SOME STARTLING DAYLIGHT SEANCES.
It was on September 4, 1893, that a number of the most prominent citizens
of San Francisco held a daylight seance (at high noon) at the office of
Mayor Ellert. The company had assembled in response to the _Examiner's_
invitation, and all of the witnesses had agreed in advance to observe
everything closely and write an absolutely fair account of what they saw,
adding any theory or explanation that seemed sufficient to account for the
phenomena.
It is as well to say that is was a mirthful assembly at the outset, and
the newspaper man who had arranged for the experiments was the butt of
many little jokes. The idea that the medium could do anything more than a
little clever juggling seemed farthest from anybody's thoughts.
Dr. Louis Schlesinger, then a man about sixty-one years of age, was the
spiritualist medium who said he could convince all present that the dead
return, and that he could hold communion with the living. The following
spectators were present, and the written reports of some of them are given
in full in the subjoined narrative: Mayor Levi R. Ellert, District
Attorney W. S. Barnes, President Theodore F. Bonnet, of the San Francisco
Press Club, Ex-President Grant Carpenter, of the same club, H. H.
McCloskey, then a State Central Committeeman of the Republican party, and
many other casual observers.
At another seance Chief of Police Crowley, Judge Robert Ferral, Dr. R. E.
Bunker, and Attorney Charles L. Patton were the principal investigators,
though Captain Wright and many others saw all that was done. At this
seance the observations were conducted under the test conditions arranged
by Chief Crowley, Dr. Bunker, and Attorney Patton.
The reader should satisfy himself concerning the mental and moral
qualifications of all the witnesses named by glancing at the biographical
sketches elsewhere in this volume.
At the Mayor's office Dr. Schlesinger was announced as a resident of No. 1
Polk Street. He said he knew none of the committee, and nobody present
except the _Examiner's_ representative knew the Doctor.[1]
[1] He now lives in Boston.--Editor.
"I can converse with the spirits of your deceased friends," said the
medium, "and I am giving my life to this work. I gave up a great tea
business to teach my fellow men that life does not end at the grave. My
home is constantly filled with bands of angels from the celestial depths,
but I am able to call a few spirits around any box, table, or desk. I want
you to satisfy yourself that all that is done here is absolutely honest."
Before proceeding further the Doctor produced a testimonial from Editor
Will S. Green, of the Colusa _Sun_ (afterwards State Treasurer), which
explained that Dr. Schlesinger's performances could not be explained on
the theory of trickery. A clipping from the _Sun_ of September 5, 1890,
gave an account of matters that had puzzled the people of Colusa. The
investigations began, therefore, with a great deal of interest, and before
their conclusion the old Doctor had greatly puzzled all present. They
could not tell whether it was some psychic power by which he operated, or
whether they had been basely deceived.
At his own request, Dr. Schlesinger was not introduced to any of the
persons present. He soon called their names, however, and said they were
given to him by the spirits in the raps that all could hear on the desk.
The Doctor's favorite method of communicating startling information was to
have the sitters write, before they came into his presence, fifteen or
twenty names of living and dead friends. Each name being on a separate
piece of paper, the visitors were requested to fold each slip tightly, so
as to preclude any possibility of its being read by the medium. This done,
the slips, all of equal size, were put into a hat and thoroughly shuffled.
The Doctor would then say: "Pick out any slip yourself, and I will read it
without looking and before you yourself know what the name is." There
would then be raps, and in a few seconds the Doctor would give the name
correctly. These names were written and folded in a room apart from the
Doctor.
"Granting that there is such a thing as mind-reading," said Chief Crowley,
"I do not think mind-reading would account for what was done for me,
because he read things that were not in my mind, telling me my mother's
maiden name and where she died."
