Chapter II: The Discomfited Enemy

What has gone before is the whole story, in a sense.

The article in the _Herald_ either relates or suggests it. Indeed, no refutation of it has been attempted. If there is one striking negative feature in the circumstances surrounding this exposure of Spiritualism, it is the entire absense of any reply from the great body of professional spiritualists commensurate with the accusation made.

This confession of Mrs. Margaret Fox Kane was to them the handwriting on the wall, the "_Mene, mene, tekel, upharsin_," of Spiritualism.

Leah Fox Fish-Brown-Underhill, who has published a book of the flimsiest and most absurd narrative, intended to be accepted as a proof of Spiritualism, is the one person in all the world who could be expected to defend the system from this fatal attack, if any defense were possible. Reporters of the daily press would have been but too glad to record whatever she might say, were it even the veriest drivel, on an issue that jeopardized the existence of the brazen and pretentious "ism" which, as by an obscene spell, still enlists the curiosity of a great proportion of the world.

But as Mrs. Underhill's book itself, which I shall notice more in detail hereafter, shows to the critical mind how futile would be an attempted refutation on her part, the public can very readily understand the reason of this most careful silence. Blunderingly, however, prior to having consulted her, Mr. Daniel Underhill, her husband, consented to talk upon the subject. The statements hostile to Mrs. Kane, to be found in the excerpt here given, were, of course, to be expected. Were they ever so true, however, they could not in any way lesson the damning force of her repentant avowals:--

Mr. Daniel Underhill, president of a wealthy insurance company, whose
office is in Wall street, and who is the husband of the eldest of the
Fox sisters, whom Margaret declares to be her "damnable enemy," is a
Spiritualist, but in a moderate sense. Mrs. Underhill's maiden name
was Ann Leah Fox. She was twice married before she met her present
husband, and she is twenty-three years older than Margaret.

A large part of the public do not realize that Ann Leah, Margaret and
Cathie Fox were the founders of what is specifically known as
Spiritualism. The first so-called phenomena came to the two youngest
girls in 1848, at Hydesville, in this State, while their sister Leah
was residing elsewhere. When she heard of what had taken place and of
the intense public excitement which it had created, she joined them,
and then began the public history of Spiritualism. She took the
incipient "ism" vigorously in hand, and for a series of years gave
exhibitions in all the principal cities, which were attended by the
most eminent men and the most brilliant women in the country.

Of late years Mrs. Underhill has entirely withdrawn from public
participation in spiritualistic exhibitions. She is still held,
however, in high estimation by all who accept supernatural
communications, and her reply to what her sister Margaret has said
regarding the practice of fraud, would at this time be interesting.
Unfortunately she is now in the country, and there is no person in
the city to speak for her excepting her husband. I obtained an
interview with him yesterday. He was reluctant to be brought into the
controversy, but, while speaking in a most uncomplimentary manner of
Margaret and denouncing her proposed new departure, did not evince
any great amount of indignation.

"I have for years," he began, "helped both Maggie and Katie, and my
wife has done everything in the world for them. We have furnished
apartments for Maggie twice. They might both do well if they would
only keep sober. Maggie can be as nice as you please or as vicious as
a devil. Several persons have undertaken to manage her, but all have
failed. Nobody can do anything with her. The first I knew that she
was back in the city was through the _Herald_.

"I don't think she's in her right mind. I have done so much for her
and she has behaved so badly in return that I have given her up now
and will have nothing to do with her. She says she will lecture, does
she? Well, I don't believe she ever will. She's incapable of it.

"It's a great pity, though, that she should say such things about
Spiritualism, because of the odium which will result from it. But it
isn't the first time she has said that she would declare against
Spiritualism. She has had such spells before. It is astonishing to me
that people have stuck to her and Katie as they have. It is all bosh
about revealing the manner of producing the raps. I don't believe she
can do it. I don't believe she knows how they are produced, except
that it is done by an occult agency. Of course, there are frauds in
Spiritualism. Mme. Diss De Barr was one of them. I don't believe much
in materialization, but I've seen some real manifestations. They were
in my own house. Nearly all my spiritualistic experience has been in
my own house, and these sisters were the mediums.

