A trio of alleged mediums stopped at Byron and engaged the opera house. On information which they claimed came from spirits, they made statements concerning certain citizens which may make business for the divorce mill. Almost immediately afterward the air was filled with flying eggs, stones and clubs. The opera house was badly disfigured and its manager, Martin D. Comstock, procured a warrant for the arrest of Dr. F.S. Ruggles, president of the village, and six others, charging them with malicious destruction of property. They all pleaded not guilty and gave bail.
Were the townspeople of Byron upset because the unnamed mediums were “channeling spirits” (as we would now say) and were therefore worthy of contempt, or was it merely that they were repeating the local gossip to the consternation of the pillars of Byronic society? And why did people come to the opera house armed with “eggs, stones and clubs”? There’s more story here, and it sounds like it would be one of those goofy musical-comedy-westerns.