_Secretary_.
* * * * *
May 27th, 1885.
On May 27th, The Seybert Commission held a meeting at the house of Mr.
Furness, at 8 P.M., to examine the phenomena occurring in the presence
of Mr. Pierre L.O.A. Keeler, a professional Medium.
There were present on the part of the Commission, Dr. Pepper, Mr.
Furness, Dr. Koenig, Dr. White, Dr. Knerr, Mr. Sellers and Mr.
Fullerton. The following friends of the Commission were also present:
Mr. F. Furness, Mr. W.R. Furness, Mr. J. Foster Kirk, Mr. Yost, Mrs.
E.D. Gillespie, Miss Gillespie, Mrs. Dr. Mitchell, Mrs. C.B. Rossell,
Mrs. Dr. Pepper, Mrs. Sellers, Mrs. A.L. Wister, Mrs. Dr. Knerr, Miss
Agnes Irwin, Miss M.M. Logan.
There were also present, as introduced by the Medium, the Medium's wife,
Mrs. Keeler; Col. S.P. Kase and Mrs. Kase, and Dr. Annie D. Ramburger.
The Medium, Mr. Keeler, is a young man, apparently about thirty years of
age, with well cut features, curly, brown hair, a small, sandy
moustache, and rather worn and anxious expression; he is strongly
built, about five feet eight inches high, and with rather short, quite
broad, and very muscular hands and strong wrists. The hands were
examined by Dr. Pepper and Mr. Fullerton after the séance.
The séance was held in Mr. Furness's drawing-room, and a space was
curtained off by the Medium in the north-east corner, thus:
[Illustration]
The curtain is represented by _a_, _b_; _c_, _d_ and _e_ are three
chairs placed in front of the curtain by the Medium, in one of which
(_e_) he afterwards sat; _g_ denotes the position of Mrs. Keeler; _f_ is
a small table, placed within the curtain, and upon which were a
tambourine, a guitar, two bells, a hammer, a metallic ring; the
asterisks show the positions of the spectators, who sat in a double
row--the two marked (1) and (2) indicate the positions taken by Mrs.
Kase and Col. Kase, according to the directions of the Medium.
The curtain, or rather curtains, were of black muslin, and arranged as
follows: There was a plain black curtain, which was stretched across the
corner, falling to the floor. Its height, when in position, was 53
inches; it was made thus:
[Illustration]
The cord which held the curtain was 1, 2, and the flaps which are
represented as standing above it (_a_, _b_, _c_, etc.), fell down over
_a'_, _b'_, _c'_, etc., and could be made to cover the shoulders of one
sitting with his back against the curtain. A black curtain was also
pinned against the wall, in the space curtained off, partly covering it.
Another curtain was added to the one pictured, as will be described
later.
The Medium then asked Col. Kase to say a few words as to the necessity
of observing the conditions, need of harmony, etc. And then the Medium
himself spoke a few words of similar import. He then drew the curtain
(shown on the preceding page) along the cord (1, 2) and fastened it;
placed three wooden chairs in front of the curtain, as indicated in the
cut, and saying he needed to form a battery, asked Miss Agnes Irwin to
sit in chair (_d_), and Mr. Yost in chair (_c_), the Medium himself
sitting in chair (_e_). A black curtain was then passed by Mrs. Keeler
over Mr. Keeler, Miss Irwin and Mr. Yost, being fastened at _g_, between
_e_ and _d_, between _d_ and _c_, and beyond _a_: thus entirely covering
the three sitting in front of the stretched curtain up to their necks;
and when the flaps before mentioned were pulled down over their
shoulders, nothing could be seen but the head of each.
Before this last curtain was fastened over them, the Medium placed both
his hands upon the forearm and wrist of Miss Irwin, the sleeve being
pulled up for the purpose, and Miss Irwin grasped with her right hand
the left wrist of Mr. Yost; his right hand being in sight to the right
of the curtain.
After some piano-music, the Medium said he felt no power from this
'battery,' and asked Mrs. E.D. Gillespie to take Miss Irwin's place.
Hands and curtain were arranged as before.
The lights were turned down until the room was quite dim. Those present
sang.
During the singing, the Medium turned to speak to Mr. Yost, and his
body, which had before faced rather away from the two other persons of
the 'battery' (which position would have brought his right arm out in
front of the stretched curtain)--his body was now turned the other way,
so that, had he released his grasp upon Mrs. Gillespie's arm, his own
right arm could have had free play in the curtained space behind him.
His left knee also no longer stood out under the curtain in front, but
showed a change of position.
At this time Mrs. Gillespie declared she felt a touch, and soon after so
did Mr. Yost. The Medium's body was distinctly inclined toward Mr. Yost
at the time. Mrs. Gillespie said she felt taps, but declared that, to
the best of her knowledge, she still felt the Medium's two hands upon
her arm.
Raps indicated that the Spirit, George Christy, was present. As one of
those present played on the piano, the tambourine was played in the
curtained space and thrown over the curtain; bells were rung; the guitar
was thrummed a little. At this time the Medium's face was toward Mrs.
Gillespie, and his right side toward the curtain. His body was further
in against the curtain than either of the others. Upon being asked, Mrs.
Gillespie again said she thought she still felt two hands upon her arm.
The guitar was then thrust out, at least the end of it was, at the
bottom of the curtain, between Mrs. Gillespie and the Medium. Mrs.
Keeler drew away the curtain from over the toes of the Medium's boots,
to show where his feet were; the guitar was thrummed a little. Had the
Medium's right arm been free, the thrumming could have been done quite
easily with one hand.
Afterwards the guitar was elevated above the curtain; the tambourine,
which was by Mrs. Keeler placed upon a stick held up within the
enclosure, was made to whirl by the motion of the stick. The phenomena
occurred successively, not simultaneously.
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 passed 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 passed 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 passed a coat over the curtain, and
an arm was passed 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 pass 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 séance. 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 space 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 passed objects over
the curtain, she invariably passed them to the right of the Medium,
although her position was on his left; and the clothes-pins, paper,
pencil, etc., were all passed 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 passed 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
séance.
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 séance did she
find that arm.
(Taken from notes made during the séance and immediately after it.)