Josiah Bissel was the presiding genius of the mob. He had caused to be purchased some torpedoes which he distributed among his rowdy friends to throw upon the floor, and thus begin disturbance. It had been agreed upon by his bosom friends (the rowdy element) that he should ascend the platform, and with a long heavy stick, which he carried as a cane, give a signal for the onslaught. The other leaders in this mob were Lawrence R. and Leonard W. Jerome, Alderman Lewis Seelye, Major Packard, and others, awaiting the signal. But no sooner was it given them than a fine, large, respectable-looking gentleman sprang upon the platform and took a seat between myself and my sister, whose hand he took in his. I thought, at the moment, he was an enemy, and ordered him to leave, and not dare touch my sister. He replied, "I am your friend; I am the Chief of Police--look, these men in front are all my men; and they have come to protect you." At the sound of the signal made by Bissel, the mob rushed to the platform. Torpedoes were heard in every part of the Hall. The Chief of Police quietly informed Josiah Bissel that if any one was taken into custody he would be the man. As the mob began their demonstrations, one gentleman, Mr. Alfred Hubbell, who had been an investigator at our house, raised his hand and said in a loud voice: "Girls, you have nothing to fear. Don't be afraid. I have fifty good men here all ready to protect you." Mr. Abelard Reynolds, proprietor of the Hall, was on the platform, determined to stand between us and the mob. The ringleaders of the mob, followed by their gang, quickly disappeared. Our work, as planned by the Spirits, for that time was done. Our triumph was complete. The promises of our Spirit friends and directors were all fulfilled. However they may have allowed suspicion to come upon us, which it was not in their power to prevent, they had always brought us safe and sound out of the apparent difficulty, and gained a signal triumph through our humble agency. CHAPTER VI. MEDIUMISTIC VEIN IN OUR FAMILY. SOME FAMILY ANTECEDENTS--OUR GREAT-GRANDMOTHER--PHANTOM PROPHETIC FUNERALS--VISION OF A TOMBSTONE NINE YEARS IN ADVANCE, ETC. I will here interrupt the course of this narrative with a chapter about our family, principally in reference to that peculiar and strange constitutional _something_, which, in us three children (myself and the two younger ones, Margaretta and Catharine), has come out so strongly into what is called "mediumship," and which would seem to have been the cause why the "Spirits," whose instruments we have been, chose us for their purpose, and imposed upon us the burden of what they called "the duty," against which we thus so long and hard, but vainly, struggled.