The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1876-10-20
sLADE,s LIg.sselsE SLArE
An A'"erioH'i Med.H'.s s rested Ia London
as a StcindIer-h1osrsfs - de tcos Detected.
Londenk

IN american Media',s z rested f,, Londo
as a StcirdIer-fiosrs - de scos Detected.
Londe4s =
NV friend Mr.. Ser7Sant Cox hayin
begged me to go 49, e the mediur
Slade, and having ing aea me that 80 di.
, tinguished man ola ence as DR.. Cal
penter had confess hmself "ver,
, much shaken" by MAJ he had wit
messed in SHADES plIsuse, I wrote t,
that.person, and obtainM q appointment
for last Monday moIaing.I Slade's chic
manifestation " is olSthi kind:
The witness and Size hing alone il
an ordinary well-lit ssStin room, Sladt
produces a common slateand a small
piece of slate pencil, shic are laid on
the simple four-leggsd bile, at one
corner of which the tine and slade
are seated. Slade-of facills.ws the wit
ness that~the- Non either
~ais VI the slate. -
slate horizontalls tiOs~ against the
te6le and below ;, pressing the slate
4 ''S'47O tne table inc AA
ell beng supposed to be between the
slate an0the fat under surface of the Ia
bic. TheNlate is 50 closely applied to
the table th>t no hand or finger could
possibly get between them in order to
write A noise as Of writing is now
heard proceeding fOm the slate, which
is held by Slade or by the witness-the
spirit is supposed to be at work. The
slate is then removed, and a message is
found written either on the under sur
face of the slate oron the surface which
was facing the lover surface of the ia
BILE.
I watched Slad very closely during
these proceedings, which were repeated
several times during my interview last
Monday, paying no attention to the raps,
gentle kicks and Movements of the table
of which 1 viii sa! nothing further than
that they were ausuch as could be read
lily produced by the mediums legs and
feet. l simulated considerable agitation
and an ardent belief in the mysterious
nature of what I saw Fand heard. At
the same time l vas utterly astounded
to find the strongest reason to believe
that, with the exception of the first mes
sage, which was witten by Slade under
meath the slate with q believe) one fin
ger of the hand Bhich was holding the
slate, the rest OF the messages, which
were longer and better written, were
coolly indited on he slate by Slade while
it was resting Oh his knee, concealed
from my view by he edge Of the table,
and that the slste was subsequently
placed by him in the position where the
spirit writing waste take place with the
message already written upon it.
I was led to form this hypothesis by
noting the delay aways which occurred
Between my beineshown the slate with
both sides clean az '.he placing of the
slate against the sabie es- ever my head
fo1 the purpose of receiving the spirit
writing which - sarSsIhe heard proceeding
sstufH ne FFae fss IS So s9 3
Siade wrote witisii''aA Ass s.sssnger of the hand
by which he held The slate. During the
delay Slade made ,xanous excuses; took
up the little piecs@f pencil and bit it,
and also invariably made a peculiar
grating noise by clearing his throat. At
the same time I heard distinctly on
three occasions a low but perfectly rec
ognizable sound of pencil traversing a
slate, and twice on looking quickly at
SHADES right arm, the elbow of which was
visible while the rest was hidden by the
table and purpOrting to be holding the
slate, l saw movements from right to left
and left to right which accorded with my
hypothesis that he was using his hand in
writing.
] left Slade with promise to return
to-day Friday, and at once wrote TO Mr..
Serjeant Cox to tell him my explanation
OF the manner in which the thing was
accomplished, and offered to put my
hypothesis to the test by seizing estate
from SHADES hand when he professed it to
be devoid of writing, and at the moment
when the "spirit writing was about to
commence.
This morning l went with my friend,
DIR. H. B. Donkin of Queens college,
Oxford, to test my hypothesis by this
cruel experiment; had determined to
seize the slate at the critical moment
at the moment when Slade professed that
it was entirely untouched-and if the
writing were already on the slate before
the spirits were supposed to have begun
the work considered that l should have
demonstration Of the truth of my hy-
pothesis which would be convincing to
persons not already lost to reason. ex-
planned to DR.. Donkin my hypothesis
and my intention, and the result has
completely justified my anticipation.
As on last Monday, so to-day, Slade al
lowed me to hold the slate against the
table in order to receive the spirit writ
ing, saying that the spirit would proba-
bly, write more distinctly for me than foI
him. The slate had been cleaned and
was now declared by Slade to be devoid
Of writing, but writing was to appear on
it in the usual way, accompanied by the
scratching noise of the pencil. There
had been the usual delay and fumbling
on Slade's part when 1 put out my hand
and Immediately seized the slate away
saying: "You have already written OF
the slate. have watched you doing il
each time" And there, sure enough
was the message already written, as I hac
anticipated. l am, sir, faithfully yours
Z. RAY LANCASTER, F. R. S.
Fellow of Exeter college, Oxford, anC
professor of zoology in university col
iege, London.
FS,ELOFCRAFI'S FOUR MILE RECORI
BEi TEN.