EXPERIENCES OF THE AUTHOR WITH ROBERT DALE OWEN (_Continued_).
AN EVENTFUL HOUR WITH LEAH FOX UNDERHILL--A GHOST SPEAKS.
"It was on the evening of Sunday, the twenty-first of October, 1860. The sitting was held in Mr. Underhill's dining-room, lasting from ten till eleven o'clock P.M.
"The room was lighted by gas. There were two windows fronting the street; three doors: one opening on a corridor whence a staircase ascended to the next floor, another opening on a short passage leading to the kitchen, the third, the door of a pantry in which were crockery and various other articles, including a barrel of loaf-sugar in one corner.
"Before we had any demonstrations the raps requested us to wait until the domestics had retired. There were two servant girls in the kitchen, whom Mrs. Underhill sent up stairs to bed, so that everything was profoundly still on that floor of the house. Then we fastened the inside blinds of both windows, so as to exclude all light from the street.
"Before commencing the session, at Mr. Underhill's request, I shut and locked the three doors above referred to, leaving the keys in the doors, so that no one, even if furnished with keys, could open them from without. I satisfied myself by careful personal inspection of the furniture, and otherwise, that there was no one in the pantry, nor any one in the dining-room except the three persons who, along with myself, assisted at the sitting. These persons were Mr. Daniel Underhill, Mrs. Underhill (Leah Fox), and her nephew, Charles, twelve years old. We sat down to a centre-table, three feet eleven inches in diameter, of black walnut, and without table-cover. (I had previously looked under it; nothing to be seen there.) The gas-burner was immediately over it. I sat on the east side of the table, Mr. Underhill opposite to me, Mrs. Underhill on my left hand, and Charles on the right. There was no fire in the room.
"The rappings commenced, gradually increasing in number and force. After a short interval they spelled, 'Put out the gas.' It was accordingly extinguished and the room remained in total darkness. Then 'Join hands.' Shortly after doing so I felt, several times, a cool breeze blowing on my cheek. Then was spelled, 'Do not break the circle.' We obeyed; and, except for a second or two at a time, it remained, on my part, unbroken throughout the rest of the sitting.