1 00:00:01,280 --> 00:00:04,320 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:13,640 Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:13,680 --> 00:00:18,120 Speaker 1: I'm Holly Fry and I'm Tracy B. Wilson. It's not 4 00:00:18,200 --> 00:00:22,840 Speaker 1: quite Halloween time yet, but like the rabies are here. Yeah, 5 00:00:23,040 --> 00:00:25,280 Speaker 1: I have it worse this year than any previous year, 6 00:00:25,320 --> 00:00:28,800 Speaker 1: I think, But uh, this isn't quite a Halloween episode. 7 00:00:28,920 --> 00:00:35,080 Speaker 1: But periodically, particularly while I'm researching topics for Halloween, which 8 00:00:35,120 --> 00:00:38,640 Speaker 1: I was kind of making my preliminary list, they often 9 00:00:38,960 --> 00:00:42,040 Speaker 1: veer into discussion of fake mediums, like I'll just run 10 00:00:42,080 --> 00:00:44,279 Speaker 1: into mentions of that or notes I've made about it, 11 00:00:44,600 --> 00:00:47,000 Speaker 1: And a lot of the time I come across this 12 00:00:47,159 --> 00:00:52,400 Speaker 1: mention of the alleged psychic who warned President Abraham Lincoln 13 00:00:52,479 --> 00:00:56,040 Speaker 1: that he was going to be assassinated. If you do 14 00:00:56,120 --> 00:01:01,760 Speaker 1: any sort of mediums during the nineteenth century in America research, 15 00:01:01,840 --> 00:01:04,800 Speaker 1: you'll you'll bump up against that mention. And I keep 16 00:01:04,840 --> 00:01:07,120 Speaker 1: scribbling notes to myself to look it up. So I 17 00:01:07,160 --> 00:01:09,640 Speaker 1: finally did, and I will say this story took me 18 00:01:09,680 --> 00:01:13,560 Speaker 1: to some places that I did not anticipate. Um, not 19 00:01:13,640 --> 00:01:17,520 Speaker 1: in any sort of like scary, creepy halloweeny way, but 20 00:01:17,720 --> 00:01:23,640 Speaker 1: just like there's some fascinating legal stuff that goes as well. 21 00:01:23,680 --> 00:01:27,560 Speaker 1: It's just a person who manages to be kind of 22 00:01:27,560 --> 00:01:30,839 Speaker 1: elusive in terms of hard details about their life. So 23 00:01:30,959 --> 00:01:35,120 Speaker 1: today we are talking about Charles Colchester. That may or 24 00:01:35,160 --> 00:01:38,080 Speaker 1: may not have even been his name, but he became 25 00:01:38,080 --> 00:01:41,680 Speaker 1: an icon for spiritualism in the US in the nineteenth century, 26 00:01:42,160 --> 00:01:46,360 Speaker 1: only to ultimately be rejected by that same movement. Yeah. So, 27 00:01:46,440 --> 00:01:50,120 Speaker 1: as Holly just alluded to Colchester's early life, it's entirely 28 00:01:50,160 --> 00:01:53,640 Speaker 1: a mystery. There's a mention of him in the Detroit 29 00:01:53,720 --> 00:01:56,240 Speaker 1: Free Press after most of the events that we're talking 30 00:01:56,240 --> 00:01:59,840 Speaker 1: about today had already happened. It is a column titled 31 00:02:00,080 --> 00:02:04,000 Speaker 1: News Brevities and that states that quote, the real name 32 00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:08,600 Speaker 1: of Colchester is Sealby or Sealbic. He is an English impostor, 33 00:02:08,720 --> 00:02:12,320 Speaker 1: and the Spiritualist declare that he is a fraudulent trickster 34 00:02:12,480 --> 00:02:16,600 Speaker 1: and not one of their number. Who uh spoiler alert. 35 00:02:16,680 --> 00:02:21,200 Speaker 1: Colchister gained a significant following as a spiritualist with some 36 00:02:21,440 --> 00:02:24,720 Speaker 1: very high profile patrons, but he was so problematic that 37 00:02:24,760 --> 00:02:29,679 Speaker 1: the whole spiritualist movement then tried to distance itself from him. Yeah, 38 00:02:29,680 --> 00:02:31,079 Speaker 1: there was a lot of not one of us, not 39 00:02:31,240 --> 00:02:33,520 Speaker 1: one of us. We don't know this person. I don't 40 00:02:33,560 --> 00:02:39,519 Speaker 1: know her. And in the spiritualist meme of the nineteenth century, 41 00:02:40,120 --> 00:02:42,239 Speaker 1: what we know and we got to use air quotes 42 00:02:42,280 --> 00:02:45,680 Speaker 1: there about Charles Colchester is only what he told us, 43 00:02:46,320 --> 00:02:50,080 Speaker 1: rather than anything that he could substantially prove he was English. 44 00:02:50,320 --> 00:02:52,720 Speaker 1: He claimed that he was a duke's son that was 45 00:02:52,760 --> 00:02:55,679 Speaker 1: born out of wedlock, and he claimed that he could 46 00:02:55,680 --> 00:02:59,720 Speaker 1: read sealed letters and also that he could summon apparitions. 47 00:03:00,480 --> 00:03:03,560 Speaker 1: He also said that he could produce words on his 48 00:03:03,680 --> 00:03:08,000 Speaker 1: body carved in blood by spirits, and he manifested all 49 00:03:08,040 --> 00:03:11,760 Speaker 1: of these things in front of audiences, although it was 50 00:03:11,840 --> 00:03:15,519 Speaker 1: not part of this personal story that he wove. Colchester 51 00:03:15,680 --> 00:03:18,920 Speaker 1: also drank a lot, and he did use his alleged 52 00:03:19,000 --> 00:03:23,800 Speaker 1: connection with the beyond to validate his drinking. He claimed 53 00:03:23,880 --> 00:03:28,720 Speaker 1: that the spirits had authorized it, which is kind of 54 00:03:28,800 --> 00:03:32,600 Speaker 1: funny to me. Yeah, Apparently when people would ask him 55 00:03:32,720 --> 00:03:34,119 Speaker 1: do you want to go get a drink, he would 56 00:03:34,120 --> 00:03:36,360 Speaker 1: be like, let me commune with the spirits, and then 57 00:03:36,360 --> 00:03:38,440 Speaker 1: he would be like, yes, they say, we should absolutely 58 00:03:38,480 --> 00:03:43,760 Speaker 1: go have a drink. So, after performing seances for clients 59 00:03:43,760 --> 00:03:46,040 Speaker 1: in New York and Boston for a few years. That 60 00:03:46,160 --> 00:03:49,560 Speaker 1: was really the start of his traceable movement. Colchester appeared 61 00:03:49,600 --> 00:03:53,000 Speaker 1: in Washington, d c. During the Civil War and he 62 00:03:53,200 --> 00:03:56,600 Speaker 1: drew just an impressive audience of the city's elite, including 63 00:03:56,600 --> 00:03:59,680 Speaker 1: people like General Grant and First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln. 64 00:04:00,240 --> 00:04:04,000 Speaker 1: We have talked about Mary Todd Lincoln's fascination with spiritualism 65 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:06,840 Speaker 1: and the afterlife before on the show. She came up 66 00:04:07,040 --> 00:04:10,560 Speaker 1: when we covered spirit photographer William Mummler during our Halloween 67 00:04:10,560 --> 00:04:13,600 Speaker 1: live show a couple of years back. She was his 68 00:04:13,760 --> 00:04:17,000 Speaker 1: most famous client, Mummler's most famous client, hoping that he 69 00:04:17,040 --> 00:04:20,680 Speaker 1: could capture her departed husband's ghost on film, and he 70 00:04:20,760 --> 00:04:23,960 Speaker 1: of course obliged. That was I mean, there were many 71 00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:27,440 Speaker 1: spiritualists in her life, but we really haven't talked about 72 00:04:27,480 --> 00:04:31,440 Speaker 1: how she became so very drawn to spiritualism and the 73 00:04:31,520 --> 00:04:35,400 Speaker 1: sad catalyst there was the death of the Lincoln's son, Willie, 74 00:04:35,400 --> 00:04:38,039 Speaker 1: who died from typhoid fever at the age of eleven 75 00:04:38,200 --> 00:04:42,680 Speaker 1: in