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he then moved the very heavy table away from before the
24 'Twixt Two Worlds.
sofa, and drew a heavy arm-chair up in front of me. He sat down in it, so near that he almost
touched me. Every movement was in his own old manner. He has been in the spirit world six
years. He took my hand, but I felt sure he could not speak. He was the dear friend of our
daughter, who passed away nearly twelve years since, when he was in this country with the
Davenport Brothers and Mr. Fay.
"I said, 'Dr. Ferguson, is Willie here?' (our daughter's name was Wilhelmina, but we always
called her Willie). He rose, and went towards the cabinet, rapped three times, and disappeared.
Our daughter came forward from the place where he disappeared, a slight girl clothed in white,
her golden hair flowing over her shoulders. She crossed the room, came close to me, and knelt
before me; she took my hand, and audibly kissed it. She remained a little time kneeling, then rose,
and went towards the cabinet and disappeared.
"Joey,' now came, and took a musical box and wound it up; he made it go, and stop, at the
word of command. He talked volubly; he put the musical box in my lap, and kissed the top of
my head; he passed from one to another, with cheerful words for all. After a time the power
became less, from the swinging open of the curtains of the improvised cabinet. 'Joey' said, 'I want
a pin.' He looked about the room, and found a box of pills on the mantel-shelf; he took one,
remarking that he might not have power to pin the shawls together; he, however, succeeded, still
holding the box of pins in his hand. 'I must put this back again,' he said; 'a place for everything,
and everything in its place. I like to see things tidy.' He crossed the room, and laid the pin-box on
the mantel-shelf. He then disappeared, and the sonorous voice of 'Ernest' was heard saying, 'Mrs.
Nichols, you said you would like to see a form and our medium at the same time.' 'I did say so,' I
replied, 'but I have seen enough not to need such a test.' 'But we wish to give it,' said 'Ernest.'
After a brief interval the medium came from behind the curtains, and stood before us, with a
slight girl form beside him, that we were told was the young Indian girl 'Daisy.' This was the last
manifestation of the evening."
The next two letters are by Dr. Nichols:
"As the health of Willie Eglinton improves, the 'power' for manifestations seems to increase.
But, until his health is firmly established, his 'guides' firmly refuse to enlarge the circle, and rarely
admit any one outside our family, even of the inmates of Aldwyn Tower, without due probation
and preparation. 'Joey' is peremptory. He watches over the diet, regimen, treatment, morals, and
manners of those under his charge with fidelity and discretion.
"All our seances are under test conditions. They are held in a small upper room in my own
house, with its one door locked, and its one window, thirty feet from the ground, fastened. The
number of persons present never exceeds six, all of whom I know intimately. I know pretty
accurately what can be done by sleight of hand, ventriloquism, 'palmistry or otherwise.'
"It is clear that darkness is not dark to 'Joey.' To prove this, he proposed that I should draw
something on paper for him to cut out. I drew on a small piece of paper an obelisk on its
pedestal, and wrote on it, 'Sacred to the Memory of "Joey,"' and placed it, with a pair of
scissors, on the mantelpiece. While all hands were joined, we heard him by the fire-place cutting
with the scissors. He said, 'There, I have partly cut out my monument; I will finish it some other
time.' In the perfect darkness he had followed the outline about
Remarkable Seances at Malvern. 25
two-thirds of the way. It was left on the mantelpiece. Last night he said, 'Now, doctor, I will
finish my monument.' 'But there are no scissors in the room,' said some one. 'Never mind,' said
'Joey.' 'I will find a pair.' After a few moments I heard the clicking: of scissors; then he came, and
after pressing my hand two or three times with his fingers, he put the little paper, and a large pair
of scissors, into my hand. When we got a light I found the whole outline neatly cut out; the
pieces of paper cut off were lying on the carpet four feet in front of, my chair, and the scissors
were a pair kept in a box in a bedroom on the same floor. I cannot absolutely affirm that the
scissors were not in the room; but there is no doubt: for I had seen that the cutting out of the
monument was done in perfect darkness, for I had seen it on the mantelpiece partly done, just
before the light was extinguished. It is certain also that, the paper and scissors had been placed in
my hand.
"The story of the ring is more satisfactory in one way than that of the monument. Mrs.
Nichols has among her keepsakes a large gold ring in which is set a red cross, about half an inch
long, This ring was placed in a little close-fitting drawer in her secretaire, which drawer I carefully
fastened with gummed paper, on which Mrs. Nichols had written her name for identification.
Could 'Joey' take the ring from the drawer and bring it to us in the little locked room upstairs?
We asked him at two seances, but he was evasive, saying only that he would attend to it. About
this time Willie Eglinton made a flying visit to his father, near London, and took the opportunity
to call upon Mr. Fletcher, at, 14, Southampton Row. Naturally a seance was proposed, and Mr.
and Mrs. Fletcher, their son, and Eglinton, sat round a table holding hands in the dark. The voice
of 'Joey' said, 'I can, only stay a moment, but I want to give you a manifestation,' and Mrs.
Nichols' ring was dropped on the table, and Willie Eglinton put it in his pocket and brought it
back to Malvern. There we carefully examined the fastening of the little drawer in which the ring
had been placed. It was intact, firm, and had not been tampered with. I tore it off, and opened the
drawer. No ring was there. The ring, which probably could not be matched in England, was on
the owner's finger, but in the drawer was a wooden card-box holding a pack of cards, for which
we had hunted over the house. Had the drawer been locked one might suspect some trick.
Fastened as it was I have no doubt.
"And I have no doubt of the perfect genuineness of a manifestation we had a few days ago,
involving the same kind of power over matter. Five persons, including the medium, were sitting
in the dark, holding each other's hands. While the hands were so held 'Joey' was heard talking,
playing the mouth-organ (which requires a hand), opening and winding-up the music-box, and
making it stop and go on at command. Then he said imperatively to the lady holding the right
hand of the medium, 'Hold his hand firmly now; all hold tight; don't let go for a moment. I will
try to give you a manifestation.' In a moment more he said 'Now, Dr. Nichols, give us a light.
All the rest keep hold of hands.'
"I lighted the gas. Mrs. Wilkes was firmly holding the right hand of the medium with her left;
both were standing, and the cane-bottomed chair of the medium was hanging on Mrs. Wilkes's
left arm, halfway between her wrist and elbow, hanging by the usual opening in the back of such
chairs, like a needle on its thread.
It may be difficult to believe such a fact upon any testimony, but, after what I have seen
26 'Twixt Two Worlds.
for twenty years, and with my knowledge of the witness, I cannot doubt her perfect good faith. I
shall, however, try and get this manifestation under absolute test conditions.
"The difficulties of mediumship have some illustration even in our small circles here. I believe [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] - zanotowane.pl
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