Preliminary Report of the Commission Appointed by the University of Pennsylvania Part 14

The inquiry was then addressed to Dr. Slade, 'Do you know a man named Guernella who, with his wife, gave seances?' 'Yes,' he replied, 'I know him very well.' 'Well, how does he perform his wonderful exploits in rappings, etc.?' 'He is a Medium, a powerful Medium. I know him very well indeed. I can a.s.sure you that all that he does is done solely by means of his Mediumistic powers.'

I now state to the Committee that the Guernellas exhibited in Philadelphia some years ago as exposers of Spiritualism. They did not expose it, but they performed experiments which, prior to that time, were said to have been accomplished by the aid of Spirits. Guernella himself, at my house, in my presence, in broad daylight, performed all the feats and exhibited the phenomena that were produced at the dark and other seances, and he repeated them until I myself became as expert as he in performing them; for which I paid him a consideration. So much for the Mediumistic power.

(Resuming, from notes):

Before the close of this last seance, a letter was read to Dr. Slade by Mr. Furness, to which the Medium was requested to make reply at his convenience; the object was to preserve evidence of the fact that the Medium had stated that all the seances must be held under his conditions--that if the Committee deviated in the slightest degree from the conditions imposed by him (Dr. Slade) he would 'pack up his traps and clear out.' [The letter and reply will be found annexed to this Record.]

At the end of this seance, the sum agreed upon, three hundred dollars, was paid to the Medium in three one-hundred-dollar bills. He was asked to sign a receipt for that amount, but his nervousness was such as to make this a task of some difficulty. He made many attempts to grasp the pen presented to him, but his hand shrank from it. At last, by a violent effort, and conquering the emotions that overcame him, the Medium grasped the pen and wrote the receipt. The extreme trepidation of Dr.

Slade was possibly due to the unexpected displacement of two covered slates which he had left standing on the floor, resting against the leg of the small table at his back, and which Mr. Furness had overturned with his foot, the result being that at least two of the members of the Committee were apprised, by the quant.i.ty of writing on one of the slates, that it was ready for immediate use.

Mr. Sellers (aside): I saw the writing on the slates. It had manifestly been prepared for use by the Medium, and up to the moment of its discovery had been carefully kept completely covered.

Mr. Furness here read to the Committee the following:

Before Dr. Slade came to Philadelphia to meet this Commission, I was told by a valued Correspondent, an eminent Spiritualist, that much of Dr. Slade's success in Spiritual manifestations would depend on the way in which he was treated, and that he should be met in a cordial, friendly spirit. As this was but natural, and as Dr. Slade's life has been pa.s.sed among extraordinary scenes the world over, which makes him an entertaining companion, it gave me pleasure to extend to him what little courtesies lay in my power, asking him to dine with me during his visit, and to spend the evenings at my house, if the time hung heavy on his hands at his hotel. He dined with me several times, and I consequently saw more of him than did the other Commissioners. I told him more than once that, as a Commissioner, I should watch him with lynx eyes, and he always gave a laughing a.s.sent. I furthermore never concealed from him that he had, by no means, converted me to Spiritualism. [I last saw him in Boston, when, as I was pa.s.sing along Shawmut Avenue, I caught sight of him at a window; he eagerly beckoned me to come in, and, as I settled myself in a chair, I said to him, 'Well, and how are the old Spirits coming on?' Whereupon he laughed and replied, 'Oh, pshaw! you never believed in them, did you?'--April, 1887.]

I had several seances with him in afternoons after the seances with the Commission, when I was accompanied by my mother, my sister, and by several friends; of course, only by one or two others at a time.

It would be superfluous to rehea.r.s.e here at length what Mr. Sellers has set before you much better than I can, the steps to the conclusion to which we all arrived: that the long messages were written beforehand.

The difference between them and the short answers to questions asked at the seance, in the character of the handwriting, is too manifest and too obtrusively patent to be disregarded. In the long message from 'William Clark' on the slate which we have preserved and had photographed, 'Paul's injunction' is carefully included within quotation marks. The short answers to questions were scarcely legible, and at times could be deciphered only by help of the Medium himself. (This illegible handwriting is not without its use; it engrosses the attention of the sitters.)