Dr. Schlesinger calls his gift clairaudient mediumship, and says his right
ear is deaf to all terrestrial sounds, but quickened, as with a sixth
sense, for communications from the other world. He says he can both see
and hear spirits, and that bands of them encircle him, and at times, in
the presence of some peculiarly "fit" visitors, manifest themselves with
great clearness and power. To prove that the sounds he hears are celestial
voices, he does many things which baffle those who witness the strange
phenomena which abound in his presence wherever he goes.
It was with much difficulty that those who participated in these seances
and whose accounts of what they saw are subjoined, were induced to give
the medium a hearing. Chief Crowley was particularly opposed to giving
serious attention to what he denounced as "trickery and sleight of hand,"
and afterwards called "marvelous and beyond power of explanation." Finally
he wrote down a number of names on separate slips, as explained in the
foregoing, and among those names appeared that of his mother--her maiden
name. The medium at once told the Chief which pellet contained his
mother's name, then read it, and in a few moments told where she died and
where she was buried.
A few minutes later the aged Doctor said: "The spirit of Detective Hutton,
who died a violent death, hovers near you."
The medium then spoke of matters that were known to nobody but Chief
Crowley and the dead detective. This greatly puzzled the Chief, who was
later deeply affected over purported messages from a son and others who
had been dear to him in life.
Speaking of the purported message from his dead mother the Chief said: "I
cannot explain this, which is marvelous, for I do not believe a human
being in San Francisco knew that my mother's maiden name was Elizabeth
McCarthy, that she died in New Jersey and was buried in New York."
Chief Crowley then wrote down a list of years, among them the year of his
mother's death. Dr. Schlesinger pointed to the year 1833 as that of her
death.
"Correct!" replied Chief Crowley; whereupon the medium said, "and the name
of your father, Patrick J. Crowley, is also here, and he comes with your
son Lewis, who has not been dead long."
The Chief thought it the most wonderful performance he had ever seen. "He
does marvelous and inexplicable things," said the Chief, "and I'll admit
I cannot tell how it is done. While I cannot believe he converses with
spirits, I am puzzled. I want to see him again and look into the matter
further."
[Illustration: EX-CHIEF OF POLICE P. CROWLEY.]
The experiments with Mayor L. R. Ellert, who sprang from his chair and
positively declined to be thrown into a trance condition when the doctor
requested him thus to visit the spirit world, were fully as startling as
those with Chief Crowley.
Mayor Ellert took a chair in front of his official table, which had thus
been dedicated to spiritual uses, and asked if any spirits desired to
communicate with him, whereupon the medium grasped his Honor's hands and
the line of communication with the spirits was declared fully established.
Quite distinct raps were then heard on the table, and Dr. Schlesinger
looked at the Mayor and said: "You are a medium yourself, sir! My, what a
power!"
The Mayor was urged "to sit alone often and be patient," and was told that
he could develop much power by such a course.
[Illustration: HON. L. R. ELLERT.]
Mayor Ellert then wrote down ten of fifteen names of living and dead
friends, on separate slips of paper. He refused to use the paper handed
him by Dr. Schlesinger, but cut up an official letter head which lay on
his own desk. As he began to write the names, the medium stepped away and
engaged in conversation with District Attorney Barnes and Mr. Bonnet at
the other side of the room, so that he could not see what Mayor Ellert
wrote. The Mayor carefully folded the slips, put them in a hat, and
shuffled them. He then brought one forth from the hatful.
"That's a dead one," said Dr. Schlesinger. "Open it and see whether I am
correct; but don't let me see it."
The Mayor obeyed the request, and answered, "Yes, this is a dead person's
name!"
"Don't let me see it," said the mysterious visitor, "and I'll tell you
what it is," whereupon he at once correctly pronounced the name of the
Mayor's sister, which was not Ellert.
The Mayor then announced that he was unable to explain the phenomena. He
watched the medium's movements and convinced himself that there had been
no juggling in the shuffle, and said that his visitor out-Hermanned
Hermann. He would leave the solution of the phenomena to others learned in
the arts of divination.
[Illustration: CHARLES L. PATTON.]