eighteen sixty two. The Lincoln's each mourned in their 76 00:04:42,720 --> 00:04:46,760 Speaker 1: own way. The President spent time alone, was very withdrawn 77 00:04:47,000 --> 00:04:49,719 Speaker 1: and grew frustrated with the ways that people tried to 78 00:04:49,760 --> 00:04:53,560 Speaker 1: console him by talking about Willie being in heaven. He 79 00:04:53,600 --> 00:04:56,600 Speaker 1: eventually turned his energies to the needs of the country 80 00:04:56,600 --> 00:05:00,799 Speaker 1: and turmoil. Mary, on the other hand, was wept up 81 00:05:00,839 --> 00:05:04,000 Speaker 1: and the growing spiritualism movement, and it offered her the 82 00:05:04,080 --> 00:05:07,720 Speaker 1: hope that she might somehow see or connect to her 83 00:05:07,760 --> 00:05:11,640 Speaker 1: beloved son once more in just some form. She was 84 00:05:11,720 --> 00:05:14,919 Speaker 1: hardly alone in this. The massive death toll of the 85 00:05:15,000 --> 00:05:17,800 Speaker 1: Civil War had created a whole nation of people who 86 00:05:17,800 --> 00:05:21,000 Speaker 1: were grieving for lost loved ones. And it was through 87 00:05:21,120 --> 00:05:25,560 Speaker 1: Mary's many connections and invitations to mediums and spiritualists that 88 00:05:25,760 --> 00:05:29,840 Speaker 1: Charles Colchester came into the lives of the Lincoln's and 89 00:05:29,880 --> 00:05:32,320 Speaker 1: once he did so, he took full advantage of that 90 00:05:32,360 --> 00:05:36,960 Speaker 1: proximity to power to bolster his name. As Mary became 91 00:05:37,040 --> 00:05:41,200 Speaker 1: ever more devoted to colchester seances, the President had felt 92 00:05:41,200 --> 00:05:45,680 Speaker 1: compelled to accompany her to visit this compelling spiritualist, not 93 00:05:45,839 --> 00:05:49,080 Speaker 1: because President Lincoln believed, but because he wanted to see 94 00:05:49,080 --> 00:05:53,599 Speaker 1: what exactly was taking place at these gatherings. Lincoln's relationship 95 00:05:53,640 --> 00:05:57,360 Speaker 1: with spiritualism has been written and remarked about many times. 96 00:05:57,360 --> 00:05:59,159 Speaker 1: A lot of people have theories and they try to 97 00:05:59,160 --> 00:06:02,800 Speaker 1: connect him to you know, mesmerism or spiritualism, and claimed 98 00:06:02,839 --> 00:06:06,440 Speaker 1: that he had this mysticism. But he seemed, above all, 99 00:06:06,480 --> 00:06:08,520 Speaker 1: if you really look at it, to want to protect 100 00:06:08,560 --> 00:06:12,720 Speaker 1: his wife. He never dissuaded her from this interest because 101 00:06:13,320 --> 00:06:16,840 Speaker 1: seeing spiritualists and going to seances seemed to offer her 102 00:06:16,920 --> 00:06:20,400 Speaker 1: some peace. But the president also did not want the 103 00:06:20,440 --> 00:06:23,800 Speaker 1: first Lady to be anyone's victim. So when he saw 104 00:06:23,920 --> 00:06:27,479 Speaker 1: Colchester's seance, he was mesmerized, but not in the sense 105 00:06:27,560 --> 00:06:30,560 Speaker 1: of just being taken in by it. It was totally 106 00:06:30,600 --> 00:06:35,000 Speaker 1: the opposite. Abraham Lincoln wanted to figure out exactly how 107 00:06:35,080 --> 00:06:41,000 Speaker 1: Colchester's tricks worked. The President got the Smithsonian Institutions Secretary 108 00:06:41,040 --> 00:06:44,640 Speaker 1: at the time, Joseph Henry, involved in the investigation. He 109 00:06:44,720 --> 00:06:48,800 Speaker 1: requested that Colchester submit to an examination by Henry, which 110 00:06:48,839 --> 00:06:52,600 Speaker 1: he agreed to. This is, yes, the same Joseph Henry 111 00:06:52,720 --> 00:06:59,000 Speaker 1: who introduced Eunice Newton Foot's papers in that episode. Yeah, 112 00:06:59,040 --> 00:07:03,480 Speaker 1: there's also an interest sting story between Henry and Lincoln, 113 00:07:03,480 --> 00:07:06,440 Speaker 1: and that they were very much on opposite ends of 114 00:07:06,440 --> 00:07:09,640 Speaker 1: the political spectrum but also respected each other a lot. 115 00:07:10,240 --> 00:07:14,160 Speaker 1: Uh And Henry's background was in science and he worked 116 00:07:14,160 --> 00:07:18,680 Speaker 1: a lot in in telegraph specifically, and so for this demonstration, 117 00:07:19,240 --> 00:07:22,880 Speaker 1: Henry had Colchester visit the Smithsonian so that this examination 118 00:07:23,280 --> 00:07:25,800 Speaker 1: could be conducted in a room that the medium had 119 00:07:25,840 --> 00:07:30,080 Speaker 1: not had prior access to. And after the encounter, Henry 120 00:07:30,120 --> 00:07:35,240 Speaker 1: came away entirely convinced that Colchester was a Charlatan, but 121 00:07:35,520 --> 00:07:39,600 Speaker 1: he couldn't prove it. He had very clearly discerned that 122 00:07:39,720 --> 00:07:43,240 Speaker 1: there was an otherworldly clicking sound. These were supposed to 123 00:07:43,280 --> 00:07:46,240 Speaker 1: be evidence of spirits being called by the man, but 124 00:07:46,400 --> 00:07:48,520 Speaker 1: that it was clear to him they were emanating from 125 00:07:48,560 --> 00:07:53,160 Speaker 1: Colchester's person and presumably some sort of device. But Colchester 126 00:07:53,280 --> 00:07:56,600 Speaker 1: would not consent to having his closed removed for examination, 127 00:07:57,040 --> 00:08:00,160 Speaker 1: and that was that and for them only though us 128 00:08:00,160 --> 00:08:04,720 Speaker 1: of Henry supposedly did uncover the origins of these sounds 129 00:08:04,840 --> 00:08:08,760 Speaker 1: totally by accident. Much later, he said to have met 130 00:08:08,760 --> 00:08:11,560 Speaker 1: a man on a train and started just idly talking 131 00:08:11,600 --> 00:08:15,640 Speaker 1: to him, and this marvelous bit of happenstance. This man 132 00:08:15,800 --> 00:08:20,520 Speaker 1: had engineered a telegraphic device that spiritualist used for exactly 133 00:08:20,560 --> 00:08:24,080 Speaker 1: this purpose. They weren't around their biceps, and so the 134 00:08:24,200 --> 00:08:27,160 Speaker 1: user would flex a muscle and that would produce this 135 00:08:27,360 --> 00:08:31,400 Speaker 1: clicking sound. Henry asked this young man if he had 136 00:08:31,440 --> 00:08:34,920 Speaker 1: sold such a device to Charles Colchester, and the guy 137 00:08:34,960 --> 00:08:38,880 Speaker 1: said yes. He reported this information back to the President, 138 00:08:38,920 --> 00:08:41,760 Speaker 1: who was apparently pleased to know about it, but he 139 00:08:41,800 --> 00:08:44,600 Speaker 1: did not put a stop to the First Ladies meetings 140 00:08:44,640 --> 00:08:49,959 Speaker 1: with Colchester. Something much darker ultimately took place to sever 141 00:08:50,080 --> 00:08:54,120 Speaker 1: that relationship. Yeah, Abraham Lincoln, I think just liked have 142 00:08:54,280 --> 00:08:57,720 Speaker 1: being in on the secret. But ultimately what happened was 143 00:08:57,760 --> 00:09:00,880 Speaker 1: that Colchester blackmailed Mary Todd Lincoln, or at least he 144 00:09:00,960 --> 00:09:04,719 Speaker 1: tried to. He wanted the War Department to issue him 145 00:09:04,720 --> 00:09:07,280 Speaker 1: a free railroad pass so he could travel to New 146 00:09:07,360 --> 00:09:11,520 Speaker 1: York easily. This might sound like a fairly benign request, 147 00:09:11,600 --> 00:09:13,720 Speaker 1: but at the time, the war had led to a 148 00:09:13,760 --> 00:09:17,560 Speaker 1: move on General Sherman's part to severely limit and regulate 149 00:09:17,640 --> 00:09:21,160 Speaker 1: civilian travel by rail, so that that mode of transport 150 00:09:21,240 --> 00:09:23,960 Speaker 1: could be dedicated to the movement of troops and material. 