THE DAVENPORT BROTHERS
Such evidence of spirits as the simple “rappings” of the Fox Sisters
soon gave place to more elaborate “manifestations” and with the
appearance of Ira Erastus Davenport and his brother William Henry
Harrison Davenport, working together, and known as the “Davenport
Brothers,” these manifestations became complicated exhibitions
involving the use of a cabinet, rope tricks, bells, and various
horns and musical instruments. These brothers have always been, and
are still, pointed to as being indisputable proof of the reality
and genuineness of mediumistic phenomena and public interest in
Spiritualism was greatly stimulated by the tremendous sensation and
discussion caused by their demonstrations, yet an interesting train of
circumstances put me in possession of facts more than sufficient to
disprove their having, or even claiming, spiritualistic power.
During many of the years in which I have been making a study of
Spiritualism I supposed both of the Davenports dead and when my
friend, Harry Kellar, in recounting some of his early experiences and
hardships told me that he had been associated with them at one time and
that Ira Davenport was still living I was surprised indeed. I at once
communicated with him and there followed a pleasant acquaintance which
lasted until his death and furnished me with much of historic value
concerning the brothers which has never appeared in print.
Heretofore all published accounts of the Davenport Brothers’ doings
have been vague, speculative, lacking in actual knowledge, and
misleading because the authors have been victims of delusion, but
the information here given is based on a long correspondence with
Ira Davenport as well as an open hearted confession which he made to
me shortly before his death, answering all my questions unreservedly
and offering to assist me in every way he could as he wanted my
statements[12] to be accurate in the book on Spiritualism which he knew
I was writing.
The Davenport Brothers were devotedly attached to each other and when
in 1877 William died while they were in Australia, Ira the surviving
brother was completely upset. He made one feeble attempt to reinstate
himself, but the “Spirit” was lacking and he returned, a discouraged
man, to spend the remainder of his days in peace and quiet at home.
While playing Australia early in 1910 for Harry Rickards I hunted
up the grave of William Davenport and finding it sadly neglected I
had it put in order, fresh flowers planted on it and the stone work
repaired.[13] It was also on this trip that I met William M. Fay of
“Davenport Brothers and Fay,” who told me many interesting things about
the brothers and on my return to America one of the first things which
I did was to go to Maysville, Chautauqua County, New York, to make Ira
Davenport a visit. He met me at the station and took me to his home, an
exceptionally happy and restful one presided over by the second Mrs.
Davenport, the first having died in childbirth.
This second marriage was most romantic. During a seance which the
Brothers were giving in Paris[14] Ira noticed a strikingly beautiful
Belgian girl intently watching him. After the performance he managed
to meet her only to find that she could not speak a word of English.
His French being limited to the usual two or three word table d’hôte
vocabulary of the average American tourist he called his interpreter
and through him asked the girl to become his wife. Bewildered by such
an audacious proposal she blushed deeply, and cast down her eyes, then
slowly raising them looked straight into Ira’s. There was a quick
exchange of admiration and her woman’s intuition must have read deeply
and correctly for she then and there consented to wed this American
who had so unconventionally asked her to be his wife, a decision which
she never had occasion to regret for they were a remarkably happy
couple.[15]
In the tranquil atmosphere of his porch we turned back the pages of
time, Mr. Davenport re-living in retrospect the trials, battles, praise
and applause of long ago. Among other things we talked over the magical
mystery performers of other days which led him to say very generously:
“Houdini, you know more about the old timers and my arguments, than I
who lived through those troublesome times.”
He said that he recognized in me a past master of the craft and
therefore spoke openly and did not hesitate to tell me the secrets of
his feats. We discussed and analyzed the statements made in his letters
to me and he frankly admitted that the work of the Davenport Brothers
was accomplished by perfectly natural means and belonged to that class
of feats commonly credited to “physical dexterity.” Not once was there
even a hint that Spiritualism was of any concern to him, instead,
discussing his work as straightforward showmanship.
For me it was a memorable day and did not end with the setting of the
sun, for we talked far into the night,[16] I with notebook in hand, he
with a long piece of rope initiating me into the mysteries of the real
“Davenport tie,” which converted thousands to a belief in Spiritualism
and was the genesis[17] of the rope-tying stunts which gave such a
stimulus to Spiritualistic discussion in connection with the brothers.
