THE SEANCE.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 586, 14 August 1909, Page 6

THE SEANCE.

AN HOUR WITH A MEDIUM. DEMONSTRATIONS 1 .A BIRD PROM MALAY STATES—A MAT FROM SAMOA. V : THE FIRST NIGHT'S EFFORT. - . ! Forty persons sit in a. circle in a dimlylighted room, bare of furniture savo for tho chairs in use and two small tables, and one vacant chair near the tables. The room 'is on the ground floor of a . building in Woodward Street, and tho hour 7.40 o'clock last evening. Each of thoso present had , paid two guineas for a series of sittings, at which demonstrations ' were to bo given .by an Australian medium of note in spiritualistic circles, ono Bailey. Bailey, was ,due at 7.45. The circle, composed mostly of men and believers, was now awaiting his N coming. Eight ladies were present.' The time had been filled in between 7 ojclock and the 1 hour of the "sitting" by examining the' room and making such precautions as seemed desirable against-fraud., 'Windows, and ~doors, were closely scrutinised, and attention'directed to a: ventilator near the ceiling, which aroused the suspicion of one' of toe few . sceptics present. An offer was made to paste papari over the ventilator, but the offer was brushed aside as unnecessary.

"Stage. Properties."' • > Most attention oentred in two . strangelooking garments, lying on one of 'the tables. One of these''was of a material looking like black alpaca. The other was of 1 stout white gauz6. The black alj>aca' garment' Was con- , structed like a. sack-with sleeves. .The white . gauze resombled a sack without •. sleeves. ■ The medium was to bo enclosed : in these garments to prevent any chance'of assistance by an aocoitaplice whence gave'his '"demonstrations.". The mpdi'-i operandi" was as follows The medium was to be placed .in the black alpaca sack with his head 'sticking out of-the open end. The openiend was then to bo'drawn tigbtly round his neck, t'ied and sealed. The sleeves were; also to bo tightly tied and sealed at the: wrists."-'The effect of this, if properly carrifed out, would' be, -to make it impossible for him when once enclosed to reach his pockets, or any .part: of. his clothing. "All ,'that would remain outside the alpaca.sack would be his head and face and hands.; Thus, if be had 'concealed anything 'about bis person, he could not-get at it—unless indeed the sack,were a trick..ono. .It may be remarked here, that; Mr. • W. I. M'Leari 'announced 'that -his;.daughter' had made the sack, and ho guaranteed; if genuinely sound.. On. inspection it '. certainly seemed so. Heaving enclosed tho medium in the sack, and so, tp 1 - all - appearances, having prevented him-from making use of anything concealed in his' clothing', the gauze sack was ; to. be requisitioned to keep him safe from outside assistance. -. This , sack was about eight feet long; 'and 'the medium. Was to get right inside it, and. the top,was then to be tied' and sealed. Thus/ he -', remained quite Visible to 'the- audience through the-gauze, but quite unable, to-all appearances, to pass anything through-to them or 'to' have-anything passed -through:to him. So much'for the arrangements.., ; 1 .

Arrival. of t\io Modliim,

The medium came. / We. had been told to expect, a nervous-mad. He certainly looked it. Rather a weak-lpolung everyday sort of individual, whose response'to the welcome of the ch'airmanj-.Mr.•; W. M'Lean, _was, not encouraging.' He swayed from side'to. side, clasping his hands and , smiling an empty sort of smile, for all the world like a shy schoolgirl delivering her first Tecitatioa in public. ,He expressed bis thanksj and assured those present that he had neither the

courage .nor tho skill to indulge in the : trick- ; cry' that had been alleged against him.lt ; may be added ; that . when under "control" • Bailey is' quite, a different 'sort of : person. It 'has been said that his voice ana. manner change with, each chango of control, but this is hardly noticeable. '■ Certainly .when a Hindu .visitant was stated to' be controlling • the . medium, •he spoke, in broken English, but excepting , that his. delivery was better and stronger thaa that of Bailey in nis .natural state (real or assumed) there'was little difference ' between tho oratory of his -leading " controls,". Dr. Whitcombe , and jProfessor'Denton;' and occasionally there were slight lapses , from the rather, grandiloquent '. style of these gentlemen into ■ the somewhat ungrammatical Bpeech of Bailey himself. These lapses, however, were slight and infrequent. ■

