During that eventful visit Ira emphatically denied many of the absurd tales and popular beliefs concerning the Brothers, among them being the “flour test,” the “snuff test”[25] and such stories as the claim that when a boy at home he gave a seance for his parents and during levitation[26] was raised up until his head touched the ceiling breaking both lath and plaster; that he was once levitated across the Niagara River, a distance of three thousand yards, and the one telling of his having effected an escape by Spiritual means from a prison in Oswego, N. Y., in 1859.
The Davenports were constantly on their guard against surprise and exposure and Ira explained to me that when they were suspicious of a committeeman who wanted to go into the cabinet with them they would insist that he be tied too in order to prevent the audience from thinking he was a confederate. Fastened to a bench as well as to each of the Davenports he was absolutely helpless for while one was getting loose the other would strain the ropes on the committeeman’s feet holding him tight.
He also told me that they were in the habit of reserving seats in the front row for their friends as a protection against anyone breaking through. At private circles they ran a cord through button holes on all present, ostensibly to “prevent collusion with the medium,” but in reality as a protection against a surprise seizure. They once heard that the Pinkerton Detective agency had been hired to catch them and in order to effectually forestall any meddler, they had a confederate smuggle in a bear-trap and after the seance room was darkened set the trap in the aisle.
I called Ira’s attention to a clipping concerning the “Dark Seances” from the London Post, a conservative paper, which read:
“The musical instruments, bells, etc., were placed on the table; the Brothers Davenport were then manacled, hands and feet, and securely bound to the chairs by ropes. A chain of communication (though not a circular one) was formed, and the instant the lights were extinguished the musical instruments appeared to be carried all about the room. The current of air, which they occasioned in their rapid transit was felt upon the faces of all present.
“The bells were loudly rung; the trumpets made knocks upon the floor, and the tambourine appeared running around the room, jingling with all its might. At the same time sparks were observed as if passing from South to West. Several persons exclaimed that they were touched by the instruments, which on one occasion became so demonstrative that one gentleman received a knock on the nasal organ which broke the skin and caused a few drops of blood to flow.”
After I finished reading it Ira exclaimed:
“Strange how people imagine things in the dark! Why, the musical instruments never left our hands yet many spectators would have taken an oath that they heard them flying over their heads.”[27]
Ira Davenport positively disclaimed Spiritualistic power in his talk with me, saying repeatedly that he and his brother never claimed to be mediums or pretended their work to be Spiritualistic. He admitted, however, that his parents died believing that the boys had super-human power. In this connection he told me of a family by the name of Kidder in which the boys faked Spiritualistic mediumship. The mother, a simple woman easily misled, became a confirmed believer. After a time the boys got tired of the game they were playing and confessed to her that it was all a fake. The shock of the disillusion almost drove her insane and Ira said it was the fear of a similar result which kept him from confessing to his father the true nature of their work. So when the father asked the boys to do tests for him they declared that the spirits said “no” and explained that they could only do what the spirits asked.
But if the Davenport Brothers did not claim spiritual powers themselves they nevertheless allowed others to claim them in their behalf. One of the first to do this was J. B. Ferguson, variously known as “Mr.,” “Rev.,” and “Dr.,” but I have no way of knowing how his titles came to him or just what they represented. If I am not mistaken he had been a minister in the Unitarian Church. He travelled with the Davenports as their lecturer, a position filled later by Thomas L. Nichols. Ferguson positively believed that everything accomplished by the Davenports was done with the aid of spirits. That both Ferguson and Nichols believed in Spiritualism is shown by their writings. Neither of them were disillusioned regarding the spiritual powers of the Brothers, the secret of the manifestations being religiously kept from them. Their remarks were left to their own discretion, the Davenports thinking it better showmanship to leave the whole matter for the audience to draw its own conclusion after seeing the exhibition. Then too with a minister as a lecturer who sincerely believed the phenomena many were led to believe, which helped to fill the coffers, meet the expenses, and increase the publicity which was a necessary part of the game.