151 00:09:24,600 --> 00:09:27,680 Speaker 1: Even people with ticketed travel could board only if it 152 00:09:27,720 --> 00:09:31,640 Speaker 1: did not interfere with the needs of the Union Army. Initially, 153 00:09:32,000 --> 00:09:35,119 Speaker 1: in this whole system, train passes were fairly readily available. 154 00:09:35,160 --> 00:09:37,719 Speaker 1: People at all levels of the military would just write them, 155 00:09:38,400 --> 00:09:41,559 Speaker 1: even if those people were not really authorized to do so. 156 00:09:42,240 --> 00:09:46,280 Speaker 1: But this of course became a problem, and regulations got 157 00:09:46,280 --> 00:09:50,000 Speaker 1: tighter and tighter to try to curtail needless travel. So 158 00:09:50,120 --> 00:09:52,680 Speaker 1: by the time this all happened, in asking for a 159 00:09:52,720 --> 00:09:56,319 Speaker 1: pass issued by the War Department, Colchester was attempting this 160 00:09:56,440 --> 00:09:59,760 Speaker 1: sidestep a whole lot of regulations, and he almost got 161 00:09:59,760 --> 00:10:02,520 Speaker 1: what he wanted because he told the First Lady that 162 00:10:02,600 --> 00:10:06,280 Speaker 1: he would publicly share some of the privileged and presumably 163 00:10:06,400 --> 00:10:10,079 Speaker 1: embarrassing information that he had learned while working with her. 164 00:10:10,679 --> 00:10:14,200 Speaker 1: So that was how Noah Brooks was called upon to help. 165 00:10:14,920 --> 00:10:18,000 Speaker 1: The First Lady turned to Brooks for help over this 166 00:10:18,080 --> 00:10:20,960 Speaker 1: blackmail attempt, and Brooks was a close friend of the 167 00:10:21,000 --> 00:10:25,920 Speaker 1: Lincolns and also a journalist. He had dealings with Colchester before. 168 00:10:26,240 --> 00:10:29,880 Speaker 1: Because of his concerning influence over the First Lady, he 169 00:10:29,960 --> 00:10:33,760 Speaker 1: wrote about this in his book Washington in Lincoln's Time, 170 00:10:33,880 --> 00:10:36,199 Speaker 1: and the person that he's describing in this was named 171 00:10:36,200 --> 00:10:40,960 Speaker 1: Elizabeth Keckley. So quote, a seamstress employed in the White 172 00:10:40,960 --> 00:10:45,040 Speaker 1: House had induced Mrs Lincoln too listened to the artful 173 00:10:45,120 --> 00:10:49,600 Speaker 1: tales of a so called spiritual medium who masqueraded under 174 00:10:49,640 --> 00:10:52,600 Speaker 1: the name of Colchester, and who pretended to be the 175 00:10:52,679 --> 00:10:56,800 Speaker 1: illegitimate son of an English duke. The poor lady at 176 00:10:56,800 --> 00:10:59,880 Speaker 1: that time was well nigh distraught with grief at the 177 00:11:00,040 --> 00:11:04,040 Speaker 1: death of her son Willie. By playing on her motherly sorrows, 178 00:11:04,200 --> 00:11:08,360 Speaker 1: Colchester actually succeeded in inducing Mrs Lincoln to receive him 179 00:11:08,400 --> 00:11:11,720 Speaker 1: in the family residence at the Soldiers Home, where, in 180 00:11:11,760 --> 00:11:15,240 Speaker 1: a darkened room he pretended to produce messages from the 181 00:11:15,280 --> 00:11:18,320 Speaker 1: dead boy by means of scratches on the wayne, scotting 182 00:11:18,360 --> 00:11:22,440 Speaker 1: and taps in the walls and furniture. Mrs Lincoln's told 183 00:11:22,520 --> 00:11:25,720 Speaker 1: me of these so called manifestations and asked me to 184 00:11:25,760 --> 00:11:28,880 Speaker 1: be present in the White House when Colchester would give 185 00:11:29,040 --> 00:11:32,480 Speaker 1: an exhibition of his powers. Yeah, we're gonna quote a 186 00:11:32,480 --> 00:11:34,280 Speaker 1: lot from Noah Brooks, because his is one of the 187 00:11:34,320 --> 00:11:38,480 Speaker 1: few accounts by a contemporary that actually had direct dealings 188 00:11:39,559 --> 00:11:42,439 Speaker 1: with Colchester and was close enough to the Lincolns to 189 00:11:42,480 --> 00:11:46,000 Speaker 1: really understand kind of how this was playing out. And 190 00:11:46,040 --> 00:11:48,120 Speaker 1: initially he told the first Lady that he did not 191 00:11:48,240 --> 00:11:50,080 Speaker 1: want to go to this seance at the White House. 192 00:11:50,440 --> 00:11:53,040 Speaker 1: He doesn't say as much in his book, but it 193 00:11:53,200 --> 00:11:55,600 Speaker 1: kind of seems like he didn't want to embarrass her 194 00:11:56,679 --> 00:12:00,199 Speaker 1: because he did want to see what Colchester was all about, 195 00:12:00,640 --> 00:12:04,000 Speaker 1: and he got his chance shortly thereafter to attend a 196 00:12:04,120 --> 00:12:08,200 Speaker 1: paid sitting that one of Colchester's other wealthy followers was hosting, 197 00:12:08,679 --> 00:12:11,080 Speaker 1: so Brooks paid one dollar to go and see the 198 00:12:11,120 --> 00:12:15,400 Speaker 1: medium for himself. We'll talk about what happens when Noah 199 00:12:15,440 --> 00:12:18,559 Speaker 1: Brooks met Charles Colchester after we pause for a quick 200 00:12:18,720 --> 00:12:31,960 Speaker 1: sponsor break. In his Biography of Lincoln, Brooks detailed his 201 00:12:32,080 --> 00:12:35,400 Speaker 1: encounter with Colchester at the seance that he attended and 202 00:12:35,400 --> 00:12:38,760 Speaker 1: paid for writing Quote. After the company had been seated 203 00:12:38,840 --> 00:12:41,520 Speaker 1: around the table in the usual approved manner and the 204 00:12:41,600 --> 00:12:44,520 Speaker 1: lights were turned out, the silence was broken by the 205 00:12:44,520 --> 00:12:47,480 Speaker 1: thumping of a drum, the twanging of a banjo, and 206 00:12:47,520 --> 00:12:50,720 Speaker 1: the ringing of bells, all of which instruments had been 207 00:12:50,800 --> 00:12:54,880 Speaker 1: laid on the table ready for use by some hocus pocus. 208 00:12:54,920 --> 00:12:58,160 Speaker 1: It was evident the operator had freed his hands from 209 00:12:58,200 --> 00:13:00,600 Speaker 1: the hands of those who sat on each side of him, 210 00:13:00,640 --> 00:13:05,480 Speaker 1: and was himself making quote music in the air. Brooks, 211 00:13:05,520 --> 00:13:08,480 Speaker 1: who was obviously not the least bit taken in by 212 00:13:08,520 --> 00:13:12,080 Speaker 1: Colchester's theatricalities, decided to find the real source of the 213 00:13:12,160 --> 00:13:16,360 Speaker 1: noises he went on to say, quote, loosening my hands 214 00:13:16,440 --> 00:13:20,319 Speaker 1: from my neighbors who were unbelievers, I rose, and, grasping 215 00:13:20,360 --> 00:13:23,120 Speaker 1: in the direction of the drumbeat, grabbed a very solid 216 00:13:23,240 --> 00:13:26,560 Speaker 1: and fleshy hand, in which was a handbell that was 217 00:13:26,600 --> 00:13:30,439 Speaker 1: being thumped on a drumhead. I shouted, strike a light, 218 00:13:31,200 --> 00:13:34,000 Speaker 1: my friend. After what appeared to be an unconscionable length 219 00:13:34,040 --> 00:13:37,439 Speaker 1: of time, lighted a match. But meanwhile somebody had dealt 220 00:13:37,480 --> 00:13:41,080 Speaker 1: me a severe blow with the drum, the edge of 221 00:13:41,120 --> 00:13:44,640 Speaker 1: which cut a slight wound in my forehead. When the 222 00:13:44,800 --> 00:13:48,800 Speaker 1: gas was finally lighted, the singular