SIGNED 1893 LETTER SPIRITUALIST MEDIUM OCCULT SLAVE ABOLISIONIST CIVIL WAR VET For Sale

INVREF#CL4-38

You may not find another more important Victorian signed letter that comes from a more accomplished Spiritualism Medium. His accounts in the occult had him cross paths with Medium scammers who were pursued by Houdini as he exposed the dark side of grift scams regarding contacting the dead. Marsh went to his grave stating he made contact with the dead to include his law partner Daniel Webster and many other historic figures. His incredible career outside of Spiritualism makes him a credible witness to the dead and a must have addition to your collection. I did all the work and include all of my research below. The letter is fantastic with a great VF signature. The lower part of this description explains the exemplar provenance. LUTHER RAWSON MARSH (1813 – 1902) LAW PARTNER WITH FAMOUS AMERICAN STATESMAN, DANIEL WEBSTER, CIVIL WAR ERA ANTI-SLAVERY ABOLITIONIST – AUTHOR OF “WRITINGS and SPEECHES OF ALVAN STEWART, ON SLAVERY” IN 1860, NOTED SPIRITUALIST and PSYCHICAL RESEARCHER WHO BELIEVED IN LIFE AFTER DEATH and CLAIMED THAT HE COMMUNICATED FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE WITH THE LIKES OF DANIEL WEBSTER AND OTHER HISTORIC and BIBLICAL PERSONALITIES, POPULAR ORATOR, AUTHOR, POET and WEALTHY NEW YORK LAWYER, TRYING MANY CELEBRATED CASES, PRESIDENT OF THE NEW YORK CITY PARKS COMMISSION & MEMBER and VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNION LEAGUE CLUB 1868-1888. In 1869, Marsh refused the tempting offer of the editorship of the New York Times! More interesting is the connection that Luther Marsh had with Ann O\'Delia Diss Debar (the late 19th- and early 20th-century medium and criminal). She was convicted of fraud several times in the US, and was tried for rape and fraud in London in 1901. She was described by famed magician Harry Houdini as \"one of the most extraordinary fake mediums and mystery swindlers the world has ever known.\" One notable example was the case of Luther R. Marsh - - Diss Debar persuaded the elderly Marsh to give her his townhouse on New York\'s Madison Avenue; for this she was imprisoned for 6 months in June 1888 on Blackwell\'s Island! HERE’S AN AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED BY MARSH, 1p., DATED AT 10 BENTON AVENUE, MIDDLETOWN, ORANGE COUNTY, NEW YORK, DEC. 12, 1893 TO BENJAMIN W. AUSTIN, REGARDING A PORTRAIT PLATE OF ABOLITIONIST ALVAN STEWART, and HAVING HIS ENGRAVER “STRIKE OFF” 4 COPIES FOR AUSTIN…(THIS WAS LIKELY THE PLATE USED IN THE BOOK MARSH WROTE ABOUT STEWART.) NOTE: BENJAMIN W. AUSTIN served as the secretary of the Northwestern Literary and Historical Society in Sioux City and later, the functioning as secretary of the Trinity Historical Society in Dallas, Texas, 1885-1894. He was a prolific autograph collector who often promoted honorary membership in the historical society and requesting autographs, photographs, and pamphlets. According to Professor André De Tienne, Ben Austin assembled his collection by deceptive methods, for instance “making [people] believe that they were being honored with a membership in non-existent scholarly societies, such as the Northwestern Literary and Historical Society, or the Trinity Historical Society in Texas.” The document measures 8” x 10½” and is in Very Fine Condition, inlaid to another sheet. A NOTED SPIRITUALIST, L. R. MARSH, IS DEAD ONE WHO HAD GREAT FAITH IN MME. DIES DE BAR. HE COMMUNED WITH SPIRITS Marsh Once Had an Interview with Cyrus. King of the Persians— What He Says About Mediums. MIDDLETOWN. N. Y, August 16 [1902]. - Luther R. Marsh, eighty-nine years old, widely noted as a Spiritualist, died at his home at this place yesterday, after an illness of several weeks. Luther Rawson Marsh was born at Pompey. Onondaga County. New York, on April 1, 1813. He was admitted to the bar in 1836, and began practice In New York City But a year later he went to Utica and practiced for five years. In 1841 he returned to New York City and entered into partnership with Oscar W. Sturtevant. When Daniel Webster, having left the office of Secretary of State under President Tyler, went to New York, he associated himself with Sturtevant and Marsh until his return to the United States Senate. Mr. Marsh delivered many lectures and public addresses. In 1888 he went to Middletown, N.Y. where he afterward made his home, retiring from active practice. For many years he was a diligent student of the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg. In 1885 Mr. Marsh became acquainted with Mrs. Ann Odelia Diss De Bar, through her alleged spirit pictures, and her influence over him became so great that he was induced to make over property in New York to her for a nominal consideration. Notwithstanding the exposures of her methods Mr. Marsh continued his faith in her alleged portraits of Bible characters and in Spiritualism. How He Became Interested. In a communication to a New York paper last year, Mr. Marsh told how he became interested in Spiritualism: “My first introduction to Spiritualism was many years ago, perhaps thirty or more, in the rooms of a friend of mine, James B. Pell, a rich client of New York. “A medium came there, a Mrs. French, with a famous photographer of that day, and some drawing paper. Several sheets were marked by us on the corner and put under the sofa. In two minutes, by a watch, pictures were produced on them—two of Niagara Falls, one of the American flag and one of a conch shell, with all of its evolutions beautifully done. This was accomplished in such a way that there could have been no collusion about it, and I said to myself then: This is a revelation, and proves to me, what I did not before suspect, that spirits have the power to manipulate physical things. \"But I was in full blast of law practice and gave no attention to the subject until years afterward, when I called upon a famous medium In New York, who wrote letters in reply to sealed letters given him. I wrote a few dozen letters on long strips of paper and folded them over and over, and made them adhere with mucilage, so that it was impossible to read them, and handed them to him. He immediately sat down to another table (he had not been present In the room when I wrote them), and wrote replies, which were pertinent, and signed by the names of a party to whom I had on the inside addressed these letters. One of them was to Mr. Daniel Webster, So I said to myself; “It ought not to be neglected. If this is true, it is far more important to me than all my law practice, and I will look into It.’ \"Thereupon, I commenced investigating the subject at materializing seances. I had the undoubted evidences brought to me of the appearance of spirits in materialized form.” As to Mme. Diss De Bar. As to his faith In Mme. Dies Debar, he said; \"Whatever may be said affecting the character of Mme. Diss De Barr relates merely to her financial grasping and her means of obtaining money, so far as I know. I am not aware myself of any deflection in her from the right line. Whatever charges may be made against her, I am not her champion nor defender, but they do not affect in the slightest degree my confidence, my absolute knowledge of what took place in regard to my pictures and communications. \"If a man should hand me a silver half dollar which was genuine and in another transaction should try to defraud me, it would not destroy or affect my belief in the fact that I had received a half dollar. There is not the slightest film of doubt on my mind in regard to the verity of these phenomena. \"I claim that with an ordinary capacity and a discipline of fifty-two years at the bar in weighing the value of testimony and of discriminating principles I am as well able as anyone to judge of what I have seen and what I have heard and what I have known.\" Marsh in His Home. In April of last year the New York World sent a reporter to Interview Mr. Marsh at his home. Just after the death of Mrs. Huyler, one of Mr. Marsh’s favorite mediums. A part of the story follows: \"Luther Marsh has had during the last twelve years his residence in Middletown.With the late Mrs. Huyler as medium between himself and the spirit world, which ridiculed his beliefs. “He took me to his library and study In the Huyler home, whose walls were hung with spirit pictures, whose bookshelves were lined with works upon the spirit land, whose closets were piled high with spirit manuscripts. “This is my holy of holies” he said, “and these rooms are rich in untold treasure.” … like millions of other foolish mortals, piling up wealth and honors and the transient satisfactions that decay.’ “Mr. Marsh speaks forcefully, and his English is splendid. He is a remarkable man for his eighty-nine years. He delivers his sentences like orations, for he belonged to the old school of lawyers who practiced in an age when judges had time to listen. “But how can you be sure of the life to come?”’ ’There!\' exclaimed Mr. Marsh. “You have hit upon the keynote of Spiritualism. That is its purpose, to convince us of the life beyond the grave. We hear skeptics saying continually, “If these things be true why have we not some proofs?” Yet when proof is given they deride it And further, they scoff at any who accept it.” \"In the end Spiritualism must conquer. It will rule the world, the people must in time accept these revelations from God, but it will take time, as it did to accept those recorded In the Bible. Yes, it will take even more time, for this is a different age, ruled by everything that is material. And as for the friends that forsook me, everyone of them who has passed over has returned to apologize and to urge me on to greater faith. Other Communications. Mr. Marsh declared positively that he had received communications from Nebuchadnezzar, Sennacherib, Daniel and other Bible characters. To the New York Herald, last year, he sent a verbatim report of an interview with Cyrus, in which the latter gave a report of the capture of Babylon. Mrs. Huyler was the medium in this instance. Source: Indianapolis News,Indianapolis, Marion County, 16 August 1902 History of the occult Spiritualism: Spiritualism is an informal religious movement based on the belief that the spirits of the dead exist and have both the ability and the inclination to communicate with the living.[1] The afterlife, or the \"spirit world\", is seen by spiritualists, not as a static place, but as one in which spirits continue to evolve. These two beliefs—that contact with spirits is possible, and that spirits are more advanced than humans—lead spiritualists to a third belief: that spirits are capable of providing useful knowledge about moral and ethical issues, as well as about the nature of God. Some spiritualists will speak of a concept which they refer to as \"spirit guides\"—specific spirits, often contacted, who are relied upon for spiritual guidance.[2][3] Spiritism, a branch of spiritualism developed by Allan Kardec and today practiced mostly in Continental Europe and Latin America, especially in Brazil, emphasizes reincarnation.[4] By 1853, when the popular song \"Spirit Rappings\" was published, spiritualism was an object of intense curiosity. Spiritualism developed and reached its peak growth in membership from the 1840s to the 1920s, especially in English-speaking countries.[3][5] By 1897, spiritualism was said to have more than eight million followers in the United States and Europe,[6] mostly drawn from the middle and upper classes. Spiritualism flourished for a half century without canonical texts or formal organization, attaining cohesion through periodicals, tours by trance lecturers, camp meetings, and the missionary activities of accomplished mediums. Many prominent spiritualists were women, and like most spiritualists, supported causes such as the abolition of slavery and women\'s suffrage.[3] By the late 1880s the credibility of the informal movement had weakened due to accusations of fraud perpetrated by mediums, and formal spiritualist organizations began to appear.[3] Spiritualism is currently practiced primarily through various denominational spiritualist churches in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. PROVENANCE OF DOCUMENT & SIGNATURE PURSCHASE HISTORY Proud member of the Universal Autograph Collectors Club (UACC), The Ephemera Society of America, the Manuscript Society and the American Political Items Collectors (APIC) (member name: John Lissandrello). I subscribe to each organizations\' code of ethics and authenticity is guaranteed. ~Providing quality service and historical memorabilia online for over 20 years.