AN EXAMINATION OF MR. HOPE AND HIS CRITICS
Having said so much in support of Mr. Hope’s mediumship, let me say what
I can in the way of personal criticism, for I hold no particular brief
for him, and am only anxious to follow truth wherever it may lead. I have
written this pamphlet because I think that truth has been grievously
obscured, and that the fruit of seventeen years of remarkable psychic
demonstration is, for the moment, imperilled by the attention of the
public being directed entirely to a single case which is, admittedly upon
the face of it, of a damaging character. We spiritualists should be, in
Stevenson’s fine phrase, “steel-true and blade-straight,” and we should
never avoid an issue, or fall into the error of our opponents who have
no sense of balance and can only focus their gaze upon one side of a
question.
It has been said that Hope is suspiciously restless and fussy in the
dark room. This, so far as my own observation goes, is correct. It may
be that he is nervously anxious for success, or it may be that he is not
in a normal condition—for he usually holds a service and occasionally
goes into apparent trance immediately before the experiment. Whatever
the cause, I am not prepared to deny the fact, or that not unreasonable
suspicions might be awakened by his attitude in the minds of those who
are brought for the first time in contact with his personality. I can
only point to the cases already given, and say once more that _no_ action
upon his part could have produced them.
Again, it is said of Hope that he is impatient of tests and restrictions.
Some of his best friends have been alienated by this fact. Mediums are
touchy people—more delicately organised in many cases than any other
human type. They may occasionally show an irrational annoyance and
resentment against any action which implies personal suspicion. And yet,
though he certainly prefers to be left to his own methods unrestrained
save by ordinary observation, it is a fact that he has in the past
consented to a great number of tests and has come out of them remarkably
well. I have heard him say, “What have I to gain from tests? I am put to
a deal of trouble, I do what I am asked to do, I get result, and then I
hear no more about it except that perhaps I have convinced the person. Or
perhaps, even if I have done all he asks in his own way, he still says
he is unconvinced.” I can bear him out in this latter statement, for I
have knowledge of three separate sittings which he had with a well-known
London editor, where, under the latter’s ever more stringent conditions,
Hope got results certainly twice, and, I think, thrice, and yet when I
asked this editor to vouch for these results that I might quote them in
this pamphlet, in the interests of truth and justice, I could get no
reply to my letter. This seems to indicate either that he was not yet
satisfied, though his own conditions had been carried out, or else that
he had not the moral courage to help the medium at the time when he
needed testimony.
The incident shows that there is some truth in Hope’s contention that
tests are often a waste of energy. At the same time, it should be known
that when the S.P.R. made their recent attack, founded upon a single
case, Hope at once offered to give fresh sittings and to submit to the
most drastic tests so long as those who were in sympathy were also
associated in the experiment. For some reason the S.P.R. refused this,
and it is a serious flaw in their position. None the less, we must make
the admission that, in general, Hope is not fond of tests.
But there is another and more serious admission which I would make,
although in doing so I may possibly be doing Hope an injustice. He
is, in my opinion, not only a spiritualist, but a fanatic, which is a
dangerous thing in any line of thought. We are aware that one must “test
the spirits,” but I believe that Hope has such childlike and blind faith
in his guides that he would obey their directions whatever they might
be. I recollect one case where a distinguished man of science sent Hope
a sealed packet, upon which the latter placed it in a bucket of water,
under the alleged prompting of some spirit message. The natural result
was to alienate the scientific man from psychic photography for many
years. It is easy to say that this was simply a case of vulgar fraud,
but fraud would be done in some manner which could be concealed and not
in so drastic a manner as that, and, as I have shown, fraud does not at
all fit in with Hope’s usual results. I make the critic a present of the
case, merely adding that I believe Hope’s account of his motives to be
absolutely true, however incomprehensible it might seem.
I have now, I hope, convinced any reasonable reader of the genuine nature
of Hope’s powers, which, after all, wonderful as they may seem, are by
no means unique, but are to be matched by those of several contemporaries
both in England and in America—not all of them professionals.
We will next turn to the particular case treated in the report of the
S.P.R. drawn up by Mr. Price, and afterwards published in a sixpenny
form and widely distributed gratis with the evident intention of ruining
Hope. Apart from its truth or falseness, the pamphlet is in deplorable
taste, with puns upon Hope’s name, and tags of Johnson and Dryden dotted
over it. So grave a subject should be treated with dignity even when
severity is necessary. I will now state the case as clearly as I can,
together with some remarkable side-lights which have appeared since the
publication.
