Los Angeles herald., 1906-11-18
DIR. BURNER IN LABORATORY

living a double life, deceiving even
her most intimate friends. Though the
members of the board readily withdrew
her ordination paper and promised to
have the facts published In the Occi-
dental Mystic, the official organ of the
board, they never kept their promise.
1t was alluded. to casually in the secre-
tarys report in the middle of a para
graph where 1t could not be noticed.
'The ordination certificate, though 1t
gives a certain privilege to its possess
sor, Is really worthless article. Some
of the worst fakes are ordained. There
is amedium in this city, a notorious
fake medium, ordained-I mean Mrs.
]. ]. Whitney, who at present holds
forth at Burbank hall. She poses as a
great medium; she has more gall than
highway robber, more confidence than
political stump orator; and she is
correspondingly more ignorant of the
philosophy of spiritualism than the
mereSt fool in town. In her capacity
as pastor of spiritualism she gives tips
on the races, advises men how to get
wives, women how to get husbands;
and those who are tired of married life
how to get divorced. 1t is, however
upon the platform where Mrs. Whitney
is seen to the greatest advantage. Her
favorite stunt is to pose as a trance
medium, controlled by a male spirit
She is fitted by nature for such a part,
being a coarse, british. masculine
woman. The tests she gives from the
platform are all memorized beforehand
and given out to persons in the audi
ence. There is woman in this town
not only ready at any time to rent a
hall for such purposes; but also ready
to furnish tests that apply to many
old spiritualists who for years have
attended such meetings, get their tests
and who never suspect that there is
anything wrong about them. Mrs.
Whitney is surely a great medium
that is, for deception and humbuggery.
She belongs to the worst gang of bare
faced swindlers that has ever dis
graced spiritualism.
IAN affidavit signed by the most
prominent spiritualists of San Fran
cisco, setting forth the trickery prac-
ticed by Mrs. ]. ]. Whitney, has been
published and widely circulated.
Not All Deception
"You may ask. is there any truth in
spiritualism, or is 1t all deception p
There surely is a great truth In It.
at present buried out of sight by COM
mercial spiritism. 1 believe that this
truth, when viewed from high ethi-
cal standpoint, can subserve all the
purposes of religion. But 1t can never
in the market like ham and bacon.
This fact ought to be plain to every
body. especially every spiritualist who
is conversant with the history or our
movement, dating back now more than
fifty years. The phenomena OF spirit
ualism Il mean such phenomena as can
be verified without deception) can sure
ly be of great benefit to the world
when interrogated Alright. They can
prove beyond doubt that mans spirit
Is immortali but they cannot be used
successfully for any selfish purpose
whatever.
"Our philosophy has great hope for
everybody and should be taught from
the public platform by competent
teachers.
mot believing in commercial spirit
ualism l am in favor OF taxing medi-
ums; yet in every city are some me-
diums who ought not to pay, because
they are honest and have power that
can be of benefit 20 their clients. But
the tax collector does not know them,
nor can he be expected to know them.
1t is for leading spirituallsts to de-
clare TO the city who are mediums and
who are fakes. The separation OF the
true and the fake in spiritualism must