4 NOVEMBER 1876, Page 2

The Slade prosecution was concluded on Friday week, when the

charge of conspiracy was dismissed, and Mr. Simmonds, there- fore, set at liberty ; and the defence was taken on Saturday, when written evidence given by Mr. Serjeant Cox (who was unwell), and the personal testimony of Dr. George Wylde, Mr. Alfred Russen Wallace, Mr. George Curling Joad, and Mr. Algernon Joy was admittea b 5.Jr Flowers as testimony to the bond fide character of the strange phenomena sant je +ha presence of Mr. Slade, though he remarked that their evidence was in a certain measure irrelevant to the case he had to consider ; and he admitted it, we presume, by way of compensation for having admitted the equally irrelevant evidence of Mr. Maskelyne and others, on the other side. Serjeant Cox's letter was very curious, as containing statements of facts about which it is not very easy to suppose that a sane and sensible man, and one well used to sift the weak points of evi- dence, could easily have been deceived. Thus :—" Instantly upon taking our seats, very loud rapping came upon the floor ; this was followed by a succession of furious blows upon the table, jarring my hands as they were lying upon it. These blows were repeated at any part of the table desired, by merely touching that spot with the finger. While the blows, as forcible as if givekby

a sledge-hammer, were being made, Dr. Slade's hands were on the table on my hands, and his whole body to his feet were fully before my eyes." A chair "was lifted up to a level with the table, held in that position for several seconds, and then dropped to the floor ;" and during this time Mr. Serjeant Cox carefully noted Mr. Slade, and saw it was completely beyond his reach. Then as to the writing, Serjeant Cox felt the writing going on beneath his hand while his hand was on the slate and the slate on the table, and he noticed that whenever he and Mr. Slade un- clasped hands,—broke the circuit,—the writing stopped, and only recommenced when the circuit was completed again. A bit of pencil, too, was picked up on the floor, and brought to him in broad sunlight, by a small hand,—the hand of a woman.