Having determined to catch Hope out, Mr. Price, who has considerable
knowledge both of conjuring and of photography, procured from the
Imperial Dry Plate Company eight plates, all of which had been cut
from the same sheet of glass. Six of these plates were made up into a
single packet, and all were treated by X-rays, so that while there was
no outward sign that they had been marked there would, according to the
testimony of the Company, appear upon them when they were developed a
design of the Company’s trademark.
Carrying with him this doctored packet, and accompanied by a friend,
Mr. Seymour, also a conjurer, Mr. Price kept an appointment which Mr.
Hope had given him at the British College of Psychic Science, London, on
February 24th, 1922. The mediums were quite unsuspicious of any trap, nor
did they hear anything of the matter till four months later.
Mr. Price says: “I made myself very pleasant, said how sorry I was that
they had been ill with influenza, and asked after the Crewe Circle,
saying that my people were natives of Shropshire.” A private detective
must, of course, use deception, but when Mr. Price at a later stage
proceeded to ask that “Onward, Christian soldiers!” be the hymn sung, and
suggesting that the extra finally shown was that of his own mother, he
really does seem to be wallowing in it to an unnecessary degree. After
all, the matter was one of business; he had paid for his sitting, he
would surely get it, and no elaborate deception was needed.
After the usual ceremonies Mr. Price and Mr. Hope went into the dark
room, where the package was opened and the two top plates put into the
carrier. Hope then took up the carrier, asking Price to wrap up the
remaining plates, and it was at this moment that Price “saw him ...
put the dark slide to his left breast-pocket, and take it out again
(another one?) without any ‘talking’ or knocking.” I copy this sentence
as printed, and it is curious to find the S.P.R., which is continually
claiming from others the utmost exactness of statement, passing one which
is so involved and unintelligible. However, it is certain that Mr. Price
means that Hope at that moment changed the carriers, though he does not
even tell us where the second carrier went to. Mr. Price had endeavoured
to mark with some pricking instrument of his thumb the original carrier,
but carriers are often of very hard wood, and he could not, one would
think, have verified such a result, therefore the fact that no marks of
pricks were found upon the carrier cannot be regarded very seriously. It
is an instructive fact that the S.P.R. receives all these very loose
tests without question or comment, while when the evidence is the other
way, as in the case of Major Spencer, they are ready with the most
extraordinary explanations rather than admit a positive result.
The couple then emerged from the dark room—I am omitting unessential
and wearying details—and the photographs were duly taken with no exact
record of the time of exposure, though Mr. Price roughly placed it at
from eighteen to nineteen seconds. The point was really of great, and
might have been, of vital importance. When the plates were developed
one was normal of Price alone, and the other had a female extra looking
over Price’s shoulder. This female face has the psychic arch and bears
every sign to my eye, and to that of every spiritualist whom I have heard
discuss it, of being true to type and a real Hope extra.
Mr. Price complimented the medium upon his success, carried off the
plates, and then set himself to dictate an article which was duly printed
in the “Proceedings” of the S.P.R. to show that the whole business was a
swindle, that the plates had been changed, and that the extra had been on
a plate which Hope had foisted upon Price by the device of changing the
carriers in the dark room.
The points upon which Price relied in his charge may be taken in their
order. They were:
1. That on the plate with the extra the X-ray marks of the
Imperial Company were not present.
Experiments were at once undertaken by several investigators, including
Dr. Cushman, of Washington, and Mr. Hewat McKenzie. They showed that
with long exposures, such as Hope gave, the X-ray marks vanish, so that
this test, as was admitted by the Imperial Company, ceases to be valid.
2. That he made marks upon the carrier, which were not found
upon the carrier actually used.
These marks seem to have been mere pricks, and there is no independent
evidence as to their existence.
3. That he saw Hope make a suspicious gesture in the dark room.
This would be more convincing if any indication could be given as to what
became of the discarded carrier. In cross-examination Mr. Price weakened
on the point.
4. That the glass of which the plates were made and on which
the photos appeared, was different in colour and thickness from
the glass of the Imperial plates brought by Mr. Price for the
experiment.
This statement holds good. The plates have been examined and compared,
and those who desired to guard the interests of Mr. Hope (or rather of
truth) agreed that this contention was right, and that there had actually
been a substitution of plates at some time by somebody. There we are all
on common ground. How then, and why, were the plates changed?