It follows, therefore, that, if prepared slates are to be used, they must be adroitly subst.i.tuted for others, which the sitters know to be clean. The question is thus narrowed to one of pure legerdemain, and the Medium must necessarily have several slates at hand.

When two slates only are used, the prepared slate is usually lying on the table when the sitters take their seats. No attention is called to it, and some little time is taken in conversation, and in the spasmodic jerking caused by 'electric currents'; in a few minutes the slate pencil is placed on the slate; no offer is made of showing both sides, which would be quite needless, since the side which is exposed is perfectly clean, and it is on that side which the Spirits are expected to write; the slate is kept almost constantly and wholly in full view and but very slightly inserted beneath the table. After an interval of waiting, during which, by constantly looking at the slate as though impatient for the writing to begin, whereby his sitters become accustomed to the appearance and disappearance of the slate, the Medium reaches for a second slate, ostentatiously washes both sides, lays it on the table, removes the pencil from the first slate to the second, and places over it the first slate with its prepared message, face downward, and the trick is done. The two slates are held for a minute under the table, and are then held to the ear or on the shoulder of the sitter on the Medium's right hand--never to any other sitter, since to do so would reveal the scratching of the Medium's finger-nail on the rim of the slate, whereby the writing of the pencil within the slates is counterfeited. I have distinctly, three or four times, watched the motion of the Medium's finger while thus scratching; as I sat facing the window the fingers which held the slate and made the fict.i.tious writing were sharply outlined against the light. And here let me say that he who sits on the Medium's left hand, the side to which he turns almost his full back, has the best position for observation. He told me many times that he did not like to have three sitters, but much preferred only two; at the third side, when unoccupied, wonderful manifestations occur, such as a chair's elevation, or being thrown down, or the appearance of the unsupported slate, etc. These manifestations are executed by the Medium's foot, and lest its motions under the table should be detected, the longitudinal cracks where the two table-leaves join, were carefully stuffed with paper, although, to be sure, he once explained to me the presence of this paper as necessary to keep 'the electricity from flowing through.'

Although Dr. Slade had agreed verbally in New York that the last seance of the series should be in the presence of all the Commission, he flatly refused, when in Philadelphia, to hold any in the presence of more than three at a time.

On one occasion, when the Medium was very sure of his sitters, he placed the prepared slate, face downwards, on the table, with his fingers resting on the upper surface, then in a few minutes the slate was lifted up and the writing displayed, as though just made by Spiritual agency.

Generally, however, when the writing is thus exhibited, it is in answer to a spoken question, and the reply is written by the Medium in his lap and the slate turned over before it is placed on the table. Manifestly it cannot occur as an answer to a written question, unless the written question is exposed on the upper side of the slate.

How the scratching of the slate pencil is produced when the slate is lying on the table (I have been told that the sound is heard then) I cannot possibly explain, for the plain reason that I am too deaf to hear it, and I was, therefore, never on the watch for anything unusual. (Nor did I ever hear the sound of writing when the slate was held on the shoulder of my opposite neighbor, but I could see, and I knew what was going on, for the slate had once been placed on my own shoulder.)

When three slates are used, the third, and prepared, slate, is either on the little table behind him or on the floor resting against the supports of this little table. In either case he seizes the opportunity when his sitters are engrossed with an answer just given to a question, to subst.i.tute one of the slates which he has been using, and which he has just before ostentatiously washed on both sides, for the prepared slate.

This I have distinctly seen him do twice, and once when I had arisen from my seat to read an answer on the slate, held by Mr. Sellers, I noticed when I resumed my seat that a certain slate which I had been watching was gone from where it had been resting against the leg of the little table, and we then immediately had the long message between closed slates. [This was the 'inferential' subst.i.tution referred to on page 59 of this Appendix.] The slate which we have preserved and had photographed I saw him take from the table at his back.

