Preliminary Report of the Commission Appointed by the University of Pennsylvania Part 17

When the guitar was held up, and when the tambourine was made to whirl, both of these were to the right of the Medium, chiefly behind Mrs.

Gillespie; they were just where they might have been produced by the right arm of the Medium, had it been free.

Two clothes-pins were then pa.s.sed over the curtain, and they were used in drumming to piano-music. They could easily be used in drumming by one hand alone, the fingers being thrust into them.

The pins were afterwards thrown out over the curtain. Mr. Sellers picked one up as soon as it fell, and found it warm in the split, as though it had been worn. The drumming was probably upon the tambourine.

A hand was seen moving rapidly with a trembling motion--which prevented it from being clearly observed--above the back curtain between Mr. Yost and Mrs. Gillespie. Paper was pa.s.sed over the curtain into the Cabinet and notes were soon thrown out. The notes could have been written upon the small table within the enclosure by the right hand of the Medium, had it been free. Mrs. Keeler then pa.s.sed a coat over the curtain, and an arm was pa.s.sed through the sleeve, fingers, with the cuff around them, being shown over the curtain. They were kept moving, and a close scrutiny was not possible.

Mr. Furness was then invited to hold a writing-tablet in front of the curtain, when the hand, almost concealed by the coat-sleeve and the flaps mentioned as attached to the curtain, wrote with a pencil on the tablet. The writing was rapid, and the hand, when not writing, was kept in constant tremulous motion. The hand was put forth in this case not over the top curtain, but came from under the flap, and could easily have been the Medium's right hand were it disengaged, for it was about on a level with his shoulder and to his right, between him and Mrs.

Gillespie. Mr. Furness was allowed to pa.s.s his hand close to the curtain and grasp the hand for a moment. It was a _right_ hand.

Soon after the Medium complained of fatigue, and the sitting was discontinued. It was declared by the Spiritualists present to be a fairly successful seance. When the curtains were removed, the small table in the enclosure was found to be overturned, and the bells, hammer, etc., on the floor.

It is interesting to note the s.p.a.ce within which all the manifestations occurred. They were, without exception, where they would have been had they been produced by the Medium's right arm. Nothing happened to the left of the Medium, nor very far over to the right. The sphere of activity was between the Medium and Mr. Yost, and most of the phenomena occurred, as, for example, the whirling of the tambourine, behind Mrs.

Gillespie.

The front curtain--_i.e._, the main curtain which hung across the corner--was 85 inches in length, and the cord which supported it, 53 inches from the floor. The three chairs which were placed in front of it were side by side, and it would not have been difficult for the Medium to reach across and touch Mr. Yost. When Mrs. Keeler pa.s.sed objects over the curtain, she invariably pa.s.sed them to the right of the Medium, although her position was on his left; and the clothes-pins, paper, pencil, etc., were all pa.s.sed over at a point where the Medium's right hand could easily have reached them.

To have produced the phenomena by using his right hand, the Medium would have to have pa.s.sed it under the curtain at his back. This curtain was not quite hidden by the front one at the end near the Medium, and this end both Mr. Sellers and Dr. Pepper saw rise at the beginning of the seance.

The only thing worthy of consideration, as opposed to a natural explanation of the phenomena, was the grasp of the Medium's hands on Mrs. Gillespie's arm.

The grasp was evidently a tight one above the wrist, for the arm was bruised for about four inches. There was no evidence of a similar pressure above that, as the marks on the arm extended in all about five or six inches only. The pressure was sufficient to destroy the sensibility of the forearm, and it is doubtful whether Mrs. Gillespie with her arm in such a condition could distinguish between the grasp of one hand, with a divided pressure (applied by the two last fingers and the thumb and index) and a double grip by two hands. Three of our number, Mr. Sellers, Mr. Furness and Dr. White, can, with one hand, perfectly simulate the double grip.

It is specially worthy of note that Mrs. Gillespie declared that, when the Medium first laid hold of her arm with his right hand before the curtain was put over them, it was with an under grip, and she _felt his right arm under her left_. But when the Medium asked her if she felt both his hands upon her arm, and she said yes, she could feel the grasp, but no arm under hers, though she moved her elbow around to find it--she felt a hand, but not an arm, and at no time during the seance did she find that arm.

(Taken from notes made during the seance and immediately after it.)

GEO. S. FULLERTON,

_Secretary_.

N.B.--It should be noted that both the Medium and Mr. Yost took off their coats before being covered with the curtain. It was suggested by Dr. Pepper that this might have been required by the Medium as a precaution against movements on the part of Mr. Yost. The white s.h.i.+rt-sleeves would have shown against the black background.

G.S.F.

December 29th, 1885.

There was a meeting of The Seybert Commission this evening, at the house of Mr. Furness, on Was.h.i.+ngton Square, to investigate some Materializations promised by the Mediums, Dr. Rothermel and Mr. Powell.

