We can prove by
records, still to be seen in Bixbury, that said person died in seventeen
eighty-five. On the other hand, if you choose to assert that he is, or
was, anybody else, how are you going to prove it? All that you can say
is that the person you refer to came from, you knew not where, and has
gone, you know not where. If you declare that at one time he was a
materialized spirit, you know very well how such a statement as that
would be received in a court of law. It will be much wiser to let it be
supposed that the person who has lately been seen about this town has
run off to Canada, than to make any sort of legal inquiry into the
matter. If said person were really a man we could have nothing to do
with his disappearance, while if he were a materialized spirit the law
would have nothing to do with him."
I arose and paced the floor. There was entirely too much force in this
man's arguments, but, although I could not immediately answer him, his
cool determination to persevere in his iniquitous designs so angered me
that I declared that he should be punished if I had to do it myself.
"Then you admit," he said, with a smile, "that the law cannot do it. The
situation," he continued, "is very plain to us. Although the law can
take no cognizance of our action, the case will be very different with
all believers in spiritualism, and those who are interested in us.
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