Next, as to his answers to questions. I became so familiar with his methods in this department that I could have told at almost any instant what he was doing.

After the question has been written the slate is handed to him face downward. A piece of pencil is then placed on the slate near the edge of the slate farthest from the Medium's hand as it holds the slate; of course, as the writing is to be done under cover of the table, and as the Medium's hand or wrist is supposed to be always visible, the pencil must be far under the table. The awkwardness, therefore, must be overcome of having to reach or grope after it before the slate can be turned over, which it must be in order to enable the Medium to read the question on the under side. This difficulty is surmounted by constantly bringing out the slate and looking at it to see if any answer has appeared. By this manoeuvre a double end is attained; first, it creates an atmosphere of expectation, and the sitters grow accustomed to a good deal of motion in the arm that holds the slate; and secondly, by constantly moving the slate the fragment of pencil (which, be it noted, having been extracted from those slate pencils which are enclosed in wood, like lead pencils, is square in shape and remains stationary on the spot to which it is moved), this pencil, I repeat, is moved up to the side of the slate within reach of a thumb and finger; when this is done, it is dexterously seized by the Medium, who is in turn at that instant seized by violent 'electric shocks,' under cover of which the slate is turned and generally placed between his knees, only once I think did he rest it _on_ his knee, and once I think he pressed it against the table; then he reads the question. And here he shows his nerve. It is the critical instant of the sitting, it is the only instant when his eyes are not fastened on his sitters, and I confess that his coolness won my admiration. On one occasion, when the question was written in a back-hand with a very light stroke and close to the upper edge of the slate, he looked at it three several times before he could read it. Moreover, it was a question out of the common, relating to the species of a hawk and not to a Spirit, and required an intelligent and definite answer. The hastiness of his reading may be inferred by the frequency with which merely the initials of the Spirit friend are given in the answer. After reading the question, I noticed that Dr. Slade winks rapidly three or four times in a sort of mental abstraction, I suppose, while thinking out an answer, but he always breathes freer when this crisis is pa.s.sed, and the violent convulsions are over, which attend his hurried writing and the re-turning of the slate. His eyes can now be fixed in turn on each of his sitters, and he can rest a minute or two. (One one occasion I saw the slate as he held it between his index and second finger, his index-finger and thumb held the slate pencil.) Presently, the slate is held near to the edge of the table, and a tremulous motion is given to it as though the writing were then going on.

On one occasion, when I knew he was about to use the prepared slate (Professor Thompson will remember what I am about to relate), I suggested that we should use a perfectly fresh pencil, so that we could be sure that that very pencil had done the writing. I was very curious to know how he would evade the test. The slate was held close to the under side of the table (the new pencil debarred him from using the double slate); when the writing was finished the slate was slapped violently against the table, and was drawn from underneath it--apparently with very great difficulty, and almost perpendicularly--and the little pencil, of course, slipped off, and in the excitement of reading the message from the 'Summer-land,' who would think of looking for the pencil? It was so clever I wanted to applaud him on the spot.

The other tricks, such as tossing the pencil from the slate and playing the accordion, can be perfectly explained and repeated by Mr. Sellers.

Dr. Slade's fingers are unusually long and strong, and the accordion, which has but four bellows-folds, can be readily manipulated with one hand.

At our last seance I noticed what were evidently two prepared slates resting against the support of the table behind him, where his prepared slates usually stood. I inferred that he would like to have some extraordinary slate writing on this occasion, and, therefore, kept a sharp watch on these slates. Unfortunately it was too sharp, for one second the Medium saw me looking at them. It was enough. That detected look prevented the revelation of those elaborate Spirit messages. But when the seance was over and he was signing the receipt for his money, I pa.s.sed round behind his chair and pushed these slates with my foot so as to make them fall over, whereupon the writing on one of them was distinctly revealed.

I think Dr. Pepper and Mr. Sellers will recall how the Medium instantly pushed his chair back until it was fairly over the slates and then s.n.a.t.c.hed them up, and in the most hurried manner washed them both while turning his back to us.