There were present Mr. Furness, Dr. Leidy, Professor Thompson, Dr. S.

Weir Mitch.e.l.l, Dr. White, Dr. Knerr, Mr. Fullerton, Colonel Kase, Mr.

Frank Furness, Mrs. J. Dundas Lippincott, Mrs. Dr. Pepper, Mrs. A.L.

Wister, and a number of others.

The Mediums arrived with quite a bundle of apparatus, and stretched their curtain where Mr. Keeler had his, across the corner of the parlor, from the door leading into the hall to the edge of the window. The curtain was similar to that of Mr. Keeler in its general character, and, as in that case, the whole corner was draped in black. The shape of the Cabinet was triangular.

The Mediums said it was impossible to produce materialized forms as they had expected, and proceeded to give much the same sort of a seance as Mr. Keeler's--in this case, however, the hands of the Medium covered by the curtain being fastened with tape, instead of being held.

The arrangement of the curtain, positions of the Mediums, and the positions of the spectators were as indicated.

[Ill.u.s.tration:

X Dr. Rothermel--a curtain at his back and one in front of him, his head through a hole in the upper part of the outer flap of the double curtain.

Y Mr. Powell.

* * * Spectators.

On table (2) was a music-box, and on table (1), within the Cabinet, bells, a zither, etc.]

The lights were all extinguished but one, and that one was prevented from throwing light on the Medium by a shade placed upon one side of it--it was turned low. The light was not so good as during Mr. Keeler's seance.

Before the lights were put out, Dr. White was asked to tie the Medium, and Mrs. Lippincott to sew the ends of the ribbon and tape with which he was tied.

A ribbon was tied around each leg above the knee, and the ends sewed to his trowsers. A bit of black tape was then pa.s.sed under the ribbon and tied around the wrist, the ends being knotted and sewed together by Mrs.

Lippincott. His right hand was thus fastened to his right leg, and his left hand to his left leg; though he still had some freedom of motion, and could easily reach one hand with the other.

Dr. Rothermel was then placed as indicated, behind the outer curtain, and the lights extinguished as described.

He asked for a drink of water, which was given him by Mr. Powell, who stood directly in front of him while he drank it, and hid him from the audience.

Then the zither played, a cap was thrown out over the curtain, a hand (to the right of the Medium) was shown over the curtain.

Bells were rung, papers thrown out, a drum accompaniment to the piano played, as by Mr. Keeler, and the drumsticks thrown out.

Mr. Powell wet in a gla.s.s some handkerchiefs with water, and pa.s.sed them over the curtain, they were pa.s.sed out with a message written on them in indelible ink. This could easily have been done with an indelible pencil. (The small table within the curtain was within easy reach of the right hand of the Medium, had it been free, and could have been used for such work.)

The music-box on table (2) was set off--was rattled several times. (It could have been done by the Medium's left hand if it were free.)

The person, to whom each of the above-mentioned handkerchiefs was to be returned, was indicated by raps from the Spirit. (The Spirit was in error in returning handkerchiefs to Dr. Mitch.e.l.l and Mr. Fullerton.)

The zither was put out at the right and left hand lower corners of the curtain. (It could have been done by the Medium, were his hands free.)

The Medium professed to be then controlled by the Spirit of a young girl--Emma Hirsch. He spoke in an unnatural and squeaky voice, but occasionally lapsed into his natural voice. The Spirit declared the Medium unconscious, but refused to allow any medical examination of his condition.

The Mediums were then asked to allow Dr. Rothermel's hands to be examined. After a little delay, the curtain was folded back and the hands exposed.

Mr. Fullerton was permitted to examine them by the light of a match only, and very hastily. They did not allow a candle, which had been lighted, to be brought near. As Mr. Fullerton approached to examine the knots, Mr. Powell came close and seemed very much afraid they would be touched. He kept reiterating, "Don't touch them!" "Don't touch them!"

"It would be very dangerous!" The examination was hasty and unsatisfactory, as Mr. Powell and Dr. Rothermel both said that he (the latter) could endure it only a moment. Hasty as it was, it showed that the knots, which had been on top of the wrists, were now underneath; the tapes, as is mentioned later, were, at the end of the seance, found cut close to the knots.

Whether the tapes were really in their former state, and not already cut, could only be known by examining them all around, and such an examination was not allowed.

It should be stated that before this, and after some of the manifestations, the Medium, with some convulsive movement, as if pulled and pushed by Spirits, came out from under the curtain, and stood with his hands on his legs, as if tied there, but it was too dark to see whether he was really tied, or merely held his hands there, and no examination was made.

Soon after, the Medium declared that the Spirits were cutting him loose, and when the curtain was removed and lights brought, the tapes which had bound his wrists were found to be cut through close to the knots.

Whether this was done at the beginning of the seance, leaving the Medium's hands free from the beginning, or at the time indicated by the Medium, there was no means of proving. The cutting of the tapes made the tying and sewing tests quite valueless.