The outcome of the seances and the story of what occurred may best be
told by those who were present, and the subjoined versions are given:--
ATTORNEY PATTON'S STORY.
"I desire to preface what I have to say by remarking that while I have
never been nor am I now a spiritualist, nor have I ever before been
present at the performance of a medium, yet what I saw of Dr.
Schlesinger's so-called manifestations from the spirit world is entirely
inexplicable to me upon any scientific hypothesis with which I am
familiar; yet at the same time I must admit that I cannot explain the
phenomena exhibited upon any theory of legerdemain or sleight of hand
within my knowledge. Therefore, I merely state that I have seen, or
seemingly seen, and heard the following remarkable things, during the
sitting or seance with Dr. Schlesinger, leaving it to others more
competent than I to determine whether they are the manifestations of some
psychic force at present unadmitted by scientists or the legerdemain of a
sleight-of-hand performer.
"The facts are as follows: At the request of the Doctor, I wrote eight or
ten names of different persons on as many slips of paper, two of the
number being dead, and folded the slips in such a manner that the Doctor
could not read them; and so far as I can judge, the Doctor could not have
had any method of knowing what names I wrote. I then placed the folded
papers in a hat, and one of the other gentlemen present drew them out one
by one. The Doctor, as each paper was drawn out, asked some question, such
as 'Guide, is this the one dead?' Finally, after all the papers had been
held up and the questions asked, some raps on the table, seeming to have
indicated according to the Doctor that the persons whose names were on two
of the slips were dead, I, on examination, found that he was correct in
his judgment. He then without (so far as I could see) having had any
opportunity to have seen the names, desired me to place the slips with the
names on in my pocket. Presently he said: 'I see two faces over your
shoulder; the name of one is J. B. The other says: "I am glad you have
commemorated my name by writing it here," the name is V. C.;' the Doctor
being correct in naming the deceased person in each instance, and the
message being appropriate to the character of the deceased person. I will
add, that, so far as I know, Dr. Schlesinger had no possible means of
knowing the name or anything about either person. One of the names, I feel
confident, was not known to any person in California outside of myself.
"CHAS. L. PATTON."
BARNES WAS PUZZLED.
District Attorney Barnes gives the following account of the seance:--
"I was completely surprised at the performance in the Mayor's office. It
was the first seance I had ever attended, and I must confess that I had
not the slightest respect for such manifestations other than a natural
admiration for the quickness of the operator. I had always supposed that
batteries, wires, a tolerable acquaintance with the sitter, all aided by
darkness, were the causes of the effects produced by the medium. In this
case, however, the seance took place in broad daylight, and no attempt was
made, so far as I could see, to use any mechanical means. The medium sat
two or three feet from the Mayor's desk, and only touched the desk
occasionally with his hand, yet from that desk came the spirit rappings
that were clearly audible to all of us in the room. I watched the others
write lists of names containing each the name of some dead person, and saw
the quickness with which Dr. Schlesinger picked out the persons who had
passed away, and gave messages from them. When it came my turn I wrote a
number of names on small slips of paper, folded them and held them in my
hand. Among these names was that of a classmate of mine at Harvard, who
died long ago at Philadelphia, who had never been in California, and whose
name I have not mentioned for years. Hardly had I sat down when Dr.
Schlesinger called his full name and gave me a message from him, recalling
an occurrence, so far as I am aware, known only to the dead man and
myself. To say that I was amazed but feebly expresses it; and when I asked
the Doctor whence he got his information, he replied, 'It is borne to me
on angels' wings.'
[Illustration: ATTORNEY W. S. BARNES.]
"Whether it was or not, it was a most remarkable thing, and deeply
impressed upon me that 'There are more things in heaven and earth than are
dreamt of in our philosophy.'
"WILLIAM S. BARNES."
Seven years after the foregoing was written, Mr. Barnes expressed himself
as still deeply puzzled. "I cannot think of any experience in life so
marvelous," he said, "so beyond my power to explain."