Many who were convinced by experience of Hope’s powers and of his
essential honesty, and who were aware of the bitter antagonism which
exists against him, as against all psychic phenomena, in certain circles
of conjurers and of sceptical researchers, and of indiscreet expressions
before the experiment, were of opinion that the whole transaction was an
organised conspiracy to discredit the medium. The packet of plates had
been for several weeks before the experiment in the possession of the
officials of the S.P.R., and was accessible to clever-fingered people who
were hostile to Hope’s claims, and who had frequently averred that the
opening of sealed packets was an easy process. There were other arguments
which I will not state lest I should seem to be endorsing them. Let me
say, at once, that I believe Messrs. Dingwall, Price and Seymour to be
honourable gentlemen, however much I differ from their point of view, and
that I will not advance any hypothesis which is not consistent with that
position.[1]
At the same time, I would point out that all their difficulties, which
have increased with fuller knowledge, are due to their own tortuous
and indirect way of approaching the question. Suppose that instead
of all this juggling of X-ray marks Mr. Price had simply initialled
his plate the moment he took it from the packet as I and many other
experimenters have done, surely if he had afterwards received an extra
upon that initialled plate the test would have been complete, so far
as substitution is concerned. If he had not done so, I am sure that
Hope would have given him a second appointment, and he could have gone
on until he had either succeeded or until he had proved that with an
initialled plate Hope was helpless. Had this been done much trouble would
have been saved, and the result been equally clear.
Or, again, when he was, as he says, morally sure that Hope had changed
the carrier, suppose that instead of complimenting Hope upon results and
suggesting that the image was that of his mother, he had said, “You will
excuse me, Mr. Hope, but I must really examine you and your dark room,
for I think I can find a marked carrier which you have concealed while
you substituted your own.” A refusal from Hope would have really been a
confession. But, all through, a tortuous course was preferred.
I have nothing against Mr. Price’s honour, but a very great deal against
his methods, winding up with his sixpenny attack upon Hope, when the
matter, as events have proved, was very far from being settled.
This pamphlet would certainly convey to the public the idea that Mr.
Price looked upon psychic photography in general as the greatest humbug
in the world, whereas since then he has signed a document which ends with
the words:
“We are convinced that the test with Hope on February 24th does
not rule out the possibility that Hope has produced supernormal
pictures, or that he is able to produce ‘extras’ by other than
normal means.”
Had he been wise enough to adopt this humbler tone in the first instance
we could all discuss the question now in a more placid frame of mind.
[Illustration: FIG. 8.—The Rev. C. L. Tweedale and his wife with psychic
likeness of Mrs. Tweedale’s father. (_See_ p. 34.)]
[Illustration: FIG. 9.—Photograph of Mr. Frank Burnett—Mrs. Tweedale’s
father—who died in 1913. Compare with Fig. 8, showing psychic likeness
obtained six years later.]
[Illustration: FIG. 10.—Photograph of Mrs. Buxton of the Crewe Circle
with her daughter. Psychic likeness of Mrs. Buxton’s father unlike any
other picture in existence. In the bottom left-hand corner is reproduced
a normal photograph of Mrs. Buxton’s father for comparison. (_See_ p.
35.)]
[Illustration: FIG. 11.—Photograph of Mr. and Mrs. H. East, with psychic
likeness of their son obtained on a surprise visit to Crewe. Normal
photograph reproduced alongside psychic effect for comparison. (_See_ p.
19.)]
But irritability must not make us unjust, and we have to face the
question how came the plates to be changed? The only honest answer is
that we do not know, but that the evidence taken on its face value at
this stage was against Hope, in spite of his long record of honesty.
Mr. Barlow has put forward the plea that Hope was in an abnormal mental
condition at such times, and was to that extent irresponsible. I fear I
cannot accept this, for such substitution must be thought out beforehand,
an image must be prepared, and the whole transaction is not an act of
impulse but a deliberate plan.
There has, however, been a most singular sequel to the case which causes
an extraordinary complication, and when closely examined seems to me to
turn Hope from the defendant into the accuser. The S.P.R. claims that
after this experiment one of the two marked plates had been returned
to them, but in so secret a fashion that it could not be explained who
had brought it or how it had been obtained. This was apparently a point
against Hope, the charge inferred, though not stated, being that he had
left this plate about, after abstracting it from the carrier, and that
some enemy had recognised it and brought it to clinch the case against
him. So secret were the proceedings of the Society that though I am
one of the oldest members of that body I was refused leave to see this
mysterious plate. Eventually, however, some of our people did see it, and
then an extraordinary state of things revealed itself. First of all the
plate was undoubtedly one of the original set supplied by the Imperial
Dry Plate Company. Secondly, it was a virgin unexposed plate, so that it
is impossible that anyone at Hope’s end could have picked it out from any
other plates, since the marks were invisible. Third, and most wonderful,
it actually, on being developed, had an image upon it, which may or may
not have been a psychic extra. This plate was sent on March 3rd, a week
after the experiment and three days after Hope and Mrs. Buxton, who
knew nothing yet of Price’s trap, had returned home to Crewe. It was
in a double wrapper, with a request upon the inside cover that it be
developed. The wrapper was formed of Psychic College literature, and it
bore the Notting Hill postmark.
