Spiritualism in Court by Editor

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jun 4, 1885

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 11, No. 22.

Spiritualism in Court.

By Editor

THE following article is copied entire from the daily Post-Dispatch, of St. Louis. It is interesting as showing the possibilities of Spiritualism in courts of justice:—

“The trial of Mrs. Miller and her husband, the spiritual mediums charged with fraud, was resumed by Judge Noonan, at 7:30 last evening, in the Court of Criminal Correction. There was a great deal that was interesting in the trial besides the testimony. The court-room was crowded with men and women, most of whom were admitted within the bar. Any one who notices faces closely could not help being struck with the class look of the countenances which made up the audience. Probably there never were so many long-haired men gathered together in one room in St. Louis before. The ladies, at any rate those of the ladies who were palpably believers, and who fluttered with indignation through the cross-examinations, were, as a rule, pronounced brunettes, with deep-set, black eyes, and with dark circles lining the under lid. The prevalence of this type was most noticeable. The description includes at least eighty per cent. of the women present, and covers the medium on trial as well as her supporters. The other twenty per cent. were young and frivolous and pretty, and a great deal more interesting than the intense ones.

“The performance began by calling Mr. Britton A. Hill to the stand. Mr. Hill failed to materialize, and, after several entirely contradictory statements as to Mr. Hill's health and whereabouts, made by different persons, an attachment was issued for the apostle of absolute money.

“Mr. L. U. Reavis was called to the front. His testimony was not as interesting as many had hoped that it would be. He said that Spiritualism was ‘a modern development of nature, which develops the truth of man's immortality.’ That ‘the present is a rudimentary state of existence which is metamorphosed by death into another state of existence.’ Leaving philosophy at the entreaty of the court, Mr. Reavis went into ghost stories, and told how W. P. Anderson, the picture medium, had drawn a picture of his (Mr. Reavis') mother in New York, and how the ghost of Thomas H. Benton, through the mouth of the medium Foster, had told him that the national capital would be removed to St. Louis immediately after the admission of Utah into the Union. On cross-examination Mr. Reavis admitted that he did not remember his mother's face, as he was seven years old when she died, but that others had told him there was a resemblance. As far as the Benton incident was concerned, the voice that spoke to him was Foster's. On Foster's arm, in letters formed of blood, Thos. H. Benton's autograph appeared, which faded away in a few moments.

“Dr. Jacobs was called. The doctor is a red-faced little man, with spectacles and a sparse beard. He had known the defendants for ten years. He had attended over a hundred seances at their house. In every case he saw real bona fide ghosts. One of these ghosts spoke to him in Hebrew, a language which he was quite sure no one else in the house but the ghost and himself understood. On another occasion the phantom of a young lady to whom he had been engaged to be married, Florence Jones, came to him and called up circumstances which no one but the witness and the young lady were acquainted with. He considered this a test beyond question. While the witness was testifying, Judge Noonan interposed, and said that he had heard a great deal of testimony from reputable, and, as a class, educated persons as to the truth of Spiritualism as fact and doctrine. There was an opportunity, he said, for the defense to abbreviate their case, and while he would not compel the defense to make the test, he would recommend it. ‘An intelligent witness has said,’ remarked Judge Noonan, ‘that the spirits are eager to communicate with us—why not call some of these spirits to the witness stand? The witnesses have claimed that the spirits of the departed dead are friendly to these defendants; why should they not appear, then, in their vindication? If the defendants will accept a test, a room shall be provided, and the court will undertake that the test shall be witnessed by men of known caution, who will be fair to both parties. I will take a recess of one hour to permit such deliberation among counsel as may be necessary.’

“Mr. McBride for the prosecution at once accepted the test.

“After the recess, Mr. Jones, for the defense, declined the test, reading a statement which he had prepared, to the court, giving the grounds for his refusal. Judge Noonan then stated that the defendants had a perfect right to decline the somewhat extraordinary measure which he had proposed, which the court deemed a proper one on account of the defense set up. He would confine the testimony hereafter to conversations and acts alleged to have occurred between the dead and the living through the medium of Mrs. Miller. Dr. Jacobs was accordingly recalled to the stand. In a dark seance at which he was present he had seen Mrs. Miller whirled about the room. On another occasion he and three other men were lifted on a table to the ceiling, and held there while they wrote their names. Mr. McBride, the attorney for the State, was present the night Mrs. Miller was lifted about the room. On another occasion, when Mr. McBride was present, McBride's dead children came out of the cabinet and played with him. Mr. McBride was affected to tears at the time. In cross-examination Mr. McBride wanted the witness to say that on the occasion when Mrs. Miller was alleged to have been gyrating around in the air, the phenomenon was caused by old Miller coming out and slashing the witness over the head with an old skirt. This explanation the witness declined to accept. Mr. McBride having some difficulty in placing the seance of which the witness spoke, the latter stated, ‘That was the sitting at which you lost your pocket-book.’ Mr. McBride immediately became interested, and wanted to know if it was ‘Red Face’ (Mrs. Miller's familiar spirit) who had stolen the money. No information was given.

“The chief interest of the evening centered in the testimony of Mrs. Miller, the defendant. She is rather a handsome lady, black eyes with clear cut features, a rather long mouth, which gives her lips a thin effect, and a dimpled chin. She was very nicely dressed in a figured silk that fitted her to perfection, and illustrated the fact that a medium may be a very charming personage. She said she was eighteen years old when she began to develop supernatural powers. When she was living with her family in Arkansas the family center table became greasy, while cleaning it she noticed it tipping and following her. She then developed her powers as much as possible. In light seances she always goes into the trance state. She can go into a trance at will. She remembered the sitting on March 4, but all she remembered was awakening in the cabinet and finding herself in a white robe, which disappeared as her mother and Mrs. Getter

rubbed her. The case was then adjourned until 2 P. M. to-day.

“Apart from her attorneys, Mrs. Miller told a Post-Dispatch reporter that she was entirely willing to give the test suggested by Judge Noonan, but that the conditions would have to be such that there would be some chance of success. She would want an equal number of men and women at the test seance, and would give it at the Four Courts or anywhere else. Her attorneys, however, would not consent to the trial.”

We had once occasion to refer to a case in San Francisco where it was the intention to set up the defense that the medium was an ordained minister of the church of Spiritualists; and the plea would have availed if it had been presented, but the case turned on another issue. In this St. Louis case the medium was willing to accept the test proposed by the court, but her counsel would not consent. Aside from the large amount of fraud practiced by mediums, we believe that such tests will be given in open court, and with success. We judge thus from what we know of Spiritualism, and from what we learn of the long-continued experiments of such men as Judge Edmonds, Dr. Hare, and Dr. Crookes. If one medium does accept such a test as Judge Noonan proposed, and the experiment shall prove successful, spiritualism will thereby be established as the most popular “ism” of the age.

It will be noticed that here, as ever, spiritualism is given the honor of proving “the truth of man's immortality,” of proving that death introduces us into another state of existence. While some in the ministry are claiming that spiritualism is of the devil, others are accepting it, willing to risk the consequences of the association with “the powers of darkness,” rather than to give up the theory of natural immortality, which they are not able to prove from the Scriptures; rather than to accept the doctrine of eternal life only through Jesus and the resurrection of the dead, which is the very substance and hope of the gospel.