him do just as he pleased, fully and unreservedly submitting to all the
conditions demanded by the Spirits.

We received from Dr. Slade a written expression of his satisfaction with
our treatment of him, which had been throughout, so he said, entirely
fair and courteous, and of his willingness at any time hereafter to sit
with us again, should we desire it and his engagements permit.

It is a source of regret that, in our investigations, we have received
no aid from unprofessional Mediums; and in dealing with professional
Mediums we have been continually distracted by the conflicting estimates
in which these Mediums are held among the Spiritualists themselves.
There are very, very few professional Mediums, as far as our experience
goes, who are accepted by all Spiritualists as free from the reproach of
fraud. Indeed one Medium with whom, by the advice of Mr. Hazard, we had
a séance, and for whom Mr. Hazard vouched as one of the best of his
class, we have seen denounced as a 'liar and a thief.' In the
earnestness of our zeal we advertised in the local secular press, and in
the leading Spiritualist Journals both East and West, for Independent
Slate Writing Mediums, and to this widespread appeal there came but
three replies, and of these, two were so remote that the promise of
performance held out by the respondents did not, in our opinion, justify
so large an outlay of money for traveling expenses as a journey across
the Continent involved. This noteworthy reluctance on the part of
Mediums to come before us cannot be due to any harsh or antagonistic
treatment received at our hands by any Medium. All Mediums have been
treated by us with uniform courtesy, and with every endeavor to
acquiesce in the 'conditions' imposed or suggested by the Spirits. And
yet a well-known Medium in New York, Mrs. Thayer, to whom the Acting
Chairman was unknown, and with whom he was at the time having a séance,