Now consider the situation thus created. Since the plate had not been
developed it is clear that neither Hope nor anyone at the College
could possibly have known that it was a marked plate, for there was no
publication of the alleged exposure until more than four months after.
Who was there in the whole world who did know that this was a marked
plate and one in which the S.P.R. might be expected to take a special
interest? Clearly the experimenters of the S.P.R. and their confidants—no
one else. But if the marked plate had been abstracted by Hope in the
dark room and mixed up there with other plates how could any friend or
emissary of the S.P.R. have picked it out as being the plate that was
marked? It could not have been done. Therefore the conclusion seems to be
irresistible that this plate was abstracted from the packet _before_ the
experiment by someone who knew exactly what it was. If this be so, Hope
is the victim of a conspiracy and he is a much ill-used man. I see no
possible alternative to this conclusion.
Let us see if we can build up any sort of theory which would cover all
the known facts. Any such theory is bound to be improbable, but the
improbable is better than the impossible, and it is quite impossible
that Hope could have known that a plate was secretly marked when it had
not been exposed or developed. We have to remember that the knot of
conspirators (some consciously so, and some not) are in close touch with
a group of conjurers. These gentlemen have announced that there is no
packet which cannot be opened and no seal which cannot be tampered with
undetected. For twenty-four days after Mr. Price takes his packet of
marked plates to the headquarters of the S.P.R. it was locked up not in
a safe but in an ordinary drawer, which may or may not have been locked,
but could presumably be easily opened. My belief is that during that long
period the packet was actually opened and the top plates taken out. Upon
one of these top plates a faked photograph was thrown from one of those
small projectors which produce just such an effect as is shown on the
returned plate. The idea may have been that Hope would claim this effect
as his own and that he would then be confounded by the announcement that
it was there all the time. That was the first stage. The second stage was
that either the original conspirator relented or someone else who was in
his confidence thought it was too bad, so the packet was again tampered
with, the marked and faked plate taken out and a plain one substituted.
The packet was then taken to Hope as described. Mr. Hope then got a
perfectly honest psychic effect upon the unmarked plate. Meanwhile the
abstracter, whoever he may have been, had the original faked plate in his
possession, and out of a spirit of pure mischief—for I can imagine no
other reason—he wrapped it in a sheet of the College syllabus, which can
easily be obtained, and returned it to the S.P.R., to whom it originally
belonged. Wherever it came from it is clear that it did not come from
the College, for when a man does a thing secretly and anonymously he
does not enclose literature which will lead to his detection.
It is possible that this thing may originally have been conceived as a
sort of practical joke upon Hope and upon spiritualists generally, but
that some who were not in the joke have pushed the matter further than
was originally intended. Whom can we blame? I am in the position of never
having personally met any of the three protagonists, Price, Dingwall
or Seymour, so that my view of them is impartial. Mr. Price is popular
among the spiritualists who know him, and all agree that he would be
unlikely to lend himself to any deception. Mr. Dingwall was possessed
by an extreme prejudice against Mr. Hope, and yet I cannot conceive him
as gratifying that prejudice by such a trick. He cannot, however, be
acquitted of having aided and abetted in issuing the libellous pamphlet
against Hope before all the facts were known, and before Hope’s friends
could examine any of them. It was an unworthy thing to do, and Messrs.
Price and Dingwall must share the responsibility. It is a curious fact
which should be recorded that, although the experiment was on February
24th, and though the report of the alleged exposure was not issued till
the end of May, we find Mr. Dingwall applying for a sitting with Hope
early in May, and writing, when Hope refused to give him one: “As I
understand from your letters that you still refuse to have sittings with
the only scientific body in Great Britain investigating this subject, I
shall be obliged in my coming report on psychic photography to publish
certain facts which may not be of advantage to yourself.” That letter
was on May 2nd. Apparently, therefore, the publication of the “exposure”
depended upon whether Mr. Dingwall was piqued or was humoured. If he were
sure that the exposure was a genuine one this is a very singular attitude
to assume.
