I quote by permission from a letter written me by Mr. Davis under date of June 22, 1923
- Date of account
- Published 1924
- Source
- A Magician Among the Spirits
- Reference
- A Magician Among the Spirits · selected passage 169
- Rights
- public_domain
- Language
- English
- Record updated
- 2026-08-24
Record summary
who was infinitely my superior in investigation (he had a start of 20 years) told me that there wasn’t a chance of the Thomas Brothers being genuine, and related how, owing to the great interest of Sir Arthur in them, the London Daily Express eventually induced them to hold a seance before a committee of investigators
Published source text
Read the available text below. Archive transcriptions may contain OCR errors; later context is labelled separately. A recorded claim is not a finding that it happened.
Source passage
Source text · mention onlywho was infinitely my superior in investigation (he had a start of 20 years) told me that there wasn’t a chance of the Thomas Brothers being genuine, and related how, owing to the great interest of Sir Arthur in them, the _London Daily Express_ eventually induced them to hold a seance before a committee of investigators. Cumberland was to have been one of the committee, but the mediums refused to allow him to be “Among those present.” As they refused to proceed if Cumberland was admitted, it was thought advisable to eliminate him. Before leaving, Cumberland arranged the musical instruments that were used and instructed the investigating committee how to detect fraud. The feature of the seance was the passing along in the circle, of a button and a pair of suspenders, which were thrown on the knees of a news Editor present. I ask the common-sense reader what benefit this would be--to project a button clear across the room and to find a pair of suspenders on a sitter’s knee?
Historical context
Contextual commentary · mention onlyThis source supplies historical scientific, skeptical or conventional context. Its terminology and conclusions may not reflect current scholarship.
Modern context
Contextual commentary · mention onlyLattice uses this as an alternative-explanation source, not as an automatic dismissal of testimony. Claims still need to be compared with the actual evidence and current knowledge.
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