Slade was convicted and sentenced to three months at hard labor. An appeal was taken and the decision quashed on account of a flaw in the indictment. While Sir Lankester was procuring new summonses for Slade and his manager, Simmons, they both skipped across the channel into France, thus closing the doors of England against Slade for all time as he never dared to set foot on her unfriendly shores again. He made ready for a Paris performance but a friend of Sir Lankester’s sent an account of the court proceedings to the Paris press so the French people had the whole story before Slade was able to begin.
While touring Europe in 1920 I had the pleasure of meeting Sir Ray Lankester and hearing from him an account of Dr. Slade’s undoing. Both he and Donkin were physicians. They had been laying their plans to expose two other mediums, Herne and Williams, but Slade’s unexpected arrival in London changed these plans and instead they plotted the seance which proved to be Slade’s downfall. Donkin was away from London at the time but Sir Lankester wired him and while waiting for his return attended one of Slade’s seances. He pretended to Slade that he came to see if the Spirits would write a message on the slates if he held them himself. Slade assured him that they would and arrangements were made for a second sitting. Before Sir Lankester left Slade asked him if he had been in communication with any departed relatives.
“No, but I have an Uncle John,” Sir Lankester replied.
Consequently at the second sitting the following message was received:
“I am glad to see you here again.—John.”
“But have you an Uncle John?” I asked.
“No, Houdini,” he replied smiling, “that is why everyone laughed in the courtroom at the time of the trial. You see, Slade thought I was a firm believer, and I allowed him to distract my attention. He said to me ‘You have a great deal of mediumistic power about you. I see them over you behind your head.’”
As he said this Sir Lankester raised his head with seeming credulity acting the part splendidly.
“What made you suspect Slade?” I asked him.
“At the first seance I noticed the tendons move on Slade’s wrist as he held his hand outstretched under the table,” Sir Lankester replied, “and while making a number of suspicious moves he scratched the slates a number of times with his finger nail to simulate the noise made by a slate pencil when writing on a slate.”