spectacle was presented of 223 00:13:49,080 --> 00:13:51,760 Speaker 1: the son of the Duke, firmly grasped by a man 224 00:13:51,840 --> 00:13:55,040 Speaker 1: who was covered with blood, while the arrested scion of 225 00:13:55,120 --> 00:13:58,960 Speaker 1: nobility was glowering at the drum and bells which he 226 00:13:59,080 --> 00:14:04,480 Speaker 1: still held in his hands. Colchester ran from the room, 227 00:14:04,720 --> 00:14:07,800 Speaker 1: and he refused to return. The host of the whole 228 00:14:07,800 --> 00:14:10,520 Speaker 1: of him said that he was outraged at having been 229 00:14:10,559 --> 00:14:13,520 Speaker 1: so insulted. It was only a couple of days after 230 00:14:13,559 --> 00:14:16,960 Speaker 1: that that Colchester made his blackmail attempt on the first lady. 231 00:14:17,679 --> 00:14:21,320 Speaker 1: What unpleasant things that Colchester was planning to reveal? We 232 00:14:21,400 --> 00:14:25,160 Speaker 1: don't really know. Presumably he wanted to get out of Washington, 233 00:14:25,240 --> 00:14:28,640 Speaker 1: d C. In a hurry and to avoid any additional entanglements. 234 00:14:29,280 --> 00:14:32,600 Speaker 1: But when Mary Todd Lincoln brought the matter to Noah Brooks, 235 00:14:32,640 --> 00:14:36,080 Speaker 1: he decided to confront Charles Colchester and expose him as 236 00:14:36,120 --> 00:14:38,760 Speaker 1: a fraud to put an end to the blackmail and 237 00:14:38,800 --> 00:14:41,760 Speaker 1: hopefully also get him out of the White House for good. 238 00:14:42,080 --> 00:14:45,520 Speaker 1: And so to accomplish this, Brooks concocted a plan that 239 00:14:45,600 --> 00:14:48,320 Speaker 1: required Mrs Lincoln to invite the medium to the White 240 00:14:48,320 --> 00:14:51,800 Speaker 1: House once more. The idea here is that Colchester would 241 00:14:51,880 --> 00:14:54,480 Speaker 1: presume that she had his railroad pass and wanted him 242 00:14:54,480 --> 00:14:57,400 Speaker 1: to come and get it. And this plan kind of 243 00:14:57,440 --> 00:14:59,960 Speaker 1: seems like it all hinged on Colchester not having gotten 244 00:15:00,000 --> 00:15:03,360 Speaker 1: a good look at Brooks during the seance. As you recall, 245 00:15:03,480 --> 00:15:05,800 Speaker 1: they had been seated in the dark, and even once 246 00:15:05,840 --> 00:15:08,800 Speaker 1: the gas lamp was lighted, Brooks's face had been covered 247 00:15:08,840 --> 00:15:12,280 Speaker 1: in blood. But it is also possible that the hope 248 00:15:12,320 --> 00:15:15,800 Speaker 1: was that Colchester would just be too embarrassed when confronted 249 00:15:15,880 --> 00:15:19,200 Speaker 1: to run into Brooks in front of the first lady 250 00:15:19,320 --> 00:15:21,880 Speaker 1: to say like, oh, yes, you caught me faking at 251 00:15:21,920 --> 00:15:26,040 Speaker 1: my seyance the other night. So when the spiritualist arrived, 252 00:15:26,280 --> 00:15:30,880 Speaker 1: Mrs Lincoln introduced Colchester to her friend Noah Brooks and 253 00:15:30,920 --> 00:15:33,440 Speaker 1: then left the room as though she was going to 254 00:15:33,480 --> 00:15:37,080 Speaker 1: get the pass. Once she had gone, Brooks lifted up 255 00:15:37,120 --> 00:15:39,680 Speaker 1: the hair that had been swept over his forehead, and 256 00:15:39,760 --> 00:15:42,680 Speaker 1: that revealed the cut from the drum strike that had 257 00:15:42,720 --> 00:15:46,280 Speaker 1: happened at the seance. He asked, do you recognize this? 258 00:15:47,000 --> 00:15:51,520 Speaker 1: Colchester once again muttered about being insulted, before Brooks told him, quote, 259 00:15:51,600 --> 00:15:54,280 Speaker 1: you know that I know you are a swindler and 260 00:15:54,320 --> 00:15:56,960 Speaker 1: a humbug. Get out of the city at once. If 261 00:15:56,960 --> 00:15:59,720 Speaker 1: you were in Washington tomorrow afternoon at this time, you 262 00:16:00,040 --> 00:16:04,680 Speaker 1: be in the Old Capital prison. Interestingly, John Wilkes Booth 263 00:16:05,080 --> 00:16:08,080 Speaker 1: was drawn to Charles Colchester for the very same reason 264 00:16:08,440 --> 00:16:11,600 Speaker 1: that had brought Mary Todd Lincoln into the spiritualists orbit, 265 00:16:11,800 --> 00:16:15,240 Speaker 1: and that was personal loss. When Booth's sister in law, 266 00:16:15,320 --> 00:16:19,760 Speaker 1: Molly died, the actors started attending seances hosted by various 267 00:16:19,800 --> 00:16:22,800 Speaker 1: mediums in an effort to make contact with her, and 268 00:16:22,880 --> 00:16:26,840 Speaker 1: that eventually led him to Colchester. But then Colchester and 269 00:16:26,880 --> 00:16:31,680 Speaker 1: Booth became close friends outside of any mystical setting. According 270 00:16:31,680 --> 00:16:34,280 Speaker 1: to witnesses, they spent a lot of time together. They 271 00:16:34,280 --> 00:16:37,840 Speaker 1: were described as both friends and associates by people who 272 00:16:37,920 --> 00:16:41,240 Speaker 1: witnessed them, particularly as the two of them came and 273 00:16:41,280 --> 00:16:44,400 Speaker 1: went at the National Hotel, which is where Booth stayed 274 00:16:44,440 --> 00:16:47,480 Speaker 1: in the weeks leading up to the assassination of President Lincoln. 275 00:16:48,320 --> 00:16:53,080 Speaker 1: Historians Terry Alford, in his Booth biography Fortune's Full suggests 276 00:16:53,120 --> 00:16:56,120 Speaker 1: that Booth's attachment to Colchester may have been rooted in 277 00:16:56,120 --> 00:16:58,400 Speaker 1: the medium's claim to be able to see the future. 278 00:16:58,960 --> 00:17:01,160 Speaker 1: He may have been hoping for some sort of sign 279 00:17:01,280 --> 00:17:05,359 Speaker 1: or reassurance regarding his intentions toward the President. We have 280 00:17:05,520 --> 00:17:10,199 Speaker 1: no idea if Booth clearly disclosed those intentions to Colchester, 281 00:17:10,800 --> 00:17:14,920 Speaker 1: but Charles J. Colchester felt compelled to warn Abraham Lincoln 282 00:17:14,960 --> 00:17:18,800 Speaker 1: that something bad was going to happen. Lincoln is actually 283 00:17:18,840 --> 00:17:21,919 Speaker 1: said to have mentioned Colchester's warning to an associate, but 284 00:17:22,000 --> 00:17:26,280 Speaker 1: that is the only information we have regarding any actual 285 00:17:26,280 --> 00:17:29,639 Speaker 1: communication between the two of them. And this was actually 286 00:17:29,720 --> 00:17:33,040 Speaker 1: one of many warnings that various alleged psychics offered to 287 00:17:33,080 --> 00:17:36,439 Speaker 1: the President in the time when spiritualism was popular throughout 288 00:17:36,440 --> 00:17:39,560 Speaker 1: the US and within the White House thanks to the 289 00:17:39,560 --> 00:17:43,520 Speaker 1: First lady after the President was shot and died from 290 00:17:43,560 --> 00:17:47,800 Speaker 1: his wounds in April of eighteen sixty. Colchester's association with 291 00:17:47,840 --> 00:17:50,480 Speaker 1: Booth was something that was just at the forefront of 292 00:17:50,560 --> 00:17:55,240 Speaker 1: investigators minds. Yeah, they were looking for any accomplices, anyone 293 00:17:55,320 --> 00:17:59,320 Speaker 1: involved in what had happened. And Colonel Henry H. Wells 294 00:17:59,400 --> 00:18:02,520 Speaker 1: was a lawyer before joining the Union Army, and he 295 00:18:02,720 --> 00:18:05,960 Speaker 1: was investigating and attempted to meet with Charles Colchester as 296 00:18:06,000 --> 00:18:09,200 Speaker 1: part of that investigation. He had tracked him from the 297 00:18:09,280 --> 00:18:12,200 Speaker 1: National where he had been staying, to the Washington hotel 298 00:18:12,560 --> 00:18:15,000 Speaker 1: to which he had moved, but he wasn't there either. 