series of experiments with noted Spiritualists and Spiritual Mediums and had also experienced many of the phenomena that Austin described, admitting them to be beyond any known natural law. These experiences had occurred during a series of highly controlled tests in Sir William's own house and in other places which could not have been tampered with. In defending against the claims by many Christians that Spiritualism (and especially the communication with the spirits of the dead) was an act of devil worship, Austin related a short anecdote. When visiting a prison in Winnipeg, Austin explained, he had once met a prisoner who was incarcerated for shooting a man on a bicycle. The man, "an Indian of low intellect" had never seen a bicycle before and had interpreted the strange and unknown form of a bicycler as a diabolical combination of man and beast, shooting it immediately. Austin compared this unthinking action to the ignorant conclusion by many Christians unacquainted with Spiritualism that Spiritual communication was some sort of demonic ritual. He concluded the argument by saying that "Let no one then… think for a moment to satisfy the intelligence of this age by the flippant statement of ignorant bigotry 'it's all the devil'. Near the end of his address Austin asked the conference to consider the implications if they were wrong in their decisions. If he himself were wrong in promoting Spiritualism he was after all only be one man who easily could be ignored, but if the Methodist Church was wrong in suppressing a valid philosophy the entire organisation would have committed a grave error. Since the risk of one man being wrong was less grave than the risk of an entire organisation using its power unjustly he asked the conference to show restraint. Finally he threatened the conference by reminding them that he had many supporters and that "this conference is before the bar of public opinion and if it pronounces a judgement out of harmony with the individual liberty and liberal sentiment of the age… then the conference will not, cannot escape public condemnation". While the public's reaction to the trial is hard to measure, the issue was quite controversial. The Sermon Publishing Company or Toronto published, for the price of 25¢, a pamphlet entitled "The heresy trial of Rev. B. F. Austin MA DD ex-principal of Alma College, giving a sketch of Austin's life, story of