There remains Mr. James Seymour, the amateur conjurer, who has been
concerned in several so-called exposures. It would be unjust to assert
that it was he who carried out this deception, for when a packet is left
for twenty-four days in a drawer many people may have had access to it,
and none of the three experimenters may have known the facts. This, I
think, is very probable. At the same time, as Mr. Seymour has been very
searching in his inquiries about mediums, he will not take it amiss if
I ask him what he meant when in his evidence (“Cold Light,” etc., p. 7)
he says: “They” (_i.e._, Hope and Mrs. Buxton) “were thoroughly taken in
by the packet and were not suspicious of it.” How could they possibly be
suspicious of a packet which had never been opened? On the other hand, if
the speaker knew that the packet had been tampered with, it would be a
most natural remark to make. The words may be innocent, but they demand
a clear explanation, and so does the fact that an extra was found upon a
marked plate which obviously had never been in Hope’s dark room at all.
So secretive and tortuous have been the methods of the agents of the
S.P.R. that each fresh piece of evidence has to be wrung from them, and
they seem to have no conception of the fact that a man who is accused
has a right to know all the facts concerning the accusation. Even now,
nine months after the event, constant pressure has to be put upon them
in order to get at the truth. Only at this last moment has a new and
strange fact been admitted. It is that when the mysterious marked plate
was returned it was not alone, but that three other plates, not belonging
to the marked series, were with it, _each_ of them adorned with psychic
photographs. These photographs in no way resembled the results of Hope or
of Mrs. Deane, nor were they like the one upon the marked plate. I should
be interested to know whether Mr. Marriott was ever in the counsels of
the conspirators, for there is something in this incident which rather
recalls that gentleman’s powers and also his somewhat impish sense of
humour.
Even now—I write nearly nine months after the original investigation—we
have no assurance that this secret of the S.P.R. has been fully divulged
or that they have been frank with the public. It is possible that they
have received other anonymous communications which bear upon the case.
The first one was within a week of the investigation, and if divulged
at the time it might have been possible to find the source. After such
a lapse of time it is far more difficult. As I have shown, these new
facts place the Society in a very invidious position and that may be the
cause of their hesitations and concealments, but they have to remember
that they have made a wanton attack upon a man’s honour, and that their
own _amour propre_ is a small thing compared to the admission of the
injustice they have done. They should now come forward honestly, admit
the blunders they have committed, apologise to Hope, and remove any
slur which they have cast upon one of the most important and consistent
psychic manifestations ever known in the history of the movement. In all
attempted explanations let them bear in mind the central fact that no one
but themselves and their associates knew that there was a marked plate
in existence until several months after the experiment and after one had
been returned to them.
Among those who examined the evidence at that time available was Dr.
Allerton Cushman, for whose independence of mind and strong common sense
I have a great respect. Having signed the document in which he admitted
that there had been substitution of plates, he added the following
impressive note:
“My signature appended to the above statement sets forth that
investigation of all the facts available up to date shows
that the plate containing the psychic extra in the Price test
sitting with Hope did not match up with the other plates
marked by the Imperial Dry Plate Company. The only possible
inference is that the plate in question was substituted by
someone at some time either deliberately or accidentally. I do
not commit myself as to the authorship of the substitution.
After careful experimentation I do not consider the system of
X-ray marking adopted by Mr. Price to be infallible, but quite
the reverse, as the markings quite disappear on long exposures
and over-development. I am also unimpressed and unconvinced
by Mr. Price’s method of marking the plate-holder. I have had
in all five sittings with Hope and four with Mrs. Deane. Of
these nine sittings, seven were conducted under test conditions
in which Dr. H. Carrington and other witnesses participated.
I have obtained psychic extras from both mediums on plates
marked by X-ray by the Imperial Dry Plate Company, and boxed
and sealed by them, and also on plates purchased by Dr.
Carrington just previous to one of the Hope sittings, all of
which were marked by us with every precaution. I am convinced
that there was no substitution possible in at least five of
the seven test sittings. I consider that the mediums possess
genuine psychic power, and are capable of obtaining marvellous,
genuine results.... The more I investigate the subject the more
convinced I am that the marvellous evidential case of spirit
photography obtained by me through Mrs. Deane in July, 1921,
was genuine and true.
“Yours faithfully,
“ALLERTON F. CUSHMAN.”
[1] I let these words stand as written, but further information,
which only came later to my knowledge, has, as the text will show,
caused me to take a less entirely charitable view.—A.C.D.