SPIRITUALISM AND FRAUD

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1798, 22 August 1906, Page 68

SPIRITUALISM AND FRAUD

(From Our Special Correspondent.)

LONDON, June 22. There are many people in this world whn firmly believe tfiat it is within the power of certain inmviduals bo call up and materialise the spirits ot the de parted. Possibly they are rigid, but it is a strange fact that on every occasion “hit sceptics attending spiritualistic seances have, tried to demonstrate that their scepticism is well-bounded,, they have usually succeeded m doing so. Ihe lated case in point is the exposure of a well-known “medium” named Craddock, who has been fined JJIO and costs (with the alternative of “a month inside ) ioi that he “being a rogue and a vagabond did unlawfully use certain subtle matt, means, or device, by palmistry or otheiwise, to deceive Mark Mayliew and others, contrary to 5 George IV., chapter 83, section 4.” . ... , , Mr Mayliew, it must be admitted, went into the matter with his eyes open. He felt certain that trickery was at the bottom of Craddock'* business, and determined if possible to bowl him out. His first visit to Craddock’s rooms strengthened his (conviction . that the whole show was a fraud,, but it was not until his third seance that Mr May hew decided to act. At the first visit Craddock materialised a “dead chilci of Mr Mayhew’e, which was alive and well, ana conjured up an “Uncle George, v r h° had never had part or lot m the Mayhew family circle. He also materialised the celebrated clown Joey Grimaldi, and caused him to crack jokes of which tfie genuine J.G. would have been ashamed, and produced “Dr Alder,” who. wore a very yellow goatee beard, obviously and badly stuck on, and another spirit; whose Emporor William moustache was

all awry. At the third seance, which was under the control of a departed gentleman referred to as Dr Graeme, gome suspicion that Mr Mayhew s scepticism might be actively demonstrated seems to have occurred to Craddock. At any rate ‘ ‘Graeme” opened proceedings with a discourse in which he solemnly warned the audience that it was very dangerous to break a circle, and might cause the loss of the medium s sight or even his life. Mr May hew was told that the spirit of a friend nad come for him. A face appeared with a very frizzy and mucli-turned-up moustache. Measuring the distance to what he supposed would be the position of the shoulders Mr Mayhew put out his hands and seized them “My hands,” Mr Mayhew continued, “came in contact with evident shoulders, to which I bold on. There was a struggle, and the figure to which the shoulders belonged went back to the ground. I called fora light, and Mr Carlton switched one on and flashed it on to the person whom I had seen. I then saw that the person was Craddock. •