Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-04-13
MEDIUMS OR FRAUDS?
Psychologists, Scientists, TheosO-
phists and Magicians
ON THE FACTS OF SPlRITUALISM.
That the World Loves to be Humbugged
Explains Great Deal
WORK OF THE SEYBERT COMMISSION
IwRrTTEN FOR THE DISPATCH. !

IwRITTEN FOR THE pIsPArcH-1
The questions upon which this article il
based run as follows:
l. Are SpIritualists humougs, or are there
mediums who believe fully in their own in
spired or supernatural powers? Do any OF
these genuine" mediums perform teats which
contemporary magicians cannot duplicate?
2 Who are the best mediums" of to-day?
What do you believe of the Davenport broth
ers7 What is the best feat you have ever seen
medium" perform?
g. Viii you give your explanation of the way
some spiritualst1c or mediumistic marvel, a
good one of its kind is performedf
The most exhaustive reply is that of
Daniel Greenleaf Thompson, as follows:
1 think there is always an impression
made upon the human mind by anything
which is marvellous and apparently mex
plicable; there is a sense of power greater
than nature-a sense of mystery of ex-
istence to the world and to the order of
nature that always creates, awe. There is
also, coming from the strong instinct Tor the
preservation OF life, an inextinguishable
desire for the continuation OF existence be-
yond death, and people are ready to catch
upon the slightest evidences of hereafter,
believe in them, and incorporate them into
their lives, act upon them, and they are by
no means particular as to scientific proofs.
A THOROUGH INVESTIGATION.
In the beginning OF 1869 1 projected the
plan of the series of philosophical works.
1 visited every medium that L could hear
of, including the most eminent that have
appeared before the public, like Foster aud
Slade, for example; 1 must have visited 10
or 20 clairvoyants in New York. BROOKLYN
and Boston. 1 took the Banner of Light,
the recognized organ OF clalrvovance and
spiritualism, and ollowed up the adver-
tisements with a mind absolutely open to
the receipt of any truthful impressions
which might come; and, so far as can
judge, without the slightest prejudice
against anybody or anything, the results
which l obtained were exceedingly unsatis-
factory. and were about of a character ex-
hibited in the report of the Sevbert Com
mission to the trustees of the University of
Pennsylvania published in 1887.
The late Henry Seybert left to the trus-
tees of the University of Pennsylvania a
sum of money for the appointment of com-
mission ''to investigate all systems of nil
raculous religion and philosophy which
assumed to represent the truth, and particu-
larly modern spiritualism." A commission
was accordingly appointed, composed OF dis
tinguished citizens of Philadelphia among
them DR.. William Pepper Provost, DR.. Jo-
seph Leidy, PROT Ellis Thompson, DIR.
Horace Howard Furness and others. The
results of this investigation were in the main
negative, but in many instances the COM
mission was satisfied of the grossest and the
most vulgar kind of fraud, anu was unable
to discover anything whatever in the pre-
tentions of modern spirItualism entitled to
the least scientific consideration. NV own
eNnerienca coipoideS 7 rros
able to see the fraud in the exhibitions of
Henry Siade. which they claimed to have
discovered.
SHADES WONDERFUL PERFORMANCE.
l had a seance with Slade in company
with the late Wiimot L. Warren, editor of
the Springfield Republican, in Springfield,
Mass. Slade was visiting that place, and
our meeting with him was in the afternoon
of sunny day, in a chamber which was
fully Illuminated bv the suns rays. All
sorts of strange things happened; the tables
jumped, dinner bell rang on the top of the
bed before my eyes, and, when [ attempted
to hold it, it was forcibly removed from nv
hand by an agency l could not see, and con-
tinued ringing
A large bedstsad jumped about the room,
and rappings, the source OF which could |
not explain, were heard frequently. The
only persons present were Mr.. Warren, Mr.. !
Slade and myself. Slate writing, of which
every one knows, took place. and 1 do not |
see how 1t was possible for The states to have |
been changed. 1 held one slate down on
the table myself, heard the scratching, and |
when was able to take it up, the resist |
ance giving way, found a written SEN |
tence on the slate which was not there be- |
fore.
The sentence bore no relevancy to any, |
thing, but it was an intelligent and legible |
sentence. l also held the slate under the /
table myself with a similar result Slade /
sat some distance away, and if there was any /
fraudulent manipulation 1 am wholly un- |
able to see how it occurred. Nor do think |
I was hypnotized.
1t is fair to say, however we should have
been unable to explain the tricks OF Houdin,
or Hermann or of Heller Slade however.
is the only one o. his ilk that ever made any
impression upon me, except that of fraud.
visited Foster, who, at one time, enioved |
probably the highest celebrity o! any me-
dium In the country, and l was satisfied of
the fraudulent character of everything he |
did, including his reading of slips of paper
which contained questions which he pro-
fessed to be able to answer. 1 caught him
IN two or three tricks, and might have caught
him in more.
OTHER UNSATISFACTORY EXPERIENCES.
visited Mrs. Murphy, who was very in
teresting, and a well-known clairyoYant,
who has since died, who entertained me
with great many suggestive facts upon the
subject OF Spirituallsm, but who was unable
to give me any evidence. l also visited a
lady, whose name 1 cannot recollect, who
had just returned from Paris, where she
had been acting during the winter as the
medium Of communication between Victor
Hugo and his deceased daughter. 1 told
her my purpose, and asked her if she would
manifest her powers to me. She said that
she would be glad to 90 so, but she was ill,
and any attempt to invoke supernatural
powers, or to enter into a communication
with the deceased was so fatiguing to her
that she would like to postpone the session.
L wrote her once or twice afterward, and
called on her once, but was never able to
attend seance. This was after 1 had
frankly announced to her the purpose of
my investigation with a view of publication
Of the results.
attended half a dozen material1zng
seances, all OF which were grossly and dis
gusungly fraudulent. Had there been a
companion with me should undoubtedly
have been able to expose the fraudulency of
all OF them. As result OF few years of
carried on in the spirit that 1
have described the net result is what have
in my psychology, claiming:
have personally endeavored many times
and with great amount of persistence to get
~ the facts. but have in every instance been
banned either through the failure of any ex-
Lraorolnary events to occur in my presence or
through the unwillingness of mediums to allow
any thorough investigation into what did |
happen. am, therefore. compelled to say that |
cannot add anything to what has been written |
INVESTIGATOR acknnWladppd ack SPip fir |