I now state to the Committee that the Guernellas exhibited in Philadelphia some years ago as exposers of Spiritualism. They did not expose it, but they performed experiments which, prior to that time, were said to have been accomplished by the aid of Spirits. Guernella himself, at my house, in my presence, in broad daylight, performed all the feats and exhibited the phenomena that were produced at the dark and other séances, and he repeated them until I myself became as expert as he in performing them; for which I paid him a consideration. So much for the Mediumistic power.
(Resuming, from notes):
Before the close of this last séance, a letter was read to Dr. Slade by Mr. Furness, to which the Medium was requested to make reply at his convenience; the object was to preserve evidence of the fact that the Medium had stated that all the séances must be held under his conditions—that if the Committee deviated in the slightest degree from the conditions imposed by him (Dr. Slade) he would 'pack up his traps and clear out.' [The letter and reply will be found annexed to this Record.]
At the end of this séance, the sum agreed upon, three hundred dollars, was paid to the Medium in three one-hundred-dollar bills. He was asked to sign a receipt for that amount, but his nervousness was such as to make this a task of some difficulty. He made many attempts to grasp the pen presented to him, but his hand shrank from it. At last, by a violent effort, and conquering the emotions that overcame him, the Medium grasped the pen and wrote the receipt. The extreme trepidation of Dr. Slade was possibly due to the unexpected displacement of two covered slates which he had left standing on the floor, resting against the leg of the small table at his back, and which Mr. Furness had overturned with his foot, the result being that at least two of the members of the Committee were apprised, by the quantity of writing on one of the slates, that it was ready for immediate use.
Mr. Sellers (aside): I saw the writing on the slates. It had manifestly been prepared for use by the Medium, and up to the moment of its discovery had been carefully kept completely covered.
Mr. Furness here read to the Committee the following:
Before Dr. Slade came to Philadelphia to meet this Commission, I was told by a valued Correspondent, an eminent Spiritualist, that much of Dr. Slade's success in Spiritual manifestations would depend on the way in which he was treated, and that he should be met in a cordial, friendly spirit. As this was but natural, and as Dr. Slade's life has been passed among extraordinary scenes the world over, which makes him an entertaining companion, it gave me pleasure to extend to him what little courtesies lay in my power, asking him to dine with me during his visit, and to spend the evenings at my house, if the time hung heavy on his hands at his hotel. He dined with me several times, and I consequently saw more of him than did the other Commissioners. I told him more than once that, as a Commissioner, I should watch him with lynx eyes, and he always gave a laughing assent. I furthermore never concealed from him that he had, by no means, converted me to Spiritualism. [I last saw him in Boston, when, as I was passing along Shawmut Avenue, I caught sight of him at a window; he eagerly beckoned me to come in, and, as I settled myself in a chair, I said to him, 'Well, and how are the old Spirits coming on?' Whereupon he laughed and replied, 'Oh, pshaw! you never believed in them, did you?'—April, 1887.]
I had several séances with him in afternoons after the séances with the Commission, when I was accompanied by my mother, my sister, and by several friends; of course, only by one or two others at a time.
It would be superfluous to rehearse here at length what Mr. Sellers has set before you much better than I can, the steps to the conclusion to which we all arrived: that the long messages were written beforehand. The difference between them and the short answers to questions asked at the séance, in the character of the handwriting, is too manifest and too obtrusively patent to be disregarded. In the long message from 'William Clark' on the slate which we have preserved and had photographed, 'Paul's injunction' is carefully included within quotation marks. The short answers to questions were scarcely legible, and at times could be deciphered only by help of the Medium himself. (This illegible handwriting is not without its use; it engrosses the attention of the sitters.)
It follows, therefore, that, if prepared slates are to be used, they must be adroitly substituted for others, which the sitters know to be clean. The question is thus narrowed to one of pure legerdemain, and the Medium must necessarily have several slates at hand.