458 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 1. 



" Why, no; I do not believe there are any 

 spirits about it, nor any thing miraculous, and 

 I do not much believe the crowd did, although, 

 of course, we could not explain things, nor un- 

 stand how it could be done." 



While I was at the meeting, a very bright 

 and intelligentwoman told meihey were having 

 wonderful miracles performed. If 1 remember 

 correctly, she said she saw the face of her 

 mother, who died years ago, as plainly as she 

 saw nly face, and talked with her. i could not 

 well manage to stay quite an hour, and so, of 

 course, theie was no time for me to remonstrate 

 or hold any argument. I did, however, object 

 to the large admittance lee charged, but was 

 told that ■■ the laborer is worihy ol his hire;" 

 that thiy could not afford to travel about and 

 give these exliibitions. which entailed consider- 

 able expense, without pay. How many times 

 the little text has been quoted as an excuse 

 for extortion and fraud! Again, 1 asked why 

 those slates, instead of being screwed together, 

 and put away until such a time as the spirits 

 were willing, could not have been hung outside, 

 on the side of the tent, in the broad daylight 

 of noontime; and why not let as many gather 

 around as could be collected from the surround- 

 ing country? and while thus exposed to full 

 view, if the spirits were desirous of communi- 

 cating with friends on earth, why not have 

 this mysterious writing appear in the full light 

 of day? If there were good reasons why their 

 forms should be visible only at stated times, I 

 could not see why the writing could not be 

 done in sight as well as out of sight. I did not 

 feel then that it was my province to criticise 

 severely, or to find fault; but I threw out these 

 remarks in a kindly, charitable spirit. They 

 spoke of the miracles — wonderful miracles — 

 that were being performed. Our Savior per- 

 formed all of his miracles among crowds, and 

 mostly in the open air,/rec o/ c/iorge, and in 

 broad daylight; and, in fact, he said to his ac- 

 cusers, "In secret have I done nothing." And 

 there was not a single witness who could show 

 where even for one brief minute he did a7iy 

 thing secretly. His life was truth, and there 

 was no sort of reason for secrecy. 



I had a few minutes to wait for the train. 

 The conversation around the depot was, of 

 course, in regard to the wonderful develop- 

 ments at the camp-grounds on the shqres of 

 beautiful Lake Helen. A boy in his teens said 

 he had attended all their exhibitions. I do not 

 know where he got his dollars, but he must 

 have scraped them up in some way. He, too. 

 said he could not understand how the things 

 were done; but when I asked him if he believ- 

 ed it was the work of spirits he looked me over 

 as if he thought I must be a stranger, or some- 

 thing more, and replied, " Spir-itsl not rmich!'' 



When I sat in the tent I looked over the 

 audience, the speakers, and the singers on the 

 platform. The whole matter was of the deep- 

 est interest to me. Perhaps I never weighed 

 individuals and studied faces as I did then. 

 When I furnished the text for the speaker, 

 "Thou has loved righteousness and hated 

 iniquity," I was looking from one to the other, 

 and wondering, "Does that fine-looking wo- 

 man honestly believe she is helping the cause of 

 righteousness? or can it be possible that she, is 

 one of the party who love iniquity? God for- 

 bid." I looked at the young girls who assisted 

 in the music; surely they were honest and sin- 

 cere; and then I looked at the men— gray - 

 headed men — men of culture, experience, and 

 possessed of a certain kind of power to move 

 people by'their eloquence. Are they parties to 

 the iniquitous part of this work? I felt sure 

 there was iniquity. It could not be otherwise. 

 Not my own wisdom nor that of any other hu- 



man being could draw the line through that 

 congregation of people. But God himself knew. 

 The great Judge of all the earth, who reads 

 our hearts, knew just what part of that audi- 

 ence were scheming and planning and loving 

 inviaity. Let us drop the curtain here, and let 

 Goa decide. 



Some little time after my return from Florida, 

 friend Detwiler, known more or less to the 

 readers uf (Jleanusgs, v\ruie me, inclosing a 

 clipping from a Florida paper, exposing the 

 party who urew the crowds at Lake Helen. 