"Of course Maggie's statement will be something of a shock to
spiritualists the world over, because they regard her and her sisters
as the founders of their belief. In my opinion she is not accountable
for what she says."

Mrs. Underhill remained quietly in the country many weeks after the expose, safe from the keen inquisition of reporters.

The notorious "mediums" in New York who were approached on the subject, were all excessively guarded in their comments upon the step taken by Mrs. Kane, yet they admitted her personal importance as an originator of Spiritualism. Mrs. E. A. Wells, whose fraudulent exhibitions have had a certain success, expressed herself as much shocked at the determination of Mrs. Kane; "'but,' she added to the reporter, with seeming naivete, 'you don't believe she will do it, do you?'"

The account from which I am quoting, continues as follows:

"I sought the presence of Mrs. E. A. Wells, a medium of great
celebrity, whose abode is not far from Adelphi Hall, where
spiritualists congregate on Sunday." Mrs. Wells expressed herself as
shocked at the determination of Mrs. Margaret Fox Kane, "but," she
added, with seeming naivete, "you don't believe she will do it, do
you?"

"How have you regarded Mrs. Kane heretofore, Mrs. Wells?"

"Why, with a good deal of respect as one of the first to get messages
from the unseen world. The Fox sisters have a great name. I have no
idea, though, if she really intends to do what she says she will,
that she's in her right senses."

Another "medium," who has a wealthy clientele, and who gives only private seances, whence all unfriendly influences are rigorously excluded, did not desire to appear in print, as she told her visitor, since it would look like "bad form" to those who came to her for supernatural enlightenment.

She was asked, however, if she held the Fox sisters in much esteem as
the pioneers of Spiritualism. She said she did, but personally knew
nothing of them.

When told about the threatened exposure she expressed very great
surprise, and declared that it would be a deep mortification to
believers in Spiritualism.

"I don't believe she can expose any fraud. But if fraud exists, why,
then, I say let it be exposed; the sooner the better. There's no
fraud about me, that's very certain, and I've some of the very best
people in New York to come here."

"I'll tell you what! I have heard that the Fox sisters are dreadfully
addicted to drink. I don't know how far it is true, but I wouldn't
believe anything she might say in the way of exposure. May be she's
out of money and thinks the spiritualists ought to do something for
her. I shouldn't wonder."

"Now, if you'll come up here some time, and if you'll give me a fair
report, I shall be glad to show you how I can materialize."

I thought there was a good deal of material about her already, and so
I thanked her.

At their public gatherings in Adelphi Hall, New York, now most meagerly attended, the spiritualists, just after the initial expose in the _Herald_, refrained very wisely from taking up the gauntlet of truth thrown down by their chief apostle, Mrs. Margaret Fox Kane. In an interview, however, which was had by a reporter with Mr. Henry J. Newton, the President of the First Spiritual Society of New York, the latter indulged in a number of emphatic statements regarding the "manifestations" produced by the "Fox Sisters," all of which rested upon his own veracity only. The spirit of what he said may be easily gleaned from this passage:

"I had supposed all along," he said, "that Mrs. Kane was still in
Europe, and that she would never return to this country. I even heard
at the time when Katie, her sister, was sent abroad, that Maggie was
in Rome, in company with a well known gentleman. I am very much
surprised to know that she is in this city, and more surprised that
she threatens to make such silly pretended revelations as you say she
proposes. They can only be revelations in name. She cannot reveal
anything that can injure the spiritualist cause or that will weaken
in any one's mind the truth of what we teach.

"I have been absent in the country and have not read all that the
_Herald_ has published on this matter. I have read enough, however,
to show me how utterly absurd and ridiculous her position is.

"The idea of claiming that unseen 'rappings' can be produced with
joints of the feet! If she says this, even with regard to her own
manifestations, she lies! I and many other men of truth and position
have witnessed the manifestations of herself and her sisters many
times under circumstances in which it was absolutely impossible for
there to have been the least fraud.

