I will not bore the reader with a detailed account of the cabinet phenomena at this seance under a subdued light but suffice to say that Davis and Kellogg tricked her as before and were able to explain every manifestation. The whole Miller seance was carried out as planned so carefully that Palladino on the way to her hotel afterwards told the Columbia student who had acted as interpreter[53] for her that she was well pleased with the evening and that the seance had been one of the most successful of the series.[54]
I quote by permission from a letter written me by Mr. Davis under date of June 22, 1923:
“Rupert Hughes, in an attack upon Spiritism some time ago, said that favorable reports on Palladino constituted a vast literature, and he was right. The public libraries both in this country and Europe contain many books in which it is claimed that it has been ‘scientifically demonstrated’ that Eusapia possesses some occult power.
“Generations for centuries will probably be influenced by these books. They are only calculated to create superstition and ignorance and it is a shame that they are permitted to circulate. Eusapia was one of the world’s greatest mountebanks. Her dupes were our foremost men of learning—they were not of the rabble. She was the greatest mountebank produced by modern Spiritism, and she duped more scientists than any other medium. In that respect D. D. Home does not compare with her. The important lesson in the case is that so-called ‘scientific’ testimony is just about worthless. That is an important educational fact and a valuable lesson to the general public.”
Mr. Davis is quite right in his view of the seriousness of the possible danger and damage to the reading public from the effects of the grossly misapplied energy of the prominent scientists who have so unqualifiedly endorsed Eusapia Palladino as a genuine miracle worker, and the hosts of Spiritualistic enthusiasts who have repeated their published statements. Even Sir Arthur Conan Doyle unqualifiedly lauds Home and Palladino as patron saints of his psychic religion (?). He accepts as proof the fact that these learned scientists met their Waterloo in an attempt to fathom the simple tricks of impostors, and like all other Spiritualists refuses to accept the positive proof of the deception secured by men schooled in the science of magic which at times is as seemingly unexplainable as the more profound subjects of natural science.
The reader should bear in mind that Mr. Davis’ sincerity is just as great as is Sir Arthur’s. Sincerity is Sir Arthur’s strong magnet and the reader should attach as much importance to sincerity on the part of an opponent. We must also take into consideration the fact that Mr. Davis was at one time a medium himself and he has had much opportunity for observing the qualifications of scientists as occult investigators. We must notice too the methods of conducting the seances in which such diverse results were obtained. Those held with only scientists as observers were under the full control of the medium and all her conditions were conformed to, but in New York it was practically a case of fighting fire with fire. It is proverbial that “it takes a rogue to catch a rogue”—just so a trickster is more capable of setting traps to detect trickery than the grave scientist in his endeavor to solve the problem by mathematics or logic. In the successful instance the plan of operation had been carefully worked out in every detail, each participant was assigned a specific work to do and did it. A number of rehearsals were held so that each person was familiar with their part. All the conditions so strenuously adhered to in previous seances, were safeguarded and the result was a successful exposure.
EUSAPIA PALLADINO AND HER SEANCE TABLE
When Carrington brought Palladino to this country he announced that he did so in the interest of “science.” Publicity was not to be ignored though and consequently the first seance was given before newspaper men. William A. Brady (the theatrical man) occupied the seat of honor which made it look as though Carrington hoped for some theatrical business as a side issue to the seances with scientists at a hundred and twenty-five dollars a sitting. It is also known that Carrington made a contract with a popular magazine which gave it an exclusive right to publish reports of the seances and naturally Carrington was to have received a liberal fee. But Mr. Davis in 1909 furnished the New York Times with two articles making a sensational attack on Palladino whereupon the magazine people cancelled their contract with Carrington on the ground that Davis had put a “frost” on their plans. As a result Carrington threatened the Times with a suit for a hundred thousand dollars damage. The threat was dropped after Palladino’s complete exposure and her refusal to go to the Times Building and win the two thousand dollar prize offered by Rinn. In all the seances conducted by Carrington the program was the same and the phenomena of precisely the same character as in the one which resulted in Palladino’s complete exposure. The value of Mr. Carrington’s opinion as evidence may be judged from excerpts from an article in McClure’s Magazine for October, 1909. In this article he answers his own question “Does Eusapia Deceive Her Investigators?” by saying:
“Well do I know the condition of mind induced by one or two seances with Eusapia. All one’s previous experience is refuted, and the mind fails to grasp the facts or to accept them as real. It is incapable of absorbing them. It requires several seances before one is convinced of the reality of the phenomena, and of the fact that one’s observation is not mistaken. Personally, I had to witness six seances before I was irrevocably and finally convinced of the reality of the fact. Before that, although I was quite unable to explain what I saw by any theory of fraud or trickery, and although I was quite certain the facts were not due to hallucination, still I could not believe them. I felt that there must be a loophole somewhere; and I know that my colleagues felt exactly as I did. But at the sixth seance when I was controlling the medium myself, in such a manner that I was quite sure as to the whereabouts of her whole body, and when it was, moreover, light enough to see the whole outline of her body clearly,—when, in spite of this, phenomena continued to take place all around us in the most bewildering manner and under the most perfect test conditions, I felt that there was no more to be said; certainty had been achieved; and from the sixth seance onward, and forever after, I shall remain as certain that these phenomena are facts, and form a part—however sporadic—of nature, as I am that I write this article.”