 He invited them to his home. Tiiey were 

 furnished every convenience, and went tlirough 

 witli the same program as at Lake Helen; 

 tliereupon friena D., with others present, con- 

 jointly and publicly advertised them as frauds 

 and humbugs. A little later he sent me a full 

 expose from another locality. As it seems wise 

 to give these people some publicity to induce 

 them to stop their work, we give the clipping 

 in full: 



Oklahoma City. O. T., Mar. 20. 1895. 



Editor News:— Yesterday a Mr. Goodricn, a former resident 

 of Florida, handed me a copy of your paper bearing date of 

 March 8, and c illed iny attention to the '• doings " of one Con- 

 cannon, a pretended medium. That you might be informed 

 of his escapade here I hurridly write your paper. 



Mr. Concanuon came to our city. He followed two women, 

 who preceded him two or three weeks and quietly learned 

 the "lay of the ground," and became acquainted with as 

 many of our people as possible. The confederate learned who 

 had lost children, how they died, and causes of death; also 

 cases of deaths of grown people, especially those wlio left 

 children behind tliem to mouin their loss. When Concannon 

 appeared, quiet meetings were held among the element who 

 desired most to see spirits. Gradually, as it became Icnown of 

 Ills presence, his audiences increased, and the personnel of the 

 meetings changed. The manifestations were good, and, to the 

 credulous, unexplainauie. 



Knowing the ■manifestations" to be "snides," and our 

 people duped, a few of us >et about to e.\pose the fraud, and 

 did :^o the llist meeting we atlemleil. 



Concannon would put his feet into a pan of flour, take rice 

 in his hand, and then have hi^ coat-sleeves sewed to his pant- 

 legs at the knees, and coat-collar sewed up. Once in this con- 

 dition, the curtains Concealing him Irom the audience would 

 close, and singing and other music commenced to allay or en- 

 tice the spirits. 



Myself with one other attendant took matches along, and 

 arranged that one should seize the ' ghost " and the other 

 strike a match and examine the ■ oritier." Fortunately the 

 medium wanted to converse with me about some matters, and 

 1 was called to the curtain. The hul.v with him took me by 

 the hands and tne spirit i?) aiiiiearcil. Wlun the position 

 was favorable I seized hold of the ' ghost." and, lo and be- 

 hold! it was Concannon— nude— mosquito-netting around him 

 for ' angel wings." 



The exposure was complete. We had him, examined the 

 pan ot Hour his clothing, the rice carefully laid away, and 

 the clothes used to wipe the hour from his feet. Also some of 

 the committee witnessed him as he donned his clothes all 

 sewed up. He can slip into and out of his clothes in half a 

 minute. The trick is easil.y exposed- is raw — and one of the 

 greatest frauds ever perpetrated on a public When Concan- 

 non was caught, the women fought like she-tigers. If they 

 are still in youi State, attend the meetings again; and when 

 Coiuanncm apiiears at the parting of the curtains,. iump for- 

 ward ami srizc the fellow. 



A little )i:iint would not hurt, for there is no more villainous 

 occupatinn tli.in trifling wiih the subject as he is. 



D. C. Lewis. 



Along with the above, friend D. makes some 

 comments of liis own, and bias me make any 

 extract i think proper. Want of space compels 

 me to quote; only half a dozen lines that make a 

 most excellent summing-up of the whole mat- 

 ter. 



The question arises, whicii horn of tbe dilemma 

 tlie camp-meeting- management will accept— that of 

 being- deceived for five weeks, or that of being a 

 party to the deception— both very humiliating and 

 annoying, no doubt. J. V. Detwiler. 



New Smyrna, Fla., Apr. 11. 



The great wonder to me is, that any intelli- 

 gent audience should consent to sit still and see 

 a man go through such absurdly ridiculous 

 things as putting his feet into a pan of flour and 

 filling his hands with rice, sewing up his pant- 

 legs, etc. I know they did that at Lake Helen, 

 because it was mentioned to me several times as 

 proof that the medium could have had nothing 

 to do with the manifestations. Are we to sup- 

 pose that the spirits of the departed would in- 

 dorse such proceedings in order that they 

 might communicate with the present age? 

 Why, it is a miserably wicked slur on our an- 



