While thus situated, conversing freely with the medium and little Maud (who was evidently pleased to have me there), a spirit materialized and went out among the audience. After it returned, another materialized, and taking my left hand while Mrs. Sawyer held my right, we all three walked out into the room, some distance from the cabinet, in full view of all present. This was a new experience for me. To suppose that the twenty-five honest, intelligent persons who witnessed this were deceived, or that the appearance of the form was due to a confederate, is simply absurd. I know it materialized in the cabinet, within reach of where I sat.
What was claimed by the manager to be Bertha came out, and I gave her a test to be used by her at another séance.
In following the rôle of strict investigation, and in honestly relating what has come to me at these séances, I am forced to state that the form that appeared on this occasion was not Bertha, and that there was, as subsequent events proved, an attempt to deceive me. Mrs. Sawyer is a gentlewoman and a strong medium, but she is surrounded by a coarse magnetism, the baleful influence of which she seems powerless to resist.
[C] This term is applied to spirits who appear to be constant attendants or assistants in the cabinets of mediums for materialization.
CHAPTER VII.
SÉANCES WITH MRS. FAIRCHILD.
The mediumship of Mrs. Fairchild differs from that of others inasmuch as she stands outside of the cabinet, under the influence of one of her controls, managing the séance with great skill and judgment, thus eliminating from her séances all chance of transfiguration or personation by the medium, forcing the skeptic or investigator to the conclusion that the forms are either genuine materializations or confederates.
The position of her cabinet, placed as it is between two rooms, is certainly open to criticism. A thorough examination of it, however, revealed no possible chance for the concealment of draperies or the entrance of a confederate.
In order to meet the objections which have been made to this arrangement, she has drawn a light curtain across the corner of the room. Backed as it is by solid walls, the forms that come from this temporary cabinet cannot be confederates, and the skeptic may answer as best he can the question, What are they?
This cabinet, however, is only used occasionally, and the average visitor sees only what comes from the main cabinet. If this temporary arrangement is so successful, and I know it is, there is some force in the objection made against using the other. Every medium is in justice bound to give to visitors the best conditions possible. Mr. Whitlock thus describes séances held with Mrs. Fairchild, Sept. 12 and 19:—