"_Nothing that she could say in that regard would in the least change
my opinion_, nor would it that of any one else who has become
profoundly convinced that there is an occult influence connecting us
with an invisible world, I have seen Margaret Fox Kane herself, when
lying on a bed of sickness and unable to rise, produce 'rappings' in
various parts of the room in which she was, and upon the ceilings,
doors and windows several feet away from her. I have seen her produce
the same effects when too drunk to realize what she was doing."

On the 25th of September, 1888, the following, which was published in the New York _Herald_, expressed very tersely the situation among the spiritualists, who had by that time partly recovered from the first effect of the blow:

Recrimination against the two younger Fox sisters, Margaret and
Katie, has begun with characteristic violence, and many unlovely
truths are betrayed which do not alter the essential significance of
the former's denunciation of spiritualistic fraud. Several of the
mediums said that they could hardly believe their eyes when they read
of Mrs. Margaret Fox Kane's determination, and they declared almost
unanimously that "she would not do it if she were in her senses."
They accuse her of excessive indulgence in drink and hint that she is
not responsible for what she says. It appears, however, that in
private, on many occasions, but never before in public, she has
stated that Spiritualism was a tissue of fraud, and that some day she
would prove the charge to the world. She has during the last few
mouths given many seances in London, but always disclaimed any
personal supernatural connection in producing the effects at which
others wondered. With a number of rich patrons, among them Mr. H.
Wedgewood, of Cavendish Square, she proceeded to a certain point in
the process of delusion and then frankly undeceived them, convincing
them of the ease with which they could be practiced upon.

Prior to this, the following had been published:

As Mrs. Kane's sincerity in making her proposed exposures is
questioned by her enemies, the following brief note from a well known
English spiritualist is of interest:

"31 QUEEN ANNE STREET, CAVENDISH SQUARE,
"LONDON, W., JULY 19, 1888.

"DEAR MRS. KANE: I am not so much surprised as I might be at what you
have revealed to me if I had not already been led to believe that
many spiritualistic mediums practice upon the credulous.

"The illusion, however, was perfect while it lasted.

"You do well to expose these infamous frauds, and I thank you for
having enlightened me.

"Sincerely yours,
"H. WEDGEWOOD."

And later Mrs. Kane, in outlining her proposed public lecture, said:

"I am going to expose the very root of corruption in this
spiritualistic ulcer. You talk about Mormonism! Do you know that
there is something behind the shadowy mask of Spiritualism that the
public can hardly guess at? I am stating now what I know, not because
I actually participated in it, for I would never be a party to such
promiscuous nastiness, but because I had plenty of opportunity, as
you may imagine, of verifying it. Under the name of this dreadful,
this horrible hypocrisy--Spiritualism--everything that is improper,
bad and immoral is practiced. They go even so far as to have what
they call 'spiritual children!' They pretend to something like the
immaculate conception! Could anything be more blasphemous, more
disgusting, more thinly deceptive than that? In London I went in
disguise to a quiet seance at the house of a wealthy man, and I saw
a so-called materialization. The effect was produced with the aid of
luminous paper, the lustre of which was reflected upon the operator.
The figure thus displayed was that of a woman--was virtually nude,
being enveloped in transparent gauze, the face alone being concealed.
This was one of those seances to which the privileged non-believing
friends of believing spiritualists could have access. But there are
other seances, where none but the most tried and trusted are
admitted, and where there are shameless goings on that vie with the
secret Saturnalia of the Romans. I could not describe these things to
you, because I would not."

Thus, the only one of the "Fox Sisters" who still adhered to the imposture practiced for over forty years, and the only spiritualist who could deny the statements of Margaret Fox Kane with anything approaching to authority, found her safest and most fitting defense in the kindly shelter of silence.

This quasi-confession was not needed to complete the conviction in intelligent minds that Spiritualism was, in its inception, and is now, a fraud and a lie. But the significance of the negative circumstance is none the less worthy of note.