The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1882-06-08
second Sight.

There are enough instances of the
verification of second sight" to
prove that the ordinary laws of
knowledge and sympathy do not
cover everything in heaven and
earth, and the experience of Mrs.
Melville, wife of the engineer of the
lost arctic steamer Jeanette, must
probable be added to the list. She
had been very anxious about the
vessel, and on waking from an
uneasy sleep ON the morning of the
18th of June, saw her husband by
her bedside. Lie was saying, Count
the bells!" Count the bellsl" and as
he spoke she distinctly heard the bell
of a ship striking TWO by two the
strokes of the hour. "Count them,"
he continued. She did so, and at the
eighth stroke he said: Eight bells !;
the Jeanette is lost - and vanished
from the room. At that moment
she heard the clock in an adjoining
room strike four. This was the day
and hour OH which the Jeanette
went down. A few weeks later, at
the same hour in the morning, she
had gone into the hall of her house.
She saw her husband. and even felt
| his breath in her face. She was
dreadtully startled, but called out /:
George, is that youW when the
| figure vanished. Mrs. Melville as
sured the reporter of the Philadel-
phia Record that she was no spirit
ualist, aud averred that she had fire.
| quently mentioned the circum-
1 nfl 10
Mrs. De Long, wife of the
lost commander of the expedition.
She told her months ago that she be-
lieved the vessel went down on the
18th of June, and so it did. 1t is an
interesting circumstance that Engi-
neer Melville is not dead, so that his
apparition was not ghost according
to the strict meaning of the word.
1t will be said that Mrs. Melville
dreamed that she saw her husband,
and that for Once>a dream came
true; so that there was nothing
more than coincidence in the case.
Yet the circumstantial fulfillment OF
the dream or vision seems to require
something more than accident. Mrs
Melville was shown first that a ves-
sci had been lost; second, that it was
lost at a given time. 1t is not neces-
sary to affirm that there was anything
miraculous in this, but the incidents
are not explainable by any of the
ordinary laws of sympathy. Scores
of like instances can be adduced
yet, after all, great many more
husbands have been wrecked who
have not appeared to their wives
than those who have.
A still more remarkable example
of second sight, unprecedented, we
believe, in being a double dream, oc.
Cured early in the present century
in family noted in the mercantile
circles of Boston and London
The son had sailed for the East In
dies and China. One night hi:
father and mother both dreamed
: that they saw his vessel assailed By
dark-skinned savages and a terrible
fight going on. On awakening they
compared notes, and were greatly
surprised that both should hav,
|, dreamed the same thing. Neither
was inclined to superstition, bu
they made an entry of the date anC
leading incidents of the doubl,
dream. News travelled slowly from
the Pacific in those days, and it wa
, not until months later that they re
ceived a letter from their son, il
which he told how his ship had beer
attacked by Ladrone pirates, wht
. were driven off after desperate