Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1909-03-30
THREATEN WITH
DEATH EXPOSER
OF SPlRlTUALISM
B. S. GARRISON WARNED TO
LEAVE CITY
"BLAcK HAND" METHOD USED BY
ANONYMOUS WRITER
Noted Enemy to Fake "second Sight"
Workers Incurs Their Wrath
Because of Revelations
In court


~ out the United States, and who
created sensation among the Spirit
ualists, clairvoyants and mediums by
his expert testimony last thursday IN
the superior court of Los Angeles,
where he testified in the contest over
the will of the late Richard Crawford
Smith, yesterday morning received
letter warning him that death would De
his fate If he did not leave Los Ange-
les ut once, or If he persisted IN further
exposures of the tricks of Spirituahsm.
Mr.. Garrison is not greatly disturbed
over the letter, as he stated he has peen
threatened before for similar exposures,
but Mrs. C. f. Robinson, the landlady
of the house, 519 Temple street, Where
Garrison is staying, is alarmed and is
fearful some disaster may result.
The letter is as follows:
''B. S. Garrison: We are not going
to stand for your work any longer.
Drop it or take the consequences.
Leave town at once, or we will give
the undertaken a job. We have
warned YOU before and mean busi-
ness. (Bewear.) This is from the
inner circle, and you know what
that means. Don't be dam TOOL
You are only one man against thou
sands of us. L. y.
At the bottom of the letter was
rough drawing of a skull ana cSoss-
bones, also of a coffin.
On the envelope was written, ITO the
landlady of the house. Please give TINS
to B. S. Garrison" The first part was
written in lead pencil but the name OF
Garrison was written in red ink and
the right-hand edge of the letter vas
bordered with red ink. Mrs. Robinson,
who answered the bell after the letter
had been laid on the table in the hall
way, where the mail is received, no
ticed a man leaving the steps and hur-
ry eastward on Temple street:
MIR. Garrison hastily read the letter
and went to the street, but could find
no trace of the messenger who lett the
threatening epistle.
Mrs. Robinson wanted to notify the
police at once, but Garrison would not
listen to this, as he stated he had peen
threatened before and was able OF care
for himself, and judging from his phys
icai appearance Mr.. Garrison meant
what he said, If given a fair opportun-
In speaking of the letter Mr.. Garri-
son said: "Since last Friday, when L
exposed several of the fakes uSed IN
Spiritualism. several people have called
AT nv rooms and urged me to stop
further exposures, and although treat
ed them all with courtesy, l told them
az long as [ was able / would show up
what i think to be the greatest fraud
ever attempted on the people under the
guise of religion. Modern Spirituallsm
is worse than highway robbery, mas
much as it attacks the sanctity OF the
homo and brings more men and women
to grief than all kinds of gambling
combined. If the Spiritualist takers DO
NOT obtain all the worldly possessions
their dubes possess, then they drive
them to insanity. OF course, in many
cases, the victims regain their normal
1e fOn a
at am talking from experience.
Twenty-three years ago there was no
more ardent believer in Spiritualism
than I was However, my eyes We're
speedily and abruptly opened, but not
until l had lost my home and $4,000
in cash. From that day l have de-
voted all my energy and resources TO
a study of the fakes OF Spirituallsm py
associating with them under the guise
was a believer. AS a result am IN
a position to reveal them as they really
are, 1t is for this reason they have
threatened and now threaten my lie,
for thew know when the world becomes
wise to their graft their powers VIII
soon wane.
"Any person who will prey on the
mind of a victim through the medium
of a dead mother or father is worse
than a highway robber, for 1t takes
courage to be one of the latter, While
anyone can, who is shrewd enough, be
a Spiritualist medium.
To Continue Exposures
s'I intend to continue my testimony
TODAY in Judge Rives court and If giv-
en- the opportunity will dispel many
more of the illusions through which
the Spiritualists defraud and dupe
their willing victims. have known
many men, high in business and social
n 1oI 10 ha aIfI n nC4
by this so called, modern religion, for
at first it is bewildering..
'sTo be q medium, one must be quick
and smart, and able to detect those
little things which escape the eyes of
the average person. There is time
in everyone's life when they have trou-
BILE, and then their mind wanders.
They seek solution of their trouble,
and, If l can convince a person, While
his mind is thus upset, that my theory
will solve his trouble, he grasps at
the idea. That is all there is to Spiritu-
alism.'
Mr.. Garrison stated that petty me-
diums ply their avocation by working
in combinations, and he declared these
people have one of the greatest trusts
in the world.
when, in March, 1907, he startled the
Pacific coast by his expose of Stock
ton Spiritualists.
Frank Lamot, formerly a laborer,
and a number of clever alleged sharp
ers instituted a Spirituaist circle in
Stockton, and it spread rapidly. The
circle numbered among its members
some of the wealthiest and most infiu-
entail business men of Stockton. La
mot established what he termed a
"Bank of Heaven" where the victims
danosited their money to carry on their
work in the spirit world" When
Garrison went to Stockton he began
to expose the fakes of Spiritualism,
and a few days later Lamot, treasurer
of the Bank of Heaven is said to
have absconded from Stockton taking
with him about $15O,o00 of the fheav-
enly'' funds.
At that time the mediums and Spir-
itualists attempted to drive Garrison
out of the state, and his life was con-
stantly in danger.<
Garrison stated yesterday he VIII
seek no protection, but within a short
time he intends to make such dis
closures as will startle Los Angeles.