Magician Among the Spirits — Chapter 6 Part II - Dr. Slade and his Spirit Slates

“This concluded the first seance; when Slade, after a moment, said he thought that was all he could get at the time.

“On our second visit I need recount but three effects: First, difference in the method of obtaining writing on the large slates which began the seance, as in the first visit.

Slade showed one slate and cleaned it thoroughly, then while keeping up a running fire of conversation, he casually reached to the small table, spoken of as having several piles of slates on it, and taking one as though at hazard, placed it flat on the big table.

Rubbed its upper surface with his fingers, and placed a piece of pencil on it, held it under the table.

After a pause he brought it out and taking the upper slate off the under, showed both surfaces without writing.

He remarked that perhaps a different piece of pencil would be better and he placed another pencil on the upper surface of the top slate and then placed the lower slate over it, without at any time having shown its under surface.

This surface was found covered with writing, the purport of which I do not now recall.

“The second variation of the first seance was when Slade asked me if I had ever seen the ‘dematerialization of a solid object?

’ I said I had not, whereupon Slade took a small slate and, looking around as though to find a proper object for his test, picked up a match box from the mantelpiece, and put it on the upper surface of the slate rather close to where he would hold it.

He then placed the slate and its superimposed object carefully under the table and after a moment brought out the slate, without the match box.

I looked under the table but found nothing suspicious there.

“In a moment Slade replaced the slate under the table and on bringing it out, we saw the match box in its former place.

This disappearance did not impress me greatly as I concluded the whole secret of dematerialization consisted in turning the slate over and holding the box in place by a finger, then after showing the surface empty, the slate was again turned over on being replaced under the table, and so the materialization of the box was realized.

“The last test was quite startling.

Slade drew his chair close to mine, placed one of his hands on the chair back and the other on the table.

My hands were resting on the table top.

Suddenly I felt the chair rise, and I was tipped forward, but kept my balance by pushing back with my hands, which, as I have said, were resting on the table top.

Then the force was quickly withdrawn and my chair and I came back to the floor with a grand thud.

This concluded the second seance.

I never saw Slade again.

” Powell explains the levitation thus: “When Slade drew his chair close to mine he crossed his legs and was thus enabled to bring his foot under the rung of my chair.

The leg resting over the knee gave considerable leverage to the limb having a foot under the rung of my chair.

Now he exerted the necessary strength by pressing upward with his foot, and holding the chair back with his hand while the other hand steadied the whole, by bearing against the table.

Slade took his hand away from the back of my chair for the fraction of a second _before he released his foot_.

I was thus naturally tilted forward and had to exert some force to keep myself from sliding off the chair.

This effort kept me from seeing Slade free himself and get his limbs back to their normal position, viz.

, one hand on the table, and his feet and legs fairly under it.

Slade was rather tall and, though somewhat slim, was very muscular.

Of course I did not actually _see_ Slade use his foot to do the lifting, but his position and all the circumstances surrounding the effect tend to prove my claim as to what I believe he did.

Further, while I was far from being as strong as Slade, I succeeded in duplicating this ‘Levitation’ by the means I have described.

” While searching for material about Slade I heard of an old medium living in Philadelphia by the name of Remigius Weiss, known as Remigius Albus, who had testified before the Seybert Commission regarding Slade’s manipulation of the slates.

I went over to Philadelphia to his home and there met the only man who had tangible evidence of Dr. Slade.

This he thoroughly explained to me.

I asked him why he had never exposed it to the world and he told me that he held back at first because of pity for Slade’s condition and afterwards figured that if the fraud mediums and other potential criminals knew Slade’s methods they might make use of the methods to gain control of poor human beings who wished to get in touch with loved ones who had passed away.

He did not hesitate to give me full details and at my request wrote me a letter describing his experience with Slade.

I quote it because I believe it to be the best exposé ever written of Slade’s slate writings.

“August 18, 1923. “My dear Houdini:-- “Please accept, from me, this Lock-book, and the locked double-slate--as a small token of comradeship--in combating Spiritualistic deception, popular superstition and Delusion.

