Changes

  | previous    = Zirkoff B. - A Card from the Countess Blavatsky

  | previous    = Zirkoff B. - A Card from the Countess Blavatsky

  | next        = Blavatsky H.P. - Important Note

  | next        = Blavatsky H.P. - Important Note

  | alternatives = [http://www.katinkahesselink.net/blavatsky/articles/v1/y1875_004.htm KHL]

  | alternatives = [http://www.katinkahesselink.net/blavatsky/articles/v1/y1875_004.htm KH]; [https://universaltheosophy.com/hpb/the-philadelphia-fiasco-or-who-is-who/ UT]

  | translations = [https://ru.teopedia.org/lib/Блаватская_Е.П._-_Филадельфийское_«фиаско»,_или_кто_есть_кто%3F Russian]

  | translations = [https://ru.teopedia.org/lib/Блаватская_Е.П._-_Филадельфийское_«фиаско»,_или_кто_есть_кто%3F Russian]

}}

}}

I deny the right of any man or woman to wrench from our hands all possible means of finding out the truth. I deny the right of any editor of a daily newspaper to accuse and publish accusations, refusing at the same time to hear one word of justification from the defendants, and so, instead of helping people to clear up the matter, leaving them more than ever to grope their way in the dark.

I deny the right of any man or woman to wrench from our hands all possible means of finding out the truth. I deny the right of any editor of a daily newspaper to accuse and publish accusations, refusing at the same time to hear one word of justification from the defendants, and so, instead of helping people to clear up the matter, leaving them more than ever to grope their way in the dark.

The biography of “Katie King” has come out at last; a sworn certificate, if you please, equally endorsed (under oath?) by Dr. Child, <ref>{{HPB-CW-comment|[In her Scrapbook, Vol. I, p. 19, where the cutting of this article is pasted, H.P.B. added the following remark in pen and ink:

The biography of “Katie King” has come out at last; a sworn certificate, if you please, equally endorsed (under oath?) by Dr. Child, <ref>{{HPB-CW-comment|[In her {{SB-page|v=1|p=19|text=Scrapbook, Vol. I, p. 19}}, where the cutting of this article is pasted, H.P.B. added the following remark in pen and ink:

Child was a confederate. He took money . . . . . 1mes’ séance. He is a ra . . .l.

Child was a confederate. He took money . . . . . 1mes’ séance. He is a ra . . .l.

The last word may be rascal.—Compiler.]}}</ref> who throughout the whole of this “burlesque” epilogue has ever appeared in it, like some inevitable deus ex machina. The whole of this made-up elegy (by whom? evidently not by Mrs. White) is redolent with the perfume of erring innocence, of Magdalene-like tales of woe and sorrow, and tardy repentance and the like, giving us the abnormal idea of a pickpocket in the act of robbing our soul of its most precious, thrilling sensations; the carefully-prepared explanations on some points that appear now and then as so many stumbling-blocks in the way of a seemingly fair exposé, do not preclude, nevertheless, through the whole of it, the possibility of doubt, for many awkward semblances of truth, partly taken from the confessions of that fallen angel, Mrs. White, and partly—most of them we should say—copied from the private notebook of her “amanuensis,” give you a fair idea of the veracity of this sworn certificate. For instance, according {{Page aside|59}} to her own statement and the evidence furnished by the habitués of the Holmeses, Mrs. White having never been present at any of the dark circles (her alleged acting as Katie King excluding all possibility, on her part, of such a public exhibition of flesh and bones), how comes she to know so well, in every particular, about the tricks of the mediums, the programme of their performances, etc.? Then, again, Mrs. White, who remembers so well—by rote we may say every word exchanged between Katie King and Mr. Owen, the spirit and Dr. Child, has evidently forgotten all that was ever said by her in her bogus personation to Dr. Fellger; <ref>{{HPB-CW-comment|[A well-known and highly respected Philadelphia physician—Dr. Adolphus Fellger.—Compiler.]}}</ref> she does not even remember a very important secret communicated by her to the latter gentleman! What an extraordinary combination of memory and absence of mind at the same time! May not a certain memorandum book, with its carefully noted contents, account for it, perhaps? The document is signed, under oath, with the name of a non-existing spirit, Katie King. . . . Very clever!

