A susceptible patron wanders into 221 Broadway to meet ... Frank H. Roscoe, speaker and message bearer.
Providence had psychics! Right in the path of Lovecraft's 25 year old gaze.
It's unknown if he ever met them, saw them, or opposed them. However, in two ephemera - theater programs - that Chrispy obtained, he found an advertisement for F. H. Roscoe. That led to a finding in the 1916 Spritualist: A Monthly Magazine Devoted to Psychical Research and Occultism, 1916, By C. P. Christensen.
In that magazine, we read of:
Frank H. Roscoe, speaker and message bearer, 221 Broadway, Providence, RI
He had a competitor:
Mrs. M. M. Darling, The Blind Medium, 533 Cranston Street, oppposite Bellevue Avenue.
Roscoe was a long time resident (as early as 1886) of Providence.
and he advertised in various ways
In addition, Roscoe was a man on the move. He filed with the Legislature (page 615) as below:
(4 April 1916) I, J Fred Parker, secretary of state hereby certify that Frank H Roscoe, William H Farnworth, Abel J Satchell, Arthur Hindley, and Albert T Marsh have filed in the office of the secretary of state according to law their agreement to form a corporation under the name of The Rhode Island State Progressive Spiritualists Association for the purpose of educational charitable and missionary work in the interest of the religion of spiritualism in accordance with law and have also filed the certificate of the general treasurer that they have paid into the general treasury of the state the fee required by law.
No comments:
Post a Comment