Fox. She was struck with awe; and when, in reply to a question about the number of her children, by rapping four, instead of three, as she expected, it reminded her of a little daughter, Mary, whom she had recently lost, the mother burst into tears." We have introduced this narrative thus at length not only because it is interesting in itself but because it is of special interest that all the particulars of the origin, or beginning, of such a movement as this, should be well understood. The following paragraph will explain how it came to be called "The Rochester Knockings," under which name it first became widely known. It is from the "Report of the 37th Anniversary of Modern Spiritualism,"held in Brooklyn, N. Y., March 31, 1885, and reported in the Banner of Light the 25th of the following month: -- "After a song by J. T. Lillie, Mrs. Leah Fox Underhill, the elder of the three Fox sisters (who was on our platform), was requested to speak. Mrs. Underhill said that she was not a public speaker, but would answer any questions from the audience, and in response to these questions told in a graphic manner how the spirits came to their humble home in Hydesville, in 1848; how on the 31st of March the first intelligent communication from the spirit world came Page 22 through the raps; how the family had been annoyed by the manifestations, and by the notoriety that followed; how the younger sisters, Catherine and Margaret, were taken to Rochester, where she lived, by their mother, hoping that this great and apparent calamity might pass from them; how their father and mother prayed that this cup might be taken away, but the phenomena became more marked and violent; how in the morning they would find four coffins drawn with an artistic hand on the door of the dining-room of her home in Rochester, of different sizes, approximating to the ages and sizes of the family, and these were lined with a pink color, and they were told that unless they made this great fact known, they would all speedily die, and enter the spirit-world.
"Gladly would they all have accepted this penalty for their disobedience in not making this truth known to the world. She told how they were compelled to hire Corinthian Hall In Rochester; how several public meetings were held in Rochester, culminating in the selection of a committee of prominent infidels, who, after submitting the Fox children to the most severe tests, --they being disrobed in the presence of a committee of ladies, --reported in their favor All the time she was on our platform, there was a continuous rapping by the spirits in response to what was being said by the several speakers, also in response to the singing, and all our exercises." In the same volume of the Forum from which quotations have already been made, M. J. Savage states many facts which have a determinate bearing on the point now under consideration; namely, the intelligence manifested in the spiritual phenomena. From these we quote a few. He says (p. 452and onward): -- "I am in possession of quite a large body of apparent facts that I do not know what to do with. . . . That certain things to me inexplicable have occurred, I believe. The negative opinion of some one with whom no such things have Page 23 occurred, will not satisfy me I am ready to submit some specimens of those things that constitute my problem. They can be only specimens;for a detailed account of even half of those I have laid by, would stretch to the limits of a book.
"A merchant ship bound for New York was on her homeward voyage. She was in the Indian Ocean. The captain was engaged to be married to a lady living in New England. One day early in the afternoon he came, pale and excited, to one of his mates, and exclaimed, 'Tom, Kate has just died Ihave seen her die!' The mate looked at him in amazement, not knowing what to make of such talk. But the captain went on and described the whole scene -- the room, her appearance, how she died, and all the circumstances. So real was it to him, and such was the effect on him, of his grief, that for two or three weeks, he was carefully watched lest he should do violence to himself. It was more than one hundred and fifty days before the ship reached her harbor. During all this time no news was received from home.
But when at last the ship arrived at New York, it was found that Kate did die at the time and under the circumstances seen and described by the captain off the coast of India. This is only one case out of hundreds. What does it mean? Coincidence? Just happened so? This might be said of one; but a hundred of such coincidences become inexplicable." The following is another instance mentioned by the same writer: -- "I went to the house of a woman in New York. She was not a professional. We had never seen each other before. We took seats in the parlor for a talk, I not looking for any manifestation. Raps began. I do not say whether they were really where they seemed to be or not; I know right well that the judgment is subject to illusion through the senses.
But I was told a 'spirit friend' was present; and soon the name, time, and place of death, etc., were given me. It was the name of a friend Ihad once known intimately. But twenty years had passed since the old intimacy;she had lived in another State; I am certain that she and the Page 24 psychic had never known or even heard of each other. She had died within a few months." Mr. Savage then gives examples where the power in question was exclusively mental: -- "The first time I was ever in the presence of a particular psychic, she went into a trance. She had never seen, and, so far as I know, had never had any way of hearing of my father, who had died some years previously. When I was a boy, he always called me by a special name that was never used by any other member of the family. In later years he hardly ever used it. But the entranced psychic said: 'An old gentleman is here,'
