District Attorney W. S. Barnes, President Theodore F. Bonnet, of the San Francisco Press Club, Ex-President Grant Carpenter, of the same club, H. H. McCloskey, then a State Central Committeeman of the Republican party, and many other casual observers.

At another seance Chief of Police Crowley, Judge Robert Ferral, Dr. R. E. Bunker, and Attorney Charles L. Patton were the principal investigators, though Captain Wright and many others saw all that was done. At this seance the observations were conducted under the test conditions arranged by Chief Crowley, Dr. Bunker, and Attorney Patton.

The reader should satisfy himself concerning the mental and moral qualifications of all the witnesses named by glancing at the biographical sketches elsewhere in this volume.

At the Mayor’s office Dr. Schlesinger was announced as a resident of No. 1 Polk Street. He said he knew none of the committee, and nobody present except the Examiner’s representative knew the Doctor.[1]

“I can converse with the spirits of your deceased friends,” said the medium, “and I am giving my life to this work. I gave up a great tea business to teach my fellow men that life does not end at the grave. My home is constantly filled with bands of angels from the celestial depths, but I am able to call a few spirits around any box, table, or desk. I want you to satisfy yourself that all that is done here is absolutely honest.”

Before proceeding further the Doctor produced a testimonial from Editor Will S. Green, of the Colusa Sun (afterwards State Treasurer), which explained that Dr. Schlesinger’s performances could not be explained on the theory of trickery. A clipping from the Sun of September 5, 1890, gave an account of matters that had puzzled the people of Colusa. The investigations began, therefore, with a great deal of interest, and before their conclusion the old Doctor had greatly puzzled all present. They could not tell whether it was some psychic power by which he operated, or whether they had been basely deceived.

At his own request, Dr. Schlesinger was not introduced to any of the persons present. He soon called their names, however, and said they were given to him by the spirits in the raps that all could hear on the desk.

The Doctor’s favorite method of communicating startling information was to have the sitters write, before they came into his presence, fifteen or twenty names of living and dead friends. Each name being on a separate piece of paper, the visitors were requested to fold each slip tightly, so as to preclude any possibility of its being read by the medium. This done, the slips, all of equal size, were put into a hat and thoroughly shuffled. The Doctor would then say: “Pick out any slip yourself, and I will read it without looking and before you yourself know what the name is.” There would then be raps, and in a few seconds the Doctor would give the name correctly. These names were written and folded in a room apart from the Doctor.

“Granting that there is such a thing as mind-reading,” said Chief Crowley, “I do not think mind-reading would account for what was done for me, because he read things that were not in my mind, telling me my mother’s maiden name and where she died.”

Dr. Schlesinger calls his gift clairaudient mediumship, and says his right ear is deaf to all terrestrial sounds, but quickened, as with a sixth sense, for communications from the other world. He says he can both see and hear spirits, and that bands of them encircle him, and at times, in the presence of some peculiarly “fit” visitors, manifest themselves with great clearness and power. To prove that the sounds he hears are celestial voices, he does many things which baffle those who witness the strange phenomena which abound in his presence wherever he goes.

It was with much difficulty that those who participated in these seances and whose accounts of what they saw are subjoined, were induced to give the medium a hearing. Chief Crowley was particularly opposed to giving serious attention to what he denounced as “trickery and sleight of hand,” and afterwards called “marvelous and beyond power of explanation.” Finally he wrote down a number of names on separate slips, as explained in the foregoing, and among those names appeared that of his mother—her maiden name. The medium at once told the Chief which pellet contained his mother’s name, then read it, and in a few moments told where she died and where she was buried.

A few minutes later the aged Doctor said: “The spirit of Detective Hutton, who died a violent death, hovers near you.”

The medium then spoke of matters that were known to nobody but Chief Crowley and the dead detective. This greatly puzzled the Chief, who was later deeply affected over purported messages from a son and others who had been dear to him in life.

Speaking of the purported message from his dead mother the Chief said: “I cannot explain this, which is marvelous, for I do not believe a human being in San Francisco knew that my mother’s maiden name was Elizabeth McCarthy, that she died in New Jersey and was buried in New York.”

Chief Crowley then wrote down a list of years, among them the year of his mother’s death. Dr. Schlesinger pointed to the year 1833 as that of her death.

“Correct!” replied Chief Crowley; whereupon the medium said, “and the name of your father, Patrick J. Crowley, is also here, and he comes with your son Lewis, who has not been dead long.”

The Chief thought it the most wonderful performance he had ever seen. “He does marvelous and inexplicable things,” said the Chief, “and I’ll admit I cannot tell how it is done. While I cannot believe he converses with spirits, I am puzzled. I want to see him again and look into the matter further.”

EX-CHIEF OF POLICE P. CROWLEY.

The experiments with Mayor L. R. Ellert, who sprang from his chair and positively declined to be thrown into a trance condition when the doctor requested him thus to visit the spirit world, were fully as startling as those with Chief Crowley.

Mayor Ellert took a chair in front of his official table, which had thus been dedicated to spiritual uses, and asked if any spirits desired to communicate with him, whereupon the medium grasped his Honor’s hands and the line of communication with the spirits was declared fully established. Quite distinct raps were then heard on the table, and Dr. Schlesinger looked at the Mayor and said: “You are a medium yourself, sir! My, what a power!”

The Mayor was urged “to sit alone often and be patient,” and was told that he could develop much power by such a course.

HON. L. R. ELLERT.

Mayor Ellert then wrote down ten of fifteen names of living and dead friends, on separate slips of paper. He refused to use the paper handed him by Dr. Schlesinger, but cut up an official letter head