Untitled

Otago Witness, Volume 01, Issue 2123, 1 November 1894, Page 25

SPIRITUALISM IN SYDNEY.

EXPOSURE OP A MEDIUM. THH MEDIUM FAINTS. The following account of the exposure of a spiritualistic medinm has been written by a representative of the Sunday Times, Bydney :—: — Ii will be remembered that my last report upon the subject of "Psychical Mystery" was a record of a materialisation »dance held at Dr MacCartby's residence, at which Mrs Besant was among the sitters, and a number of extraordinary manifestations were witnessed, as attested by the Eev. George Walters in a letter which appeared at the foot of the report. I then stated that during my investigation up to that point I had been unable to discover any evidence of fraud, and pointed out thai at all events the character of those attending the ?6ances placed them beyond suspicion of knowingly allowing themselves to be duped or dope each other. It was recognised, however, ihat no satisfactory result could be arrived at without holding a test te'iDce undsr Btringont conditions. It must be borne in mind that the beineea h*d beea held at a, private residence, and that I was bound to conform to certain condition! imposed upon all Bitters, suoh as not touching the forms or leaving their places in the circle without paraiissien. Had these been violated it would of course have resulted in losing all further [ chance of pursuing the investigation. In pur- ! euance, howover, of a determination to follow i up the matter to a definite conclusion, I gladly accepted an invitation, in company with another representative of the Sunday Times, to witness a materialisation seance to be held on Friday evening, the 12th inst., at the residence of the. medium whose name has been mentioned in Waverley road, Woollahra. The room in which the seance took place was one of a suite of two connected by folding doors, these being left fully open, thus practically constituting one room, although the company, with one exception, were tested in that in which the "cabinet" win placed, and which consisted, as usual, of a pair of curtains suspended from a rod across one corner. Nearly a score of persona were present In addition to the medium, and including Mr and Mrs A. G. D. Edwards, of Darling Point, Mr and Mrs Wilson, from Melbourne, five other ladies, Messrs J. B. Mellon, T. S. Hanry. 0. L. Wallis, Hetherington, Rumble, Jouberfc, and two representatives of the Sunday Times. The company were seated in two rows.^ these in front forming a semi-circle extending aoross the room, and the other* in the rear across the room, the position of each sitter being indicated by Mrg Mellon. The medium then entered the cabinet, and the gag was extinguished in the room ocoupied by the sitters and turned low In the other room, Mr Mellon taking the seat nearest the gasalier for the purpose of BEGTJLATINa THE LIGHT. A musical-box was then set goiDg, and after playing steadily several aira and showing no apparent intention of leaving off, Mrs Mellon asked from the cabinet that it should be stopped, which was done, and some singing was commenced. The light at this stage was guffioient to dimly distinguish the sitters and most of the objects in the room, and after the singing had proceeded for a few minutes a form was seen against the background of the curtains forming the cabinet. " Welcome, friend," said several of the prominent spiritualistic visitors. The figure bowed. It was tall, and apparently enveloped in white, but the features were not discernible, and some speculation teok place among the sitters as to the sex of the visitant, but it was suggested that the question should be asked whom it had come for. The names of several persons were oalled, and at that of a lady from Melbourne the figure bowed. It then retired for an instant behind the curtain, but immediately reappeared, and it repeated this movement several times, at no time coming away from the cabinet. During its temporary retirement Mrs Mellon called out from the cabinet, "It is a black man ; it has a black face and feet." This circumstance had not been apparent to me, as whether owing to the imperfect light or otherwise, only the outline and the white drapery were visible, and I could not distinguish the colour of his face. In a little while j thi6 figure ceased to appear, but after a brief interval another form of mnoh shorter stature emerged from the cabinet, having the appearance of A LITTLE OLD LABY, and wearing over the white drapery what looked like a small black cap. Someone inquired, "Ir that Mrs M'Taggart?" in response to which the figure bowed assent. Here quite an affecting scene took place, a lady present exclaiming in pathetic accents, "Oh, darling, darling Elsie," and then aaked permission to kis» the form, Aa aseont bein^ faun* the ladj _ stopped

