“(1) During the partial levitations I casually lifted my left foot,
passed it over the right foot in the direction of Eusapia and was
unable to touch her left leg in the place where it should have been.
(2) Her black dress touched the table leg and as she took her toe
suddenly out from under it, her dress moved accordingly. (3) By the
thud which the table made when it was deprived of its very material
perch. (4) By the fact that any juggler can perform the feat when the
‘_modus operandi_’ is fully understood, though perhaps not with the
same skill. (5) Every one present knew that the table was steadied at
the top by Eusapia’s hand, which rested upon mine, in turn bore down
over the table leg, held up presumably by Eusapia’s toe which formed
a perfect human clamp.[51](6) What Rinn and Pyne told us after the
seance. They said that from their position under the chairs they saw
Eusapia place her right foot upon Kellogg’s left and her left foot upon
my right, later they saw her tapping upon our feet with hers while she
made some changes in the position of her feet. They also saw her slide
her left foot away by a few hitches as her right was twisted around to
cover my right foot which had previously been under her left foot. They
distinctly saw Eusapia strike the table leg with the side of her foot
to produce the raps and they also saw her slide her toe under the table
leg and force the table up by toe leverage.”[52]
During his narration I asked Davis to tell me if this astute Italian
who had fooled the scientists of the world was not suspicious or did
not sense that she was being checked up in her movements.
“No,” he replied dryly, “once during the seance she asked every one to
stand up. Two of the ladies in their inexperience proceeded to obey the
command. We had two spies under our chairs and as we did not want her
to see them something had to be done immediately, so I pretended to
have severe cramps in my legs and while the interpreter told Eusapia
of it Sargent and Kellogg nudged the ladies to sit down and the medium
then resumed her seat.”
I will not bore the reader with a detailed account of the cabinet
phenomena at this seance under a subdued light but suffice to say that
Davis and Kellogg tricked her as before and were able to explain every
manifestation. The whole Miller seance was carried out as planned so
carefully that Palladino on the way to her hotel afterwards told the
Columbia student who had acted as interpreter[53] for her that she was
well pleased with the evening and that the seance had been one of the
most successful of the series.[54]
I quote by permission from a letter written me by Mr. Davis under date
of June 22, 1923:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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