Knoxville weekly chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1875, 1874-12-30
ANOTHER HuMBuG.


Our exchanges come 90 us of late,
filled with the details OF the great ca
pose of the spiritualistic swlndle of the
Holmes at Philadelphia. or late Mr..
and Mrs. Holmes have given sean
ces at their private rooms. at which
departed spirits appeared In person.
They were materialized y and ap-
pcared In flesh and blood for the in
spection Of guests So cleverly were
these exhibitions nausged that some
very reputable and prominent citi-
zene Of Philadelphia were deceived.
Visitors come from every part of the
country to gee these manifestations
bringing costly presents for the ina
/ terialized spirits. One OF the promi-
nent departed spirits who appeared
was the noted Katie King. But on,
shrewd, sharp citizen, suspecting a
| trick, for weeks watched the operations
/ and finally by a personal interview
obtained from young widow Of the
/ city confession that she was
the Kate King" described
In the January number Of
the atlantic Monthly by Robert Dale
owen. He publishes in the Philadel-
/ phia papers what he discovered, and
shows up the hunbug as follows:
/ The scsnccs took place upon the second
2 a.. So h.. At,sl
| cessary to the development of the mate
! REALIZATION" In the front room tho audi
ence assembled, witnessing here tho Sc
! RuCc, and thoroughly unconscious of the
part which tho other room took in this
bogus drama Of the spirits
| The cabinet was placed in the front
room, with iis back against door which
| opened into the adjoining apartment. The
! door was taken of, and there was substitu-
ted by Mir. Holmes a walnut board parti-
| ton, and this partition he declared fire.
quently might be examined by anybody
/ prior TO the occurrence of the seance, and
many, including DR.. Child and Robert Dale
! wen, did go examine it, finding nothing at
| the time 10 engender suspicion. These wal
nut boards we're secured by four battens on
each side and frequently the gentlemen
above named were invited to come and tax G
these battens of and examine the boards. 1t
has since been discovered that Holmes had
| the means Of taking cut one fthese boards
the center one, which was about fifteen
| inches wide-and of substituting in its place
board that was cut across the center, adj
mitti z of the removal of the lower half,
and easily admitting person from the
back room into the cabinet through the
aperture. This was the way in which Ks-
tie King entered the cabinet
But there we're further discoveries made
! subsequently, which were of an intensely
interesting character. If Katie entered the
cabinet in this way, where WAS she kept
concealed prior 10 the seances, and during
the intervals when she disappeared? In
the rear room there was "a bed upon
which ladies and gentlemen attending the
scsnces were in the habit of depositiDg their
superhuous clothing. This room was as n
matter to be expected, subject to close scru-
tiny, the C osets and the beds being exsm-
ined, and more thsn one pair of eyes cast
their glsnces beneath the bed, t. see if any
confederate might be hidden there. But
no search resulted in such discovery.
| Yet, as it afterward turned out, the bed,
/ like Maelzels wonderful automat;on, did
hold a confederate mt the time, and the
confederate was none other than the lady
whose confession we have given above.
! But where could she burrow? The at
| tendants upon the scance had the freest lib-
/ erty Of examination. The bed was OPEN
some doubtCrs even probing the mattress TO
ascertain if it did not4Or the time cage the
| beauty. Who would have thought of
| looking at the bolster? Tho bolster was SO
unimportant matter that it never once ex-
cited suspicion. Yet it held the living
mystery, none other than the ruby-lipped
and fsir-armed creature who was in few
moments, via the walnut partition, to burst
upon the delighted vision of the breathless
SPECTATOR The bolster then, was none OF
your old fashioned striped ticking bags,
pulled up with down, but instead, a wicker
cage, ingeniously constructed, and as in
gCniously oyerlaid, in which the charming
confederate to all this spiritualistic tom
foolery housed herself. until she was to is
sue like golden beauty from cocoon.