The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1874-12-30
"BE JUST AND FEAR NOT!
RICHMOND,

sadness, wore such . look of weary
sorrow and deep depression that Mr..
Owen was moved almost to tears, -
in plaintive tones she declared she
would not come out of the cabinet
unless he would promise to protect
her. That promise, it need not be
raid, was chivalrously given, and the
brave champion was rewarded by ever
after being called by the ghost Father
Owen. He made an appeal to the
spectators for support in his task,
which called forth huehed reverence,
he says, such as is not often found
even in church.
But the reader will AJAX how Mr.:
Owen knew that this was a ghost and
not the mortal being it appeared to
be? His answer to this inquiry is a.
satisfactory as could be expected. He
took all the precautions that believ-
ers in ghosts usually take. We have
seen how exactly he measured the
size of the cabinet, and he carried the
same rigor into all his examinations.
Window shutters were barred, doors
were screwed up, and even keyholes
plastered up with sticking plaster, and
a watcher was placed in the hall out
side. Entrance to or exit from the
cabinet by 4 confederate was. he says,
q physical impossjbility; and he con-
cludes, AZ a matter of scientific demon
stration, in common with many other
great men whose names he mentions,
that the ghost was truly a denizen of
another world made visible for time
by process Of naturalization.
Unknown. however, to. Mr.. Owen,
another observer was also conducting
his researches into the mystery. In
sensible to the beauty and grace Of
the lovely girl, whose moist hand Mr..
Owen took into his, and around whose
waist he had extended his arm, TAX
| ing her left arm, bare to the elbow, in
his right hand, he was only struck by
the fact that she had bad breath.
Here was an important fact which
led to important conclusions: The
unknown does not say whether the
unpleasantness which he noticed was
that of onions, or of tobacco, or OF gin,
or of anything else in particular; he
simply says that it existed, and it evi.
dently suggested to him an idea which
had escaped Mr.. Owen, that the ghost
ate and drank like other people. BY
dint of watching and waiting, he
proved his surmise to be correct. He
tracked the ghost TO an ordinary mat
ter -of-fact boarding house, compelled
her to confess her identity with the
object of Mr.. Ovens reverent adora-
tion, and to produce the various CO.'S
tunes she had displayed to his daz-
zled eyes. Moreover, she was COM
plaisant enough to repeat. in an apart
ment provided by this anonymous ex-
perimenter, all the phenomena which
Mr.. Owen had witnessed, thus both
corroborating his strictly scientific
conclusion that the ghost was a deni-
zen of another world made visible by
a process of naturalization, and show
ing besides that she had been render
ed q permanent wearer OF a physical
frame.
We are sorry to add that Mr.. Owen
did not welcome the cooperation Of
this volunteer explorer into spiritual
mysteries as he ought to have done.
He thought that these additional in
quiries resulted in proving too much,
and rashly made up his own mind
that he had been humbugged. and
that the lovely ghost is not ghost al
all, but only a clever accomplice of a
deceiving medium. Unfortunately
he had written out the account of his
) experiences to which we have refer
red, for the Atlantic Monthly, and il
was already published beyond recall
! SO that nothing was left him but te
! write and print in the newspapers &
card Withdrawing the assurances he
had given Of confidence in the gen
uineness Of the phenomena. The me
dunn left Philadelphia, walnut cab
met, magic lantern, and all, and thus
what promised to be a new era il
: ghost-seeing is arrested at the yer!
l beginning. The worst of it is, tina
;, scofiers at the spirit manifestation
!. of the day will be ungenerous enough
: : to say that since Mr.. Owen gives vi
|. this as q fraud. after parading tn
measures he took to prevent decep
J tion, and solemnly asseverating tn
: physical impossibility of there beinI
any trick in the matter. they have
I right to conclude that other marvell
equally we'll attested and equally vel
!, hedged round with precautions agains
y trickery, will have to be given up like
wise.