Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1905-10-03
FAMOUS coNJURER DEAD.

w. HARVIE JORDAN.
FAMOUS coNJURER DEAD.
"Dr." Henry slade Passes Away In q
Michigan Sanitarium.
Did "Dr." Henry Slade, the conjurer
Of things uncanny, finally become the
victim Of his own conjuring? Did the
creepy spell which he cast over those
who attended his seance at last claim
him? "Dr." Slade is dead and his last
moments were passed in q Michigan
sanitarium. Bereft of the power Of To-
comotion through disease, his once ac-
tive mind dimmed, his wealth gone,
and deserted by friends, he passed
away, and believers in the occult who
believed In him are now speculating on
.he time when he will return in spirit
form.
DR." Slade made and lost several
fortunes. His wealth at one time was
reputed to be million or more Of dol
lars. But when he died he was prac-
tically a pauper. What became Of his
wealth no one besides himself ever
knew, and now that he Is dead 1t Is
probable that no one ever will know.
Slade was the premier at the slate
writing trick and his power" In this
line startled the world. Henry Ward
Beecher, after "seance" said that the
work Of the man was beyond his COM
prehension. The Prince of Wales, now
King Of England, gave him an audience
and was profoundly impressed. The
Car Of Russia is said to have paid him
for Sitting" and after
ward to have dismissed some Of the
high court dignitaries because the
"seer's" writing warned him that his
life was in danger from members Of his
own, household.
Slade, while perhaps not the origina-
tor of the slate-writing trick, brought
It to perfection and made 1t popular.
So we'll was he known in connection
with this device that the agents for the
goods used by spurious mediums still
advertise their best slate-writing ap-
paratus as "the exclusive device Of the
great Slade."
Slade started as farmer boy. He
was scarcely in his teens when he be-
gan to astonish the other boys by ia
slate-writing and the like.
He was in New York in the late SOS
and, early '70's. His slate-writing Gre
atea-a. Juror. Many believing Spiritual
lists. who admit that Slade was proved
a fraud later, think that he had real
occult powers in his early days, but
that his control" was uncertain and
that he resorted to fraud in order to
make results a certainty.
Slade was already a rich man when.
In 1876, he went to England and was
nine days wonder. Committees Of sa-
wants had sit.ings with him and re-
ported that they could not explain 1t.
The celebrated Dr. Carpenter said that
he was shaken in his DISBELIEF In
The London courts and
police took notice after time, exhibi-
tions of fortune-telling being against
the law in that city. Sergt. Coy asked
Prof E. Ray Lancaster to have a sit
ting with DIR" Slade and report.
On September II, 1875, Prof. Lankes-
ter attended a seance. He got q theory
and came back four days later to prove
1t.
The seance took place In well-hght-
ed ROOM The medium and his "sitters"
sat on opposite sides Of table. Slade
brought out slate, with pencils, and
showed both sides to prove that 1t was
blank. Placing a piece Of pencil on the
face of the slate Slade pressed the face
against the under surface of the table
so closely that no hand, not even
finger, could be introduced between.
There would be a slight scratching
noise and Slade would show the slate
with a message on 1t.
Prof Lancaster, who pretended abso-
lutte belief all through. noticed that
there was an interval between the
Of the clean slate and the plac-
Ing Of the slate under the table. During
the interval Slade coughed as though
he had a bad cold and did unexpected
things to turn his sitters' attention TO
another part of the room. Also he
thought he saw a slight motion In the
muscles of the arm with which Slade
held his slate under the table.
On the second visit the professor and
an assistant caught and held Slade just
as he was placing the slate under the
table. Although the slate was sup
posed to be clean they found a message
written out. Slade tried to shake some
thing out of his hand. They caught 1t
and found that he wore a thimble COL
ored like his skin, with bit Of slate
pencil on the end. He had written the
on his knee during his cough
ing spell. If that failed, with his thim-
bled finger he could scrawl off a mes
sage while holding the slate under the
table. This brought the message on
the wrong side Of the slate, but he
would detract attention for moment
while he Topped the slate over.
Slade was arrested, convicted and
got three months in jail, the limit for
that misdemeanor. On appeal he got
of through a defect in the wording Of
the commitment.
The case attracted some attention In
Europe. The Russian court wanted
medium real or false, for its diversion
They sent for Slade. He exhibited be-
fore the czar and was a court sensa-
tion for a st. Petersburg season. He
dropped out of sight very suddenly, but
bobbed up again in this country In the
early sos, dead broke and showing In
small towns. He went abroad again
and had a renewal Of popularity In
Berlin, where he exploited ideas about
the fourth dimension. He was even
honored by heavy German treatise
Psychics," by Prof.
Zollner.
For ten years the world lost sight Of
him until in 1895 he appeared again on
the streets of New York, old, ragged.
walking on crutches. He had para
lytic stroke the first day after he land
ed and was treated in Roosevelt hos
pital. The physicians noticed that his
hands were calloused. as though he had
been doing hard work
He went west and showed up at last
in Detroit. There he lived. old, broken
and half-insane. in one room, and made
his living by giving tests" to servant
girls at 10 cents a sitting. In time he