Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1876-09-03
ANOTHER CASE OF KATY
KING.
Mrs. Hull, of Portland, Maine, Devel-
Opes as a Spiritual Humbug OF
the Very First Order-A
Cruel Expose.
DR.. Gerrish and other skeptics Disclose
the Fraud How They Managed 1t
Feminine Deceit and n Cow.
ardIy Husband.
Portland (Me.) Press.l


son in whose presence the disembodied
| spirits Of deceased mortaIs could, under
certain conditions, assume the shape and
| appearance OF their persisted bodies.
This marvellous power rapidly increased,
and she soon became noted because of it.
Startling accounts appeared in the spir-
itualist and other papers, and great in
terest was excited by the report of eye
witnesses. 1t was felt that a person pos-
| sessed OF 50 extraordinary q faculty
should permit others to experience some
| advantage from it, and efforts were
made to induce her to give public seam
ces But being Of very "retiring dis
position" she declined to "sit" for ary
but her friends and those whom they, by
special permission, were allowed to in-
trOduce. THIS arrangement quite natu
rally made all who had heard anything
about the miraculous doings more eager
than ever to witness them, and, in re-
spone to the request of wOuld.be ghost
hunters, the siCtings have been OF late
very numerous.
The method of proceeding was very
simple. A curtain of black cambria,
| suspended by brass rings from q wire,
was stretched across the corner of the
parlor. The triangular space thus
formed was covered over by piece OF
the same kind OF cloth. The walls and
floor could be freely examined by the
visitors, and were evidently entirely free
from traps and any apparatus intended
to deceive. The medium sat at the apex
II the triangular space upon low stool.
For many months she was slGays
awake during the performances, but of
late she has invariably gone into q
trance, Snd has been unconscious of the
proceedings. The spectators arranged
themselves in row IN front of the cur
tain, their chairs being at distance of
not more than seven or eight feet from
it, and often less than that. The lights
were all turHeG out excepting a drop
light, and the whole exhibition was con-
Quoted like that of Katy King and the
Eddies. ALI the performances we're I'M
der the superintendence of the spirit of
one Molly Molasses, centenarisn of the
Penobscot tribe, who died some years
ago. She communicated with the me-
dunn directly by word of mouth, but
until lately held communication with
less favored individuals only through
the laboriOus method of select
Ing letters from the alphabet.
In spite of the honest appearance Of
things, there were 8 few doubling
was not as genuine as it seemed. To 81.
lay such suspicious the medium allowed
eight or ten inches OF the owest portion
Of the skirt of ner dress to project under
the curtain, and remain there through
out the seance. II one chose he could
fasten it to the carpet with q pin. IL
no reported case has e:dress been
known to move from its place. Even
this did not satisfy certain skeptics, I'M
til number of people plainly saw the
medium sitting on her little stool at the
samesp time that a spirit was holding
open ne curtain.
Last September DR.. Gerrish, of this
city, was present at one of the perform.
ances. Being restrained by the feeling
that courtesy required him to do moth
ing which was not expected of him at
seance for which he was under obliga-
ton to personal friend, he simply OBJ
served the phenomena and took notes |
They were certainly of remarkable
character, quite unlike any ordinary
tricks of jugglery, and, accompanied
with the explanations which were Cffsr-
ed, were calculated to impress one who
was Of an imaginative turn; but the
doc or failed to see that it was necessary
to appeal to supernatural agencies to &C.
count for the pert finance, and was in
discreet enough to express himself to
this effect, and, as result, was unable
to gain admission again until this
month.
Becoming convinced that the exhibi.
ton was fraud, on Thursday night last
q select company was invited to wit
ness, and, il need be, to assist at the de-
noue1aent. There were present Drs.
Greene, Gerrish, A. s. Thayer, Small
and Wheeler, Mr.. ChsIlss G. Bancroft
and one other. Mr.. Hull sat by the
lamp, as usual, to manage the light
All the unbelievers were provided with
blazing fusees, and held them ready to
strike if the gas should 60 out. Each
mad his psrt assigned, AMI failure was
absolutely Impossible, provided any
trick was attempted by the medium.
The conversation was more than crdin-
artly jolly. Fuony stories kept the com.
psny in a roar half the time, but nobody
lost sight of the curtain or failed to note
that the usua! rus;ling at the apex OF the
triangular space was going on.
Molly MOlasses raped out that spirit
which had come TO DR.. Greene twice
before would again reappesr. In less
than twenty minutes the curtain opened
a little; in a few minutes it opened more
widely, and displayed a female draped
in white and thickly yelled. It was TO
all appearances the promised spirit.
Thea it presently pulled aside the cur
tain from the corner nearest the mantel-
piece, directly in front Of DR.. Greene
He was enraptured. Yes, the spirit had
really come again for him! But min
ute elapsed before she again showed her. |
self. "Will you touch my hand, dear?n
said the doctor in persuasive accents. |
She put out her delicate fingers toward |
him, and his hand closed on her in q |
grasp which was much firmer than the |
ordinary clasp Of affection. Aud then |
he made what is called traction. "C0me, |
dear, come! Come right alongw But |
she did not want to come, but braced |
against the chimney in very human,
earthly way, quite unbecoming in an |
appsritioD. There is no case on record |
in this series in which spirit has been
gifted with speech; bat all present dis
tinctly heard a very alarmed voice eX.
claiming, "Don't! don't! let me go!u
and then, "For Gods sake let me go!r
"Why," said DR.. Greene, with we'll
aft cted surprise, "this is not spirit |
This Is Mrs. HULL"
Meanwhile, DR.. Gerrish had stepped
quickly to the curtain, drawn 1t aside,
duu uISCUNcIou IDc bLOOI uuOCCupl6u, |
an empty skirt and a little pile of fe-
male wearing apparel. 1t was just what
was expected. Tie game had been q
bold one, but its very sudacity bad been
its greatest protection. There was such
show Of iDgenu0usness about 1t, of art.
less innocence and retiring modesty
about the m dium, that people have
thought it an objectionable Injustice to
suspect fraud in 1t. Science, however,
counts character for nothing; and when
men, who are accustomed in their daily
work to divest their minds of prejudice,
in order to correctly weigh the clrcum.
stances and condition Of Obscure dis
cas- IS, had an opportunity to investigate
these feats, the elements OF the cases
which had been iDstanced as absolutely
con elusive Of their supernatural charac-
ter were quickly shown 10 be the result
of bold but not especially clever trickery.
The male Hull, who had been taken
so comp etely by surprise that he forget
to turn out the light, delivered hImst II
OF the following manly speech: "WelI,
gentlemen, l wish you to understand
That 1 have had no hand in this affair.
i knew nothing about it." And his wife
Il