Though many attempts were made to imitate it, to the best of my
knowledge and belief, no one, not even the magical fraternity, was ever
able to detect the method used in these famous rope tricks, the secret
being guarded so carefully that Ira Davenport’s children did not know
it. I have tested it and for uses such as they made of it I consider it
one of the best rope ties in existence to-day, and it is only because
I want it on record when I eventually pass to the Beyond that I am
explaining to the public the _modus operandi_ which was as follows.
Built into either side of the cabinet used by the Davenports[18] was a
bench through which two holes had been bored a little distance apart.
The Brothers seated themselves on these benches, and opposite one
another, with their feet squarely on the floor in front of them. The
end of a rope was passed around the legs of one of the brothers, close
up by the knees, and tied. The rope was then wound around the legs
several times, fastened at the ankles, the remaining portion carried
straight across the cabinet to the other brother’s ankles, fastened,
wound about his legs and tied at the knees. A shorter piece of rope
was then tied to each of their wrists with the knots lying next to the
pulse. These ropes were threaded through the holes and the wrists drawn
down to the benches, and the ends of the ropes fastened to the ankles.
Their method of releasing themselves was comparatively simple. While
one extended his feet the other drew his in thus securing slack enough
in the wrist ropes to permit working their hands out of the loops.[19]
The second brother was released by reversing the action.
After the demonstrations were completed the brothers slipped their
hands back into the loops from which they had drawn them, placed their
feet in the original positions and were ready to be examined. When the
cabinet was opened the ropes appeared as taut as when put on by the
committee.
In order to disprove the frequently made claim that the Davenports
left their benches to produce certain manifestations they asked
investigating committees to place sheets of paper under their feet
and mark around them with pencil or crayon thus making it seemingly
impossible to move a foot without detection. But this in no way
interfered or hindered in their performance for Ira told me they used
to slide their feet, paper and all, and still keep the feet inside the
marks, a method I can vouch for as being practical for I have tried it
successfully.[20]
With the advantage of working together it was simply impossible to
secure both of the brothers in such a manner as to prevent their
producing the expected results. If one was in trouble the other was
always ready to come to the rescue for no matter how securely the
committee tied them one was sure to be more loosely tied than the other
and could get a hand free to reach over and help.
“There was one chance in twenty million to hold us both at the same
time,” Ira told me.[21]
The Davenports’ strictest test was known as “The Tie Around the Neck.”
This was also explained to me by Ira. A committee of three was called
upon one of whom was a woman and for that reason the least suspected
although in reality a confederate.[22] She and the Davenports were each
in turn tied around the neck. The woman released herself by cutting the
rope.[23] Hiding the pieces in her bloomers she performed her share of
the manifestations and retied herself with a duplicate piece of rope.
No one was the wiser for so curiously allied are our five senses that
the committee, bereft of its sight while such dark deeds were being
done, seemed to have lost the use of its reasoning power as well.
The first of the Davenports’ public performances were given in a large
hall with rows of seats for the audience and a small raised platform
which served as a stage. Someone, thinking to prevent the possibility
of assistance by visitors, or confederates in the audience, asked if it
were possible to have the manifestations occur in a closet. Receiving
an affirmative answer one was built with openings large enough to
“insert the spirit hands.” This closet was a decided advantage to the
Brothers as it gave them an opportunity to work in total darkness
which was an essential element of their performance. The closet was
improved upon by placing a big box in the center of the stage and there
gradually developed the cabinet[24] as we know it to-day.
During that eventful visit Ira emphatically denied many of the absurd
tales and popular beliefs concerning the Brothers, among them being
the “flour test,” the “snuff test”[25] and such stories as the claim
that when a boy at home he gave a seance for his parents and during
levitation[26] was raised up until his head touched the ceiling
breaking both lath and plaster; that he was once levitated across the
Niagara River, a distance of three thousand yards, and the one telling
of his having effected an escape by Spiritual means from a prison in
Oswego, N. Y., in 1859.
The Davenports were constantly on their guard against surprise and
exposure and Ira explained to me that when they were suspicious of a
committeeman who wanted to go into the cabinet with them they would
insist that he be tied too in order to prevent the audience from
thinking he was a confederate. Fastened to a bench as well as to each
of the Davenports he was absolutely helpless for while one was getting
loose the other would strain the ropes on the committeeman’s feet
holding him tight.
