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Judge Hall On Spiritual Mediums

Judge Hall On Spiritual Mediums image
Parent Issue
Day
6
Month
October
Year
1865
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

Froui tlie New Vork Times. Judííe Ilall's opinión on tho motion for a new trial n i lie case of the spiritual medium üolche&ter, must be taken evörywheïi to be iofc o;ily a conclusivo Hrgument against the points urged in his favor by bis counsel, bvtt also a ver}1 strong argument ngiinst tbe claims of Spiritualism iUelf, and thtis cjuestioBS involved have an interest í'ar beyond tlie particular case befoie the court, The ffrst ootí Wiis the point. that Colehcst.er's performances were not public. But the Judge, obviously strongly inclined to hotd that hjn peí formalices were publio iii a proper sense, holds that it malíes no differonoe whether tliey were public or Dot, the only neeessary element being that tliey coustituted' tlie " business :' of the defendaiit, the evidence oí' publicity and performanae for pay being. unly pertinent to show that ttiks was his business. If it were otherwise, CoMiester and j his fellows could escape the statuto by making their performances strietíy private. Under this decisión privacy and secreoy is no shield. Any one who makes a business of being a medium must take out a license as a juggler. Uut the inain question by tbe Judgo is on the merits oí' the caso,, viz. , whether Coluhester periormed by sleight of'-hand or not, and after expressing the catire satisfaotion which the court feit with tho verdict of the jury sgoiñst Inni on t his poiat, ho takes occasion to make a short summary of the evidence given i'or the proseeutiou in the case, wbich we 'hink can hardly fuil to satisf'y any unprejudiced miad ihat Colchester was a mere impostor, whether other spiritual merliuuis iré such or not. But the cha-neter of the evidence iri voii by tho defendant is urged by the Judge as still more conelusive aguint him Tbe proof lo sustain bis claim slmuld be very strong, bceauso the claim is opposcd to tho reasnn and esperieiioe of mankinrV. " Our renson, as well as oiil' instinct," says the Judge, '' teaches us that i f our di.'parted parents and clil dren and fciends can ootnmunitiAte with us, and give us inforination and advice tor the regulatiou of our ennduct, they would not refuse to exercise this power for our benefit, becnuse we decline to con tribute to fill the pockets of a strolling performer, or because we fail to address them through the brokerage of Bome professed spiritual medium " - and we think that all mus' agree with the Judge in this view. Strong proof of the claims of Spiritualism must therefore be required. But instead of this slrong proof being furnished, the defendant fail to prove that be h:d exercised those powers which he claimed for himself in circurnstances when their exercise would have been moro profitable to him than all his exhibitiom oouid be ; and more eonclusive yet against his claim was his entire faibae to put upou the stand a single spiritual medium of all the hundreds of them that oan be found, and who. the Judge thinks, should have " giadly embrneed the opportunity t prove upon a judicial trial the sincerity and truth of their pretensions, f such proof oould be made." We can readily perceive the answer which spiritualists may make to this - They may say, as Judge Edmunds did, that Colchester was a charlatan and a huinbug, whorn they had no desire to assist in his deceptions ; that a verdict aiainst him was of no interest whatever to them, bècause no was oüly a pretender to that power which they professed in reality, and that tho Judge is wrong wbeu he says that " the interest and reputatioo of all the so-called spiritual médiums were iuvolved in this question ;" but that it was rather for their advautago in the interests of truth that an impostoi should be unmasko I Whother this excuso be valid or not for their failiog to offer their testimony in Colchester's behalf, the argument is very strong, f rom his fail ure to compel their testimony, that he bad no faith iu their spiritu 1 powers. We can hardly belicve tha! if he had thought that the examination of mediums wuu'd have estabhshed the reality of spiritual manifestations, as they are alleged to be by believersin them, he would havo relied, as ho seemed to have done, upon the testimony only of those who had been his dupes. We would not be understood as intimating that the answer which we have supposed spiritualists might make seems to us to be a valid one. But, whatever weight it might have in this first case, it could not be much weaker if, on a trial of soine other medium, there should be tho same failure of proof. And we hopo, for the nterests of trutb, that soine other case may arise - some other medium may be oalled upon to take out a juggler's lioense, and dcolming may, in another trial hefore a court, give opportunity for spiritual mediums to prove tho truth of their pretensions, or give to ihose who helievo these pretensions to be false, the vautago which a failure to make such proof, or tho lack of an effort to make it, would ocrtainly irive. Truth would not fear a cross examination. - Lot us see whether spiritualism fears it. General Shennan, addressing the returuing soldiers at Chicago, on the question of giving the negroes the right to vote, said : " I want those who have been in the South to boar testimony to the eondilion of these freed negroes. My opinión ia that they afe not fitted for the exercise of the franchise. [Loud applause ] I want them to get a fair price for their labor ; but I do uot think them fitted io take part in the legislation of the