Defense attorney: Do you remember at a seance just before the war broke out, someone appearing to you personally?

Herbert Steabben: Yes.

Defense attorney: Who was that?

Herbert Steabben: My mother.

Defense attorney: How far were you from her then?

Herbert Steabben: I touched her.

Defense attorney: Just explain to the jury?

Herbert Steabben: She came clearly out from the cabinet and stood about three to four feet clear of the curtains, a full materialization. I noticed the grey hair. I noticed the difference in the eyes. The eyes are grey, whereas Mrs. Duncan’s are brown. She is about half or one-third the size, and she had the peculiar little mannerisms, that as my mother I naturally recognized.

Defense attorney: Did you hear her voice?

Herbert Steabben: Yes.

Defense attorney: What did she say to you?

Herbert Steabben: She called me by a name other than I have given here as my own name to-day.

Defense attorney: Your name is Herbert John?

Herbert Steabben: My name is Herbert John. She called me Charles.

Defense attorney: Did Mrs. Duncan know you had a nickname of Charles?

Herbert Steabben: No, I think that is not known to more than three or four people, even to-day.

Defense attorney: You recognized the voice?

Herbert Steabben: Yes.

Defense attorney: Did you see your mother’s features?

Herbert Steabben: Certainly. I saw the color of her eyes.

Defense attorney: Was there any peculiarity about her face when you were talking to her?

Herbert Steabben: She had a little mannerism that, when she was under emotion, one would see before she broke down the lips tremble, like a mother would; and it was very characteristic when she was very stirred. She was stirred naturally then, and I had to comfort her instead of she comforting me.

Defense attorney: What happened to your mother’s figure in front of you?

Herbert Steabben: It disappeared down through the floor.

Defense attorney: It did not return?

Herbert Steabben: It did not return into the cabinet.

Defense attorney: Do you remember another seance?

Judge: It was only an ectoplasm?

Herbert Steabben: Yes.

Defense Attorney 2: The ectoplasm disappeared?

Herbert Steabben: The figure in the ectoplasm disappeared into the floor as if it melted.

Defense Attorney 2: Any other manifestations?

Herbert Steabben: On the very first time when I sat with Mrs. Duncan, when she was entirely unknown to me, I saw the figure of a little child. .

Judge: Can you give me the approximate date?

Herbert Steabben: Ten years ago.

Defense attorney: That will do.

Herbert Steabben: This little child of fourteen had long black hair. She had skinny arms, and very shortish, and she was very quick. She had had her leg amputated before she passed into spirit. She came out to show that she had the use of that leg. She was well able to dance, which was a thing she wanted to do when she was in life, but was unable. It was tragic. She also gave what to me was a wonderful piece of evidence. She said to me, “I have your telegram with me.” This telegram was one that I had sent to her mother when she was lying ill in hospital. She had so attracted the attention of the nurses there, because no amount of morphia could stop the pain that she was suffering, and, when she had this telegram, she did not have a single moment’s more pain until the time she passed into spirit.

Defense Attorney 2: Was a relative of hers there?

Herbert Steabben: Not on the first occasion. She asked me that. She knew that on the first occasion, and she asked me to give her love to mummy and daddy, which I did. And next time I invited them to come and they saw her for themselves.

Judge: What is the connection between the child and the telegram?

Herbert Steabben: This telegram she had had buried with her in the coffin, and she said she had it; she had still got it.

Defense attorney: Was it that the child had suffered and you sent a telegram to the child?

Herbert Steabben: Yes, to give her my love and my help.

Judge: Yes, I see.

Defense Attorney 2: Did you hear the child on the subsequent occasion when she appeared, talking to her father and mother?

Herbert Steabben: Yes.

Defense attorney: What language did they speak in?

Herbert Steabben: French and English.

Judge: And the child had got her leg restored?

Herbert Steabben: Yes, she danced on that leg, whereas before when she passed she was a cripple and unable to.

Defense attorney: We have been told the spirits usually manifest themselves in the same form in which they passed over, as it is said. This would be an exception?

Herbert Steabben: No, that is not right. There are differences. Sometimes they manifest themselves to show themselves to be recognized as the person they are with a scar. Sometimes they will come and say, “Look, the scar has gone, because I am now a perfect spirit”.

Defense attorney: It is not correct to say that?

Herbert Steabben: Not always. They get healed, they become rejuvenated. I think the words of the Bible are that we become perfected. We come to ourselves again in the spirit of God.

Defense Attorney 2: Did you arrange the seance?

Herbert Steabben: I did.

Defense attorney: What fee did Mrs. Duncan charge?

Herbert Steabben: 8. Latterly she has refused it.

Defense attorney: But she charged you 8?

Herbert Steabben: 8, that time.

Defense attorney: How many sitters did you have?

Herbert Steabben: Fourteen.

Defense attorney: Fourteen other men?

Herbert Steabben: They varied. On an odd occasion I might have one or two more, and there were a number where I had twelve.

Defense attorney: What do you charge each sitter?

Herbert Steabben: 12s. 6d.

Defense attorney: Fourteen sitters at 12s. 6d. What would you have after paying Mrs. Duncan?

Herbert Steabben: Fifteen shillings A little over that; the difference is twenty- eight shillings.

Defense attorney: Did it cover your expenses?

Judge: Are you an official of some society?

Herbert Steabben: I am independent, working as a psychic healer and medium lecturer.

Defense attorney: Are you dependent upon that for your living?

Herbert Steabben: Yes, entirely.

Defense attorney: Do you call yourself by any name of institution?

Herbert Steabben: Well, no. I did form the Pathfinders’ Society, but I did not want to undertake the leader- ship, and I asked Mrs. Blackwell if she would become the president of that.

Defense attorney: You just practise in a private capacity?

Herbert Steabben: Certainly.