He also told me that they were in the habit of reserving seats in the
front row for their friends as a protection against anyone breaking
through. At private circles they ran a cord through button holes on
all present, ostensibly to “prevent collusion with the medium,” but in
reality as a protection against a surprise seizure. They once heard
that the Pinkerton Detective agency had been hired to catch them and
in order to effectually forestall any meddler, they had a confederate
smuggle in a bear-trap and after the seance room was darkened set the
trap in the aisle.
I called Ira’s attention to a clipping concerning the “Dark Seances”
from the London _Post_, a conservative paper, which read:
“The musical instruments, bells, etc., were placed on the table; the
Brothers Davenport were then manacled, hands and feet, and securely
bound to the chairs by ropes. A chain of communication (though not a
circular one) was formed, and the instant the lights were extinguished
_the musical instruments appeared to be carried all about the room. The
current of air, which they occasioned in their rapid transit was felt
upon the faces of all present._
“The bells were loudly rung; the trumpets made knocks upon the floor,
_and the tambourine appeared running around the room, jingling with all
its might. At the same time sparks were observed as if passing from
South to West. Several persons exclaimed that they were touched by the
instruments, which on one occasion became so demonstrative that one
gentleman received a knock on the nasal organ which broke the skin and
caused a few drops of blood to flow._”
After I finished reading it Ira exclaimed:
“Strange how people imagine things in the dark! Why, the musical
instruments never left our hands yet many spectators would have taken
an oath that they heard them flying over their heads.”[27]
Ira Davenport positively disclaimed Spiritualistic power in his talk
with me, saying repeatedly that he and his brother never claimed to
be mediums or pretended their work to be Spiritualistic. He admitted,
however, that his parents died believing that the boys had super-human
power. In this connection he told me of a family by the name of Kidder
in which the boys faked Spiritualistic mediumship. The mother, a
simple woman easily misled, became a confirmed believer. After a time
the boys got tired of the game they were playing and confessed to her
that it was all a fake. The shock of the disillusion almost drove her
insane and Ira said it was the fear of a similar result which kept
him from confessing to his father the true nature of their work. So
when the father asked the boys to do tests for him they declared that
the spirits said “no” and explained that they could only do what the
_spirits_ asked.
But if the Davenport Brothers did not claim spiritual powers themselves
they nevertheless allowed others to claim them in their behalf. One
of the first to do this was J. B. Ferguson, variously known as “Mr.,”
“Rev.,” and “Dr.,” but I have no way of knowing how his titles came to
him or just what they represented. If I am not mistaken he had been a
minister in the Unitarian Church. He travelled with the Davenports as
their lecturer, a position filled later by Thomas L. Nichols. Ferguson
positively believed that everything accomplished by the Davenports
was done with the aid of spirits. That both Ferguson and Nichols
believed in Spiritualism is shown by their writings. Neither of them
were disillusioned regarding the spiritual powers of the Brothers, the
secret of the manifestations being religiously kept from them. Their
remarks were left to their own discretion, the Davenports thinking
it better showmanship to leave the whole matter for the audience to
draw its own conclusion after seeing the exhibition. Then too with a
minister as a lecturer who sincerely believed the phenomena many were
led to believe, which helped to fill the coffers, meet the expenses,
and increase the publicity which was a necessary part of the game.
[Illustration: IRA ERASTUS DAVENPORT AND HOUDINI, TAKEN ON JULY 5,
1911. THE LAST PHOTOGRAPH OF THE OLD SHOWMAN]
In one of the letters which Ira wrote me he says:
“We never in public affirmed our belief in Spiritualism, that
we regarded as no business of the public; nor did we offer our
entertainment as the result of sleight-of-hand, or on the other hand
as Spiritualism. We let our friends and foes settle that as best they
could between themselves, but unfortunately, we were often the victims
of their disagreements.”
In a letter which Ira wrote from Maysville, dated January 19, 1909,
which I received while in Europe, he says:
“You must not fail to do me the honor of a visit when you return to
America, although two years is quite a long time, and in the mean time,
please let me hear from you whenever the ‘_Spirit_’ moves.