299 00:18:16,040 --> 00:18:18,320 Speaker 1: If the medium had stayed in the city, he had 300 00:18:18,359 --> 00:18:20,840 Speaker 1: done a really good job of hiding. He was never 301 00:18:20,920 --> 00:18:25,160 Speaker 1: located for questioning in the official investigation. It's a little 302 00:18:25,240 --> 00:18:28,919 Speaker 1: unclear exactly when Colchester may have issued his warning to 303 00:18:28,960 --> 00:18:31,160 Speaker 1: the President in relation to when he had his run 304 00:18:31,160 --> 00:18:34,320 Speaker 1: in with Noah Brooks. So whether he did leave town 305 00:18:34,400 --> 00:18:37,080 Speaker 1: right after being exposed as a fraud, or if he 306 00:18:37,240 --> 00:18:40,639 Speaker 1: stuck around and then ran right after the assassination is 307 00:18:40,680 --> 00:18:44,679 Speaker 1: a little bit unclear. Even though Colchester left Washington, he 308 00:18:44,800 --> 00:18:47,160 Speaker 1: certainly did not banish off the face of the earth. 309 00:18:47,600 --> 00:18:50,840 Speaker 1: He was moving around and performing his seances and readings, 310 00:18:50,840 --> 00:18:52,960 Speaker 1: and then popped up in the papers again in the 311 00:18:52,960 --> 00:18:56,080 Speaker 1: second half of eighteen sixty five. We'll get to that 312 00:18:56,200 --> 00:18:59,040 Speaker 1: after we hear from the sponsors that keeps stephymiss in 313 00:18:59,040 --> 00:19:11,800 Speaker 1: history class and go wing. Colchester was arrested in New 314 00:19:11,880 --> 00:19:15,080 Speaker 1: York in August eighteen sixty five for what may seem 315 00:19:15,080 --> 00:19:18,320 Speaker 1: on the surface to be an odd charge. According to 316 00:19:18,359 --> 00:19:21,920 Speaker 1: a newspaper account quote, Charles J. Colchester, a leading medium 317 00:19:21,920 --> 00:19:25,440 Speaker 1: and only second to the famous human notoriety as a spiritualist, 318 00:19:25,760 --> 00:19:28,600 Speaker 1: has been arrested on complaint of the Collector of Internal 319 00:19:28,640 --> 00:19:31,600 Speaker 1: Revenue for the twenty District of New York on a 320 00:19:31,720 --> 00:19:36,080 Speaker 1: charge of practicing jugglery without a license. Okay, if that 321 00:19:36,119 --> 00:19:37,800 Speaker 1: made you giggle a little, and it did me when 322 00:19:37,800 --> 00:19:40,440 Speaker 1: I read it. Jugglery in this case does not mean 323 00:19:40,480 --> 00:19:43,120 Speaker 1: literal juggling, although that is certainly a way that word 324 00:19:43,160 --> 00:19:46,920 Speaker 1: can be used. It is referring to trickery or manipulation, 325 00:19:47,080 --> 00:19:51,960 Speaker 1: and in Colchester's case, sleight of hands specifically. So. Colchester 326 00:19:52,119 --> 00:19:54,919 Speaker 1: was taken in for tax evasion because he refused to 327 00:19:54,960 --> 00:19:59,400 Speaker 1: register his profession as a juggler Colchester had been practicing 328 00:19:59,400 --> 00:20:01,760 Speaker 1: in the Ratchet S area in the spring of eighteen 329 00:20:01,840 --> 00:20:06,160 Speaker 1: sixty five when the Assessor of Internal Revenue, William H. Rogers, 330 00:20:06,200 --> 00:20:09,200 Speaker 1: instructed him to take out a license as a juggler. 331 00:20:10,040 --> 00:20:13,359 Speaker 1: Colchester refused. Although he offered to take out a license 332 00:20:13,359 --> 00:20:17,000 Speaker 1: as a spiritual medium, there was no license for that, 333 00:20:17,160 --> 00:20:20,240 Speaker 1: and Rogers told him that, based on the information he had, 334 00:20:20,560 --> 00:20:25,040 Speaker 1: Colchester was indeed a juggler. Colchester was arrested and a 335 00:20:25,080 --> 00:20:28,120 Speaker 1: complaint was filed with the U S Commissioner. The medium 336 00:20:28,160 --> 00:20:30,760 Speaker 1: appeared before a grand jury and was indicted, and the 337 00:20:30,800 --> 00:20:33,760 Speaker 1: case was sent to trial. His defense was that he 338 00:20:33,840 --> 00:20:36,800 Speaker 1: was not in any way a magician or juggler, but 339 00:20:36,920 --> 00:20:39,840 Speaker 1: a legitimate spiritualist, and so he should not have to 340 00:20:39,880 --> 00:20:43,880 Speaker 1: register as something he was not. This really kind of 341 00:20:44,040 --> 00:20:47,520 Speaker 1: turned the trial into an instance where spiritualism itself was 342 00:20:47,600 --> 00:20:51,240 Speaker 1: being debated as the same right up put it quote. 343 00:20:51,280 --> 00:20:53,960 Speaker 1: As a result of the trial will be a legal 344 00:20:53,960 --> 00:20:58,000 Speaker 1: decision as to whether the phenomena of spiritualism are supernatural 345 00:20:58,480 --> 00:21:01,080 Speaker 1: or mere feats of juggler. It will be a very 346 00:21:01,160 --> 00:21:06,280 Speaker 1: interesting one and strongly contested. The prosecutor's planned on calling 347 00:21:06,359 --> 00:21:10,480 Speaker 1: a range of presidigitators to confirm that Colchester was indeed 348 00:21:10,520 --> 00:21:13,600 Speaker 1: a sleight of handman, and the defense planned to bring 349 00:21:13,640 --> 00:21:19,399 Speaker 1: in spiritualists to testify to Colchester's legitimate abilities. Colchester's claim 350 00:21:19,600 --> 00:21:22,000 Speaker 1: was mainly that he was closer to being a member 351 00:21:22,000 --> 00:21:25,320 Speaker 1: of the clergy than a trickster. When the case began 352 00:21:25,359 --> 00:21:29,479 Speaker 1: on August eighteen sixty five, the district attorney opened by 353 00:21:29,600 --> 00:21:32,760 Speaker 1: laying out the question of whether Colchester should or shouldn't 354 00:21:32,800 --> 00:21:35,639 Speaker 1: be registered as a juggler, and made it clear that 355 00:21:35,720 --> 00:21:40,560 Speaker 1: in his mind, spiritualism itself was not on trial. He 356 00:21:40,680 --> 00:21:42,800 Speaker 1: also managed to get in a dig at the press 357 00:21:42,840 --> 00:21:45,240 Speaker 1: for suggesting that this was the case. He said, quote, 358 00:21:45,680 --> 00:21:50,200 Speaker 1: the performance of singular and extraordinary feats of wrappings, answering 359 00:21:50,320 --> 00:21:54,159 Speaker 1: questions enclosed in envelopes and the like publicly and for 360 00:21:54,440 --> 00:21:58,879 Speaker 1: fee and reward, will not be seriously contested, perhaps admitted 361 00:21:59,440 --> 00:22:02,040 Speaker 1: the pecure elier defense of the prisoner I can only 362 00:22:02,080 --> 00:22:05,840 Speaker 1: gather from newspaper reports and public rumor, which assert that 363 00:22:05,920 --> 00:22:08,840 Speaker 1: the prisoner will prove or attempt to prove, that, in 364 00:22:08,920 --> 00:22:12,679 Speaker 1: the performance of those feats of apparent legidmain he is 365 00:22:13,080 --> 00:22:17,360 Speaker 1: the mere instrument of spiritual control and that he does 366 00:22:17,440 --> 00:22:20,800 Speaker 1: not practice slight of hand. While I can see the 367 00:22:20,920 --> 00:22:24,560 Speaker 1: inestimable value of the press, I cannot forbear the remark 368 00:22:25,240 --> 00:22:28,159 Speaker 1: that it has been made the instrument of magnifying the 369 00:22:28,200 --> 00:22:31,199 Speaker 1: case into undue proportions, and to cause