Waterbury evening Democrat., 1888-04-02
SPIRITUALISM RAMPANT.
MRS. DlSS DEBAR'S MANIFESTATION
 EXTREMELY PROFITABLE.

She Gets the Spirits to Design Portraits.
 with Them That He Deeds His House
 Over to the Medium.
 NEW YORK, April 2.-The metropolitan papers have for the past week been full of the doings of certain exponent of spiritualism in this city who calls herself Mime. Diss Debar, and who, by her charms, or spells, has capti- vated something more than the esteem of MT. Luther R. Marsh, an old and well-known law yer, having influenced him to such an extent that he has deeded over to her a quantity of his property and his large residence on Madi- son avenue. Mir. Marshs friends, when they heard of what the hitherto conservative and level headed old gentleman had done, att tempted in every way to make him reconsider his rashness But he merely replied that it was not on his own conviction alone that he had given his possessions to Mime. Debar, but that the spirits had counseled him to do so. He further said that he had explicit faith in the woman, believing that he would have already perceived collision or fraud in her manifestations had it existed
 For all this, the life and adventures of the female Spiritualist have been extremely un- savory, and she has figured number of times in the courts of New York She is about 40 years of age, short and very stout. She is a Kentuckian by birth. where, al- though she denies it, members of her family still reside. She has travelled much, and has generally claimed to be the daughter of King Ludwig, of Bavaria, and Lola Montez. the at one time widely known actress.
 Her particular form of spirit manifesto tions are the production of portraits said to be drawn by Raphael, Rembrandt, or the spirits themselves, and under which are writ ten in shaky hand various messages from the other world. MT. Marsh has been the subject of so much comment and ridicule for the past few days that he determined to write a lecture regarding the whole matter, and last night read it to a large and deeply interested audience at Chickering hail.
 He began his remarks by saying: eff what I have to tell you is fraud and fiction it will speedily come to naught. If it is truth, it will prevail, no matter what is said against it. It is a matter in which every man must judge for himself and be accountable to his own conscience"
 This sensible statement, so different from what had evidently been expected, was re- ceived by applause. MT. Marsh went on to say that many dangers beset the man who announces his belief in spiritualism First is the danger that after death his will may be set aside on the ground of his mental un- soundness
 He had provided against the contingency by distributing his possessions before leaving this earth. This statement caused sensa- tion, as MT. Marsh is millionaire and has no near relatives The lecturer went on to say that another risk was that he would be declared insane Men might hold almost any vagary, except spiritualism, without risk of being called insane Now for him. self, he doubted the sanity of those who re- fused to believe anything except what they knew. As for HER the speaker referred to Miss Debar by the emphasized pronoun, much as person would allude to deity) as for HER, the facts alleged of her by the voracious press are so conflicting as to of themselves indicate her as a supernatural being She had at least three birthplaces and eleven mothers.
 Seriously, the question is, are the pictures truthful manfestatonss He made no claim as to them. He merely told what he knew of the1n-that they appeared to him as if spiritu- ally produced-and apparently supernatur ally, that is, by processes heretofore unknown to human power. Could anyone explain it, could anyone prove fraud! The speaker could not. The gas was then turned down and a number of pictures exhibited. After ward Mrs. Debar came before the audience and launched a tirade of abuse against the press, at which reporter jumped up and called her liar. The meeting broke up in good natured disorder, everyone being satis- fled that they had had their money s worth.