THE ATTACK ON MRS. DEANE AND MR. VEARNCOMBE
I took up my pen for the purpose of considering the case of the Crewe
Circle and urging the folly of discarding the work of seventeen years
on the score of a single case. I cannot, however, end my task without
saying a few words as to the attack upon Mrs. Deane and Mr. Vearncombe,
two other photographic mediums. This attack hardly deserves attention as
it was anonymous, but it was brought out under the auspices of the Magic
Circle, a society of conjurers who have been interesting themselves in
matters psychic. As the two attacks were issued almost simultaneously
they seem to have had some common inspiration, and to have formed a
general assault upon the whole position of psychic photography. The same
individual, Mr. Seymour, the amateur conjurer, actually took part, I
understand, in both transactions.
Mrs. Deane, the person attacked, is a somewhat pathetic and forlorn
figure among all these clever tricksters. She is a little, elderly
charwoman, a humble white mouse of a person, with her sad face, her
frayed gloves, and her little handbag which excites the worst suspicions
in the minds of her critics. Her powers were discovered in the first
instance quite by chance. When she first pursued the subject her
circumstances were such that her only dark room was under the kitchen
table with clothes pinned round it. None the less, she produced some
remarkable pictures under these conditions, one of which fell into my
hands, and I at once concluded that she had real powers. The portrait
was of a young man in life, with a female spirit face behind him. This
might well have been faked. Something seemed to be emerging from the
young man’s head, however, and on observing this object with a lens I
distinguished that it was a small but correct representation of the
Assyrian fish-god, Dagon, wearing the peculiar hat with which that deity
is always associated. This was so entirely the kind of freakish result
which I expect from spirit photography, and was so removed from the
normal powers of a charwoman, that I provisionally accepted her in my
mind as a true medium, a position from which I have never been compelled
to budge. I still retain this photograph, but the little head is too
small for satisfactory reproduction.
Mrs. Deane (or Mrs. Deane’s control) has one embarrassing habit which I
believe to be unnecessary, and which makes it very difficult to convince
the sceptic, or, indeed, to prevent him from writing her down as an
obvious fraud. Far from insisting that you bring your own plates, as Hope
does, she likes them to be sent to her in advance, and she does what she
calls “magnetising” them, by keeping them near her for some days. This
is so suspicious that it can hardly be defended, but here, again, there
is an element of fanatical obedience. My own personal belief is that
her results are perfectly honest, that they are actually formed in the
shape of psychographs during the days before the sitting, and that if her
plates were examined before they were exposed to light, the pictures
would be found already on them. This, of course, would very naturally be
taken as clear proof of fraud by the superficial investigator, ignorant
of the strange possibilities of psychic photography, but I believe myself
that the psychic effect is a perfectly genuine one, but that the extra
will very probably bear no relevancy to the sitter. I am speaking now of
her general routine, for how can I guarantee every particular case or
judge what a medium may do when dealing with so evanescent and elusive a
thing as psychic power? When they have it they use it—when it fails them
the human element may come in.
I have had one sitting with Mrs. Deane in which six plates were exposed.
In four of them there were abnormal results. One of these was a female
face smiling from an ectoplasmic cloud. What does Mrs. Deane know of
ectoplasmic clouds? One such is visible in the specimen of her work which
is shown in Figure 30. Exactly similar are some of the clouds which
appear in Hope’s work. Such appearances do not aid deception. Why, then,
should they appear if it is not that it is part of a psychic process?
Mrs. Deane gave me the choice of two packets of plates upon this
occasion, and I admit that the effects may very well have been on the
plates before the exposure. None the less, they were probably quite
genuine as supernormal pictures. Such a statement may raise a smile from
Mr. MacCabe or from Mr. Paternoster in _Truth_, but I have the advantage
over them in the fact that I have had practical experience of the matter
at issue.
[Illustration: FIG. 12.—Photograph of Mr. Wm. Jeffrey and his daughter,
showing ectoplasmic bag. (_See_ p. 37.)]
[Illustration: FIG. 13.—Photograph taken immediately after that shown by
Fig. 12. Position of sitters is unchanged, but the ectoplasmic veiling
now contains an excellent likeness (slightly distorted) of Mr. Jeffrey’s
deceased wife.]
[Illustration: FIG. 14.—Psychic likeness of Agnes, daughter of Dr.
Allerton Cushman. A life-like picture obtained by Dr. Cushman through a
surprise visit paid to Mrs. Dean. (_See_ p. 63.)]