the public to 370 00:22:31,240 --> 00:22:34,160 Speaker 1: believe that it is a contest between the United States 371 00:22:34,600 --> 00:22:37,760 Speaker 1: and a large body of citizens calling themselves spiritualists, and 372 00:22:37,960 --> 00:22:40,520 Speaker 1: endeavor on the part of the former to crush out 373 00:22:40,560 --> 00:22:44,320 Speaker 1: a religious sect and to expose its heresies, if it 374 00:22:44,400 --> 00:22:47,320 Speaker 1: has any, And that the result of this trial will 375 00:22:47,440 --> 00:22:51,120 Speaker 1: establish the fact whether spiritualism is true or false. Nothing 376 00:22:51,280 --> 00:22:54,600 Speaker 1: can be further from the truth. The result of this 377 00:22:54,720 --> 00:22:57,919 Speaker 1: trial can accomplish no such thing. It is a simple 378 00:22:58,080 --> 00:23:02,639 Speaker 1: inquiry whether Charles J. Colchester is practicing sleight of hand 379 00:23:02,760 --> 00:23:06,159 Speaker 1: under the guy's spiritual control, and if he is, it 380 00:23:06,320 --> 00:23:09,399 Speaker 1: is quite as important to profess spiritualist that he should 381 00:23:09,400 --> 00:23:11,919 Speaker 1: be exposed as it is to the public whom he 382 00:23:12,040 --> 00:23:16,200 Speaker 1: is deluding into the government which he is defrauding. Over 383 00:23:16,240 --> 00:23:20,280 Speaker 1: the course of the trial, many of Colchester's high profile clients, 384 00:23:20,400 --> 00:23:24,800 Speaker 1: a lot of them politicians, testified that they believed entirely 385 00:23:24,880 --> 00:23:29,040 Speaker 1: in his abilities as a medium. But the damning testimony 386 00:23:29,200 --> 00:23:32,320 Speaker 1: came from people who knew magic, including from a man 387 00:23:32,400 --> 00:23:35,800 Speaker 1: named James Rogers, a magician's assistant who had worked with 388 00:23:35,840 --> 00:23:39,440 Speaker 1: Colchester briefly. He told the court that he had seen 389 00:23:39,520 --> 00:23:42,760 Speaker 1: Colchester using his foot to create a rapping sound by 390 00:23:42,760 --> 00:23:45,919 Speaker 1: striking the legs of tables, but he also said that 391 00:23:46,000 --> 00:23:49,520 Speaker 1: Colchester himself had told him it was in the parlance 392 00:23:49,520 --> 00:23:53,520 Speaker 1: of the day humbug. According to Roger's account, Colchester was 393 00:23:53,560 --> 00:23:56,720 Speaker 1: holding eight to ten seances a day, making one or 394 00:23:56,720 --> 00:23:59,919 Speaker 1: two dollars for each one, and restricting attendance to own 395 00:24:00,240 --> 00:24:03,440 Speaker 1: one or two people per sitting, presumably so they would 396 00:24:03,440 --> 00:24:07,520 Speaker 1: be unable to detect his first Another witness, James Connolly, 397 00:24:07,640 --> 00:24:11,720 Speaker 1: testified that he had as a client, witnessed Colchester switching 398 00:24:11,720 --> 00:24:15,400 Speaker 1: out envelopes that contained questions for him, and we're supposed 399 00:24:15,480 --> 00:24:20,040 Speaker 1: to remain sealed and surreptitiously opening the original questions we 400 00:24:20,080 --> 00:24:23,840 Speaker 1: could answer and appear psychic. Another witness, which is a 401 00:24:23,880 --> 00:24:28,600 Speaker 1: physician named Walter M. Fleming, saw Colchester on several occasions, witnessing, 402 00:24:28,640 --> 00:24:32,159 Speaker 1: among other things, the blood writing upon his arm. The 403 00:24:32,240 --> 00:24:36,240 Speaker 1: witness at one point presented Colchester with questions sealed up 404 00:24:36,240 --> 00:24:38,879 Speaker 1: in cans to see if he could answer them, but Colchester, 405 00:24:39,040 --> 00:24:43,760 Speaker 1: on consecutive days of trying, told Fleming that spiritual conditions 406 00:24:43,760 --> 00:24:47,560 Speaker 1: were not favorable for answering them. The case proceeded on 407 00:24:47,680 --> 00:24:51,720 Speaker 1: in this way, with character witnesses for Colchester and detractors 408 00:24:51,760 --> 00:24:55,600 Speaker 1: describing his trickery for what it was. On August twenty three, 409 00:24:55,760 --> 00:24:59,520 Speaker 1: the jury, after hearing the case, returned their verdict. They 410 00:24:59,560 --> 00:25:04,479 Speaker 1: found that Charles Colchester was a juggler, and this verdict 411 00:25:04,480 --> 00:25:07,760 Speaker 1: actually kicked off a lot of fear in the spiritualism community, 412 00:25:07,920 --> 00:25:10,439 Speaker 1: even though the district attorney had said that was not 413 00:25:10,480 --> 00:25:13,760 Speaker 1: the intent at all, but a lot of practitioners worried 414 00:25:13,760 --> 00:25:16,080 Speaker 1: that they too would be tried by the government over 415 00:25:16,160 --> 00:25:20,359 Speaker 1: taxes and discredited in the process. There were queries as 416 00:25:20,400 --> 00:25:22,800 Speaker 1: well as to whether Colchester had been given a fair 417 00:25:22,800 --> 00:25:25,600 Speaker 1: trial or if the whole thing had been framed in 418 00:25:25,720 --> 00:25:29,240 Speaker 1: bias from the beginning. Despite those remarks to the contrary 419 00:25:29,320 --> 00:25:33,280 Speaker 1: at the opening of the arguments. To be clear, spiritualists 420 00:25:33,280 --> 00:25:36,960 Speaker 1: were not aggrieved at Colchester being called a fraud. They 421 00:25:36,960 --> 00:25:39,040 Speaker 1: were just worried that the manner in which his trial 422 00:25:39,160 --> 00:25:43,119 Speaker 1: was conducted could similarly find any of them frauds, whether 423 00:25:43,160 --> 00:25:47,239 Speaker 1: that had any basis or not. Their own examination of 424 00:25:47,240 --> 00:25:50,439 Speaker 1: the matter came to the conclusion, however, that he was 425 00:25:50,720 --> 00:25:55,199 Speaker 1: undeniably and truly a juggler. After all of that, the 426 00:25:55,359 --> 00:25:58,560 Speaker 1: sentence was just a financial one. Colchester had to pay 427 00:25:58,560 --> 00:26:01,800 Speaker 1: a forty dollar fine and the court costs of four 428 00:26:01,880 --> 00:26:06,280 Speaker 1: hundred seventy three dollars. Those sums were paid by his supporters, 429 00:26:06,320 --> 00:26:09,879 Speaker 1: and that matter was then concluded. The trial results dinged 430 00:26:09,880 --> 00:26:13,240 Speaker 1: Colchester's confidence at all. It was not for long. Soon 431 00:26:13,359 --> 00:26:17,600 Speaker 1: he was on tour, touting his skills and looking for clients. 432 00:26:17,640 --> 00:26:20,320 Speaker 1: In an ad that appeared in the Cleveland Daily Leader 433 00:26:20,400 --> 00:26:25,159 Speaker 1: in December of eighteen sixty five, said Colchester, the wonderful Colchester, 434 00:26:25,400 --> 00:26:30,159 Speaker 1: the incomprehensible Colchester, the medium can be consulted at his 435 00:26:30,280 --> 00:26:33,840 Speaker 1: rooms American House for a few days only. But even 436 00:26:33,840 --> 00:26:37,080 Speaker 1: though he kept working from the moment the trial ended. 