“Regarding the future, I think the possibilities within your grasp are
almost boundless, splendid new territory, all South of Central America,
Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, India, Spain, Portugal and Africa.”[28]
“My old-time travelling companion, William M. Fay, told me four years
ago while on a visit here from Australia, that he and Harry Kellar
cleared over $40,000 in about eight months in South America, and
Mexico, and that was thirty-four years ago, and that the opportunities
are now vastly improved, such as _railroads, instead of mules_,
increase of population, advance in civilization in those backward
countries. He says it would be a pleasure trip now to what it was when
he and Kellar had to travel on muleback. He was very enthusiastic on
the subject of making another tour and we would have done so but for
the fact that his physicians strongly advised against it on account of
poor health and weakened physical condition. He is living at present
in Melbourne, Australia, having settled there with his family in 1877,
shortly after the death of my brother, which occurred July 1, 1877.
He is not at all contented, notwithstanding his pleasant surroundings
and ample fortune; after a man has become a regular ‘_Globe Trotter_,’
I don’t think it possible for him to settle down and lead a quiet
monotonous life.... I wish here to say that our first tour through
Europe consumed four years, leaving this country, August 26, 1864,
returning September 29, 1868. Our second trip took us over three years,
leaving here March 22, 1874, and returning October 20, 1877, four
months after the death of my brother.”
When exhibiting in Liverpool the Davenports were the cause of quite
a riot[29] which not only militated against them but stirred up some
political strife as well. I will quote Ira’s account of it from a
letter to me dated January 19, 1909.
[Illustration: FACSIMILE OF PORTIONS OF A LETTER WRITTEN TO HOUDINI BY
IRA E. DAVENPORT]
“Well, yes, regarding Liverpool, I have very vivid recollections, and
after forty-four years they are far from being ‘scenes of mystified
events,’ they were results of peculiar combinations, of unfortunate
circumstances, _professional jealousy_, _religious prejudice_,
_anti-American feeling_, with a few other disturbing elements thrown
in, including ‘fenianism,’[30] which was engaging the public attention
at that time, all worked up to a _white heat_ culminating in one of
the most spectacular displays of ‘English Fair Play’ that was ever
presented to an appreciative English public.... While in Liverpool and
some other towns in England, we could not appear in the streets without
being greeted by threatening crowds, with such exclamations as ‘Yankee
Doodle,’ ‘John Brown’s Body,’ ‘Barnum’s Humbug,’ ‘Yankee Swindle,’
‘Fegi Mermaid,’ and many other nice things too numerous to mention....
“I think my experience in Liverpool stands out as the most prominent
example of ‘Fair Play’ ever dealt out to any American citizens and a
nauseating example to all foreigners of ‘’ow’ the average Englishman
does things at ‘’ome.’... It was well known that we were Northern
men, and the world knows how the English sympathized with the slave
holders’ rebellion, and they did not miss any opportunity of showing
how they felt at the time on the subject. While pretending that their
brutal displays of hostility were caused by our refusal to be tied by
a particular kind of knot, in fact our only offence was, objecting
to be tortured at the risk of being permanently maimed or crippled
for life.... Our appeal to the British public at the time is a plain
truthful statement of the facts, regarding the riots in Liverpool,
Huddersfield, and Leeds which several of the English papers had the
fairness to publish. All England seemed to have gone mad on the subject
of cabinet smashing and speculative sharpers reaped a rich harvest
selling bogus pieces of smashed Davenport cabinet. Wood enough was sold
in small pieces to make ten times as many cabinets as the Davenport
Brothers ever used during their public career.... Although I am now in
my 70th year, I would not for one moment hesitate to face the public
of Liverpool, Huddersfield, and Leeds, and try conclusions with them
again, drawing no line or limitations except those of torturing or
maiming one for life.... I shall always feel a great deal of pleasure
in your success, especially in meeting and overcoming anything in the
nature of hostility and opposition. I remember seeing a notice of the
death of Dr. Slade quite a while ago. I became acquainted with him in
1860. He then resided in the State of Michigan.”
The above excerpt shows the pluck and courage of a genuine showman at
the age of seventy, still ready for a tussle with an entertainment
based on natural laws.
The Davenport Brothers while exhibiting in Manchester, England, had
the distinction of being publicly imitated and ridiculed by two
celebrated actors, Sir Henry Irving and Edward A. Sothern, who were
appearing at the Theatre Royal. With some friends they had witnessed
a performance by the Davenport Brothers and determined to expose what
Irving termed a “shameful imposture.” With the assistance of these men
he gave a private performance in imitation of the Davenport seance at a
popular club and was so successful that he was requested to repeat it
in a large hall. So on Saturday, February 25, 1865, the Library Hall
of the Manchester Athenæum was filled with an audience invited to
witness “a display of ‘preternatural philosophy’ in a private seance
à la Davenport provided by some well-known members of the theatrical
profession playing in the city.
