The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1875-01-15
sPOOu1s AND THINGS.
'T1ae Successor of Katie KIms
SlG PhIlaaelDhIa,


KATIE KING REDIvIYA.
attended one OF the seauces of
Mr.. and Mrs. Nelson Holmes, the
other evening, in the hope of max
ing the acquaintance of "Katie
King. had been reading Robert
Dale Owens account of how she
felt, materiAlized-and must confess
that, although had no faith what
ever in spirits Except of the Bour-
bon family, was q firm believer In
Kaiie's carnaI LONELINESS, and was
not at ali averse to Initiating Mr..
Owens example, even to the extent
Of necessary of embracing" her.
l am not SO used to this sort of
thing as Mr.. Owen is, but for this
occasion, 1 overcome my natural
modesty and screwed my courage
up TO the sticking point. was
even prepared to kiss Katie, If the
emergency arose-Such confluence
have l in Robert Dale's taste and
discretion in such matters.
I Mrs. Nelson Holmes, who, in con-
junction with another lady, whose
name | did not catch, conducted the
seance, is a rather prepossesslng
looking person, of about thirty-five
years of age. Her conversation
showed, however, that she is not IL
literate, but naturally ignorant.
The seaDce consisted not of spiritu-
al manifestations al all, but of seY-
eral clumsy tricks done in the dark,
which SIgnor BlitZ does much more
cleverly in the light. OF these the
more important, and indeed the on
ly one worthy OF mention, were the
miraculous untyin2 of boy who
was highly trussed and skewered
up, and the placing of a ring on the
arm of an individual, while at the
same time holding both hands of
the medium in his own. The form
err is an old trick, and the latter was
exploded two years ago in Balti-
more, when the Danskin fraud, q
much more difficult. feat of the same
genus, was exposed in the Sunday
Telegram.
After several persons in the audi
ence. chosen by Mrs. Holmes her.
self, had accompanied the medium
into the cabinet and undergone the
ring operation, i told Mrs. Holmes
that l shonld like to have a trial at
Ii. She evidently regarded me as a
skeptic, for she looked me squarely
in the eye, and said she didn't think
I'd do.
l said, "Try me-"
eyes," cried several skeptics in
the audience, "try him."
Thus constrained, Mrs. Holmes
submitted with as much cOmplai-
sance as she could muster, and ask
ed me to enter the cabinet with her.
l did so, and found it to be q sInall
compartment of black walnut, with
no visible outlet save the door
fronting the audience, and appar-
emily put together very compactly.
! Suddenly / found myself in total
darkness. The next moment Mrs.
Holmes, letting go ono of my hands,
but holding on very tightly to the
other, said, "Feel my left arm"
felt her left arm very carefully.
"1here isn't nothing there, is
there?.
mo" said /.
Now feel my right arm"
At the same moment she dropped
my right hand quickly and immedi-
ately seized my left hand, SO as not
to let both of my hands be free at
the same time. Consequently, I
was not able to feel both of her
arms at the same moment. Hence
ii was the easiest thing in the world
for her, when she dropped my right
arm, to seize the ring, and, passing
il over her left arm, to hold it be-
tween the upper part of her arm
and her breast, while she clutched
my left hand with her right. She
did not give me time to feel her
left arm with my disengaged right
hand, but as soon as i had felt her
right arm, finding that there was no
ring upon it, she seized both of my
hands and commenced working her
arms back and forth. Presently !
felt the ring on my right arm, and ]
also felt it brush the back of my
hand as, by quick jerk, she shoyed
! IL from her arm to mine. The ex-
| PLANTATION of the whole thing is very
simple. 1t was nothing more than
a very clumsy piece of sleight-Of-
hand, and yet there were people in
the audience who actually believed
that a shirt had placed the ring up
on thetS arms.
/ saw no Katie King.
Mrs. Holmes explained that the
conditions" were not favorable;
! lIlht tuC VI OOtH NIL
and herself had been so disturbed
/ by the receut calumnies in the In
quirer, Evening Telegram, and 9TH
err "slanderous Sheets" that they
| were unable TO attain that placidity
and eqnipoise of the system which
! were necessary to evoke katie"
Mrs. H., however, declares her con-
fidence in her ability to raise ''Ka-
tie" once again, when she (Mrs. H.)
and her husband shall have tri-
umphed over their enemies.
Mr.. j. d. Roberts, of Burlington,
/ New Jersey, an ideal admirer ard
disciple of the Holmes, has, hOwev-
err, had better luck than had. He
processes to have seen Katie within
the past month, and relates his eN
| perienGe as follOwsi
"On Saturday evening, December
g, 1874, the next night after the i'm
provished seance which was gotten
up to deceive Robert Dale Owen,
DIR. Child and others, and within
| four hours of the time when DIR.
Child informed me of his intention
to have no more to do with the
Holmes seances, l witnessed, with
fifteen Others, the following phe-
nomenon The dark circle was end
ed on that evening, and the lights
arranged in the usual manner, when
Mr.. Holmes entered the cabinet and
closed the door. We had waited
but a few minutes when g beautiful
and distinctly visible face of a
young female was seen at one OF the
openings of the cabinet. 1t was
recognized by several persons pres.
ent, and was addressed as "Katie."
The face remained long enough to
admit of the closest crutiny, and
then withdrew. After q few min
utes she re-appeared, aud remained
as before. The third or fourth
time she appeared some one asked
IL she could speak, when, with ap-
parent effort, she uttered in a dis
IincIly audible whisper,
"'goOd evening, friends
"She returned two or three times
in the same manner, TO me appear
ing 10 grow more aud more distinct
each time. Rapping was now heard
in IL e cabinet, and the usual ques-
ton was asked as to what she want