The last word may be rascal.—Compiler.]}}</ref> who throughout the whole of this “burlesque” epilogue has ever appeared in it, like some inevitable deus ex machina. The whole of this made-up elegy (by whom? evidently not by Mrs. White) is redolent with the perfume of erring innocence, of Magdalene-like tales of woe and sorrow, and tardy repentance and the like, giving us the abnormal idea of a pickpocket in the act of robbing our soul of its most precious, thrilling sensations; the carefully-prepared explanations on some points that appear now and then as so many stumbling-blocks in the way of a seemingly fair exposé, do not preclude, nevertheless, through the whole of it, the possibility of doubt, for many awkward semblances of truth, partly taken from the confessions of that fallen angel, Mrs. White, and partly—most of them we should say—copied from the private notebook of her “amanuensis,” give you a fair idea of the veracity of this sworn certificate. For instance, according {{Page aside|59}} to her own statement and the evidence furnished by the habitués of the Holmeses, Mrs. White having never been present at any of the dark circles (her alleged acting as Katie King excluding all possibility, on her part, of such a public exhibition of flesh and bones), how comes she to know so well, in every particular, about the tricks of the mediums, the programme of their performances, etc.? Then, again, Mrs. White, who remembers so well—by rote we may say every word exchanged between Katie King and Mr. Owen, the spirit and Dr. Child, has evidently forgotten all that was ever said by her in her bogus personation to Dr. Fellger; <ref>{{HPB-CW-comment|[A well-known and highly respected Philadelphia physician—Dr. Adolphus Fellger.—Compiler.]}}</ref> she does not even remember a very important secret communicated by her to the latter gentleman! What an extraordinary combination of memory and absence of mind at the same time! May not a certain memorandum book, with its carefully noted contents, account for it, perhaps? The document is signed, under oath, with the name of a non-existing spirit, Katie King. . . . Very clever!

{{HPB-CW-separator}}

{{HPB-CW-separator}}

{{HPB-CW-comment|[In H.P.B.’s Scrapbook, Vol. I, p. 21, there is pasted a short printed announcement concerning the visit of Col. H. S. Olcott to Boston. H.P.B. added to it in her handwriting, the date of January 20, 1875.}}

{{HPB-CW-comment|[In H.P.B.’s {{SB-page|v=1|p=21|text=Scrapbook, Vol. I, p. 21}}, there is pasted a short printed announcement concerning the visit of Col. H. S. Olcott to Boston. H.P.B. added to it in her handwriting, the date of January 20, 1875.}}

{{HPB-CW-comment|To the sentence which states that “Dr. Gardiner announced that Col. Olcott’s subjects next Sunday would be ‘Human and Elementary Spirits’ in the afternoon, and in the evening ‘Ancient Magic and Modern Spiritualism.’” H.P.B. added in pen and ink the following remarks:]}}

{{HPB-CW-comment|To the sentence which states that “Dr. Gardiner announced that Col. Olcott’s subjects next Sunday would be ‘Human and Elementary Spirits’ in the afternoon, and in the evening ‘Ancient Magic and Modern Spiritualism.’” H.P.B. added in pen and ink the following remarks:]}}

{{HPB-CW-separator}}

{{HPB-CW-separator}}

{{HPB-CW-comment|[In H.P.B.’s Scrapbook, Vol. I, between pages 20 and 21, may be found the manuscript of the following “Important Note” in H.P.B.’s own handwriting. It is undated, but its last paragraph places it as being prior to the formation of The Theosophical Society. The accompanying illustration reproduces this “Note” just as it appears on two small separate sheets of paper in H.P.B.’s Scrapbook.}}

{{HPB-CW-comment|[In H.P.B.’s {{SB-page|v=1|p=20|text=Scrapbook, Vol. I, between pages 20 and 21}}, may be found the manuscript of the following “Important Note” in H.P.B.’s own handwriting. It is undated, but its last paragraph places it as being prior to the formation of The Theosophical Society. The accompanying illustration reproduces this “Note” just as it appears on two small separate sheets of paper in H.P.B.’s Scrapbook.}}

{{HPB-CW-comment|Her words show better than anything else the pathos of her situation, and the complex psychological and spiritual difficulties she was working under even at that early period in the history of the Movement. On what specific purpose she was sent to America is stated here beyond any doubt.]}}

{{HPB-CW-comment|Her words show better than anything else the pathos of her situation, and the complex psychological and spiritual difficulties she was working under even at that early period in the history of the Movement. On what specific purpose she was sent to America is stated here beyond any doubt.]}}

{{Footnotes}}

{{Footnotes}}