So muoh for -preliminaries. Bailey, or, rather, as we were informed, Dr. Whitcombe an<J Professor Denton, two one-time residents of this world now holding places in, spiritland, who arc said to exorcise control ovor Bailey, and to speak through'him, addressed 'the circle. Their remarks embraced nothing new or startling, but were'listened to with interest. A number bf questions .were asked these gentlemen, and once or twiie the questioners drifted into argument, and became, somewhat heated. One of. tho circle, evidently a sceptical young man, cast aspersions on the professors grammar, and olioited a rather interesting-piece .of information. 1 It appears that the controlling "spirit" is limited, to some'extent,'by the qualities of his medium. For instance, a professor of languages, speaking through an illiterate medium,.' occasionally finds the medium reproducing , his remarks without their proper polish. One of the circle suggested that it was like a good'playor playing on a poor piano. v ;>v'Yes," assented; the professor, "something like that." Spirits, it may be observed in'passing v do not appear to leave beliiild thein their 'worldly _ mannerisms. Professor. Denton last evening informed the gathering'that he had a habitof calling a spnde'a,spado, .and when, a man told lies he called jiim. a liar. This,remark applied to a certain Melbourne; pressman, and tho ■ professor. hastened -, to add that, ho had hot, come all ilio iv.iy' to. Newt Zealand,to say this behind'tlic,pr.essii:an's back, but.had said it also 'in Melbourne:/ This'observation 'rather' puzzled.-. .the representative of. The Dominion, who. ..while .quitp vcadj to admit the propriety of this line qf . conduct in mun* dano affairs, waviteu'p know what'difference it would-make to. an' invisible spirit whether he said a .thing to- a pressman's : ,face,- or behind 'his back. -It- should be noted that -the medium and the-spirit control-- are'- quite separate.' ; entities.,/ ;This,'is strongly emphasised. . The,' .medium .' is. .not re-sponsible-.for- what'-yth'e says or does—in. 'faot; .''••'hd'.':-;.is,; '-.not-' supposed. to :know. . -In . theses/circumstances our representative was, puzzled, to understand '.why.-.the .professor', should .lay' such stress oh' telling ;a' mail.' he-was a liar' to his face, instead of '■ going behind his. back' to do so, when /the- man' could hot retaliate in either case. However, these incidents were.mere triflesto tho real.business of the evening. Bailey has a- reputation for being used, as' a medium for '■ material: demonstrations of- the ability of tho inhabitants! of . spirit land. to ' communicate with those onthis earth.- It .was in' -hope of witnessing a demonstration'of this' nature that most of those. present- had assembled last, evening. It was because of the suspicion of trickery in connection with these 1 demonstrations that the precautions above mentioned were taken. Bailey,-'-we havo'vbeen' told,''controlled '.by. his spirit;'frieiids,'has'iprodured tablots from' Egypt; birds 'from 'India,.' fish -from the sea; and -all sorts of. other ;weird things,- andplaced them;before his! astonished audience. This after previously' being' searched, and with all doors,, windows, etc.) locked. Trickery, of course, nine people ont. of every ten have commented. : ' Those 'have investigated and still remained sceptical go instep farther and -that ;! it , : is . ,extremely, clever trickery.