A wig, a beard, a neckerchief, a tightly buttoned frock coat, and
artistic makeup so completely transformed Irving that he looked the
exact double of Dr. Ferguson. With his inimitable charm of manner
Irving assumed the dignified air and characteristic gestures of the
doctor and impersonating his reverend tones he gave an interesting and
semi-jocose address with just enough seriousness to keenly satirize
the old doctor and at its close received thunderous applause from the
delighted audience.[31]
Irving and his friends then proceeded to imitate the manifestations
with a remarkable degree of accuracy. “The ‘brothers’ were tied
hand and foot, placed in a cabinet, and immediately began their
manifestations. Weird noises were heard, hands became visible through
the opening in the cabinet, musical instruments were seen floating
in the air, and the trumpet was several times thrown out. When the
doors were opened, the brothers were shown to be securely tied. They
reproduced every effect of the performances accompanied by appropriate
remarks and delightful witticisms from Irving.”
At the close of the seance, the performers received a vote of thanks,
the audience cheering Irving repeatedly. The Manchester papers were
filled for several days with accounts and letters concerning the Irving
seance, and in response to many urgent requests it was repeated a
week later in the Free Trade Hall, but the net result of the exposure
to Irving was the loss of his engagement at the Theatre Royal as he
refused to capitalize its success by giving nightly performances at the
theatre.
The extent to which people allowed themselves to be deluded by the
Davenport exhibitions is evident from the following passage taken
from D. C. Donovan’s “Evidences of Spiritualism.” As a voluntary
investigation committee of one he had been allowed to sit in the
cabinet with the Brothers while the manifestations were in progress. In
his account of his experiences he says:
“Whilst I was inside, several arms were thrust out at the openings and
distinctly seen by persons outside. Now it is certain that these were
not the arms of the Brothers, because they could not have reached the
openings without rising from their seats, and had they done this, I
should have detected it in an instant; moreover, if their hands had
been free, they could not have played six instruments at once and still
have hands left with which to touch my face and hands and pull my
hair. Some of my friends endeavor to persuade me that the Davenports
did move, but that being in the dark I did not notice it. Darkness,
however, although highly unfavorable to seeing, is not at all so to
feeling, and I had my hands on their shoulders, where the slightest
muscular moving would have been detected.”
In view of what Ira Davenport told me about their manipulations I
cannot read the above account without feeling sorry for Mr. Donovan,
who, if his belief was genuine, had reached the highest point of
delusion.
Because of the particular qualifications and aptitude of magicians to
detect fraud it is not surprising that Spiritualistic publications
seize eagerly any word coming from them favorable to the cause of
Spiritualism. With the comment, “it is well worth preserving and
placing beside that of Belachini, the German conjuror, as an answer
to those of our opponents, who, ignorant of legerdemain, declare our
phenomena to be of that character,” “The Spiritualist” of September 9,
1881, quoted from the Paris “_Revue Spirits_” the following statement
of E. Jacobs, a French prestidigitator:
“Relating to phenomena which occurred in Paris in 1865, through
the Brothers Davenport, spite of the assertions, more or less
trustworthy, of the French and English journalists, and spite
of the foolish jealousies of ignorant conjurors, I feel it my
duty to show up the bad faith of one party, and chicanery of
the other.... All that has been said or done adverse to these
American mediums is absolutely untrustworthy. If we should
judge rightly of a thing we must understand it, and neither
the journalists nor the conjurors possess the most elementary
knowledge of the science that governs these phenomena. As a
Prestidigitator of repute and a sincere Spiritualist, I affirm
that the mediumistic facts demonstrated by the two Brothers
were absolutely true, and belong to the Spiritualistic order
of things in every respect.... Messrs. Henri Robin and Robert
Houdin, when attempting to imitate these said feats, never
presented to the public anything beyond an infantine and almost
grotesque parody of the said phenomena, and it would be an
ignorant and obstinate person who could regard the question
seriously as set forth by these gentlemen. If, as I have reason
to hope, the psychical studies to which I am applying myself at
this time, succeed, I shall be able to establish clearly (and
that by public demonstration) the immense line of demarcation
which separates mediumistic phenomena from conjuring proper,
and then equivocation will be no longer possible, and persons
will yield to evidence, or deny through predetermination.