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forward, and apparently did bo wife! evident emotion. This figure having retired; Mr Rumble appealed to such of the Bitten as might recognise relations to restrain them* selves aa much as possible, as a display of eino* tion tended to weaken the forms. In a verj few minute? another white appearance wai Been in front of the curtain, which gradually took the form of a woman, and was recog« nised by the regular habitues of the circle as "Josephine." She was draped in a loose white robe, but; her face was only faintly distinguishable, and there was less of the long flowing hair which has characterised previous alleged materialisation of this form ; but the bare arm» were plainly visiblo. After some hesitation "Josephine" ad» vanced towards the centre of the room, anO Mr Bumble handed her a bsuquet at' flowers, which she took and raised to her facet He then handed her a pair of scissors, and asked her to cut the string binding them, whtob she apparently attempted to do, but failed. She stood for a short time about midway between the cabinet and the opposite side of room and in front of a white lace window curtain at the end of the? room. This whita background to the white figure prevented some of the sitter* from properly distinguishing the form, and at their request she drew aside the curtain, which was secured out of the line of sight by Mr Ramble; It was then suggested that she should dematcriftlise in front of the cabinet, and almost immediately the form began apparently to sink downwards, ultimately vanishing from view on the floor near the cabinet. After another brief interval the small form known as " Cissie," was seen i» front of the cabinet. The whole figure, excepting the little blaok face, was enveloped in white drapery, and she came forward with a brisk, confident! movement, kissing her hands to the sitters. She w&s handed » box of chocolate cream* hy someone, and commenced rattling them. Sever ral of the sitters asked her to shake hands or give them some chocolates, when all at once Mr Heury, who was sitting in one of the front seats, moved forward. lat first; thought that he was merely attempting to shake hands with •« Cisftie," but suddenly I heard a cry like " Oh . repeated two or three times, and then a sound as df a struggle. Several of the sitters left their seats, and asked what was the matter. I heard Mf Henry ask for a light. Then Mr Mellon asked if he should turn up the gas. Some one replied. "No." AND THEN THE GAS WENT BIGHT OUT. Mr Henry then again called out " Strike & light," upon which several matches' were sfcruok, and the gas was eventually lighted. I then noticed that Mrs Mellon was still held by Mr Henry, and that on the floor was a fancy slipper and some other small articles, including something like a piece of black silk, but they were removed by someone teo quickly for me to see what they were. Before a lighb was obtained I one of the ladies said, "Mr Mellon, protect I your wife," and Mr Mellon went forward and caught hold of Henry amidst a scene of general confusion. In the meantime Mr R-jydhouse had gone to the cabinet, aad in reply to Mr Henry stated that ha had sccu a black mask and false whiskers, and had hold of the latter. A pair of lady's stockings were also pointed oat on a side table. The whole scene occurred in much lew time tban it takes to describe, but it was terminated by Mrs Mellon retiring into the cabinet. A general discussion then took place, during YibAch vaxiouß statements were made by Mrs Mellon's friends in explanation of the occurrence from a spiritualistic point of view, and Mr Mellon undertook that the TEST SEANCK so long contemplated should be held under strict conditions within the next few days, such conditions to be fixed by the Sunday Times representative. It was agreed that it should take place at the Sunday Times office on Wednesday, the 17th. inst., at which it waft I understood that all present on Friday would be at liberty to attend. As a result of correspondence between the representative of the Sunday Times and Mr Mellon, acting on behalf of Mra Mellon, the following conditions for the test seance were agreed to .—l. That the medium should permit herself to be searched immediately prior to the gdance by two lady sßarchersr, ore of whom is to be nominated byMr Mellon and the other by the editor of the Sunday Times. S. That the medium should be placed in a wire-netting cage, the door of which. i should be locked and sealed, 3. That should ft | materialised form appear, two persons, to b» named at tho sdsnee, should encircle it by joining hands whilst it was dematerialised. 4. That the spirit form should be requested to draw * ourtain in front of the cage showing the medium, or in the event of the form being unable to do so that the curtain should be drawn by means of cords retained in the hands of two of the sitters. 5. That no light should bo displayed except by the person in charge of the gas during" the appearance of any form, bub that there should be sufficient light when the curtains were withdrawn to plainly see the medium in the cage. In accordance with the above conditions the proprietors of the Sunday Times had A CAGE SPECIALLY CONSTRUCTED, about 3ft square and 6ft in height, made of timber and wire netting, fibbed with a door, a patent padlock, and two wooden buttons. This cage was placed in a corner of the'room chosen, for the seance, and in front of it was hung a pair of heavy curtains, to be manipulated by cords. The gas jet on the opposite side of the. room wa« fitted with an orange-tinted shade, that being the colour of light said to be moaft favourable to the development of the phenomena. At 8 o'clock the following ladies and gentlemen were present :— Messrs J. B. Mellon, v Rumble, Joubert, A. G. Edwards, Hetbermgton, T. S. Henry, C. L. Wallis, H. M. Evans, Patterson, Zalmer, Roydhouse, llidger, Vt* M'Carthy and Pickburn, Mrs Edwards, Mrs Gale, Mrs Smith (New Zealand), Mrs Eves, Miss Elveraton, and Miss St. Hill. The medium having submitted herself to a thorough search, and the ladies appointed to discharge that duty having reported that she had no properties of any description upon her person, she entered the cage and seated herself in a chair placed therein. The position of the sitters was settled by mutual arrangement. Dt M'Carthy and Mr Patterson were appointed to encircle the figure should one appear, and Mr Mellon was given control of the light. The door of the cage was looked and sealed in several places, and the key was given to Mr H. M. Evans. The curtains were drawn in front of the oage, the gas was turned down, and the company commenced to sing, Dr M'Carthy accompanying on his auto-harp. After several airs had been sung Mrs Mellon called from the cage that the lighb was boo strong, aud it was therefore turned very low. The singing was then resumed, and soon afterwards three smart raps were heard. Questions were asked as to whether the light was too high or too low, botu of which were answered in the n*t™7*Resort was then had to the alphabet, and ttte letters »Q" and »U " spelled out. In reply to an inauirr if tf* word were. _•' Quick,

