“Then upon Dr. Slade’s request I unlocked the slate, and he wrote in the ordinary way, as writing generally is done in schools, two short sentences in the slate. Then he worked the sponge,[70] and turning the written on side downward, sleight-of-hand trick, tried to palm this off, claiming that this is ‘Genuine, independent, Spirit slate writing.’ “Up to this time, November the 4th, 1882, I had shown to Dr. Slade friendly, joyful attentiveness. We talked about some of my newspaper articles I had published some weeks before he consented to give me a seance. “In these newspapers I had described him (Dr. Slade) as ‘The Modern Cagliostro, a celebrated necromancer, martyr or a charlatan, of radical free-religious proclivities, fine manners and a humistic, witty and forceful public lecturer and most powerful Spiritistic Medium, who again and again has been and is challenging exposures, and calling special attention to the fact that Dr. Slade has, in his lectures, and otherwise, again and again publicly announced that he is prepared to pay a thousand dollars ($1000.00) to any person that can prove that he (Dr. Slade) is a humbug, or that Dr. Slade’s “manifestations” are trickery, legerdemain, humbug or in any way fraudulent.’ [Illustration: “LOCKED SLATE” USED BY DR. HENRY SLADE IN HIS WRITING TESTS AT PHILADELPHIA] “Dr. Slade seemed to be pleased by my description. After some pleasant talk as to his appearance with Scientists, Kings and other royal persons and Rulers in Europe and his success as a lecturer and his way of living, he gave me his address, No. 221 West 22nd Street, _New York_. “Then I asked Dr. Slade that we change ‘rôles,’ he to take my place and be the Investigator,--and I to play the ‘medium,’ there, in his room, as an ‘experiment.’ “Dr. Slade also said that if I could overcome my skepticism I would be a good ‘psychic,’ having ‘mediumistic’ gifts. “I suggested that he should watch me carefully and then honestly tell me, as to the effect and ‘impression’ my ‘manifestations’ could (or would) be producing on his mind, and eventually on the outcome of the ‘Spiritualistic, the Harmonial, Philosophy, or so-called, Scientific Religion of the Spiritists.’ “Then, to his consternation, I, earnestly, by actual demonstration, reproduced every one of his manifestations, _exactly_ (and by the same _modus operandi_, as I, and my witnesses had seen and detected) as _Dr. Slade had performed them_. He asked me, how, and by what means we detected his ‘occult’ or secret mode, or ‘process of wonder working’ or miracle?--I mentioned that he had positively refused to try any ‘experiment’ on the first and second sets of tables and chairs, and had requested me to substitute them by a plain kitchen table and chairs of a certain construction.