“The book and the slate were my own.

I put the lock and hinges on the slate, and prepared the book, and a number of other, different objects--(such as Professor Zollner had, when he, in his foolishness, was pleased to be deceived by Dr. Slade’s Humbug).

“In order to gain the perfect, full confidence of Dr. Slade, and to have him give a seance in my home, and in order to counteract and overcome his explicit aversion as to do writing on or between a sealed slate or a locked book--I showed him letters from (two eminent and confiding Spiritist Authors)--Dr. Heinrich Tiedemann and Tiedemann’s intimate friend Hudson Tuttle, promising to me that they would be present at that seance (at 148 Fairmount Avenue).

“Dr. Slade had handled and inspected that Book and Slate, during a Seance, at my residence (at 148 Fairmount Avenue, Phila.

, Pa.

), where I, together with Mr. Wertheimer (then a student of Jurisprudence)--and in presence of other witnesses (who were concealed and not seen, nor suspected by Dr. Slade, nor his ‘Spirits’) detected the manipulations, pedalations (foot, leg and other bodily movements)--and the general _modus operandi_ of his simple Legerdemain at the seance.

I had ready, for that seance, three different suites of Furniture, and thus, I found out that he would, or could, perform only at, or on a certain kind of plain, square or drop-leaf table and ordinary wooden chairs or cane seat chairs.

“Each person present at the Seance, wrote, _independent_ of and _before_ communicating with, the others, a personal, individual report of the Seance and signed it within the next few days.

A day or two after, I put these papers in my pocket and also another paper I had prepared, to serve or use as Dr. Slade’s confession to be signed by him.

I went to the Girard Hotel, Room 24 (N. W.

corner of 9th and Chestnut Streets, Philadelphia, Pa.

), to have Dr. Slade arrested for obtaining money under false pretense,--or to get him to sign his own confession.

There, in his room, No. 24, in the Girard Hotel, I had another, a different Seance, with Dr. Slade.

He again carefully scrutinized the book and the slate, and then, holding the book under the table, secretly and carefully, attempted to open the lock, with a small key, hidden in his handkerchief.

“Dr. Slade and his pretended ‘_Spirits_’ could not write in the book.

While holding it under the table, he attempted to pull out of the book that thin, wooden, square frame, I had put there at the edges of the leaves so that the small piece of lead pencil could move about.

--Then, in a similar attempt, he worked and perspired, on, and over the double slate.

His ‘Spirits’ could not write in the locked slate and he could not open it.

“He said, ‘The Spirits seem to be angry at your skepticism, it’s no use to lose more time by trying.

My guide don’t want to have anything more to do with you.

’ “Then upon Dr. Slade’s request I unlocked the slate, and he wrote in the ordinary way, as writing generally is done in schools, two short sentences in the slate.

Then he worked the sponge,[70] and turning the written on side downward, sleight-of-hand trick, tried to palm this off, claiming that this is ‘Genuine, independent, Spirit slate writing.

’ “Up to this time, November the 4th, 1882, I had shown to Dr. Slade friendly, joyful attentiveness.

We talked about some of my newspaper articles I had published some weeks before he consented to give me a seance.

“In these newspapers I had described him (Dr. Slade) as ‘The Modern Cagliostro, a celebrated necromancer, martyr or a charlatan, of radical free-religious proclivities, fine manners and a humistic, witty and forceful public lecturer and most powerful Spiritistic Medium, who again and again has been and is challenging exposures, and calling special attention to the fact that Dr. Slade has, in his lectures, and otherwise, again and again publicly announced that he is prepared to pay a thousand dollars (. 00) to any person that can prove that he (Dr. Slade) is a humbug, or that Dr. Slade’s “manifestations” are trickery, legerdemain, humbug or in any way fraudulent.

’ [Illustration: “LOCKED SLATE” USED BY DR. HENRY SLADE IN HIS

WRITING TESTS AT PHILADELPHIA]

“Dr. Slade seemed to be pleased by my description.