(Signed) “E. Jacobs.[32]
“Experimenter and President of Conference to the Psychological
Studies at Paris.”
Dion Boucicault, an Irish Dramatist and actor of prominence in
America and equally so in Europe, entertained the Davenports at his
home in London (1865) where he felt assured that the room could not
contribute to fraudulent results. Twenty-three friends, men of rank
and some prominence, among them clergymen and medical doctors, were
in attendance. He did not report if any were believers, but it is
inferred from his writing that none were. As in other cases, the utmost
precaution was taken to render conditions most acceptable to the
investigators, nevertheless, the usual manifestations took place and
Mr. Boucicault wrote lengthy reports as to details, and as a conclusion
to his report he wrote:
“At the termination of the seance a general conversation took place on
the subject of what we had heard and witnessed. Lord Bury suggested
that the general opinion seemed to be that we should assure the
Brothers Davenport and Mr. W. Fay, that after a very stringent trial
and strict scrutiny of their proceedings, the gentlemen present
could arrive at no other conclusion than that there was no trace of
trickery in any form, and certainly there were neither confederates
nor machinery and that all those who had witnessed the results would
freely state in society in which they moved, that, so far as their
investigations enabled them to form an opinion, the phenomena which
had taken place in their presence were not the product of legerdemain.
This suggestion was promptly acceded to by all present.
“Some persons think that the requirement of darkness seems to
infer trickery. Is not a dark chamber essential in the process of
photography? And what would we reply to him who would say, ‘I believe
photography to be a humbug--do it all in the light, and we will
believe otherwise’? It is true that we know why darkness is necessary
to the production of the sun-pictures; and if scientific men will
subject these phenomena to analysis, we shall find out why darkness is
essential to such manifestations. It is a subject which scientific men
are not justified in treating with the neglect of contempt.--I am, etc.,
“Dion Boucicault.”
Richard Francis Burton, eminent English traveller, writer, and
translator of _The Arabian Nights_, wrote to Dr. Ferguson, Davenport
Brothers’ lecturer and manager:
“I have spent a great part of my life in oriental lands, and
have seen there many magicians.... I have read and listened to
every explanation of the Davenport ‘tricks’ hitherto placed
before the English public, and, believe me, if anything would
make me take that tremendous jump ‘from matter to spirit,’ it
is the utter and complete unreason of the reasons by which the
‘manifestations’ are explained.”
Nor was it in England alone that able men were completely fooled by
the Davenports’ performance. Frenchmen as well, after seeing the
exhibition, hastened to put their favorable opinions in writing.
Hamilton, a well-known expert in the art of legerdemain, and
son-in-law of Robert Houdin, the famous conjuror, wrote:
“Messrs. Davenport,--Yesterday I had the pleasure of being
present at the seance you gave, and I came away from it
convinced that jealousy alone was the cause of the outcry
against you. The phenomena produced surpassed my expectations,
and your experiments were full of interest for me. I consider
it my duty to add that those phenomena are inexplicable, and
the more so by such persons as have thought themselves able to
guess your supposed secret, and who are, in fact, far indeed
from discovering the truth.
“Hamilton.”
M. Rhys, a manufacturer of conjuring implements and himself an inventor
of tricks, wrote the Davenports:
“... I have returned from one of your seances quite astonished. As a
person who has devoted many years to the manufacture of instruments
for legerdemain performances, my statement made with due regard to
fidelity, and guided by the knowledge long experience has given me,
will, I trust, be of some value to you.... I was admitted to examine
your cabinet and instruments ... with the greatest care but failed
to find anything that could justify legitimate suspicions. From that
moment I felt that the insinuations cast about you were false and
malevolent.”
These are but a few of innumerable instances where men of culture,
knowledge and experience, were deluded by the performance of the
Davenport Brothers, just as men are to-day with my presentations, and
when the reader takes into consideration the confession of Ira Erastus
Davenport[33] to me in 1909, and the fact that he taught me his full
method of manipulating seances, he can then form some conception of the
extent to which the most intelligent minds can be led astray by what
seem to them phenomena, but to me, mere problems susceptible of lucid
explanation.