(Continuing, without reference to notes):
This writing differed entirely, in general appearance, from the
subsequent writings upon the slate, having apparently been made with the
rounded point of a pencil held in an easy and natural position for
writing. In other instances the writings had a strained and artificial
appearance, and had evidently been made with a pencil point which had
been flattened before being used.
Professor Thompson (to Mr. Sellers): Do you remember that at the session
of which you now speak the Medium denied having any knowledge of James
Clark, and afterwards said that he did know of him?
Mr. Sellers: I remember distinctly that he said he knew nothing of James
Clark's affairs, and that, on another day, he presented a communication
from a William Clark.
(Mr. Sellers here resumed his reading from notes, as follows):
The writing was obliterated from it and the slate again held under the
table, when the question was asked, "Will you do more." An interval of
perhaps one or two minutes elapsed when the slate was exhibited, and
upon it appeared the word "Yes." The word had been written with a
broad-ended pencil, and neither in style nor character resembled the
first writing.
Mr. Sellers, complying with the Medium's request to write a question on
the back of the slate, wrote "Do you know the persons present?" The
response which was made to this was "Yes, we do."
No additional manifestations by writings were made at the first meeting.
During the sitting many raps were produced on the table through some
invisible agency, and as these sounds, in some instances, were such as
could be made by simple means and at the command of a person sitting at
the table, a member of the Committee reproduced the sounds. It was the
conviction of the members of the Committee present that the sounds thus
produced were similar to the sounds said to have been made by Spirits.
The Medium, however, professed his ability to distinguish between the
two classes of sounds, and remarked that some of the sounds heard by him
were such as would be made by a person touching the table and causing it
to make the raps; that such sounds were not from the Spirits; that when
the raps were genuine they caused a peculiar sensation, a sort of
tremor, in his breast, and, therefore, he could tell when the raps were
spurious.
(Mr. Sellers, aside): In other words, that none were genuine but those
made by himself.
(Resuming, from notes): The Medium, in answer to inquiries, gave a
detailed description of the remarkable phenomena said to have been
produced in the presence of Professor Zoellner--which, he said, were as
unexpected to himself (Slade) as they were to any one; that they were
beyond his control, and evidently the work of Spirits under very
favorable conditions.
Mr. Sellers here read the minutes of the meeting of January 22d, 1885,
as prepared by Professor Fullerton.
(The minutes are as follows):
The Committee met on Thursday, January 22d, 1885, at 12 M., in the
Girard House, Philadelphia.
Present: Messrs. Thompson, Furness, Fullerton and the Medium, Henry
Slade.
A table measuring five or four and a-half by three feet, was used by the
Medium. It was an oval table with two leaves. The Medium sat at one
side, with Mr. Furness at the end of the table to his left, Professor
Thompson at the end to his right, and Mr. Fullerton opposite. A circle
was first formed by joining hands upon the table.
A slate was passed to Mr. Fullerton by the Medium, with the request that
it be held by him under the table leaf to his (Mr. Fullerton's) left.
The slate was held by Mr. Fullerton as requested, but at no time during
the sitting was any writing produced on the slate. Toward the close of
the séance the slate was held for some time under the opposite table
leaf by Messrs. Furness and Fullerton.
Dr. Slade, after cleaning a slate, held it under the table-leaf to his
right, in the space between himself and Professor Thompson. The slate
was not held close to the table, but in a slanting position, so that a
space of perhaps four or five inches was left between the edge of the
slate farthest removed from the table and the table itself. A piece of
pencil, broken from a small pencil--about 1-16th to 1-12th in. cross
section, was laid on the slate.
A series of questions were here propounded, in each instance the inquiry
being followed by a scratching sound, and the slate being then withdrawn
from under the table and showing writing upon it. These writings were
construed as responses.