[Illustration: FIG. 15.—A normal photograph of Agnes Cushman for
comparison with Fig. 14.]
But I am bound to give my reasons for such a statement, or I might well
be branded as credulous. My reasons are that I am convinced that this
magnetising process is perfectly unnecessary and Mrs. Deane, within my
knowledge, obtains her best results when there has been no possibility of
knowing who her sitter will be. The very finest result which I know of in
psychic photography was that obtained by Dr. Cushman with Mrs. Deane. Dr.
Cushman, a distinguished scientific man of America, had suffered the loss
of his daughter Agnes some months before. He went to the Psychic College
without an appointment or an introduction. When he arrived he found Mrs.
Deane in the act of leaving. He persuaded her to give a sitting, and then
and there he obtained a photograph of his “dead” daughter which is, he
declares, unlike any existing one, and is more vital and characteristic
than any taken in life. When I was in the States I showed this picture on
the screen as in Figure 14, and there was abundant testimony from those
who knew Agnes that it was a life-like picture.
I would refer this case to the anonymous writers of the Magic Circle,
who has done all they could to worry this poor woman and to destroy her
powers, and I would ask them how that little bag of tricks which exists
only in their own imagination could have affected such a result as that.
It will be noted in the already quoted opinion of Dr. Cushman that since
this scandal Mrs. Deane has been severely tested by him and others, and
that they have been able under the Doctor’s own conditions to get psychic
results.
Another excellent case of Mrs. Deane’s power is that which forms the
subject of Figure 30. The extra in the ectoplasmic cloud is Mr. Barlow,
senior, the father of the Secretary of the S.S.S.P. Beside him is a
picture of how he looked twelve years before his death. No one can deny
that it is the same man with the years added on. Mrs. Deane never knew
Mr. Barlow’s father in life. How, then, was this result obtained? These
are the cases which the Magic Circle report avoids, while it talks much
of any negative results which it can collect or imagine. I hope that this
short account may do something towards helping a woman whom I believe to
be a true psychic, and who has suffered severely for the faith that is in
her, having actually, I understand, endured the excommunication of her
church because she has used the powers which God has given her. I have a
recollection that Joan of Arc endured the same fate for the reason “_le
plus il change, le plus il reste le même_.”
It only remains for me now, before giving place to others, to say a
word about Mr. Vearncombe, the psychic photographer of Bridgwater. Mr.
Vearncombe was a normal, professional photographer, but he found, as
Mumler did, that inexplicable extras intruded upon and spoilt both his
plates and his business. He then began to study this new power, which he
seemed to possess, and to develop it for commercial use. Mrs. Humphreys,
a member of the S.S.S.P. and a student of psychic affairs, lived in the
same town and submitted him to certain tests which convinced her and
others of his _bona fides_, though I cannot repeat too often that no
blank cheque of honesty can ever be given to any man.
My own experience of Mr. Vearncombe and my knowledge of his work are far
less than in the cases of Mr. Hope and Mrs. Deane, so that I can only say
that I believe he produces genuine results, whereas in the other two
cases I can say that I _know_ they produce genuine results.
I have had two experiments with Vearncombe, but did not impose any test
conditions in either case. I simply sent a closed envelope containing a
letter and asked him to photograph it in the hope that some extra might
appear which I could associate with the sender of the letter. In both
cases a large number, six or seven, well-marked faces developed round
the letter, but none which bore any message to me. Others, however, have
been more fortunate in their experience and have assured me that they
have received true pictures of the dead in that fashion. There is no
ectoplasmic cloud or psychic arch, but the faces are as clear-cut as if
they were stamped with a die.
I am in some degree responsible for Vearncombe’s troubles, as I mentioned
his name as being one who might repay investigation upon the occasion
when I gave evidence before a committee of these conjuring gentlemen.
They seem to have made up a sealed packet to Mr. Vearncombe with
instructions to get what he could. Upon its return they declared that the
packet, which had furnished a psychic result, had been tampered with. No
independent proof whatever was offered in support of this assertion, and
Mr. Fred Barlow, who had obtained results from Mr. Vearncombe, where he
was sure that the packets had _not_ been tampered with, was sufficiently
interested to hunt up the name of the sender and some details of the
case from the Vearncombe end, rather than from that of the “exposers.”