437 00:26:37,160 --> 00:26:40,760 Speaker 1: There were then people constantly looking for proof that Colchester 438 00:26:40,880 --> 00:26:43,800 Speaker 1: was a fraud, and stories kept popping up in the 439 00:26:43,840 --> 00:26:47,760 Speaker 1: papers about it. One particularly charming one from the Boston 440 00:26:47,840 --> 00:26:52,199 Speaker 1: Evening Transcript on October eighteen sixty five reads quote a 441 00:26:52,280 --> 00:26:56,680 Speaker 1: correspondent of the Hartford Times says, that Colchester, the juggling medium, 442 00:26:57,040 --> 00:27:00,119 Speaker 1: was detected by him at a circle in Hartford in 443 00:27:00,160 --> 00:27:02,720 Speaker 1: a feat of jugglery where a number sitting in the 444 00:27:02,800 --> 00:27:06,199 Speaker 1: dark with joint hands were touched by spirit hands on 445 00:27:06,240 --> 00:27:09,840 Speaker 1: their faces when one sees to the hand with his 446 00:27:09,960 --> 00:27:13,200 Speaker 1: teeth and discovered that it was a tallow candle which 447 00:27:13,200 --> 00:27:16,880 Speaker 1: Colchester had blown out when the circle was arranged. He 448 00:27:17,000 --> 00:27:19,520 Speaker 1: was once again in hot water with the U. S 449 00:27:19,560 --> 00:27:23,800 Speaker 1: Commissioner in April of eighteen sixty six, this time in Louisville, Kentucky, 450 00:27:23,920 --> 00:27:27,280 Speaker 1: for the same charge, this time just pertaining to the 451 00:27:27,320 --> 00:27:31,720 Speaker 1: performance of jugglery without a license in the state of Kentucky. 452 00:27:31,960 --> 00:27:35,760 Speaker 1: This time Colchester did not really argue the matter. There 453 00:27:35,960 --> 00:27:39,840 Speaker 1: was once against testimony, which, according to an article in 454 00:27:39,880 --> 00:27:43,760 Speaker 1: the Buffalo Commercial on April six, quote a confederate of 455 00:27:43,800 --> 00:27:48,320 Speaker 1: Colchester admitted on the examination that the manifestations were produced 456 00:27:48,320 --> 00:27:52,200 Speaker 1: by mechanical agencies, and this was not denied by the former. 457 00:27:53,160 --> 00:27:55,800 Speaker 1: In that case, Colchester was allowed by the commissioner to 458 00:27:55,800 --> 00:27:59,200 Speaker 1: file his license as a juggler. In late May eight 459 00:27:59,440 --> 00:28:02,800 Speaker 1: sixty six, a story ran in papers across the country 460 00:28:02,880 --> 00:28:07,560 Speaker 1: titled Spiritualism Done for and it had the subheader Colchester 461 00:28:07,720 --> 00:28:12,600 Speaker 1: thoroughly exposed his spirit manifestations shown to be tricks, deceptions, 462 00:28:12,600 --> 00:28:16,560 Speaker 1: and the vileist impositions. And this article was an open 463 00:28:16,640 --> 00:28:19,000 Speaker 1: letter written by a man named D. A. McCord, who 464 00:28:19,080 --> 00:28:23,560 Speaker 1: had briefly been Colchester's agent. While Colchester had been widely 465 00:28:23,600 --> 00:28:27,480 Speaker 1: exposed already, This particular missive was penned, according to McCord, 466 00:28:27,880 --> 00:28:31,000 Speaker 1: quote from a sense of justice, seeming in some ways 467 00:28:31,040 --> 00:28:33,440 Speaker 1: to need to unburden himself for his part in any 468 00:28:33,480 --> 00:28:36,080 Speaker 1: of it, He writes, quote, I was his agent for 469 00:28:36,119 --> 00:28:39,280 Speaker 1: a few weeks and was compelled to leave him, detecting 470 00:28:39,360 --> 00:28:44,200 Speaker 1: his deceptions with his drunkenness, disorderly conduct, and other vices. 471 00:28:44,960 --> 00:28:49,080 Speaker 1: The confessional states that McCord witnessed Colchester using his foot 472 00:28:49,120 --> 00:28:52,200 Speaker 1: against the table leg to produce a rapping sound and 473 00:28:52,280 --> 00:28:56,520 Speaker 1: read billets through trickery. But the one component of Colchester's 474 00:28:56,560 --> 00:28:59,720 Speaker 1: act which had continued to befuddle even detractors, was the 475 00:29:00,200 --> 00:29:04,440 Speaker 1: purported spirit writing on his arm, and McCord spilled the 476 00:29:04,440 --> 00:29:07,320 Speaker 1: beans on that to quote. He uses a short lead 477 00:29:07,360 --> 00:29:11,040 Speaker 1: pencil number two. He prefers the corner of a room 478 00:29:11,080 --> 00:29:14,200 Speaker 1: in the evening time, a light sitting by him in 479 00:29:14,240 --> 00:29:18,200 Speaker 1: the daytime a window behind him. He chooses thin printing 480 00:29:18,240 --> 00:29:23,959 Speaker 1: paper because easily and noiselessly opened, the investigators write questions 481 00:29:24,000 --> 00:29:28,280 Speaker 1: and names of deceased friends upon billets. He manipulates them, 482 00:29:28,400 --> 00:29:32,239 Speaker 1: having his blank previously prepared, which he holds in the 483 00:29:32,280 --> 00:29:34,840 Speaker 1: hollow of his hand by the third and fourth fingers. 484 00:29:35,440 --> 00:29:39,120 Speaker 1: This he exchanges for one of the written billets. Then 485 00:29:39,200 --> 00:29:43,000 Speaker 1: perhaps he may request all to write another question or name, 486 00:29:43,720 --> 00:29:47,400 Speaker 1: during which he dexterously reads the billet by holding it 487 00:29:47,520 --> 00:29:51,320 Speaker 1: in his lap behind the table spread. Yeah. Basically he 488 00:29:51,320 --> 00:29:53,800 Speaker 1: has them write those questions so they'll be occupied and 489 00:29:53,800 --> 00:29:56,520 Speaker 1: then he can do his other stuff without them noticing. 490 00:29:57,200 --> 00:30:00,400 Speaker 1: McCord further explained that even though there was the illusion 491 00:30:00,440 --> 00:30:03,840 Speaker 1: of randomness in which Colchester had someone select a billet 492 00:30:03,880 --> 00:30:06,560 Speaker 1: from a hat, he always used sleight of hand to 493 00:30:06,640 --> 00:30:09,120 Speaker 1: ensure that he knew which one was going to be selected, 494 00:30:09,800 --> 00:30:14,080 Speaker 1: And then, as he employed various theatrical tricks of dramatic misdirection, 495 00:30:14,520 --> 00:30:18,000 Speaker 1: he would use the pencil to write on his arm. 496 00:30:18,040 --> 00:30:21,440 Speaker 1: According to McCord, he then quote bears his arm, rubs 497 00:30:21,480 --> 00:30:24,920 Speaker 1: it slightly with dampened fingers, causing the blood to rush 498 00:30:25,000 --> 00:30:29,520 Speaker 1: into the pencil indentations, producing the wonderful blood red writing 499 00:30:29,600 --> 00:30:33,480 Speaker 1: under the cuticle. Anybody can do this with little practice. 500 00:30:34,120 --> 00:30:37,280 Speaker 1: McCord concludes with a list of eight rules to employ 501 00:30:37,480 --> 00:30:40,240 Speaker 1: if you want to visit Colchester to ensure that you 502 00:30:40,280 --> 00:30:43,320 Speaker 1: see all that he does, and concludes with quote, I 503 00:30:43,360 --> 00:30:45,880 Speaker 1: make this exposure not to injure him, but to keep 504 00:30:45,920 --> 00:30:51,120 Speaker 1: others from being injured and defrauded by villainous impostures. He 505 00:30:51,160 --> 00:30:54,200 Speaker 1: then lists his address and invites anyone to visit if 506 00:30:54,200 --> 00:31:00,080 Speaker 1: they have more questions. What a quaint practice. Here's all 507 00:31:00,120 --> 00:31:03,480 Speaker 1: my dress, here's my home address printed in papers across 508 00:31:03,560 --> 00:31:06,320 Speaker 1: the country. Uh. Yeah, those eight rules I didn't list 509 00:31:06,360 --> 00:31:10,400 Speaker 1: out because they're pretty, um, they're pretty common sense. E. 510 00:31:10,520 --> 00:31:13,520 Speaker 1: It's kind of like, make sure that you sit in 511 00:31:13,560 --> 00:31:16,320 Speaker 1: a place where you can see his hands the whole time. 512 00:31:17,040 --> 00:31:20,640 Speaker 1: Make sure that you like mark you're like. They're very 513 00:31:20,760 --> 00:31:25,600 Speaker 1: very simple things. Another agent, J. M. Mabbott, also wrote 514 00:31:25,640 --> 00:31:28,000 Speaker 1: an open letter