Qufoh Passaga .to Malay States. .: ' " '.Y.' : Let''- üb,'return ;to .the . medium'. whom : we left tied up in the two'sacks described. The' writer 1 assisted, with .the, searching of Bailey, and tied his wrists, and, looked into his mouth,' and; thought .he; had done the job pretty thoroughly, but—i. Bailey can be seen through the gauze of the outer covering. : Dr;; Whitcbmb' is supposed to be just' leaving him : to;: make - room for it HindusAbdul by; name. .The medium'' lies back ih ; his chair, not'more than'a yard distant from the '. writer;; breathing..stertorously. , Suddenly he': is'.quite • still,; almost rigid. ; Then he straightens: uj». in. his chair and begins to talk—it sounds like ."mem-sahib."..to very; broken English he contrives >to address the gathering, and, after, some discourse,, agrees to "bring • something Wi -an "apport", it is styled. We ' are , asked ' to 1 join /hands /and sing, and the dim light which has been burning.is extinguished.' ."Shall we, Gather at the Kiver?"' swells out .in-growing vol-'ume7^-IA strain j. forward towards/.tlio medium, listening iritently.V ,'fewr second,i' .elapse and "Abdul" 'asks : forlight. :.!f n eagerly forward-r-thcre is a fluttering within the gauze netting and "Abdul", gleefully announces that he has brought a bird, from the' Malay Poninsula. A'.'murmur, of satisfactionTuns^round;!tlie circle,- and many leave' their seats .; and : • crowd; round-' ■ the medium,; who holds "up the bird for their gaze—a little whitish, bird .resembling a canary, only smaller. Everyone oxcept the sceptics, are delighted;' The; sceptics' think of that brief, but exasperating " period of pitch darkness, and begin' to ask questions; "Can Abdul"— they call him Abdul; out- of politeness, ■ although' they believo they-' ;.i>re really addressing Bailey—-"can Abdul bring anything, which' they cquld identify?" "Abdul" says he can only do what Dr.W'hit'combe tolls him to do. , A wcll-lmown citozon asks, whether ho cannot bring a , copy of ' that morning's -Melbourne- ."Argus'—that'would be convincing./;"Abdul"n-or ; it.'; Di\ "Whitcombe?—explained.. .that. tests-, of this kind were, not:indulged■ in; and. gave . some sort of; reasons but -it. was.'a hazy l sort, • of statement aboiit interference. < with', earthly affairs. -Would they like .a: second demonstration? Everybody delighted. ■

A Second Domonstratioiv "Abdul" once more under .control. Lights out,' hands of circle clasped, inbre of ''Shall We Gatjiet. at tho River?"—a-longer period of darkness than before, more straining, forward' 'and" intent listening, and again from "Abdul" for light. ; "Me bring savago man's mat from Samoa.*' The sceptics, arc annoyed: • " ' Abdul ' is; clever." He' indulges in mild jokes,' and that''the mat, which is meant to be worn round tho'waist with the ends dangling to tho 'knees, reminds him 1 of the Highlander's, kilts which he has seen'in bis native/country. . All this in broken English and,; with some by-play. , The sceptics rally; various tests : are ..suggested, and the' argument - becomes. heated. One man'suggests that'"Abdul'' should go to his house and. get something.*' The 'Control says the meiiuni' has many; enemies, and,this sort of thing might land 'him in trouble. The writer made a simplo proposition: lio' held in his hand'a lead pencil! Let ' "Abdul transfer • that ' pencil V through • tho gauze into tho medium's hand. Air present could then feel-'satisfied; This .proposition- was cried down—it was Paving too much at this early' stage, and so on t He then suggested.'that as Abdul had brought the bird, and the;' mat,;■ jio could no doubt take' them > away again. Let -. him do that, and then-let the search party make an. investigation of the medium with, the lights full on/ vWith something definite to search for, it would go hard with them-if 1 they oould not discover the apports if they had not gone. This proposition; was . vigorouslyscouted!' What, after ' bringing the. bird from : Malay and the mat from Samoa, .to send them back: again. Preposterous 1 Here they had material: evidence of the power to bring these things—if • they sent them-, away, again; who would'believe that : they had ever been .brought here. The gathering rose almost en masse to support'this !view, . and the .writer, was ruled out of order. Other tests were proposed, , but none mot with favour from the medium,, who was backed by the great majority of the audience: Were the sceptics. The 'writer thinks 'not. Dr. Whitcomb was good enough*to say that 'ho had. decided.' at no distant, dato to pro-1 ducc. in Australia a copy of the "London Times" of .the. date on which' tlio seance was boirig held. .. This',: .was-; t0,.. he; „done. -®ut< of consideration who had done so much for spiritualism. When this is done,, the unbelievers may' be silenced—not, we imagine,- before; : ' i, : It, should'be.,added that. a . co'minittee consisting of Messrs!, J. W. Poynton, C. | Earle, 0! Beere, ,J. M. 'Richardson, and Staub was appointed by. the audience'to do ' the; searching of . the medium, tying-up;,ctc. The -writer, after the seance, rolled tlie.mat lip into as, small a compass as . possible, and found ;it to bo about as big .as'a medium.sized cocoanut, ...which.;it - rather resembled in. colour. .The bird, which : was,,,.very, lively, was, as stated, about as largo as a : canary. The seals'on .the'-strings which: tied up' the sacks were unbroken w.hen Bailey, was ■ released. .• , .• ...