Fortunately Vearncombe had preserved the letters, and it was then
found that the sender, when the packet and the psychic result had been
returned, had at once written to Vearncombe to acknowledge receipt,
adding the two statements:
(1) That one of the faces strongly recalled “an old true friend
who had not been heard of for many years,” and
(2) That the packet had been returned intact.
Thus the Magic Circle had clearly fallen into the pit that it had digged,
and its agent is convicted either of being a senseless liar without
any cause, or else of having completely endorsed the result which the
Circle afterwards pretended was a failure. It was one of those numerous
instances when it is not the medium but the investigators who should
really be exposed. My experience is that this is the case far more
frequently than the public can realise, and that it is amazing how men of
honour can turn and twist the facts when they deal with this subject. A
well-known “exposer” assured a friend of mine that he would think nothing
of putting muslin in a medium’s pocket at a séance, if he was sure that
he could thereby secure a conviction.
I have seen a letter from Mr. Marriott, who is also busy in showing up
“frauds,” in which, writing to Mr. Hope, he offered to teach him to make
more artistic spirit-photographs, charging thirty guineas if the lessons
were in London and forty if at Crewe. I am quite prepared to anticipate
Mr. Marriott’s explanation that this was a trap, but it is an example
of the tortuous, deceptive methods against which our mediums have to
contend.
I understand that Mr. Vearncombe is so disgusted with the whole episode
that he declares he will demonstrate his powers no longer, save to
private friends. We can but hope that he will not allow ignorant or
dishonest anonymous criticism to influence him to this extent. If all of
us who endure annoyance, and even insult, were to desert the spiritualist
cause in order to save our private feelings, we could hardly expect the
truth to prevail.
Let me conclude by saying that I speak from a far larger experience than
the representatives of the S.P.R. or of the Magic Circle, and that,
leaving out Mr. Vearncombe, who needs no defence in the face of the
admission quoted above, I have no doubt whatever of the true psychic
powers of Mrs. Deane and of Mr. Hope, though I cannot pronounce upon
every single case at which I was not present and when I have had no
opportunity of examining the complete evidence. I fear that the most
permanent result of this episode will be that the spiritualists will
very reasonably refuse the present régime of the Research Society all
access to their mediums, since experience has shown that they may,
without a chance of self-defence, be attacked in consequence in a cheap,
popular pamphlet before even the case has been examined by any impartial
authority.
POSTSCRIPT
At the last moment before this booklet goes to press, I am able to
insert the fact that Hope’s complete innocence has now been clearly
established, and he stands before the world as a man who has been
very cruelly maligned, and the victim of a plot which has been quite
extraordinary in its ramifications. It was at last found possible to get
the cover in which the original packet of plates was wrapped, and on it
were found unmistakable signs that it had been tampered with and opened.
Thus the deductions made in the text from the evidence already to hand
have been absolutely justified, and it is clear that the marked plates
were abstracted before the packet reached the Psychic College and two
ordinary plates substituted, upon one of which Hope produced an “extra.”
The conclusion was reached by the acumen and patience of Mr. Hewat
McKenzie, but his results were examined and endorsed unanimously by a
strong committee, which included, besides myself, Mr. and Mrs. McKenzie,
General Carter, Colonel Baddeley, Mr. Stanley de Brath, Mrs. Stobart,
Miss V. R. Scatcherd, Mrs. de Crespigny, Mr. H. C. Scofield and Mr. F.
Bligh Bond. It now only remains to find out who is the culprit who has
played this cunning trick, and it is not difficult to say that the hand
which returned the marked plate through the post is the same hand as
that which took it out of the packet. A reward has already been offered
for the identification of the person concerned. In the meantime it would
be unfair to blame the agents of the S.P.R., who may, while trying to
trick Hope, have been themselves tricked. Nothing, however, can excuse
them from the charge of culpable negligence in failing to examine the
wrappers which so clearly tell the story, and which have been kept so
long in their possession. As the matter stands, five persons stand as
defendants: Mr. Harry Price, Mr. Moger, Mr. James Seymour, Miss Newton,
Secretary of the S.P.R., and Mr. Dingwall, Research Officer of that body.
If there is someone else in the background who has tricked them, then it
is for them to find out who it is. Their negligence has been such that
it is difficult to say what atonement can meet it, and it throws a very
lurid light upon some of the so-called “exposures” of the past. As one
of the oldest members of the S.P.R., I feel that the honour of that body
will not be cleared until they have appointed an impartial committee to
consider these facts and to determine what steps should be taken.
ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
_November 14th, 1922._