After some pleasant talk as to his appearance with Scientists, Kings and other royal persons and Rulers in Europe and his success as a lecturer and his way of living, he gave me his address, No. 221 West 22nd Street, _New York_.

“Then I asked Dr. Slade that we change ‘rôles,’ he to take my place and be the Investigator,--and I to play the ‘medium,’ there, in his room, as an ‘experiment.

’ “Dr. Slade also said that if I could overcome my skepticism I would be a good ‘psychic,’ having ‘mediumistic’ gifts.

“I suggested that he should watch me carefully and then honestly tell me, as to the effect and ‘impression’ my ‘manifestations’ could (or would) be producing on his mind, and eventually on the outcome of the ‘Spiritualistic, the Harmonial, Philosophy, or so-called, Scientific Religion of the Spiritists.

’ “Then, to his consternation, I, earnestly, by actual demonstration, reproduced every one of his manifestations, _exactly_ (and by the same _modus operandi_, as I, and my witnesses had seen and detected) as _Dr.

Slade had performed them_.

He asked me, how, and by what means we detected his ‘occult’ or secret mode, or ‘process of wonder working’ or miracle?

--I mentioned that he had positively refused to try any ‘experiment’ on the first and second sets of tables and chairs, and had requested me to substitute them by a plain kitchen table and chairs of a certain construction.

“I told him that I had bored observation-holes in the _corners_ of the panels (particularly so through the _lower_ corners) in the parlor doors, the floor, ceiling and other places from where my concealed witnesses observed, and have seen exactly all the movements of his feet, hands, etc. , _below_ and above the table,--saw how he raised (‘floated’) Mr. Wertheimer sitting in the chair, saw how he (Dr. Slade) with his foot upset chairs, kicked a book (extending over the edge of the table), tossed a slate pencil from the edge of the table from a slate held under and at the edge of the table, etc. , etc. [Illustration: SKETCH SHOWING SLADE’S SEAT AT THE TABLE, DIFFERENT POSITIONS OF SLATES, LOCATION OF SPONGE, AND METHOD OF MOVING BOOK.

] “Dr. Slade, now turned very pale and wiping off the thick perspiration from his forehead and face, said:--‘Well, what of it?

’ and rashly asked:--‘Where were Hudson Tuttle and Dr. H.

Tiedemann?

’ I reminded him of the fact that they had sent an excuse, being unable (by reason of unforeseen circumstances) to attend that seance in my house.

“Then I sternly gave him the alternative:--That either he _sign his own confession_ (as to the fact)--that he has (during the many years in his career as a professional Spirit medium and in everything he had professed or pretended to be ‘genuine’ Spiritistic or Spiritualistic) deceived and defrauded the public.

--I read the confession to him and sternly demanded, ‘Either you sign this or you will be put behind the bars.

’-- _CONFESSION_

“The undersigned, Henry Slade, known professionally as Dr. Henry Slade,--the powerful Spiritistic medium--by reason of the force of unfavorable circumstances, years ago became a Spiritualistic slate writing (etc. , etc. ) medium, and Spiritistic lecturer and he herewith confesses that all his pretended Spiritualistic manifestations were and are deceptions, performed through tricks.

(Signed) H. Slade.

” “I (R. Weiss) had also stipulated that he (Dr. Slade) promises to discontinue his present dishonest, criminal method of gaining a livelihood by preying on the superstition of Spiritualists and through the gullibility of the public,--Dr. Slade then remonstrated and said:--that I could not affect his standing in the eyes of those who had seen and believed his manifestations, mentioning the Czar of Russia and others of world prominence.

“I then walked to the door, signifying that _my part_ of the interview and argument was ended--and also conveying the ‘impression’ as to my intention to have him arrested.

“He then changed his attitude and in a cringing manner he pleaded with me to have mercy on him, as he had only this one method of earning a livelihood.

All of this, and his pleading, was so strenuous that he fell in a ‘dead’ faint.

-- “Then, after I ‘revived’ him out of a ‘_genuine_’ fainting spell, he begged me to desist from having him arrested and then _he signed the confession_.

(Signed) “Remigius Weiss.

” CHAPTER VII