Two compa.s.ses, which we placed on the table during our seance, remained unaffected by the Medium's presence.

During one sitting, when the Spirits conveyed the slates from the Medium's hand under the table to the hand of the opposite sitter, the latter failed twice to grasp the slate in time, and it fell to the floor with a crash. Each time it behoved me to pick up the slate (both the other sitters were women), but the second time I stooped with the greatest alacrity and looked not at the slate but at the Medium's foot, which I saw just entering his slipper, into which it most hastily settled.

I think Dr. Slade's personal appearance noteworthy, and shall endeavor to obtain a photograph of him for preservation in our Records. He is probably six feet in height, with a figure of unusual symmetry, his hands are large but shapely, the nail of the second finger of his right hand is rather longer than the others, and appeared in the centre to be slightly split and worn. His face would, I think, attract notice anywhere for its uncommon beauty. He has a small, curling, dark moustache, and short, crisp, iron-grey hair, of a texture exceeding in fineness any that I have ever seen on a man's head. His eyes are dark, and the circles around them very dark, but their expression is painful.

I could not divest myself of the feeling that it was that of a hunted animal or of a haunted man. The color on his cheeks is very bright, but it is said to be artificial. He complained bitterly of ill-health and of water around his heart, which he said at times he could hear and feel "swas.h.i.+ng about."

A noteworthy man in every aspect.

Mr. Furness then read to the Committee the following:

Memorandum by Dr. Wm. Pepper of an interview with Dr. Slade on the morning of the 27th January, with Mr. Furness and Mr. Sellers.

1811 Spruce Street, Philadelphia.

He complained immediately and very frequently of his right side, saying it felt weak and numb, and he was sure he was going to be paralyzed.

Careful observation showed that the right side was fully developed, the color of the right hand normal and the same as that of the left, and that the right arm, foot and leg were unusually supple and moveable.

During the sitting I saw him deliberately kick my chair three (3) times with the side of his right foot, while attracting my attention to the sc.r.a.ping noises of the slate he was holding to my left ear; and again, when soft raps were heard and felt under the table, just beneath one of my hands, and at about the distance from him to which his leg would reach, I saw distinct movements of rotation of his thigh, as though he were producing these sounds by the ball of the toe striking under the table at that point.

_February 6th_, 1885.

Mr. Sellers offered the following resolution, which was adopted unanimously:

_Resolved_, That the reports of the Slade seances held in Philadelphia, as described by Messrs. Fullerton, Furness, Pepper and Sellers, are in accordance with the observations of each of the members of the Commission who were present.

After a short Business Meeting the Commission adjourned.

GEO. S. FULLERTON,

_Secretary_.

The following correspondence explains itself:

PHILADELPHIA, January 26th, 1885.

DEAR DR. SLADE:--I think you need no a.s.surance that the Seybert Investigating Committee have been anxious to deal with you in the fairest spirit of impartial, unbiased, scientific investigation, and I think you will bear witness to their uniformly considerate courtesy throughout our intercourse.

You know how very deaf I am, and do not therefore need to be reminded that one should trust scarcely more to what a deaf man hears than to what a blind man sees.

Wherefore, I want you, for my sake, and that the Committee may feel sure of their ground, to confirm in writing what you have more than once said to me, namely, that the Committee must conform to the conditions which the Spirits impose; that you cannot consent to submit to any tests, and that rather than do so you will return at once to New York; that we must accept the manifestations as given by the Spirits; and that, since these manifestations are the result of a gradual growth, it is impossible, in the s.p.a.ce of six seances, to repeat or to verify Professor Zoellner's experiments; and, lastly, that, if on your return to New York, the Spirits so authorize it, you will be willing, if desired, to make arrangements for another series of seances with us of a higher order of manifestations.

I remain respectfully,

Your obedient servant,

HORACE HOWARD FURNESS,

_Acting Chairman Seybert Commission_.