Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1878-03-05

The regular out-and-out S~pirituAlish'
those who implicitly believe all they see
or hear In that line. are tho most gullible
people on the face Of the earth. Being
% ,er and ready 10 "tAke In" anything
s~piritualistie that comes along they are
taken in themselves with the utmost
facility. They are good people enough.
and smart and shrewd enough In other
things, but their weak point Is Spirit
uafism. Blinded by their faith In the
marvellous and supernatural. they are not
capable Of judging between the false and
the true. and tho fimsiest juggling tricks
Of impudent charlAians arc 10 their dis.
tempered vision and Judgment. substan-
tiAl tests and proofs Of what they so
strongly and fondly believe in. One BY
one, travelling spiritual juggling imposiors
with their cabinet tricks. dark seances. and
matcriAlizAtions are being exposed In
various parts Of the country. but u makes
no difference to your true believer. His
mind IL In Q chronic state Of disease on
that point. lie looks upon these exposes
a. merely wAnton attacks upon his fondly
cherished faith. and he hugs his soul
d~elighting idio-yncrAcy all tho closer TO
his bosom and believes In IL all tho harder.
rue APOSTLE CUMMINGS conErH.
Tho gauziest. most palpable. checklist
and most impudent fraud ever perpetrated
upon tho true believers In this section
came about . week ago. He might have
been direct from San Quentin Is far Is ap-
pearances would indicate. hut no said his
name was Cummings, and that he was
direct from Michigan; In fact he said he
was the youngest Of the Michigan Broth
ers." famous materializing mediums. He
was short and dirty. with rough-looking
clothes, heavy moustacho and imperial.
round. topped hat aud dirty face. lie was
Q confident. volublo talker. WAS apparently
about "a years Of age. and had the eyes
and appearances OF . tramp. He excused
his rough appearance upon the ground
that he was fright Of Of . farm" and
also hadn't got recuperated from his long
rough trip over the big railroad. He at
once made the acquaintance Of prominent
Spintualists h~ereabouts, and was Of course
Immediately taken 10 their homes and
hearts. Cummings told them all Abouthim.
self and what he could do In the Spiritual
line. and they believed all he told them. Of
course. And he told them all about how
he and his brother worked their farms In
Michigan. occasionally yielding Kindly 10
| the Earnest opportunities OF their neigh
| bors to give favored exhibitions OF their
wonderful powers. Money flowed into their
pockets Of course. and 10 was merely To have
q look at the Pacific Coast and the Comstock
that no hal taken this trip. lie gave them q
" scancc" that very night. and they were
delighted. They took in all he gave them.
and he was looked upon a. one OF The most
m~irAculously gifted Of tho anointsd apos-
ties Of the faith. His mAtorialixatious
were wonderful, very. lie gave more
seances. and the one he gave lust . week
ago tonight at . private residence In this
town. was q fair specimen. Consequently
We will give . fair and square description
of 10, and the naturalization" 10 being
specially given out and known among the
friends of the faith that he wa To give .
GRAND MArERIALIziSo sEAScE.
The room WAS q largo front parlor. and
the cabinet Of the medium was . bedroom
opening into the parlor. The door Was
removed from its hinges. and . heavy gray
shawl hung 81 as IN cover the entire open
ing. Tho audience consisted % about
thirty ladies' and GENTLEMAN. the sexes
being equally divided. AMI representing
not only the believers. but those who werr
willing to believe anything which might
be sqnarely proven 10 them through the
evidence Of their own senses. There were
no unreasonable and wilfully obstinate
skepties present. and tho honest investi-
gators and seekers after the truth were
willing TO have an honest Investigation.
A fairer. more liberal-minded. or more
respectful audience could not well have
been found anywhere.
TuE "cRcLE."
Cummings stepped forward and ar
ranged the circle by having the front
chairs drawn forward 90 ~ To give the
friends In tho rear more room and better
opportunity for seeing. aud then he had
ladies aud gentlemen arranged alternately.
a. he said the conditions" were thus
made more favorable" And nov he
called for a committee Of examination 10
be chosen by the audience. A policeman
and a newspaper man were selected - such
committee. ''Now." said he, ''this COM
mitieo will 90 into the cabinet with me.
strip me stark naked and dress me In
clothes which they shall provide them
selves and mind you that they shAll see
10 10 that there u nothing eAiie In
the shape of cloth 10 Be found
about me or In the cabinet" The
committee attended 10 their duty -
faithfully a. they could conveniently con
sidering that they were ignorant Of what
the style Of performance was 10 be, and did
not know exactly what to search after.
They saw that everything white was re-
moved from tho room, even 10 the bed
clothes and window curtains. They
searched the medium personally and crit
ically. and had they only known precisely
where and how closely 10 examine. they
might have discovered his
MYSTIC rARlruEnsALIl.
But they didn't. From what was de-
veloped by the seance and from additional
light and information. We sro able TO state
that the paraphernalia or stock In trade Of
this con.ummate fraud. this ingenious
speculative tramp. consisted OF . small
mouth organ, two pieces OF about half .
yard each % very thin gauze. n white
anil the other dark brown. and an un-
limited supply Of cheek; cheek that
would shame . rhinoceros. and only 70
be worn successfully by . profess ional
tramp. These two bits Of game and tbs
little mouth organ could 10 tucked into IN
exceedingly small space.
Ladies and gentlemen says Cum
mings. coming forth from his bedroom
cabinet. "your committee have reported
that they have found everything all right.
You see they have dressed me In . gray
shirt and pants, and have brought all my
own clothes ont into this room. I an
really. You must all Join hands and not
move. and most particularly you mustn't
cross your legs a. hat will be very bad for
tho influence. Take out n Of those
lamp. and keep the other turned down very
.io..ix q. bright iigbt hufts thu infiu.