HPB-SB-1-190

T i

vol. 1, p. 190

H. P. Blavatsky Scrapbooks

from Adyar archives of the International Theosophical Society

vol. 1 (1874-1876)

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Another Exposure of Mrs. Hardy

The Herald of Wednesday has an article headed “Cleverly Caught, Mrs. Hardy joins the Spiritualistic Imposters." It is a record of a seance held Sunday evening. It seems that Mrs. Hardy did not like the insinuations of the Scientist of last week, to the effect that she returned to her trance seances tor fear of an exposure of her powers of materialization. Consequently she gave out a flaming announcement that a seance for moulds and materializations would be held. The Herald was represented by several of its staff and a few other persons attended for the purpose of investigation. The table, pail, etc. was arranged and the moulds obtained as usual.

The evidence of fraud is in the form of an affidavit published herewith, and the main facts of the report are contained therein: —

I, W. Irving Bishop of New York, on oath depose and say, that Sunday evening. Oct. 29, 1876, I was present at a seance held by Mrs. Hardy, 4 Concord square, for the production of moulds and materialization of spirit hands. A paraffine form of a hand was produced, which Mrs. Hardy alleged was made hat the spirits, from the contents of a pail of melted paraffine placed under the table. And I here state that coloring matter had been placed in the said paraffine, and that I took a piece of the hand produced, and also, by dipping my finger into the heated paraffine, obtained an impression of the contents of said pail for the purposes of comparison.

That, subsequently, I submitted both pieces to Professor Horsford of Cambridge, who placed a portion of each in test tubes, and, by the application of proper chemicals, found that the paraffine taken from the pail, exhibited a slight reddish color, while that from the mould gave no appearance of the existence of coloring matters.

W. Irving Bishop,

98 Fifth Avenue, New York.

Suffolk, s.s.

Sworn and subscribed to this 31st day of October, 1876.

Charles J. Brooks, Justice of Peace.

The Slade Controversy

Latest news from London in Dr. Slade's case is by a cable dispatch of Tuesday, October 31, by which we learn that he was acquitted on the conspiracy charge, but convicted under the vagrant act in the Bow street Police Court, and sentenced to three months' hard labor. His counsel gave notice of an appeal. Meanwhile Dr. Slade was released on bail.

The summons of Dr. Slade and Mr. Simmons under one charge read “for that they, on or about Sept. 11, did unlawfully conspire and combine together, by divers false pretences and subtle means and devices, to obtain and acquire to themselves, and of and from E. Ray Lankester, and others, divers sums of money, and to cheat and defraud the before mentioned persons.” That he should have been acquitted on this shows that Lankester and the prosecution failed to prove what they desired.

The vagrant act is very broad in its application. It provides among orher things that any one pretending to tell fortunes or using subtle and crafty means to obtain a living, shall be deemed guilty of having committed an offence. It is under this act that Dr. Slade is convicted.

Another One Caught

this time mrs. huntoon, of the eddy family.—spiritualists make the exposure.

The following article appeared in the Sunday Herald. Mr. and Mrs. Flint, at whose house the seance was held, are subscribers to the Scientist and known to us personally. We believe them to be careful investigators, and honest in their statements. Their experience confirms that of a trusted correspondent of the Scientist, who, many months ago, in company with Dr. Slade, visited Mrs. Huntoon at Chittenden. Vt. He was unable to get any evidence in her favor. She refused to have any tests applied, even though she was offered one hundred dollars fer two seances. His experience with the Eddy Brothers met with the same results, and Mrs. Markee-Compton of Havana was the only one who would or could give any satisfactory manifestations.

The Herald account says; —

The exposure of mediums is becoming so frequent of late that the question, “Who will be next?" is scarcely asked before it is followed by the report that another has fallen. This time it is Mrs. Huntoon, of “Eddy family” fame. For some days past, Mrs. Huntoon has been delighting the faithful in Worcester and vicinity by those manifestations so often described as beyond the possibility of human production Could it be feared that the spirits would fail her here in the equally aristocratic town of Webster.

“Alas! for human expectations, when dependent upon the invisibles!” She was invited to this town and gave her first seance here on Tuesday evening. As “to the pure all things are pure,” so to the believers all things are true.

People saw or believed they saw, the spirit hands and faces of their departed friends, and were assured of the presence of their loved ones. There were, however, some who believed they took the medium's hand instead of that of a departed relative, as was claimed. Without giving expression to this belief, however, the medium and the assistants were invited to the house of Mr. and Mrs. John Flint, persons well known in this town and vicinity, through their intimate business relations with all classes of the people during the past fourteen years.

She consented to go there last evening and “the circle” was arranged accordingly. Among the prominent persons present were Courtland Wood, lawyer; Clinton W. Davis, John Heatherington, Dr. E. G. Burnett, Mr. and Mrs. Hines, Mr. and Mrs. Butler Bates, Isaac Regan, Mrs. John Haven, Mrs. Susan Wood, Delia Wood, George O. Davis, Sanford Fisk, and others.

