informant38
.

-
...But of these sophisms and elenchs of merchandise I skill not...
Milton, Areopagitica

Except he had found the
standing sea-rock that even this last
Temptation breaks on; quieter than death but lovelier; peace
that quiets the desire even of praising it.

Jeffers, Meditation On Saviors


-

3.10.03

Helen Duncan, medium
Lt. Worth's commanding officer had become worried about his interest in spiritualism, and had asked a naval lieutenant-surgeon who was a mutual friend to attend the s�ance with him. What the two officers saw was enough to convince them that Helen Duncan was making money out of the gullible and, worse than that, the bereaved. The 'spirits' were crude fakes done with cheesecloth, the information they passed from the other side was bogus, and the whole performance smacked of a cheap fairground attraction.
During the next s�ance that Duncan held, Worth returned with a War Reserve Constable in plain clothes and further policemen from Portsmouth CID waited outside. As the first apparition of the evening floated out from behind the curtains the Reserve Constable made an unsuccessful grab for it. Worth blew his specially issued whistle, and there was a moment of panic as the police charged in. The officers placed Duncan, the Homers and Duncan's sidekick, Frances Brown, under arrest.
Public Record Office, national archive of England, Wales and the United Kingdom

Blog Archive