The Spirit Who Socked the Detective
A seance in Seattle turns into a brawl when a detective catches a ‘spirit’ in the act of fraud.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Mrs. Eliza Reynolds, the spiritualist fraud, was again exposed last night. She had made preparations for an elaborate seance. The spirit was unfortunate enough to appear at the request of a Mr. Julius Balladen, who proved to be a detective officer. When he approached the spirit, it assaulted him. He quickly responded by throwing his arms around it, and to his astonishment, slapped and hit it. Shrieks followed, and a general break-up was the result.
“When he approached the spirit, it assaulted him.”
Spiritualism was a massive industry in the late 19th century, offering comfort to those grieving industrial-era losses. This incident captures the era's fascination with occult performance and the inevitable local police crackdowns on 'fortune-telling' that still echo in modern municipal ordinances regarding public morality and consumer protection.
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