JUDGE FERRAL'S TESTIMONY.
Ex-Judge Robert Ferral's narrative largely corroborates what the others
said. He presents the case in his own way.
"Having taken a deep interest from early boyhood in exhibitions of a
marvelous nature, such as magic, legerdemain, mesmerism, hypnotism,
mind-reading, and spiritualism, it was with pleasure that I accepted the
kind invitation to visit Dr. Schlesinger and personally witness his
experiments and manifestations.
"I found the Doctor an aged, venerable man, in a large room, surrounded by
a company of ladies and gentlemen, bright, cheerful, and intelligent, all
apparently bent upon the rational enjoyment of this life, and happy in the
belief of companionable intercourse with the realm of spirits.
"Retiring to more quiet quarters, consisting of an ordinary bedroom and
parlor, the business began without waste of words or loss of time. Having
written the names of half a dozen persons, living and dead, each name on a
separate slip, carefully folded and looking precisely alike, which were
tossed into a hat and well shaken up, the doctor proceeded to name the
contents of each paper as it was drawn out. Occasionally he made a
mistake, but in nearly every instance succeeded at the first or second
trial. He first separated the living from the dead, without opening the
slips, and sometimes not even touching them; then proceeded to give the
names. Afterward, upon writing place and cause of death, age, occupation,
etc., upon other slips, the same result followed. Some of the names
submitted by me were peculiar, and I believe known to no one else in this
city, yet they were announced--read off, as it were--with but little
hesitation and generally exactly as written. The same thing occurred as to
the diseases and places of death.
[Illustration: JUDGE ROBERT FERRAL.]
"During this manifestation of his power Dr. Schlesinger simply formed a
circle or chain of hands, connecting with himself, frequently tapped the
table, and appealed to an unseen 'guide' for his information. Raps were
said to have been heard also, but of this I cannot bear testimony.
"How was this done? By mesmerism? No; for there was nothing in the nature
of sleep or putting to sleep. Mind-reading? Possibly; although some of the
slips of paper were read correctly when the contents were for the time
forgotten and unknown to myself. Hypnotism? Don't know, having but a faint
idea how far these phenomena extend. By sharpness of sight, trickery,
sleight of hand? I cannot answer, at least for the present, remaining, as
before, an agnostic on these matters; unable to give an intelligent
explanation, but at the same time not disposed to jeer or scoff at what I
do not understand. Respectfully,
"ROBERT FERRAL."
September 5, 1893.
DR. BUNKER'S NARRATIVE.
The following is Dr. R. E. Bunker's account, written at his old office,
No. 802 Kearny Street, just after the seances and while he was still in
charge of the City Receiving Hospital:--
"I saw Dr. Schlesinger in company with the other gentlemen named, and I
saw wonderful things which I am wholly unable to explain. The phenomena,
manifestations, or things that occur in the medium's presence are not only
interesting, but marvelous. I went possessed of something like eight or
ten slips of paper, on each of which I had previously written (at my
office) a name of some person I had known--some living, some dead. Not a
soul ever saw the slips, for I was alone when I wrote the names.
Furthermore, they were so folded that no one could possibly have read a
single name. Dr. Schlesinger at once picked out the names of living and
dead persons, while the slips were held between my fingers and when I did
not know what person's name was on the particular slip that I held. He
pronounced every name correctly while I held the pellet, or as it lay
untouched on his table.
"To say that what he did was by the aid of wires or batteries would be to
impart to wires and batteries more intelligence than the greatest
philosophers have ever possessed. This is no explanation; nor has any one
ever been able to explain to me how these things were done. I do not
believe it was mind-reading (a term that conveys no intelligent idea to me
anyhow), for I did not know the name on the slip under question--not until
I afterwards unfolded it and corroborated the Doctor's readings. You
understand that the entire bunch had been thoroughly shuffled in a hat
before any slip was picked up.
