak OF luxury
There is a bed, a table, cooKing-stoYe, few
chairs, two trunks, q pail for water, a drink
ing cup, a few pots and tins and on the man
tel an onnf-gdtheT1tIn of medicine Dottles,
packages, and such odds and ends as a couple
who live plainly might naturally accumu-
late. Opposite the bed there IS what MI.
Miller calls a cabinet, consisting OF four very
slender uprights, covered with common wall wall
calico of dark green color, around the wall
on nails might be seen hat, two
shawls, and between the cabinet and the wall
was basket containing an accordeon, Two
rings, two tamborines and two bells. such is
the Interior as Teniers might have painted IL
THE MEDIUM
is a woman of ordinary hight, of large frame
well developed, with face indicative of
dark complexion, with heavy eye
brows, dark as her hair, oyershadowing
eyes, round and full: Her hands
although in manner she is quiet, reserved, and
modest, and somewhat deaf, is little disposed
to conversation. Her educational advantages
we should suppose to be nothing above that
| of the common schools, and her reading, no
! doubt, is limited. OF chemistry or the physi-
| cal sciences she knows nothing, nor OF the oc-
cult forces of nature. She is, in word. a
young woman of perhaps twenty-five, such as
may anywhere be met with in this section OF
without any special preparedness OF
fitness for what we call society. O. Z
HER HUSBAND
| is a stout, hearty, robust man of perhaps th1r-
| ty-hve, carpenter by trade, and well known
| ia emphis as a spiritualist of the most ad-
| vanced type, believer in all the phenomena
/ and medium of decided character. He was
present at both the sednees, ,1 at which we as, as
as any of us, taking as lively interest In
| all that took place. He is intelligent, good
| humored and patient, and anxious in regard
| 10 the full and quick development of his wife
whom he and nearly all the sptritualtsts in
the city regard as one of the most remarkably
developed mediums, for her time, in the
'O THE COMPANY
| at the scedrce last night consisted
| of this reporter, Mr.. William L. Vance, Cap.
| tain Charley Church and Rev. DR.. Watson, al
| three of them well known citizens, the latter
| intimately identified with spiritualism as an
active agent In the eneouragmentof OF mediums
and the propagation of their peculiar doctrines
and teachings. For perhaps an hour we sat
near the table, covered with two brown army
blankets, SO as to entirely conceal the light
Underneath which the medium, Mrs. Miller,
| held slate on which was piece of pencil
| not more than the sixteenth Of an inch long
! purposes. She held the slate with her
| right hand, her left resting on the table, and
! at intervals varying with the amount written
| would, on hearing two taps on 1t, given by the
| one of the gentlemen to be read, and, If pOSSi-
bic, explained. This part OF the performance
was satisfactory enough in one or two mes
sages to DR.. Watson, and the names Of de-
! ceased relatives of the reporter and OF Mr.
Vance, one of those to the doctor, purport.
Ing to come from Rosa Kelley, whose death
was announced in the APPEAL of last Tues
day, and who stated that she desired to con-
municate with her father and
| garet Kelly, and assure them of heI
happiness. She said she died on Second street
but that her parents at present resided at ?;
| to the good doctor, who promised to attend tc
| the wishes of the gentle spirit. Perhaps an
dunn was ordered into The cabinet by
her "famidarn or attendant spirit, known
as "Red Chief" an Indian, when
| --s.. - THE SEANCE
really commenced. The light from the small
coal-oil lamp, which sufficiently lighted the
room, was turned down until the Surround
ipgs were scarcely to be defined, the medium
| meantime, having both her hands tied with
| a red cord, which, in obedience to "Red
! Chief" was sealed with sealing wax, forbid
4 H.
to free herself or manipulate any of the
gloomy cabinet with her. And so tied and
seated on one OF two chairs inside OF 1t, the
| curtain of the cabinet was fastened. We
waited but a moment, and light was called
for, when we found the medium, her hands
| still tied, with her left arm through the unoc-
cupied chair. This examined into and
wonder expressed, the curtain went down
/ again, and was not more than buttoned when
eight" was again called for, and in the
twinkling of an eye there sat the medium re-
lieved of her burden, sitting as demurely
and apparently as unconscious OF any
her place IN the cabinet, and this sort OF test
| business was continued for perhaps another
| hour, during which we Paw her with heI
| arms through the armholes of gentleman's &
! vest, her hands still securely tied together and
| with chair on either arm or both, and some
| times with the basket containing the noisy
| instruments on the left arm, and additional tC
| one of the chairs. After this, we heard the ac
! cordeon played by Itself, then with bell &C
/
/ ally outside, the hands and even the
| arms of the performer being visible
! ahd both whittier and softer than those
of the medium, the writer being at no time
farther than five or six feet from the aperture
/ of the cabinet, through which the accordeon
| and the ghostly looking hands were obtruded
Then we had q black hand and red hand
/ and finally we had two pairs of white hands
one smaller than the other, and both of waXeI
/ hue, and when the smaller were Withdrawn
| the larger pair were clapped together with 9
| strength. and producing detonation as loud
| as might or could have been produced by any
| of those present And this clapping OF hands
1 was repeated three times, at the request of al
| present, the spiritual hands and arms being
! as plainly visible as those of the gentlemen
| present to each other, and remaining visible
1 for the space of two or three minutes. Their
| the curtain of the aperture was raised by one
| of the spirits, while another endeaYored anC
| did indistinctly outline the face of a woman
with a cap on. Then we had the hands anC
arms exhibition and a perfect bedlam OF dis
4 cordant sounds from the musical instru
ments, not a few of them being thrown at the
auditors with diTectness of aim that prov eC
the spirits had lost nothing of precision bN
their passage into the other world. Al
this was done at intervals when, as be
fore described, " light yas called for and th'