Ira Davenport positively disclaimed Spiritualistic power in his talk with me, saying repeatedly that he and his brother never claimed to be mediums or pretended their work to be Spiritualistic. He admitted, however, that his parents died believing that the boys had super-human power. In this connection he told me of a family by the name of Kidder in which the boys faked Spiritualistic mediumship. The mother, a simple woman easily misled, became a confirmed believer. After a time the boys got tired of the game they were playing and confessed to her that it was all a fake. The shock of the disillusion almost drove her insane and Ira said it was the fear of a similar result which kept him from confessing to his father the true nature of their work. So when the father asked the boys to do tests for him they declared that the spirits said “no” and explained that they could only do what the _spirits_ asked. But if the Davenport Brothers did not claim spiritual powers themselves they nevertheless allowed others to claim them in their behalf. One of the first to do this was J. B. Ferguson, variously known as “Mr.,” “Rev.,” and “Dr.,” but I have no way of knowing how his titles came to him or just what they represented. If I am not mistaken he had been a minister in the Unitarian Church. He travelled with the Davenports as their lecturer, a position filled later by Thomas L. Nichols. Ferguson positively believed that everything accomplished by the Davenports was done with the aid of spirits. That both Ferguson and Nichols believed in Spiritualism is shown by their writings. Neither of them were disillusioned regarding the spiritual powers of the Brothers, the secret of the manifestations being religiously kept from them. Their remarks were left to their own discretion, the Davenports thinking it better showmanship to leave the whole matter for the audience to draw its own conclusion after seeing the exhibition. Then too with a minister as a lecturer who sincerely believed the phenomena many were led to believe, which helped to fill the coffers, meet the expenses, and increase the publicity which was a necessary part of the game. [Illustration: IRA ERASTUS DAVENPORT AND HOUDINI, TAKEN ON JULY 5, 1911. THE LAST PHOTOGRAPH OF THE OLD SHOWMAN] In one of the letters which Ira wrote me he says: “We never in public affirmed our belief in Spiritualism, that we regarded as no business of the public; nor did we offer our entertainment as the result of sleight-of-hand, or on the other hand as Spiritualism. We let our friends and foes settle that as best they could between themselves, but unfortunately, we were often the victims of their disagreements.” In a letter which Ira wrote from Maysville, dated January 19, 1909, which I received while in Europe, he says: “You must not fail to do me the honor of a visit when you return to America, although two years is quite a long time, and in the mean time, please let me hear from you whenever the ‘_Spirit_’ moves.