that stated that he had been acting 515 00:31:28,040 --> 00:31:31,200 Speaker 1: in good faith while working with Colchester as a true 516 00:31:31,200 --> 00:31:35,040 Speaker 1: believer in spiritualism, and that once the deception was detected, 517 00:31:35,120 --> 00:31:38,080 Speaker 1: he took his leave of the fraud. These letters were 518 00:31:38,080 --> 00:31:41,760 Speaker 1: often printed together. He stated in his letter quote, and 519 00:31:41,840 --> 00:31:44,920 Speaker 1: yet how the spirits can control a man so immoral, 520 00:31:45,120 --> 00:31:48,880 Speaker 1: so given to drunkenness, deception, and a non payment of 521 00:31:48,960 --> 00:31:52,400 Speaker 1: board and printing bills, to say nothing of other vices 522 00:31:52,440 --> 00:31:57,040 Speaker 1: still lower, is to me a mystery. Colchester continued to 523 00:31:57,160 --> 00:32:00,080 Speaker 1: roam after this, plying his trade, but really not for 524 00:32:00,240 --> 00:32:03,600 Speaker 1: very long. In early May of eighteen sixty seven, a 525 00:32:03,720 --> 00:32:07,320 Speaker 1: year after his two former agents had debunked his last 526 00:32:07,440 --> 00:32:12,880 Speaker 1: wisps of credibility, Charles Colchester died in Kyakuk, Iowa. He 527 00:32:12,920 --> 00:32:14,920 Speaker 1: had sat in the White House just a few years 528 00:32:14,960 --> 00:32:17,520 Speaker 1: earlier and had influence over the First Family, and his 529 00:32:17,680 --> 00:32:21,680 Speaker 1: trial for jugglery had been widely reported in detail, but 530 00:32:21,800 --> 00:32:24,480 Speaker 1: by that time his death ran in papers. Is just 531 00:32:24,520 --> 00:32:28,479 Speaker 1: a one liner, that's sort of an aggregated columns of 532 00:32:28,600 --> 00:32:32,560 Speaker 1: miscellaneous stuff. Yeah, it was kind of like Charles Colchester 533 00:32:32,760 --> 00:32:37,360 Speaker 1: medium died in kia Kuk. That was like it's that 534 00:32:37,480 --> 00:32:41,000 Speaker 1: was it. Uh. Some had a few additional, you know, 535 00:32:41,080 --> 00:32:43,400 Speaker 1: sentences about who he was, but it was it was 536 00:32:43,560 --> 00:32:47,840 Speaker 1: very low key at that point. Um. I did not 537 00:32:48,080 --> 00:32:50,440 Speaker 1: anticipate when starting this that I would end up in 538 00:32:50,440 --> 00:32:56,240 Speaker 1: the middle of the jugglery trial, which is pretty interesting 539 00:32:56,280 --> 00:32:59,920 Speaker 1: to me. I have listener mail that's not about meat 540 00:33:00,040 --> 00:33:02,400 Speaker 1: hims or jugglery at all. It goes back to our 541 00:33:02,440 --> 00:33:06,160 Speaker 1: episode on Adolph Lorenz. Actually it is from our listener Caitlin, 542 00:33:06,480 --> 00:33:09,160 Speaker 1: and they write as a disability study student. I was 543 00:33:09,160 --> 00:33:11,760 Speaker 1: thrilled to see that Monday's episode was about some orthopedic 544 00:33:11,920 --> 00:33:15,320 Speaker 1: history because it's really interesting. I really appreciated how carefully 545 00:33:15,360 --> 00:33:18,240 Speaker 1: all were with your disclaimers about changing language and treatment 546 00:33:18,280 --> 00:33:20,960 Speaker 1: of disabled people in both the episode and the behind 547 00:33:20,960 --> 00:33:24,400 Speaker 1: the scenes. When you began describing the hip dislocation and 548 00:33:24,440 --> 00:33:28,320 Speaker 1: treatment process, it sounded very familiar. My aunt Cathy was 549 00:33:28,360 --> 00:33:31,840 Speaker 1: born with spina bifida and the associated hip displasia and 550 00:33:31,920 --> 00:33:35,600 Speaker 1: had corrective surgery and casting. As a toddler, with her 551 00:33:35,680 --> 00:33:38,800 Speaker 1: legs casted sticking out from her sides a straddle type 552 00:33:38,800 --> 00:33:41,200 Speaker 1: position if you can't picture it, she could not fit 553 00:33:41,280 --> 00:33:44,280 Speaker 1: in her stroller. My grandmother wasn't about to leave the 554 00:33:44,320 --> 00:33:46,520 Speaker 1: baby home while she took my dad an uncle around 555 00:33:46,560 --> 00:33:49,920 Speaker 1: town doing daily activities, so she asked my grandfather to 556 00:33:50,000 --> 00:33:52,720 Speaker 1: do something. He went to his hobby wood shop and 557 00:33:52,760 --> 00:33:56,240 Speaker 1: built the Cathy Car, a very basic adaptive wheelchair that 558 00:33:56,360 --> 00:33:58,560 Speaker 1: let her sit safe and supported as she was toted 559 00:33:58,600 --> 00:34:01,880 Speaker 1: around upstate New York. My grandmother says that nearly every 560 00:34:01,920 --> 00:34:04,040 Speaker 1: time they went out, someone would stop them and ask 561 00:34:04,120 --> 00:34:06,760 Speaker 1: about the stroller. This was the early seventies, so it 562 00:34:06,840 --> 00:34:09,160 Speaker 1: was very unusual to see a disabled child out and 563 00:34:09,160 --> 00:34:12,120 Speaker 1: about with adaptive gear. My pop would send them the 564 00:34:12,160 --> 00:34:15,080 Speaker 1: plans or build them their own. To hear my grandfather 565 00:34:15,120 --> 00:34:17,239 Speaker 1: tell it, a whole fleet of Kathy cars took over 566 00:34:17,280 --> 00:34:19,319 Speaker 1: the region. Thank you for all the work you do. 567 00:34:19,400 --> 00:34:21,479 Speaker 1: I love hearing the new episodes and listening to past 568 00:34:21,480 --> 00:34:25,319 Speaker 1: favorites on repeat. Caitlin, I love this note. I love 569 00:34:25,320 --> 00:34:28,880 Speaker 1: anybody's ingenuity. I love the idea that someone created an 570 00:34:28,920 --> 00:34:33,040 Speaker 1: adaptive mobility device before that was even a phrase we knew. 571 00:34:34,440 --> 00:34:37,600 Speaker 1: Uh so cool, I hope, Caitlin, if you have pictures 572 00:34:37,640 --> 00:34:40,640 Speaker 1: of this, please send me one because I want to 573 00:34:40,640 --> 00:34:44,560 Speaker 1: see what it looks like. Um. It's just a fascinating 574 00:34:44,600 --> 00:34:47,400 Speaker 1: My husband worked in that field a little bit, um 575 00:34:47,440 --> 00:34:49,560 Speaker 1: so he's always very interested in those as well, so 576 00:34:49,600 --> 00:34:51,680 Speaker 1: we would love to see it. But I just love it, 577 00:34:51,719 --> 00:34:55,360 Speaker 1: and it's a nice coda to how um you know, 578 00:34:56,080 --> 00:34:59,080 Speaker 1: not always would families have been like yes, we'll solve 579 00:34:59,160 --> 00:35:02,320 Speaker 1: this problem, and so I love that it's a very positive, 580 00:35:02,840 --> 00:35:05,120 Speaker 1: cool way to do it. Uh. If you would like 581 00:35:05,200 --> 00:35:08,080 Speaker 1: to write to us about anything you've heard on the show, 582 00:35:08,200 --> 00:35:10,120 Speaker 1: or just any piece of history you're interested in, you 583 00:35:10,160 --> 00:35:13,279 Speaker 1: can do that at History Podcast at iHeart radio dot com. 584 00:35:13,480 --> 00:35:15,840 Speaker 1: You can find us everywhere on social media as Missed 585 00:35:15,840 --> 00:35:18,279 Speaker 1: in History, and if you have not subscribed to the show, 586 00:35:18,360 --> 00:35:20,640 Speaker 1: you can do that as quick as a wink on 587 00:35:20,719 --> 00:35:22,920 Speaker 1: the I heart Radio app or anywhere you listen to 588 00:35:22,960 --> 00:35:30,840 Speaker 1: your favorite podcasts. Stuff you Missed in History Class is 589 00:35:30,840 --> 00:35:34,040 Speaker 1: a production of I heart Radio. 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