At about 7.30 o'clock the circle was arranged, the lights were turned low, and the invisibles soon manifested their presence. at first faintly and with interruption, but as “conditions” improved by some re arrangement of the parties present, here was a marked change in the degrees of their power and daring. At length the curtain was thrown out at one aide, and some of us could see a low. bending figure, with apparently a night-capped head, seeking recognition. It was however, shy of the light, which it was found necessary to diminish considerably. Hands were now presented at the orifice in the curtain, faces appeared behind it and at length an old lady, professing to be the mother of Mrs. Flint, desired recognition. Mrs. Flint approached the curtain, when the delicate fluttering hand of the spirit could be teen in eager effort to grasp her daughter's hand, which, of course, continued by its earthly magnetism to repel the etherial form, causing it to dance before her, but to elude the grasp it professed to seek.

With the question. “It this my dear mother?” to which was replied in a hoarse and broken whisper, “yes I am your mother.” Mrs. Flint succeeded in arresting the attention of the supposed spirit, and at that instant seized and held the proffered hand.

Instantly Lawyer Wood turned on the gas, which had been left burning for that purpose, revealing to the audience Mrs. Huntoon secure in the hands of her captor, but endeavoring to sink upon the door. Both Mr. Davis and Mr. Flint rushed to the rescue. Mr. Flint raised her, and succeeded in setting her on her feet, but while he was still endeavoring to support her, and in the face of the entire audience, in the full light of I the gas, she threw herself from his support, with the exclama(* turn this over)tion, “There, you've broke both my arms!” and fell nearly prostrate upon the floor. No sooner was she again raised, than she declared that Mrs. Flint had never touched her hand until she broke into the cabinet, and dragged her from her seat.

Did she know, or did she not know, that every movement had been distinctly visible to that audience from the moment the light was tuned on, while the same form in the hands of Mrs. Flint had been visible from the instant she was seized? Such, however was the fact. With the same reckless disregard for truth and of the actual knowledge of the twenty to twenty-five witnesses of the occurrence, she declared that Mrs. Flint bad thrown her on the floor, when she fell or threw herself from Mr. Flint’s arms.

A more stupid attempt at fraud cannot well be imagined, and if Mrs. Huntoon is a fair representative of Spiritual mediums, the nation that can boast its bundled thousand believers in the spiritual origin of such infamous folly and falsehood, should itself go into an asylum for the demented.

The Slade Prosecution

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Mrs. Huntoon's Expose

To the Editor of the Spiritual Scientist;

Dear Sir, —Well you premit me to correct a small, but perhaps serious mistake which I find in your remarks relative to Mrs. Huntoon’s expose at my house on the evening of Oct. 25th? You say “Spiritualists make the expose.” Now, we are not Spiritualists either by name, practice, or profession, therefore, in justice to the Spiritualists as a body, I feel compelled to make this correction, for they do not count upon us nor extend the band of fellowship to us in any form whatever save when they want to raise funds or get board and lodgings. True, we attend Spiritual gatherings sometimes, but we have learned to keep quite of late I having been hooted and objected to as unfit to take part in a public meeting of our towns people on account of my Atheistic views of life and death. There were Orthodox Christians of various shades in this meeting that I refer to, and none of them saw fit to criticize my honesty on acconnt of my belief; but a Spiritualist did and that one stands now at the head of the line of Spiritualists here in Webster, Mass. Here let me tell you this same zealot stands firm by Mrs. Huntoon, and every bit of her performances. Twenty years ago we had a small opportunity to investigate Spiritualism. We considered it an element worthy of our best judgment, and something that richly deserves honest and open day light investigation. Soon tricks, miracles, and speculations gained mastry over the whole phenomena, and the general public was left to question and enlighten one another providing, that we kept all doubts to ourselves sod accepted the money makers' assertions whenever we asked for personal investigation. Any of us who rebelled against this narrow guage law were set down as skeptics and just as good as damned to commence with; Do any doubt this; I ask them to turn back over few numbers of the Banner of Light sod the Boston Investigator, and read hew from time to time the mould seances were advertized by Dr. Gardner under crucial test conditions. Did the public know anything about these conditions? If my memory serves me they were not allowed to ask a single question in reference to the matter, “Pay me your money for this show and swallow whatever you get,” was the head and front of the investigating part of it. The question now is did Dr. Gardner know whether he had applied crucial tests to the moulds before he advertized them? The public has his advertisements that he knew that the mould could not be otherwise than Spiritually begotten; and a certain clique in Boston are very piously passing Dr. Gardner's doubts from one to another. Well if the skeptics had never thought whether the moulds were of a human or Spiritual origin it would be much more pleasant for your Boston gamesters. But did Christianit ever begin to present us with such muddled conditions andy wrangling disputes? No, we are not Spiritualists, neither did the Spiritualists make any attempt to question Mrs. Huntoon’s truthfulness. That she came well recommended was all sufficient.

Yours, driven to the walls of Atheism,

Margaret Flint.

Inlay

SB, v. 1, p. 190, inlay

The Spiritus Mundi and Its O... in Nature–No I

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SB, v. 1, p. 190, inlay, back

...it Predictions

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Editor's notes

Sources

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  Spiritual Scientist, v. 5, No. 9, November 2, 1876, p. 103

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  Spiritual Scientist, v. 5, No. 9, November 2, 1876, p. 103

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  Spiritual Scientist, v. 5, No. 9, November 2, 1876, pp. 105-6

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  Spiritual Scientist, v. 5, No. 10, November 9, 1876, pp. 110-1