and there were just five persons in the room, as follows:--Dr. Caritte,
Dan, Olive, Esther and Jane, William Cox and John Teed having left the
room after Esther had burried her face in the pillow. "Well, it
certainly is strange remarked the doctor, but I must go, it is getting
late." So he departed after saying he would call the next evening.

The next evening the Doctor called and remained for about an hour, but
as nothing occurred he departed feeling rather disappointed. For the
next three weeks no one could tell when the manifestations would take
place. Sometimes they would commence in the morning and continue all
day, and at other times they would only take place after Esther had
retired. It had now become a settled fact that Esther must be in the
house or there would be no manifestations of any kind. They never
occurred during her absence.

About one month after the commencement of the manifestations, Dr. Edwin
Clay, the well known Baptist clergyman, called at the house to behold
the wonders with his own eyes. He had read some little account of them
in the newspapers, but was desirious of seeing and hearing for himself,
not taking much stock, as the saying is, in what other people told him
about the affair. However, he was fortunate enough to have his desire
fully gratified. He heard the loudest kind of knocks, in answer to his
various questions, saw the mysterious writing on the wall, and left the
house fully satisfied that Esther did not produce any of the
manifestations herself, and that the family did not assist her as some
people believed. He, however, was of the opinion that through the shock
her system had received the night she went riding, she had become in
some mysterious manner an electric battery. His theory being, that
invisible flashes of lightening left her person, and that the knocks
which every body could hear distinctly, were simply minute claps of