Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1883-12-31
mATKR1ALIzRD SPIRITS.
[san Francisco Call, December Soth. ]

u lew VEGAS dSO VIC SAtt PubliaHCO
letter written by George Frederic Parsons,
a well.known and respected journalist, for
merly of California, to Philadelphia Spir
itualist paper, Mind and Matter, on the
naturalization of spirits, through the me-
diumship of San Francisco woman. He
declared among other things that he had
talked with and touched the materiaEzed
form of beloved daughter shortly after
her death, and that the circumstances
made any imposture utterly impossible.
In reply there was published in the Cal.
over the nom de plume of "Junius," a
communication from gentleman of this
city declaring that Mr.. Parsons had been
shamefully and cruelty deceived by the
medium in question, and that young wo-
man had admitted being employed by the
medium to personate Mr.. Parsons deceased
daughter. Mr.. Parsons, in reply, addressed
letter to this paper reiterating his state
ment, declaring that the conditions under
which the naturalization occurred rem
dered personation of his daughter by a
living person impossible. The Call is now
in receipt of another letter from Mr.. Par
sons on the same subject, denouncipg in
bitter terms those who have declared that |
the medium had deceived him, and warmly |
defending her. As far as "Junius" is con-
cerned, it is but just to say that he is a
well-known and respected citizen, an hon. !
est investigator of spiritualism, of unim. |
peachable integrity, and man not given
to making rash assertions. The only new
matter in the literature of this controversy
is found in the following extract from Mr..
Parsons letter detailing his
EXPERIENCE WITH NEW YORK MEDIUM {:
81 know that the attempted explana-
ton of the alleged cheating of me is It's
sue of very clumsy falsehoods. l know
that any attempt to explain away what
have seen on the ground of personationlis
futile. When l am told that PRESERVATION
explains everything feel as the European
engineers did when the Kaffres insisted
that the motive power of the railway en-.
CINE was concealed horses. The solution
is so utterly inadequate that it really has
no relevancy at all 1t does not touch the
phenomena. And | think it a pity that those
who have undertaken to reply to my letter
to Mind and Matter did not first take the
would probably have realized that the ex-
plantations they advanced were wholly in
sufficient. For example, then decla, ed
IHaG Aau eSSA my uduSuISl hatSilalIAC
outside of the cabinet and dematerialize in
the same position. Now, obviously, it is
no explanation of this to tel about per
sonation. But to escape from all fficul y
it has been suggested that my competence
as witness was impaired by my emotion.
Now | viii endeavor to meet that objection
by relating what l have seen here in New
York within few days. l suppose it will
l.. III &LaA 7 -lzz1.
lieved from the hypothetical intellectual
disability caused by grief, and that at
least l may trust my senses when no appeal
is made to any personal emotion. Ga the
occasion in question seventeen persons be-
sides myself witnessed what | am going to
relate. The scene was a seance room con-
tanning cabinet for naturalization. Ia
front of this cabinet was small table with
writing materials on it. The outer edge of
the table was two feet from the front of
the cabinet. Now there suddenly ap-
peared on the carpet in front of that table,
nearly in the middle of the room, under a
good light,
PATCH OF NEBULoUs WHITE,
About foot square, which looked almost
like thick white fog. This patch began
to be agtsted, to expand, to rise. The
center of it was pushed upward, and took
the form of veiled head. The extremi-
ties also were elevated, and revealed hands
and arms. The agitation and expression
proceeded rapidly. The patch of white
fog, gliding upward with undulatory mo-
ton, grew under our eyes into the SEM
blance of a draped female figure. With
swift waving of the arms and a curious
weaving motion of the cloudy column, de-
velopment and consolidation went on.
What had seemed at first filmy, shadowy,
unsubstantial, and through which at first
could be seen the black table behind, solid.
flied and took on material conditions. In
less than minute from the first appear
ance of the white patch living, breath
ing, girlish form, slender, active, graceful,
draped in gauzy robes, stepped forward
into the circle and gave the name of Car
RE Miller 1.-THE deceased daughter of the
publisher OF Brooklyn spiritual paper.
This form called for chair, sat in it
short time, and then demateralized out
of it as she had come. And when the
last white patch had vanished from the
carpet it began to grow again, and the
naturalization was repeated and the de-
naturalization Now | am very sure that
SOW Lnle, duu bllaG III SohSSa uiu hOb uO-
ceive me and that to explain such mani
festations by personation is to talk nom
sense. Yet very many of the phenomena
which l witnessed were of the same char
acter, and therefore 1 am justified in claim
ing and insisting that they have not been
explained away. Nor am l shown to have
been duped On the contrary, | have
shown that gross and reckless falsehood is
the Distinguishing characteristic of the So
called evidence upon which that theory is
based. In fact, you cannot explain. what |
say have seen save by assuming that
am a hopeless fool, utterly incapable of
forming sane conclusion upon the expe-
rience of my senses, or by admitting the
phenomena.