Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1879-10-30
A spirit-Taking Sheriff.

They have a Sheriff in North Adams, |
Mass, of uncommon sheriff power. By
what legal process he proceeds in quest
of spirits 1--WE do not mean ardent spirits,
but the disembOdied spirits of spiritual
ists) we know not. Habeas corpus would
not answer, for the corpus, corpse or
body is not the thing he takes. But the
facts are these:
Foremost among the SpirituaIists of
the day, those modern humbugs who go
about the country to get the money of
fools, are family by the name of Eddy.
They bear the same relation to other SpiT-
itualists that the Fox family of Rochester
bore some twenty-five years ago. If there
are any genuine spirit-mOngers, the Eddy
people are. If they are a fraud the whole
thing is fraud. In the course of their
wanderings up and down the earth, they
| lighted on a certain town in Berkshire
| county, Mass, hard by the seat of a IA
4 nous old college, Williams by name.
/ And the town where the Eddy tribe halted
| is named Adams, and one village in it Is
| North Adams, and here the spirit-dealers
! set forth their arts and invited the good
people to come and behold the invisible
| A veritable spirit-nOt a flesh and blood
individual, but a spirit, impalpabie, ethe-
rial, fieshless, blOodless and without bones
the spirit of what one of our states
men has pronounced to be the best Indian,
I LIlaL q Nedu OuG-SIlDllU " din lbA III Ottt
of a dark closet and present himself TO
the bodily eyes of the behOlders, who
were willing to pay dollar each for the
sight But some of the North Adamsites
were unbelieVeIs. Living in a region re-
nOwned for its intelligence, and enjoying
the rays of light that come from the ad-
iacent college, where even the boys know
? a thing or two, and Oftentimes resort to
| North Adams to diffuse knowledge, and
| sometimes, it is feared, to have inter
course with spirits of another SORT these
unbelievers determined to obey the divine
injunction contained in John, iv l :
Beloved, belieye not every spirit, bnt
TRY the spirits whether they be of God;
because many false prophets are gone Ou
, into the wOrld.'
| The first step toward trying a rogue i
t to catch him, and the rule holds good il
the case of spirits. Hence the need o
the Sheriff. He was called on to be ready
: with all needful help at hand. The ''falst
| prophets who had gone Outs' into NORTH
2 Adams had all things prepared, and a
! the set time, in the midst of a cOmpan!
| of dupes who sat with open mouths ant
; | staring eyes, the closet door opened ant
' forth there walked bedizzened stalwar
! Indian, with paint and feathers that tn
p braVest Ute, or Sitting Bull, or Spotted
: Tail, might have enYied. This was NJ
live Indian, but the spirit of dead one
| Great dread fell on the assembled com
: pany of believers. They saw a ghost
$ | Doubt Vanishes forever. Here is a spirit
Seeing is believing. Spiritualism is
fact, and who, after this, will deny it
Great is the Eddy family, and this BIZ
Indian is their prophet.
just at this moment of triumph on
p daring dOubter, by the instigation of an
. other spirit, flung his arms around TIN
Z ghost; the Sheriff, with his staff, rushe
: in upon the tableau, added his embrace
n to those of the infdel, and 10, the poo
q Indian, dragged into light and plucke
. of feathers and some other disguises
. proved to be one of the Eddy women,
= veritable body of flesh and brass. TIL
. brazen-faced imposture was exposed t
4 the scOrn of the disgusted assembly
= Howbeit the more CredulOus who ha
! taken much stock in Spiritualism prefe
to cling to their delusion, while all yet i
.e their senses see the truth of the divin
- word, 90 Many false prophets have gOn
+ out into the world We do not suppOs
=. that Mr.. Kiddle or any other Spirituali
70 will open his eyes to see the folly of tn
n miserable imposture, which will have i
la dupes and victims as Moslem and MormO
~ believe against all the evidence of sem
+ and history. Still we are glad that I'll
70 Adams men were bold enough to g II
sa the spirits," and had a Sheriff not afra
h to Cripple with a ghOst.-N. Y. Observe