SPIRITUALISM : ANOTHER EPPOSURE.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 734, 1 March 1877, Page 3

SPIRITUALISM : ANOTHER EPPOSURE.

Au cxpos:tro : has just taken place at H udders field, the medium bsing- the Rev Francis Wark Monk, a 1 so known by the self-given title of "Dr," and who was formerly a Baptist minister. To be" brief. Monk gave a " sceance "at Huddersfield, m the house of a Mr Heppleston, and among those .present at it was a Mr Lodge. Various phenomena oconrred, including the appearance of a " spirit hand," which touched one of the ladies present. At the close of the "seance" Lodge asked Monk if he would allow himself and the box he had with him m the room to be searched. He refused, and rushed out of the room, striking Lodge, who tried to stop him, a blow m tho face; Monk then went up to the room he was occupying, and looked the door, which was ultimately broken open by a policeman, when it Was found that Monk had escaped by the window with the aid of the sheets on his bed and of the waterspout. He subsequently sought to recover possession of his boxes, but Heppleston refused to give them up, and they were opened, and their contents produced m court. A mong the articles were two long rods m pieces, all fitting into each other, for floating a tamborine and " spirit hands ;" an instrument for producing '• tlie raps, a ' tambourine, an instrument like a lyre, called the " fairy- bells •" pale pink gloves, stuffed, with elastic attached for the purpose of drawing the gloves up to the sleeve, and also elastics for moving the fingers ; a large fan, worked with the teeth, . for producing the sound which always accompanies the "spirits ;" sates bearing the message : " Good night, Philemon" (the name of ''■ one of the party), and signed, "Saral.;" and, " Oh, for a lodge m some vast wilderness " (a play upon _Mr Lodge's name); gauze muslin and spirit faces painted on gauze , names m white on a black ground, painted, on white linen ; a painted hand, and a great. variety of other articles. It was also stated by; Lodge m his. evidence that when he met Monk after the above affair, the latter threatened to split his akull with a poker, which he took up, and afterwards pititully besought Lodge not to expose him, saying his life -was a " hell upon earth;" He was; convicted under .the Vagrant Act, and. sentenced to the same punishment as Slade. A CAse was reserved for the higher oourt, as to whether the offence did come within the scope of the Vagrant Acf-, and pending the hearing •■- of this appeal, ; Monk was admitted to. bail. The whole" case is highly ' interesting" and instructive — much more so to than Slade's