The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1875-01-07
Mr.. OWENS Ghost.

| King, had appeared to sundry spiritists In
! England, was also to be seen, for pecu-
mary consideration, of course, at certain
place in Philadelphia. Thither, in COM
/ pany with a fellow ghost-hunter-one Dr.
/ Chiid-did Owen resort. His subsequent
wonderful experience he narrates at length
/ in the AtlGnttc Monthly, and his story Is
! supplemented by the subsequent lnVestl-
cations of an anonymous experimental
whose results have been published IN tne
Philadelphia newspapers.
The scene of the apparlti0n was parlor
on the second story of small house IN
| Ninth Street, near Arch, over musical
instrument shop. In a back corner OF the
| parlor was walnut cabinet, seven 1eet
| wide and eight feet high-Mr. Owens
precision in the matter of these dimen-
| sions proving the scientific eXactness OF
| his mind-with door that opened into the
| parlor, and two apertures, five and SIX
| feet high respectively, both curtained with
black cloth. Light, dim, but sufficient,
! Mr.. Owen saws, 10 enable him TO recoS-
nize faces and see every thing that went
| on, was furnished by shaded lamp. Al
| ter he and Child had examined the appa-
ratus, the medium entered the caolnet,
| shut himself in, and the exhibition began.
| 1t was repeated, with variations, evening
after evening, for the benefit OF MIR. owen
and his friends, and a selection, only, OF
| the marvels that occurred, fills several
pages of the atlantic.
The leading feature at every one OF the
exhibitions described by MIR. Owen was,
as we have said, solid flesh and blood
| ghost Not only was its face seen at the
windows, but it stepped down and out OF
| the door of the cabinet into the room ana
| allowed itself to be examined by the won
| dering spectators. In appearance IL was
sometimes a young woman OF eighteen
years of age, with features Greclan III thelr
! regularity, grayish blue eyes, ana golden
haIr, and wearing white robes; sometimes
| a Young Indian girl, clad in rich dark
| Jacket. black leggings and embroidered
moccasins sometimes man OF mlddle
age with beard and mustache, and some
times a lad dressed sailor-DOy fashion.
Mr.. Owen took hold of the ghosts hand
and found it, like that of a mortal woman,
nearly OF the same temperature as his own,
and slightly moist. He also, to use his
own words, passed his left arm gently
round her and sustained her left arm
bare from the elbow, i'll his right hand.
TO the touch her garments and her person
were exactly like those of an earthly crea-
ture. She even cut off and gave him bits
of her dress, which, with lock OF her hair
he still possesses, and which, he says,
after a lapse of four months, have not
melted away. She also went through the
process Offading out and reappearing, like
a diSsolVing view OF magic lantern,
dwarfing and charging her apparent size
all the way between eighteen inches and
her full height. She spoke, took sundry
gifts of jewelry into her hands, and Kept
| them, and in other ways behaved exactly
like an ordinary woman. On one occa-
sion a rash spectator offered to kiss her,
but when she next appeared her pale, and
beautiful face, usually tinged with sadness,
wore such a look of weary sorrow and
deep depression that Mr.. owen was
moved almost to tears, as 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
| said, was chivalrously gwen, and the brave
champion was rewarded by ever aftei
being called by the ghost Father Owen
He made an appeal TO the spectators fol
support in his task, which called forth 4
hushed reverence, he says, such as Is moi
often found even in church.
But the reader will ask how Mr.. Owen
knew that this was a ghost and not the
mortal being it appeared to be? His All
swer to this inquiry is as satisfactory as
could be eXrected. He took all the pre-
cautions that believers in ghosts usually
take. We have seen how exactly ht
measured the size of the cabinet, and hC
carried the same rigor into all his eXami
nations. Window shutters were barred
doors were screwed up, and even keyhOle'
plastercd up with sticking plaster, and ;
watcher was placed in the hall outside
Entrance to or exit from the cabinet by
confederate, was, he says, a physical i'm
possibility; and he concludes, as matte
of scientific demonstration, in common
with many other great men whose names
he mentions, that the ghost was truly
denizen OF another world made visi
bic for time by process of materialiZa
ton.
Unknown, however, to Mr.. Owen, an
other observer was also conducting his re
searches into the mystery. Insensible t
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. taking her left arm, bare to the el
bow, in his right hand, he was only strucl
by the fact that she had bad breath
Here was an important fact which LED [,
important conclusions. The unknown
does not say whether the unpleasantnes
, which he noticed was that Of onions, or O
; tobacco, or of gin, or of any thing else II
particular; he simply says that it existed
a and it evidently suggested to him an ide
. which had escaped Mr.. Owen, that tn
q ghost ate and drank like other people
f BY dint of watching and waiting, h
! proved his surmise to be correct. Ill
Q tracked the ghost to an ordinary matter
! of-fact clearinghouse, compelled her {
1 confess her identity with the object G
! Mr.. Owens reverent alteration, and {
: produce the various costumes she had dis
2 played to his dazzling eyes. Moreover
. She was complaisant enough to repeat, i
a an apartment provided by this anonymou
r eXperimenter, all the phenomena whic
; MIR. Owen had witnessed, thus both col
f rOborating his strictly SCIENTIFIC conclu
: sion that the ghost was denlZen OF an
q other world made visible by process
naturalization, and showing besides thu
o she had been rendered a permanent weare
e of physical frame.
n We are sorry to add that Mr.. Owen di
/ not welcome the cooperation of this vo
/, unteer explorer into spiritual mysteries &
n he ought to have done. He thought tn;
Y these additional inquiries resulted in pro-
h ing too much, and rashly made up b
= own mind that he had been humbugget
and that the lovely ghost is not ghost
all, but only clever accomplice OF d.
ceiving medium. Unfortunately, he ha
written out the account of his experience
to which we have referred for the AtLdnt
d Monthly, and it was already published b
a yond recall, so that nothing was left hi
A. but to write and print in the newspaper
p a card withdrawing the assurances he ha
y given of confidence in the genuineness
5, the phenomena. The medium left Phil
:, delphia. walnut cabinet, magic lanterl
n and all, and thus what promised to be
20 new era in ghOst-seeing is arrested at Il
IS very beginning. The worst of it is, tn
y scoffers at the spirit manifestations OF Il
y day will be ungenerous enough TO say tn
r since Mr.. Owen gives up this as frau
le after parading the measures he took
oe prevent deception, and solemnly asseve
n ating the physical impossibility of the
1f being any trick in the matter, they have
l. right to conclude that other marvel
IS equally well attested and equally we
q, hedged round with precautions again
u, trickery, will have to be given up hk
at wise.-Net1 York Sun.
rs MISS EMILY FAITHFUL declares the pa
r adise of unmarried women to be New re
=