The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1876-10-05
The Confessions Of a "Medium."


C. L. Jennings, whose pretended
spiritualistic seances have attracted
much attention in Rochester, Elmira,
and elsewhere, has made full confess
sion of the manner in which he deceived
the public. He has made the following
statements under oath, which appear in
the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle:
The cabinet which l used was parti-
toned by wire screen, having the
aperture in the vacant end or side in
which | did not sit. l saw that | could
not stand this test at all, and that some
thing must be done. l decided to get
an accomplice, that we might consult
together about what was to be done.
Often at the midnight hour we have
gone to my room to plan what we
should do, and see if any alterations
could be made in the cabinet. We de-
cided to remove a small strip running
across the top of the door and forming
a part of the casing. Our idea was to
hollow out space which would extend
up into the cornice of the cabi
net, large enough to hide
some false faces and boards, and have
the piece we removed fixed to work Sc
curely with a spring. So we followed
out small space. We then replaced
the piece, fixing it firm enough to hold
in case of investigation. l had my &C
complete paint me couple of faces,
one of man and the other of a woman.
then got small piece of wire, which
| twisted up to put in my pocket, and
ala @ho,,, 7 r,-o,,II shut hn door
as Mr.. Cutter, the control, said he
thought was strong enough to ma
terialize through the screen. | entered
the cabinet, and the singing and music
commenced. l Strengthened out the
wire, attached one of the faces to it,
then rolled the face up, poked it through
the screen, and then unrOlled it by
turning the wire. l also had piece of
thick, dark worsted cloth, which used
as beard for myself. On this night
two faces appeared at once, one at each
aperture, which almost threw the
audience into ecstacies.
My accomplish was concealed in a
closet opening off the cabinet. At the
end of the closet was simply the scant-
ling and Sideboard. Leaving just space
enough for my accomplish to stand, we
placed false end in the closet, which
swung on hinges. From the closet it
was impossible to dectect a deception.
A committee appointed marched in with
sealing wax and candle, and sealed up
the closet door and the window. This
disconnected me, and so the conditions
were pronounced bad, and no manifes-
tations were given; but, instead, gave
them a short lecture on Spiritualism,
and stated that the next night, proba-
bly,, every thing would be all rights
The question was how to get my accom-
phce out of the closet. After all had
gone l returned, and, heating a knife,
unsealed the door. By this means no
one could see that it had been done.
We consulted together as to what we
could do, and he struck upon a plan
which we adapted and worked success
fully. We sealed all the screws and
sides tight, but from the inside we cut
through the matched door in such a
way that from the inside of the closet
one-half of it could be opened.
| didn't make much money, as | had
to divide with my accomplish, who had
me in his power. He used false hair,
wigs, boards, etc, and put flour on his
hands, to give ghostly appearance.
We practiced in the daytime, with my
self as audience and he as the spirit.
Many people came and recognized in
the seances faces OF deceased friends.
One evening 1 attended temperance
meeting in Riley Hall, and heard Gen.
Riley tell about Adonijah Green, who
forty years before kept hotel where the
Whitcomb House now is. In my next
seance he appeared, and no one knew
him. But on inquiry they found such
man had lived here at that time, and
kept hotel. went up to Mount Hope,
and from tombstones obtained names
to use. I got the names of Lieut.. Kline
and Gen. Stevens. For baby faces we
used piece of black velveteen, cutting
out a small round hole for the face.
This, placed over face, looked ike the
small features of babe.
Bouquets, rings, etc, were taken from
the hands of the spectators and returned
while my hands were in the stocks. Al
Mr.. Tubbs one evening proposed addi-
tional seals 70 the closet door. OBJ
jected on the ground that the control
said too many alterations had already