"To come to specific instances, let me give a few cases as they occurred.
On one slip I had written my mother's maiden name, which was not known to
anybody in San Francisco. It was placed among eight or ten other names of
women--some married, some unmarried, some wholly fictitious. All slips
were folded alike and placed in a hat under the table, which I held in my
hands. Dr. Schlesinger asked me to pick out the pellets, one at a time and
hold them between my finger and thumb. He would say, 'That is not the
name, throw it aside;' and so on, until he hesitated at one pellet and
said, 'That is your mother's maiden name; it is Emily J. Laumann.'
"The answer was correct, and in a similar manner he read other names and
told me all about the persons. I had written the name of Dick Foster on
one slip. Foster had died of consumption at the old Bella Union Theater,
on June 21st. The medium did not read his name, but wrote a message
backwards--that is, from left to right--very rapidly, and when I held it
up to the light with the written surface from me, I could read the
following:--
_I am glad to be here, and if I can obtain the appropriate conditions
I will show my identity._
_DICK FOSTER._
"This was a puzzling thing, and I should like for some one to explain how
it was done, if there was not communication with some invisible
intelligence. In regard to Foster's name it should be said that the medium
had not seen nor heard it, and that his hand flew over the paper very fast
while he wrote the backward message. So far as I could see, Dr.
Schlesinger was quite deaf and near-sighted. He was an old man of heavy
weight and clumsy fingers. His manner was that of a devout believer in the
genuineness of his theory. If any one can explain to me how these things
were done, he will interest me far more than Dr. Schlesinger did, and it
should be said that my attention to what he did was held without
interruption from the start. There were several other like tests wherein
he read for me other names by a process equally startling, making one feel
that he had marvelous powers.
"R. E. BUNKER, M. D."
WHAT MR. BONNET SAW.
Theodore F. Bonnet, who was a reporter for the _Daily Report_ at the time
of the seance at the Mayor's office, was a guest of the author during the
seance. Mr. Bonnet, who is now editor and owner of _Town Talk_, an
influential weekly newspaper, wrote the following account of what he saw
and handed it to the author just after the seance:--
"After witnessing the efforts of Dr. Schlesinger as a medium, one cannot
but be impressed by his marvelous powers of divination. They are
impossible of explanation on any hypothesis calculated to reduce his work
to the vulgar plane of legerdemain. Yet the manifestations, as he is
pleased to call his marvelous, puzzling and apparently supernatural
revelations concerning matters with which he could not become familiar
under ordinary circumstances, are after all, unsatisfactory to the person
engaged in testing his power. I must give him credit, however, for having
startled me by one message. I had written on small slips of paper, which
were then carefully folded--all this an hour or more before the meeting.
One of the names was Joseph Touhill, an Oakland burglar, who had been
killed by a policeman who caught him robbing a saloon. I had known
Touhill, and had been quite friendly with him in late years, but had never
suspected that he was of the Jekyll and Hyde species. The medium did not
at once direct me to the piece of paper on which Touhill's name was
written, but afterwards he suddenly said: 'The spirit of the man with
whom you wish to communicate is here now.'
[Illustration: EDITOR THEODORE F. BONNET.]
"I signified my willingness to hear from the spirit, whereupon the Doctor
said, 'Old boy, I'm not quite as dead as you think.' Then he mentioned the
name of Joseph Touhill. Now, this circumstance deeply impressed me,
because the language was so characteristic of the dead burglar, it having
been customary with him to address me as 'Old boy.' Mind-reading will have
to be rejected as an explanation, because the Doctor subsequently read a
name that was on a pellet that I had not opened, and knew nothing about
until I subsequently read it. I picked up the pellet from the desk where I
had put it with a number of others, and handed it to Mayor Ellert, who,
without examining it, deposited it in his vest-pocket. Then came rappings
on the table, and the medium said: 'Behind you stands the spirit of the
man whose name is on that paper. He was an eminent person, and he died
far away from here. He is waving a flag over your head, and on it is
written the name of Victor Hugo.'
