The Davenport Brothers riot in Liverpool

At a show in the small concert room of St George's Hall, Liverpool, in February 1865, the audience tied the Davenport Brothers into their cabinet. A riot followed and the cabinet was smashed.

Wikipedia dates the incident to a séance in Liverpool on 15 February 1865. It says the audience chose men to tie up the Davenport Brothers, who tied them into their cabinet with a Tom fool's knot that was hard to remove. The brothers stayed stuck in the knot, and Ira said the rope was too tight. Ira pleaded with J. B. Ferguson, the stage manager, to cut the knot, and received a wound to the hand in the process. The crowd turned angry, and a riot broke out in which the cabinet was smashed.

A press report of 1865, transcribed on a website run by a descendant of a man named in it, covered the evening at St George's Hall. It said the patrons were treated to manifestations far more physical than spiritual, and that a thousand people left the hall convinced the whole thing was a cheat, a delusion.

The Davenports gave their own side in an appeal to the British public, reprinted in Houdini's 1924 book. They wrote that the hostility was blamed on their refusal to be tied with one particular knot, and that their only offence was objecting to being tortured at risk of lasting injury. They also referred to riots at Huddersfield and Leeds.