Los Angeles herald., 1906-12-02

seances were quoted as evidences of
spirit photography in a book entitled
The Widows Mite edited by I. X.
Funk of New York. If Mr.. Funk had
known the particular test conditions
applied to Mr.. Wylie by DR.. Reid he
would never have quoted from these
seances in support of spirit photog-
raphy. He accepted Dr. Reid's state
ments as correct in every particular,
errors of the grossest kind, but played
into the hands of takers. John Henley,
trumpet medium of this city, was on
DR.. Reids test committee; so was
DR.. Julian McCrea, a man who was q
believer in the materializations of Hen
ley. With such committee the
reader can easily imagine that gullible
DR.. Reid was bunkoed from start to
finish in his investigations. w. NJ
Slocum of this city. who also was on
DIR. Reid's committee. says the test
applied by Dr. Reid to Wylie was
not conclusive.
Tells of Flower Naturalization
"In late Sunday Herald appears a
paragraph under the heading, Spirit
Flower Fraud which recalled to my
mind two mediums who materialized
flowers to order for gullible spiritual
ISIS III II1lS Guy dDOuI IOuI years dBO.
They used to advertise themselves as
the great Howlands.' Mr.. HoWland
did the talking and Mrs. Howland
acted as medium. They claimed to be
ordained ministers of spiritualism and
to have the best credentials from the
east. Many spiritualists were delight
ed to meet them and anxious to pay
81 to attend their public seances.
zone Sunday afternoon I was in
10 okkA Of Enf
seances, just out of curiosity, to see
how the trick was worked. Mr.. How
land opened the seance by giving a
short lecture on ethics; he dwelt much
on charity and forbearance toward
others. He said that the best people
In the world often make mistakes and
that suspicious attitude of mind
ought to be beneath any good spirit
ualist.
''After the lecture the flower seance
commenced. Mr.. Rowland said it was
to be test seanoe and that the How
lands were not to be classed as ordi-
nary mediums and that no mediums
had ever been able to duplicate what
the Howlands could do at any time
that they were spiritual scientists. Two
committees were then called for from
the audience-one committee of six
men to examine the cabinet that stood
upOli lHG lilO OliCl VI SA|N
women to examine Mrs. Rowland be-
fore she went into the cabinet, so that
she could have no flowers concealed in
her clothing. The men soon announced
that the cabinet was all right-nothing
whatever of suspicious character
about it; the women also announced
that Mrs. Howland had not only been
searcehd, but completely undressed,
and that the only clothing she wore
,nIA IN
mittee. This was satisfactory to all
present and the seance commenced.
Told to Watch Window
"Mr. Howland repeatedly told the
audience to watch the open windows
in the hall, for, said he, It is through
them that the flowers will be brought
by spirit chemists who, because of
their long residence in the spirit
world, know how to work such Won
ders.' Soon Mrs. Rowland elapped her
hands In the cabinet, which had been
the signal agreed upon to announce
that the seance was finished. When
the curtain of the cabinet was thrown
back Mrs. Howland could scarcely be
seen for flowers; the spirit chemists
had outdone the committee which had
kept watch around the cabinet during
the seance. Many spirtualists present
declared that 1t was the greatest mani
festation of spirit power they had
ever witnessed, and that the How
lands were one OF the seven wonders