THE "KATIE KING" FRAUD.

Evening Star, Issue 3735, 11 February 1875, Page 3

THE "KATIE KING" FRAUD.

Some six months ago the wise men of London the scientists and savants—were con siderably disturbed by the appearance of a materialised spirit of the seance held in their presence in the house of one of their number. Katie King, a lovely blonde, who passed away 2(io years ago, put in an ap-pe-rance as the daughter of, the famous Welsh pirate Morgan, and electrified London by her strange revelations. The stances were largely attended by authors, artists, and scientists of reputation, who did not hesitate to attest publicly their faith in tin genuineness ©f the mater alisation. Katie allowed all sons of liberties to be taken with her. She was pricked, ai d pressed, and kissed in a shockingly familiar manner, clearly proving that her statement as to hei pedigree was quite correct. After doinp other won eifui things, she diaappea ed, and two days afteiwards turn-d up in Philadelphia. A Mr and Mrs Holmes, mediums ot notoriety, were the honored hosts of the interesting young woman from spiri -land The excitement in Philadelphia was vtrj great, and obert Dale Owen, the great m t-siah of Spiritualism, and Dr Childs, a r> apostle of the new faith, lent sanctity of their presence to the “investigations." Ka'ie did them completely - fooled the whole spirit-world. Shesetpeople crazy about materialisation, and Mr and .Mrs Holmes netted a few thousand greenbacks on account of the show. The business was conducted thuswise ;—A large cabinet was placed in the corner of a room, where a door opened nto a small hed-room, which had no other exit. This cabinet was duly inspected t v the audience and found to be intact. The cabinet w r as bare of anj thing save a few murical instruments. At the proper time the audience were invoked to sing a spirit hymn, and several musical boxes were set in motion at the same time, 'I hen the gas wa« turned down, and all was in darkness Mtei ft short delay, during which the singing was continued, a bare and beaut ful arm was exposed in the doorway of the cabinet, then various human fates, and lastly Kate King herself. Kat c talked to the people in very bad English, as became a Welsh woman, told thr m what a beautiful place the spirit world was, bestowed fresh gathere r flowers upon her favorites, allowed portions of her dresto be cut away, and then disappeared. At last, after many weeks, a doubter appeared, This gentbman got very close to Katie, and discovered that she bad a very bad breath. This was strange. He know something of the anatomy of the human formknew that a foul breath could only proceed from a diseased stomach or decaying teeth, at any rate it appeared to him that a spirit with a foal breath was an am ma y, and determined to “ ihvestigate ” with his eyes open. Ihe result is briefly old. Katie King is a Vuxom young w;dow in the troubled with a bad breath and a shoi t ; ur«e. V who hired herself to the Ho'meses to delude the unfortunate believers in the new faith. abad br « a tb, Katie was ifvUpjeu wltb fleftpe pj a

and broke with the Holmeses. But, in tie ■can time, the gentleman inv- stigator I ad liscovered the fraud, and traced the woman to her rooms. Here he told her what a wicked thing she was doing, and the gir< confessed the whole matter.- It appears she was hidden in the large French bolsters io common m this country, and that whilst th bed and uu ierneath it were completely in spected, no one ever thought of looking ii the holster for the buxom widow It wa Ka i'v’s custom, therefore, as soon as ih* lights were down, and the music going, to hde ■ ently out of the becl-nom -get to the side of >he cabinet whore one of he panels worked on a hinge—the screws beiiu dum mie« t git m—and begin the humbug of-s 1 o log her arm The vari-us faces exhihiieei were merely lubber mt.-k*, whic a were con cealed on the person of the medium, who sat la Hie cabinet to receive Katr. Tin 8 masks, made of the lightest rubber, were expanded at pleasure. The stance over, simmg was again asked for. ari l Katie disappeared, returning to her hols er. Rob ot Hale Owen is out with a card almibtin that he has been fooled, and Dr Chiles is o t -vith a bland and chiid-Jike epistle to the same effect. The Ho meses reply by admitting the fraui, but claim that both Owen and Childs were parties to it. Neat.