country. [Renewed cheering ] Captain Boyle, for sorao time engag od in transporting (Jhiuaman to Havana, is now in Mobile, proposing to furnish the South with suoh nurnberg of theso peopie as may bo required, believing that lor eithor plantation or house servants they will afford the best aad cheapest labor in the world. They oan be hired 'or from four to six dollars por 1 month, with board aad four suits of clothing a year. The Mobile papers recomuiend tho matter to the early cansideration of planters and ethers. Gen. Pillow'e gou-in law, Brown, bas i Iwien pardoned, and lus fine ïennessac 1 eêtato restorcd to him. &SL" The State of Connectiout voted on Monday last upon a constitutional amendment strikiug tho word "white" out of tho artiule prescribías: the qualiüeations of electors. The amendment was rejected by a majority of about 50U0. Tli i s resul t, iu face of the pressure brought to bear by the radicáis, is significaut. Conuecticut is oot ready to bestow the elcctive franchise, the highest right of eitizciiifiip, upo negroes, now in the State, or upou importátións from the f outh, and does not cousidcr the emaneipated slaves - or more popularly spoaking, the " freedmen " - competent to exeicise the right of citizeuship. If the oallols are not to be trusted in the hands óf a few, in Connccticnt, can they safely bo forced into the hands of the liberated but ignorant and degraded triases in the South. The radicáis ara not making fast hoad-way ag&Dst President Joiinson. Colorado latelv ndopted a State eonstitution, but by five votes to one rejected the negro suffrage elaufie. Idaho has also refuóed by a large innjority to eonter the right to vote upon negroes; and, better stil], has gone Democratie. JSÊT" The Alabama re constraction eonventiou has completcd its labors and adjourucd. The constitution it adopted abolishes slavcry ; repudiates tü& ordinance of secession. and all action under it, the rebel debt includcd ; provide for the solemnization of marriages between negroes, the care of indigent and helpless uegrpeSj their admission as witnesses, and for the full protection of their rights of property and person. Tho result of the war seems to be aecepted by Alabama, and every effort made to conform to the new order of things, and yet the radicáis will attempt to keep her under military control, and her Senators and Representativos out of Congrcss because the right of suffrage has not been given to the negro. lT" In Louisiana, one of the officors of the " Freedmen's Bureau " has ordered the military arrest of a Judge Wkejis, before whom a negro was tried and convicted on a charge of horse-stealing. There is no pretense that the trial was not impartial, and the convietion and sentence just and deserved, but Judgo Weems is forbidden to exercise jurisdictiot) over negroes. This is the law laid down by the " Freedmen's Bureau " for the observance of Judge Weems : " He may imprison and hang as many white men as he picases, and rio opposition will be raised by us, but during the existing interruption of civil law he must not touch a negro." And so the negro may steal, rob, murder, and do as he picases. Jg3L" The radicáis havo mot with a god send, in the ebape of a letter from J. Stuart Mill, declaring against the President's policy of reconstruction, and in favor of negro suffrage. Mr. Mill may be an able scholar, he no doubt is ; he may be a statesman, he no doubt is as that term is used abroad ; but his centralization views are hardly fitted for this hemisphere. He had better give his attention to the enlargement of the privileges of Englishmen, and to the extensión of tho right of Ruffrage to the millions of his own fellow citizens now mere " hewers of wood and drawers of water." This letter ought to ÏDJure the cause in the interest of which it is written. jgj-ag" The Rev. Col. Jacqdes, of the Jacques-Gilmore 'mission to Hichmond and Jefe. Davis, the narrative of whioh as published in the Atlantic Monthly, in tha Fall of 1864, was used with great effeot in the political carnpaign of that year, was in jail at the latest reports, in Louisville, Ky., on charge of causing an abortion to be produced npon the person of a Georgia woman when he had aeduced. His victim died in about eight hours after Jacqubs and his associato, one H. G. Millkiï, of Louisvillo, cornmenoed their operations. At the time of the breaking out of the war Jacques ivas principal of a fetnalo college at Jacksonville, 111. 6 Henry Gkinnull, Eq., of New York, has received a letter from Captain Hall, now in the Arctic regions, addressed to a Captain Ciiapel, to be fnrwarded to Mr. Gr., which gives tho tartling intelligence that three of Sir Joitn Fkankun's lost men have been hcard from, and are bolieved to be }-et living. One of these is C&ozier, second in command to Franklin. The statements of the letter are quito explicit, but we do not sbare in the belief of the Innuits- the peoplo with whom Ckozier and his eompanions seem to have taken refuge - that they ars still álive. U'ag" The Wirz trial is still furnishing business for the ir.ilitary commission at Washington, and items for " Associated Press " dispatches, and that is all tho signifieance it has. EF The State elcotions of Ohio and and Peiiusylvania take place on Tuesday neit. J52C 'J-'ie State t:tx für tlio curi-ent year, as apporlioned by the Auditor General, under the several stat ates providing i'or the samo, is 8640,467.75. Of this nggregate, the skire of Washteuaw Oounty is 37,932.72. Liwt year the State tas paid by this county wüs $27,755.01. lúcrense of tax this year, $10,177.71.

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Subjects
Old News
Michigan Argus