Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-03-15
A HUNT FOR SPO0KS.
Howard Fielding Warns the New In
vestigating Committee.
A CHAPTER OF SAD EXPERIENCE.
Seance That Ended in q Toboggan Slide
Down Flight Of Stairs.
BROKEN RIBS AND REVOLVER SHOTS
WRITTEN FOR TIE D1srArcH.I


It is reported that q number of distin.
guished gentlemen and ladies have banned
themselves together for the purpose of inves
tigating the phenomena of spiritualism.
They propose to get up series OF test:
through which no fraudulent ghosts and
very few of the genuine can ever pass sue
cessfully.
Let me hasten to say that it is not my pur.
pose to criticise or ridicule these investigat-
ors. Some of them live in Boston and are
thus above criticism, while others do moi
live in Boston and are therefore objects oI
pity rather than ridicule. Collectively, il
they have fault, it is that they are too
good. The work requires somebody who is
en- rapport with iniquity, as a Boston gen.
tleman remarked in rendering me an in Vita
ton to q spook hunt in that city some years
ago, I did not understand French at that
time, so 1 simply thanked him, adding mod
estiy that had good bringing up, and
hoped net to disappoint his expectations: I
now perceive that ] should have struck him
with club, but 1t is too late.
Organized by Honest Believers.
The hunt of which have spoken was Or
canized bv spiritualists. They were honest
believers who desired to expose fraud, as
the surest way of giving the truth chance.
NV intentions were as good as theirs, but
lacked discretion. 1 shall tell the story OF the
hunt as warning to the aforementioned
committee not to push investigation reck-
lessly.
We were to expose q man who was tempo
rarily named Morse. His wife materialized
spirits through the power of deceased In
dian princess, who in life had been called
Bright Eyes. Her vision must have been
considerably dimmed IN the mysterious
hereafter or she would have been able to see
through such diaphanous fraud as Mrs.
Morse, and would have refrained from hay
ing anything to do with her. When Mrs.
Morse passed into a trance she was controlled
so completely by Bright Eyes that she
could speak nothing but pure Choctaw.
Thus the ordinary auditor at one of her
seances learned little or nothing about the
eternal mysteries.
To Sample the Choctaw.
Our hunting party heard of this linguistic
difficulty, and so we pressed into our service
an ex-cowbov who conversed fuently in
Choctaw. He could also shoot the neck off
two gallon demiiohn at 90 PAGES, and
afterward drink the entire contents, no mat
ter what 1t happened to be. He was an ac-
complished gentleman.
We arranged the plan of campaign very
carefully To each was assigned his share
of the work. Bill Adams, the cowboy, was
to test the quality of Bright Eyes Choctaw,
after which he was to wait till the signal
of attack should be given by Harvey Blake.
This young man acted as sort of guide
to our party. He was believer in
spiritualism, who had come to the Morse
seances in good faith, until their trickery
became too thin to deceive even so partial a
witness. The Morses thought that they had
q sure grip on him, and SO be could easily
secure a front seat at the seance-a favor not
shown to strangers. In his position of ad-
vantage he was to wait until a materialized
spirit was we'll within his reach, and then he
was to grab it, and yell. AT his war hoop
Adams was to overpower Morse; I was to
assist in detaining the spooks; and others
were to turn up the lights and quell any
outbreak on the part of Morse's heelers, of
whom there were half dozen at every
meeting.
Short-Haired Body Guard.
I noticed them when first entered the
rooms on the evening selected for the ex-