"The name was correct. Subsequently the Doctor correctly read the name of
William Cullen Bryant, which I had also written. The Doctor quoted the
spirit of the poet as saying that he was delighted that I was interested
in demonstrating that there was a world of spirits. Dr. Schlesinger's
feats are bewildering to the human mind. If he is a mere trickster he
possesses in a marvelous way the skill to disguise his character, for his
appearance and demeanor are those peculiar to fanaticism or strong faith
in a cause.
"THEO. F. BONNET."
MR. M'CLOSKEY'S VERSION.
The following is the narrative of Mr. H. H. McCloskey, a resident of
Merced at the time of the seance, but now a San Francisco lawyer:--
"I did not attend the little seance at the Mayor's office by appointment.
I was on my way to finish up some business and catch the 4-o'clock boat,
when District Attorney Barnes suggested that I drop in and see the fun.
Intending to remain but a few moments, I accepted the invitation, and have
no reason to regret having done so. As to what happened there, while I
remember perfectly well what was done, and kept careful note of all that I
saw, I am unable to account for it on any other hypothesis than that the
Doctor was, as he claims to be, a spiritual medium. At the same time I am
not prepared to admit that much.
"What I saw I saw clearly; it was real and devoid of illusion. There being
no one present but the Mayor and thoroughly reputable gentlemen, collusion
by which a portion of the events of that afternoon might be accounted for
is, of course, out of the question; and neither collusion, mind-reading,
nor anything else could account for all that occurred.
"The Doctor requested me to write on seven slips of paper, one on each
slip, the names of six acquaintances, five of whom were living and the
sixth dead. On the seventh my own name was to be written. I had never seen
the Doctor before, and have no reason to suppose that he had ever seen me.
I used my own pencil in writing the names, and wrote upon paper furnished
by the city and county for the use of his Honor the Mayor. When writing
the names I was twenty feet away from the Doctor, and as I wrote upon each
slip I folded it up carefully, so that I myself could not see anything of
the writing, nor tell one of the seven slips from the others. Five of the
names were those of intimate personal friends, the sixth of a man whom I
knew in a business way, but for whom, while I was not at all intimate with
him, I had always a great regard. This man is dead, and has been so for a
couple of years.
"In obedience to the Doctor's request, I placed the seven slips on the
table. Taking the hand of Mr. Barnes, I holding the hand of the latter,
the Doctor proceeded to take the slips one by one from the table. The
first he held a second and dropped. The second he handed to me saying,
'This contains your name.' Upon opening it I found the Doctor to be
correct, and asking him what my name was he promptly told us.
"I confess I was a little mystified, but the Doctor didn't stop there.
Continuing, he picked up the other slips until the fifth one had been
reached. 'This is the name of your dead friend. His name is V. C. W.
Hooker--not exactly, but a name very similar. I can't quite make it out.
He says he will talk to you at another time.' As you saw when I opened the
slip it showed as I had written it the name of V. C. W. Hooper, a man who
was quite prominent in Merced during his lifetime. Just how the Doctor
found that out I leave to others who were there to explain when they have
time after accounting for the mysterious things that happened to
themselves. I cannot and will not pretend to. It was not mind-reading,
however. Of that I am satisfied. For as he picked up the fifth slip and
said, 'This is the name of the dead man,' he did not get that information
by reading my mind, for there were two more slips remaining, and I
couldn't say which was which. That is beyond any explanation. Mind-reading
will not fit it at all.
"One of the party--I think it was Mr. Barnes--wrote the name of _two_ dead
men in his list. Leaving out the first problem--the picking up of the
right slip--putting that aside, how is it to be explained that the Doctor
chose the right name of the two dead ones? Mr. Barnes did not know. He
had not opened the slip; therefore the Doctor could not read his mind. For
myself, I give up the conundrum.
"Very truly.
"H. H. MCCLOSKEY."