“In the month of April she experienced slight relief by the frequent use of electricity; but only so far that, by a special effort of the will, she could partially move her hand and arm. Habitually she rested the elbow on her hip, or, when sitting in an arm-chair, raised it with the other hand so as to rest it on the chair-arm. Nor did she ever, until the incident about to be related, regain the power of straightening either leg or arm. Nor was the warmth of the leg at all restored; and when she walked she still had to drag it after her along the ground.
“This continued, without alteration or improvement, until the month of July, 1858; and by this time she had become comparatively disheartened. Life seemed to her no longer worth having: a cripple for life, a burden to her friends, useless to her family. She gave way to tears and despondency.
“In the early part of July a friend, Mrs. J., wife of a gentleman well known in New York literary circles[17] and who had been staying with Mrs. Davis, proposed to close her visit and return to that city. Suddenly Mrs. Davis experienced an impulse for which she could not at all account. It was an urgent desire to go to New York and visit Mrs. Underhill (Leah Fox), with whom she was not acquainted, having merely heard of her through Mrs. J. She said to that lady (Mrs. J.) that if she would remain with her a day longer, she (Mrs. Davis) would accompany her to New York and visit Mrs. Underhill in hope of relief. Mrs. J. consenting, they left Providence on the evening of July 3d, notwithstanding the doubts expressed by Mr. Davis whether his wife would be able to endure the journey, reached New York next morning, and proceeded at once to Mrs. Underhill’s.
“Mrs. Davis was so much exhausted on her arrival, that she retired to a private room until the afternoon, when she, Mrs. J., and Mrs. Underhill met in the parlor.
“Loud raps being heard, it was proposed to sit down at the centre-table. It being but three o’clock in the afternoon, there was bright day-light.
“Soon after the ladies sat down, all their hands being on the table, Mrs. Davis felt the ankle of her right leg seized as by the firm grasp of a human hand, the foot raised, and the heel placed in what seemed another hand.[18] The touch of the fingers and thumb was unmistakably distinct, and indicated that it was a right hand which grasped the ankle, while a left hand received the heel. After a time the hand which had seized the ankle released its grasp, and Mrs. Davis felt it make passes down the leg. These passes were continued about ten minutes. Mrs. Davis felt a sensation as of the circulation pervading the paralyzed limb; and the natural warmth, of which it had been for months deprived, gradually returned. At the expiration of about ten minutes, there was spelled out by raps: ‘Rise and walk.’
“Mrs. Davis arose and found, with an amazement which she said no words could describe, that she could walk as well as she had ever done in her life. She paced up and down the room to assure herself that it was a reality: the pain, the paralysis were gone; she could use the hitherto disabled leg as freely as the other. After more than four months of suffering and of decrepitude, she found the natural warmth and vigor of the limb suddenly and (as it would be commonly phrased) miraculously restored.
“This terminated the sitting for the time; the arm still remaining paralyzed as before. But late in the evening, after the departure of several visitors, the ladies sat down again. This time, by rapping, a request was made to darken the room. After a brief delay the arm was manipulated as the leg had been, but with more force, as if rubbed downward from the shoulder by a smooth and somewhat elastic piece of metal, like the steel busk sometimes used in ladies’ stays. After this had been continued for some time, what seemed to the touch a steel busk was laid in Mrs. Davis’s right hand, and, by raps, a request was spelled out to close the fingers upon it. This she found herself able to do with a firm grasp. Then the busk was drawn forcibly from her hand.
“From that time forth she recovered the use of her arm as completely as she had that of her leg. Nor has she had pain or any return of the paralysis, or weakness, or loss of temperature, in either limb, from that day to the present time;[19] that is, during four years.
“In communicating the above to me, as Mrs. Davis did, in presence of the same friend who accompanied her to Mrs. Underhill’s, Mrs. Davis kindly gave me permission to use her name.”[20]