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{{HPB-SB-header
| volume = 3
| volume = 3
| page =163
| page = 163
| image = SB-03-163.jpg
| image = SB-03-163.jpg
| notes =
| notes =
| item = 2
| item = 2
| type = article
| type = article
| status = wanted
| status = proofread
| continues = 164
| continues = 164
| author =
| author =
| title = Materialization
| title = Materialization
| subtitle =
| subtitle = The Mediumship of Mrs. Compton at Havana, N.Y.—What Appears Under Test Conditions.—The Testimony of Col. Olcott and Others.
| untitled =
| untitled =
| source title =
| source title = Spiritual Scientist
| source details =
| source details = v. 2, No. 5, April 8, 1875, p. 49
| publication date =
| publication date = 1875-04-08
| original date =
| original date =
| notes =
| notes =
}}
}}
...
{{Style S-Small capitals|In}} his interesting work, “People from the Other World,” Col. Olcott gives an account of his investigations into the mediumship of Mrs. Elizabeth J. Compton of Havana, N. Y. Her mediumship for physical phenomena dates from March, 1873, though from a child she seems to have been a spirit seer.
Col. Olcott’s first seance with this medium was on Jan. 30th, 1875, when a youthful, feminine figure, whose weight seemed scarcely more than that of a child of eight years, came forth from the cabinet, clad in a flowing robe of crisp white muslin, ' passed around from one spectator to another, sat upon Col. Olcott’s knee, and kissed him on his left cheek. And here is the marvelous feature of this phenomenon: “By pre-arrange, ment,” says Col. Olcott I passed into the cabinet while the girl was outside, and ''found ho medium there, ''although I not only examined every nook, but the better to assure myself that I was not ''psychologized ''felt the chair, the walls, and all the space about.”
At another setting Col. Olcott weighed the spirit form, and the first weighing made her seventy-seven pounds, the second fifty-nine, and the third, fifty-two. During this sitting Mrs. Compton submitted to the most satisfactory tests. Cot Olcott removed her earrings, and seating her in the chair in the cabinet, fastened her in it by passing some No. 50 sewing thread through the perforations in her ears, and sealing the ends to the back of the chair with sealing wax, stamped with his private signet He then fastened the chair to. the floor with thread and wax in a secure manner.
While the spirit form was outside he entered the cabinet, looking carefully everywhere, and feeling cautiously but thoroughly all about, but, as before, ''finding no vestige of the'' ''medium. ''The chair was there, but no bodily presence sat in it.
And now comes the crowning marvel. After the girl spirit and another, an Indian, who showed himself at the door, disappeared, and the seance was at an end. Col. Olcott went inside the cabinet with a lamp, and found the medium just as he had left her at the beginning of the seance, with every thread unbroken and every seal undisturbed. He cut the threads that bound her, and lifting the chair by its back and seat carried her in an unconscious state into the open air of'' ''the chamber. Here, he put her upon the weighiug scale, and she was found to weigh one hundred and twenty-one pounds.
Among the ''percontras ''to this narrative, we should mention, that previous to Col. Olcott’s visit, Prof. Anthony, of Cornell University, had undertaken to investigate Mrs. Compton's mediumship, and had pronounced her a humbug and a fraud, lie had tried to seize and hold one of the appearing spirits, but it had eluded his grasp, and glided into the cabinet, where the medium was found in her chair and covered with blood. The Professor sets it all down as an imposition, and has written a communication to that effect. But the principal ground for his assumption seems to be that he has heard, ill reports of Mrs. Compton, and believes her to be unchaste. From all that we have learned we are inclined to think the Professor has been hasty in his judgment and that farther inquiry will lead him to unsay what he has said. We have yet to learn that the moral character of a medium has any thing to do with his or her powers as a ''sensitive. ''And moreover, it is emphatically denied that Mrs. Compton is the sort of person the Professor imagines her to be.
Col. Olcott’s testimony in behalf of Mrs. Compton has been very recently confirmed by that of George A. Bacon and Dr H. B. Storer, who on the 15th of March last visited Havana N. Y., and had most satisfactory seances (a report of which appears in the Banner of Light), during which all the marvels recounted by Col. Olcott were fully corroborated. Of the girl spirit it is said: —
“As she emerged a second time and approached one of the committee, Mr. Bacon entered the cabinet, and found nothing but the empty chair. Sufficient time was taken to make thorough search. The floor, the sides, overhead, under and within the chair, were all examined, and there warn nothing bat as here described. Mrs. Compton, whom he had taken sock care to help bind but half an hour before, was missing! Resuming his seat, ‘Katie’ again stepped upon the scales, and weighed just fifty-five pounds, which is thirty-seven pounds less than her previous weight, and sixty-six pounds less than the weight of Mrs. Compton. Again returning to the cabinet and emerging the third time she stepped upon the platform and turned the scale at forty-seven pounds, which it forty-five pounds less than her first weight, and seventy-four less than Mrs. Compton's weight. While being weighed, both of her hands at the same time patted the head of him who was testing her weight; then stepping down, she walked round, sat in his lap and gently kissed him on his forehead. Then it was for the first time he noticed she carried a delicate lace handkerchief in her hand. The texture of her dress was of the softest cashmere. During each of these visits from the cabinet, she approached several members of the circle, gently {{Style S-HPB SB. Continues on |3-164}}
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<gallery widths=300px heights=300px>
<gallery widths=300px heights=300px>
spiritual_scientist_v.04_n.14_1876-06-08.pdf|page=5|Spiritual Scientist, v. 4, No. 14, June 8, 1876, p.161
spiritual_scientist_v.04_n.14_1876-06-08.pdf|page=5|Spiritual Scientist, v. 4, No. 14, June 8, 1876, p.161
spiritual_scientist_v.02_n.05_1875-04-08.pdf|page=1|Spiritual Scientist, v. 2, No. 5, April 8, 1875, p. 49
</gallery>
</gallery>