The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-09-23
How the Arnold-Dickson Frauds Operated

George J. Arnold and James J. Dick
son arc now ON their way 10 FL Paso,
Tex. whence they have fed as a result
of tho exposure by The Herald of their
frauds. Enough was printed by this
paper Immediately after the arrest of
Arao.d on Il charge of having viciously
assaulted Mrs. Mary NJ. Brandon, who
attempted 20 seize a spirit and found
that st was person in disguise, to
frighten them. and they have run away
for fear OF arrest on more serious
charges.
The Herald has stated that these men
were frtuds. but has not gone into de-
tails showing how the public was
duped. 4 full account Of a number of
the tricks by which these men and 9TH
ers OF their fix have deceived the public
IS presented herewith. in order that the
public may be able TO fathom some of
the seemingly inexplicable perform
anCes OF the brothers"
II IS a remarkable fact that Arnold
end Dickson practiced only the crude
tricks Of the amateur prestidigitator,
but these tricks were so thoroughly
mastered that the ordinary observer
could be readily deceived.
The tricks of these mep were not
rearly so clever nor difficult, nor were
their fests so wonderful as are en-
and Dickson were clever. were close OBJ
servers. and had thoroughly mastered
their simple tricks.
SpirituaIists Praise r raid.
Spiritualists are Ioudest and most
earnest in their praise of The Herald
for the exposure and unmasking of
these fraudulent mediums" The real
spiritualists who believe as a matter
of religion that they may and do COM
municate with the spirits of the dead,
deprecate and decry these and similar
frauds that are masked under the cloak
and name of religion. They discount
tenanCe the bilking and robbery and de-
Ceiving OF the public under the name
of their religion. which tend to place
the religious belief of the true spirit
ualists in disrepute.
The followers Of the spirftualistic
creed i'm this state have sent to the Of
ficials of the National Spiritualists' as
ISOLATION of the United States a file of
The Herald containing the exposures
of the Arnold-Dickson pair and these
men will be advertised fully in every
orthodox spiritualistic publication In
the United States and Canada. Special
agents of the national association were
sent here some time ago TO uncover
the frauds and receptions of these men,
but the grafters were too shrewd for
the agents and outwitted them. These
agents were denied admission to all
meetings, and were forced to leave the
city without accomplishing their task
These agents were among the first to
congratulate The Herald on it's work
OF exposure. and to offer their services
TO further the work.
A MateriaIizing Seance.
The most interesting public perform
ance of the Arnold Dickson brothers"
and at which the most heart-breakng
scenes were enacted were their Thurs
day night undertaking" seances.
There the faithful, who regularly paid
their half dollars for the privilege of
conversing with their loved ones whose
bodies had been reverently placed in
the tomb. to mingle again with the
clay from which they were first taken,
were deceived with impunity by the
spurious spiritualists.
The undertaking" Seances were al
ways well attended. and the hall was
almost invariably crowded. The front
seats were occupied by those who by
their regular attendance had won the
confidence of the manipulators of the
"phony" apparitions. These meetings
were conducted I'm such a manner as to |
gain and hold the confidence of the !
credulous, while at the same time a
close observer could distinguish the
deception. and could know how it was
performed.
During the time the hall was filing !
slowly with those who desired TO wit
ness or participate i'm the meeting, four
clusters of two 16-candle power electric |
lights. placed i'm the ceiling. gave a
food OF brilliant light. AS soon as the |
nall was filed and the hour for the |
opening OF the meeting had arrived, the /
photograph was started, and "Anona," /
"Hiawatha.' or some other modern |
spiritual air was played.
Then the lights were extinguished /
and the room was I'm total darkness. A |
Swiss music box would be played to en-
tice the Spirits" from the Land of |
Springtime."
In the event that a naturalization |
could not be produced quickly enough,
the audience would sing a verse of one
Of the hymns written by Arnold. One
of these was THE Land of Spring
time" and another was spirit Divine"
sung to the old music of Sweet Hour
Of Prayer" The words Of this song are
as follows:
ArnoId's Hymn.
Spirit Divine. essence of all.
With humble hearts to thee we call,
We pray our every thought to bless.
And lead US on to righteousness,
Thy divine hand in all we see.
In every mountain. vale or tree.
Let all the earth rejoice and sing,
Hosanna to cur heavenly king.
We humbly seek the only way.
To know Thee better day by day,
And If we err, Spirit Divine,
Remember that we still are thine.
. give us grace to do and bear.
Let angels guide us everywhere.
Until on yonder beauteous shore
We join our loved ones gone before.
Prior to the time the lights were ex-
tnguished. the spectators had ample
opportunity &c see the stage on which
the materializations took place. This
stage extended entirely across the north
end of the hall. A door opening into
the furnace room was situated close to
the east end of the stage. and the black
curtains which formed the cabinet.
were suspended from wires. sweeping