Barnum’s testimony was attacked by Mumler’s lawyer who characterized it as being a “very pretty illustration of humbug” and added that even if it were true Barnum violated the “great precept relating to honor among thieves,” but I want to go on record as believing that Mr. Barnum told the truth in the Mumler case. Judge Edmonds declared on the stand that he had seen Spirits although many Spiritualists could not and recalled an instance when he was on the bench trying a case in which the payment of an accident insurance policy was the issue. He told the court that the whole aspect of the case was changed after he saw the spirit of the suicide and several questions which this Spirit had suggested were put to the witness, the decision being reversed on the testimony thus brought out. He also testified to his belief that Mumler’s pictures were genuine photographs of Spirits. During the trial many methods[74] of producing Spirit “extras” were shown in court by expert photographers and the possibilities of the effect being produced by natural means proven. The investigators, however, did not have their case in good shape. There were strong grounds for suspicion but they were unable to present positive proof and though the court was morally convinced that fraudulent methods had been practiced sufficient evidence to convict Mumler was lacking. Although acquitted, it is significant that Mumler refused an offer of five hundred dollars to reproduce his pictures in another studio under test conditions and while free to resume his business so far as the court was concerned, with a full harvest of dupes waiting to be fleeced, he was nevertheless soon lost to view and seems to have vanished entirely after the publication of his book in 1875. Spiritualistic mediumship is not immune to the flattery of imitation for even a casual examination of Spiritualistic history and development shows that just as soon as a medium forms a new alliance with the psychic power dispenser and produces phenomena unknown before, other mediums immediately begin to produce it also and the new manifestation soon becomes epidemic. It was so with Spirit photography. No one had thought of such a possibility before Mumler invented the mystery but talented mediums everywhere when they heard of his pictures began to produce them also. Stories of his success crossed the sea and Europe discovered equal talent there. In the summer of 1874 a Parisian photographer by the name of Buguet went over to London and attracted considerable attention with his Spirit pictures. They were of much higher artistic quality than any preceding ones and Podmore in his “Modern Spiritualism” tells us that: “The Spirit faces were in most cases clearly defined, and were, in fact, frequently recognized by the sitters, and even W. H. Harrison failed to detect any trickery in the operation.”