Los Angeles herald., 1907-12-09
ELSIE REYNOLDS RETURNS TO
OLD HAUNTS
RoAsTs THOSE WHO DROVE HER
FROM CITY
Attends Reception and Tells OF Early
Childhood, When Her Mother
Thought She Was an
Angel Child
BY WINFIELD S. MORGAN

than any other person in this vicinity, is
again in Los Angeles. She has held ner
first reception and has discovered there
are still a large number of persons In
Los Angeles who are willing to call on
her and do homage
Mrs. Reynolds experiences in Los An
geles have been varied, and, Tor ner, par
ticularly unfortunate. The reception was
held at Burbank hall Thursday night
following a published announcement.
She was glad to see the gullibles, and
said SO.
"oh, isn't it nice?" she said. "All my
country friends from Clearwater and
Compton have come to do me honor at
my reception"
Mrs. Reynolds was at the door most OF
the time while the crowd was gathering,
watching closely for Herald reporters
but, apparently, one was able to get IN
side without being noticed.
When all had been seated around the
hall the meeting was called to order py
A. j. Sphinx, who says he is spiritualist
and a seeker after the truth. In his talk
he spoke of spiritualism in general, but
gave large part of his time to dis
cussion of the career of Mrs. Reynolds,
her fortunes and her misfortunes. He
attributed the latter, in great part, TO
Robert Hale, president of the Anti-Faker
society, and his gang" whom he called
very bad men and undesirable citizens.
Speaking of Mrs. Reynolds, he was en-
thusiastic in his praise: "She is one
of the greatest mediums, If not the
greatest, the world has ever SEEM he
said, amid applause. And notwith-
standing her many exposures, she has
kept the work going and is here tonight
and will address you."
GuIIibIes Enthusiastic
Mrs. Reynolds appearance was greeted
with much hand clapping. If what she
said is true, she is the embodiment of
all that is strange and supernatural.
my dear friends" she said, 'in adj
dressing YOU tonight at my reception,
1 will tell some of the story of my life,
which may give away the secret of my
age and make some of you think l am
old, but am not. Instead of being born
like other children, 1 was born with four
teeth cut through and with long black
hair. My mother was frightened at the
sight of her child. She thought 1 was an
angel or something and mourned at the
thought that 1 could not live long And
the spirits would come and put flowers
in my cradle"
Mrs. Reynolds hair has changed in
color during her long life, for it Is now
quite red.
1.-THE people," continued Mrs. Reynolds,
''would come from far and near to see
what they called the angel child They
watched over me with intense interest. 1
grew into childhood and was constantly
telling my little playmates about heaven
and about many things that astonished
the older people. / also had my play
mates who had died, but they were so
real to me that 1 thought they were
off in he cOIlld not
believe otherwise, even when my mother
told me they were dead and that / must
stop telling stories.
Finds Black Spook
'when grown to womanhood went to
San Francisco, where l attended a de-
yeloping circle. They asked me to go
into the cabinet and l did, although only
as a joke, at first. When / got in, be-
hold. three spirits, a negro man, an In
dian woman and a white girl were ma
terialized outside the cabinet, all at once.
The people were greatly pleased, but the
medium who was with me was terribly
frightened md jumped out of the cab
met, on my head or any old way to get
out. 1 went to work from that time on
but foolishly let anybody and everybody
in and thus many times got bad con-
ditions. 1 have learned better since that
time although l have been careless
many times since then, as you all know
when on Broadway, about year ago,
that miserable Hale and others COM
mitted that outrage on Gods people,"
Mrs. Reynolds then thanked everyone
for coming to the reception.
One of the woman's followers then
spoke, and gave what might be called a
formula for naturalization. "Our friends
are all around u.s. she said. "All we
have to do is to say Dear friends, gather
up the material around you and make
yourselves E. little more dense, so 1 can
see you,'-but / can't do it, she con-
cluded.
Becomes "Entranced"
Mrs Reynolds then passed around
through the gathering, and while doing
so became 'entranced," the spirit of an
Indian Girl entering her body, as it were,
and the words of the girl coming from
Mrs. Reynolds lips.
'I must come, too, and must shake
hands with all of you,' came in a
squeaky' voice, supposed to be the Indian
maiden's. And Mrs. Reynolds passed
around, shaking hands, greeting those
whom she knew in a ventriloquial way,
and everyone was duly impressed.
The Indian girl became a Swedish
maiden wher Mrs. Reynolds reached the
seat occupied by Andrew Anderson the
man who four years ago purchased a
silk dress for his spirit mate under the
influence of the Arnolds. and who. few
days later, saw the dress adorning the
form of the medium.
The Swedish maiden was supposed to
be an old sweetheart of Anderson's
"Tm here. too" said the supposed
spirit; you treated me awfully mean,
but I'll forgive you. You made me fall
in love with you, then went away to
America and left me; but I love you the
same as always and am ready to make
up with you any time"
Anderson seemed somewhat taken
aback at the revelation of his early love
affairs. What do you know about me?'
he questioned.
Spirit Shakes Hands
'sDo you know this girl?' asked Mrs.
REYNOLDS in her natural voice.
Anderson replied by speaking to the
alleged spirit in Swedish. but the sweet
heart of his youth. having evidently for
gotten her mother tongue. remained
silent.
There were few more handshakes, a
few more messages from spirit land and