Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1875-02-04

some OF INC tOoOc
.or d;ne sriritualism; to-day we fur
.her elucilate the subject by brief
Illusions to some of the facts in the
history of this latest epidemic Of SUPER
stitiou.
T. .lroke out about twenty-five years
aro. and the manifestations were prop
,,Iarlv known as Rochester knockings
or spirit rappings. The first medi-
,,ms were three sisters their name
was Fox. They invented the raps,
the rap language, and a good part OF
the spiritual lingo. They originated
the sea,ace, and drove lively BUSH
ness. Spiritualis,n speedily became a
recognized institution there was no
lack of mediums notoriety and money
vere the substantial incentives; peo-
| nile. it is said, are fond of humbug, and
nav more literally for it than for the
|pecessaries of life. The majority of
people, as at the present day, looked
upon spiritualism as Supremacy silly
ching; the scientific world treated 1t
with ridicule or with a silence inspired
/ by disgust and contempt. There were
Investigations; and although many OF
them were very foolish, the rapplng
trick was fairly exposed. The raps
were traced to the persons OF the Fox
Girls. The mechanism of the raps was
concealed and protected by the de-
fences of womanhood; to the modest
Investigator the girls skirts were bar
viers more formidable than stone walls.
Had women dressed like men, there
surely could have been no spirit rap
pings, and probably no spiritualism ];
we commend the fact to Herr Teutels-
droecL, the great philosopher of
clothes. and we shall look for q dis
cussion OF it in a future edition OF his
-.Sartor Resartus." Of the devices
employed by the early mediums, the
most elaborate and successful was that
of bar of lead suspended at ats center
by an elastic cord attached to and
operated by the leg; of course this
was available only to women, and the
men were obliged to resort to solne-
thing else.
The devotees appeared in swar1ns,
and at the very beginning, and with
the same capacity OF swallowing as
those of the present day let a jackass
bray in the presence of your genuine
and, at hint from his
medium, he hears therein only the
gentle and loving voice of his dead
grandmother The early exposures
cosnted for little among the faithful /;
. thousand bogus raps, they said,
could not disturb their faith in the
one that they knew to be genuine.
Also the theory was invented at a
very early day that there are wicked
spirits, which make honest mediums
cheat and lie.
Thus the Rochester knockings be-
came modern spiritalism, with vital
ity and ditfusiveness comparable to
those of the Canada thistle. From
the ridiculous beginning of what, in
its inception, was probably an limo
cent freak of a little girl, we have to-
day a superstition which will make
the nineteenth century memorable for
Tor all time.
Spiritualism, as an ism or theory,
vas soon perfected. But the charla-
tanry, by watch it is mainly kept alive,
depends upon Juggling tricks which
may be modified and improved. For
Juggling, like all human arts, is i'm
proyabIe, and is governed by ,he laws
OF elevation. The raps grew into
thousand and one modified forms.
Some of the new tricks, like the spirit
speaking and writing, and planchette,