Affirmative raps were given, and at first it was thought that It referred to the music, but someone asked if it meant the medium, when the rapping again indicated an affirmative. Dr M'Carthy at once drew aside the curtain and bad the fight turned up, when the medium was seen in an apparently prostrate condition. The door was at once opened andDrs M'Carthy and Fickburn went into the cabinet and reported that

MRS MELLON HAD FAINTED. She was taken out and restoratives were applied, bat it was very evident that her condition precluded the possibility of a continuance 'cf the glance that evening, and the room wm speedily vacated by all but the invalid and those in attendance upon her. After some time Mrs Mellon revived, and was able to be taken home in a cab. The following is a copy of the certificate given by the medical gentleman in attendance : — "We certify that when oalled on in the course of a sitting at the Sunday Times office to-night, to examine Mrs Mellon, we found her with symptoms of collapse. She was almost pulseless, was bleeding from the mouth, semiconvulsed, and apparently quite insensible. — Signed, T. Pickbubk, M.D., and 0. W. M'Cabthv, M.D., October 17, 1894." Of coarse, it was very disappointing to all present, after the elaborate preparations that had been made, that the seance should have come to such an unsatisfactory termination, but it was stated by Dr M 'Cm thy that Mrs Mellon had been suffering from nervous prostration for some days, and that he had given a certificate to that effect on the 15th inst., but that Mr Mellon had persisted in going on with the experiment, Mr and Mrs Mellon still express their determination to carry through a test se'anoe under conditions similar to those observed on Wednesday last as soon as Mrs Mellon has sufficiently regained her health. The interest felt in the result of these dances in spiritualistic circles Id Sydney is very great, ijpTci&llj the attitude of Dr M'Cartby, who Sedates that he has been investigating the •abject from a scientific standpoint. He declares positively that he is not a tneosophist, though lie believes that there is snoh a thing v psychic force. He believes that Mrs Mellon will oe able yet to prove her position. At the same time he admits that with regard to Friday's exposure, at which he was present, there is much which requires elucidation. siaa mbllon's explanation

is that the first manifestation was that of a man about 6ft high, about whose identity she asked from the cabinet, and, failing to get a satisfactory reply, she said that he was a black man, as his feet and hands were black. Then there appeared the figure of Josephine, who, as stated, was dem&terialised in the presence of the litters. After her came the black girl Cissie, and while the latter was responding to an appeal by Mr Henry to give him tome chocolate he seized the materialised form. Mr? Mellon states that she then fell from the chair in the cabinet, that those in the room heard her and thought she had fainted, bnt she state that she seemed to shoot into the fora of Cfcsie, the consequence being that Mr Henry, instead of catching Oissie, held her by the arm. When the matches were struck the drapery on fear shoulder* was dissipated in the atmosphere. 'She trap subsequently released, when the retired into the camnet, where two ladies followed her, and saw that her legs had become so thin that she wag unable to support herself en them. It is alleged In the '.later stage of the explanation given by Cisite that most of her power is Oerlved from her lower extremities, henoe their jfchinaees.