THE DAVENPORT BROTHERS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1320, 17 March 1877, Page 17

THE DAVENPORT BROTHERS.

Two years ago, Sauuders, Otley, *nd Co.. of London, published " A Biography of the Brothers Davenport," by T. L. Niohola, M.D., from which we glean the following particulars : — c I «'lra Erastus Davenport and William Henry Davenport were bom in Buffalo, . State of New York— the former in 1839, and the latter m 1841. Their father descended from early English settlers, and their mother was a native of Kent, England/ During the childhood of the Brothers, but few events occurred worthy of recital About the year 1850, the western part of NewYorkwas greatly excited by accounts of what were called the Kochester Knockings. Mr Davenport was a sturdy nn- - believer in the rappinga ; but was persuaded by the children—lra, aged 15: William rind Elizabeth, 10-to try a fitting ' The result was that they had loud knockW On the third evening they had writing, and, on the fifth, aome extraordinary apectral performances. The next sitting was a ' memorable one. The boys Ira and William, and their sister, were floated in the air, over the heads of a large number of people, who had collected to wtneaa the seance Ifc would be impossible, in a brief article, ,fa> refer to all the wonderful occurrences of this early period of their lives. Hundreds of people flocked to witness the levitations. Morning «s weU .as evening, seances .were then neld, whea the phenomena consisted of the playing of musical instruments, movemeats of various objects without apparent cause, the appearance of hands, and a voice coming out of space, &a On one occasion the brothers were carried, in a ' brief space of time, sixty nules in some inex. phcable manner, by. the same power, which for thirteen years has worked so many marvels. * ; "It was not long after the Davenport Brothers commenced to visit places where &£!!? T^Tt* *?d? d ***» «»» wonders exhibited in their, presence, and to .-which that presence seems to be a neceeaary condi- ' toon, created an intense and wild.excitement breaking out at times into blind"and violent ' opposition and peraecntioa, before tests be. : gan to be required to satisfy people more or * less that, they were not imposed npon -by artful jugglers., They were first held by '< > persons selected from the audience, bnt thu • , process was found to be exhausting to tb« jboys, and rt was then proposed to bind them < wrth ropes. On one occasion they were tied with hnen thread, and thiseealed. and on another they were firafe tied and then en- ' closed in Backs, and the sacks nailed to the floor ; bnt the manifestations occurred as J usual. . ' '•/,•„ ,1,; I < After teir years of strange experiences in f [America, they went, in ,1864, fe> -England, ( accompamedby Mr Fay. Theirfirst eeance : in Hmdon was attended by several gentlemen ; connected with the leading daily ntwspapera, and various distinguished men of science wid ' letters. On, one occasion in London a" seancewas held at the residence of Mir Dion Boucicault, at which Lord Bury, Mr Robert Chambers, and many other distinguished I men, were present, and the proceedings ! were reported by Mr Boucicanlt, At the ' termination of the seance, which waa very successful, Lord Bury suggested that they should assure the Brothers and Mr Fay l that, after a very stringent and strict acru. [ tiny, the gentlemen present could arrive at no other conclusion than that there was no trace of trickery in any form. This suceeetion was promptly acceded to by all present It appears that the Brothers and Professor Fay advance no theory as to how the manifestations take place. They are, it seems familiar with an audible voice, which has been heard by many persons 1 beeides them, selves. They have familiar acquaintance with two or three intelligences, who profess to be human beings in a different stage of existence. The only clue we have as to the beings who produce the phenomena de. scribed is the declarations of the beings themselves. Their testimony is that they are human beings like ourselves. They do ' not say that they are better t'nan we are, or wiser. They say that, by the fact of no longer having bodies composed of the grosser forms of matter, they have certain advan. , feages over us in respect to sight, locomotion. &c. - * '