The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1888-04-25
THE DEBAR SWINDLERS.
Testimony Showing Their Fraudulent Prac-
tices-What the Fictimized Marsh Thinks

NEW YORK April 24-The examina ton in the
Diss Debar case continued to-day, lawyer
Marsh being the first &c testify. "About four
years ago." said Mr.. Marsh, "a friend introduced
Nine. Diss Bebar to me as a medium. From
conversation with this lady was impressed
with the belief that the woman was the daugh-
ter of Lola Montez. and also under the impress
sion that she was the daughter of the King Of
Bavaria"
An alleged picture OF Lola Montez was put on
exhibition and recognized by Mr.. Marsh. Mr..
Marsh said he would not have allowed the
Madame to stay in his house. only he was led to
believe that the General was her husband.
The next picture exhibited was known the
christmas picture" and represented Mr..
Marsh, to all appearances, dressed in the style
of Hamlet" Two other pictures were pro-
duced, one small picture of St Peter. The
picture of Lola MonteZ, the witness said, had
been painted by the spirit OF Rembrandt The
Madame, as medium. had informed him that
Raphael and Rembrandt, out of compliment to
each other, painted pictures of each other, and
they were presented to him. A picture by
Rembrandt was next exhibited. Mr.. Marsh
said 1t arrived at his residence on Dec. l, 1887.
The only person in the room with the virgin
canvas at the time was Mr.. John O'Sullivan.
Where is Mr.. OSullivan now2' was asked.
He is in Bloomington Asylum, / believe"
The picture of Raphael was also placed in
evidence. The witness was then cross-examined
was intended by the witness that the house
which he gave the Madame should be ITEM
pie of Truth" and the Madame installed
high priestess. When Mr.. Marsh was asked
regarding the character of the high prestess
he said ne believed her to be very respect
able lady. The witness never saw
any paints brushes at 166 Madison
avenue during the stay of the Debars.
The witness added that he firmly believed that
the picture spoken OF and the clairvoyant mes
sages given to him by the Madame were super
natural and had come from spirit lands He
believed in the Bible in the Swedenbergian
sense explaining his meaning in a long speech
on the divinity of the Savior. Mr.. kMarsh then
gave a history of each OF the spook pictures as
they we're exhibited in the courtroom.
The next witness was Mira. Jane Kellogg, en-
ployed IN an artists supply store in Sixth AVE
nue. She testified to purchases made at the
house last summer by the Madame and the
General On one occasion the General re-
turned canvas, and said, t'The stamp OF your
house is on 1t and Icannot use it." ss
Simon Goldberg also testified to purchases by
the pair, made at his store, of material which
could be used for retouching old pictures or for
painting
Mr. Friedlander an artist testified that the
spookipictures daubs of the worst char
acter, and that the paints used were modern and
not such as were used by the old masters
Young Lawrence, who was arrested AS a CO.
conspiritor with the Debars, testified that he
was cultivating her acquaintance in order to get
magic-lAntern views of her pictures TO exhibit.
The elder Lawrence also arrested as one of the
conspirators, said his object was the same as
spiritualist and wanted to propagate the faith.
Professor Buchanan, of Boston, had told him
Nine. Diss Debar was the greatest medium in
the world