The History of Spiritualism

led him no further. Not so Kate Fox. She tried, by silently bringing together her thumb and forefi nger, whether she could still obtain a response. Yes! It could see, then, as well as hear! She called her mother. “Only look, mother!” she said, bringing together her fi nger and thumb as before. And as often as she repeated the noiseless mo­tion, just so often responded the raps.

These discoveries settle the question for ever and prove conclu­sively that there was a crime committed in the house, and that this crime was indicated by psychic means. When one examines the re­sult of the two diggings one can reconstruct the circumstances. It is clear that in the fi rst instance the body was buried with quicklime in the centre of the cellar. Later the criminal was alarmed by the fact that this place was too open to suspicion and he had dug up the body, or the main part of it, and reburied it under the wall where it would be more out of the way. The work had been done so hur­riedly, however, or in such imperfect light, that some clear traces were left, as has been seen, of the original grave.

I should think this pedlar of whom I have spoken was about thirty years of age. I heard him conversing with Mrs. Bell about his family. Mrs. Bell told me that he was an old acquaintance of theirs – that she had seen him several times before. One evening, about a week after this, Mrs. Bell sent me down to the cellar to shut the outer door. In going across the cellar I fell down near the centre of it. It appeared to be uneven and loose in that part. After I got upstairs, Mrs. Bell asked me what I screamed for and I told her. She laughed at me being frightened, and said it was only where the rats had been at work in the ground. A few days after this, Mr. Bell carried a lot of dirt into the cellar just at night and was at work there some time. Mrs. Bell told me that he was fi lling up the rat-holes.

On the other hand, it is only fair to add that the Mr. Bell who occupied the house at that time was not a man of notorious char­acter, and one would willingly concede that an accusation founded entirely upon psychic evidence would be an unfair and intolerable

The Fox family were seriously troubled by the disturbances – Mrs. Fox’s hair turned white in a week – and as it became apparent that these were associated with the two young daughters, these were sent from home. But in the house of her brother, David Fox, where

Margaret went, and in that of her sister Leah, whose married name was Mrs. Fish, at Rochester, where Catharine was staying, the same sounds were heard. Every effort was made to conceal these mani­festations from the public, but they soon became known. Mrs. Fish, who was a teacher of music, was unable to continue her profession, and hundreds of people fl ocked to her house to witness the new marvels. It should be stated that either this power was contagious, or else it was descending upon many individuals independently from some common source. Thus Mrs. Leah Fish, the elder sister, received it, though in a less degree than Kate or Margaret. But it was no longer confi ned to the Fox family. It was like some psychic loud descending from on high and showing itself on those persons who were susceptible. Similar sounds were heard in the home of Rev. A. H. Jervis, a Methodist minister, living in Rochester. Strong physi­cal phenomena also began in the family of Deacon Hale, of Greece, a town close to Rochester. A little later Mrs. Sarah A. Tamlin and Mrs. Benedict, of Auburn, developed remarkable mediumship. Mr. Capron, the fi rst historian of the movement, describes Mrs. Tamlin as one of the most reliable mediums he had ever met, and says that though the sounds occurring in her presence were not so loud as those with the Fox family, the messages were equally trustworthy.

The danger of blindly following alleged spirit guidance was clearly shown some months later in the neighbouring town of Rochester, where a man disappeared under suspicious circum-