The Arkansaw traveler., 1884-11-08

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 l
 4 GHOST STORY SPOILED. lNew vesk Evening poss.,
 in the Iuly number of the Afs<sessfs C<sasyv an article hy Messra Edmund Gurney and Fsedssick ". H. Mysrs, oa -visabls Appantioas." appeared. in which n expssssBses of Sir Ednuad Horuby, lsse chiei indes ol tAe ssprsms cosrs q China vas related, whicA vas sspso- duced in full in the columns of the Esss. iag Ps1f. h introducing the seosy she wrissx said
 "We vill add but oes further cass-a case O strange that it will need the high authority on which is comes to saaisfv the reader that he has not paced un- awascs into the region cf romance. We received it from Sir Edmund Horuby, late chief judge ef the supreme court of China and Japan, who describes himseli as lawyer by education, family and tradition, wanting in imagination. and no believer in mirAcies.'' As the scene of the incidsnt vas Shanghai. the paper vas read with much interest in that town, and the north China Hevsii makes some important correction on Str Edmunds narrative. We may explain that S,r Ed mund stated that while lying awske ln bed he thought he saw Mir. Lang, editor of the CosrTsy. enter his room and ask him to dictate . precis of his judgment in lawsuit. He ordesed Mr. i.aag to leave the room, and the latter moved to do % saying, This is the Last tune shall ever see you anywhere Sir Ed mund theseupon gave aa outliue ot his judgment. winch Mr, Lang appeared so enter in his notebook. The clock in tho room showed that this occurred at half past one. On going to the court next morning, Sir Edmund vas told that Ms Lang had been iound dead in his room, having died there q, half past one. Hts notebook contained an introduction to the judgment referred ,o, followed by . fe~ lines ot undeciphesable shorthand The other points in the story will oe gleaned from the north China Hvalis criticism:
 Nobody else was in the room when the vision appeared. according to Sir Ed mund's versiou. ex. ep,ing Lady Hosnby, and she Is stated to have been fast asleep But there are just q fcw curious points which ought to be cleared up b the hry, place, the Cos,s<S was an evening paper, and the question naturally presents itself why the editor of paper which was not to be published before , or s o'clock the next evening should des,se the psecis of judgment full text oi which had already been written out for him in the middle of the previous nightf Secondly. there was no such person as Lady Homby in existence al the time in question. Sir Edmund1 second wife died on the 3th Decemb T, Is7,, and S,r Edmund did not marry again ull .he 79,h April. 1875 Just three months after hIs extraordinary v,.ion. What the judge can mean by deliberately making such a statement as this, and adding ,ha. It IS confirmed by Lady Hosnby, Is to us a most profound mystery Thmdly, Sir Ed- mund speaks ot the inquest on the body. and refers to what took place. We'll, there was no inques, held. Fonsthly, the puisne judge, 10 whom Sir Edmund says he conhded the story the same day. vas not in Shanghai at all, put m Japan Fihhiy. no judgment was gwen by S,r Edmund for about ten days after Mir. Lang's death. Sixshly. the same fact which disproves Sir Edmunds statement about his wife being asleep during the vision must be held to disprove hi. state ment that Lady Horuby confirmed the ! story the same day at tifin namely, I that Sir Edmund was al that time wife less And yet Sir Edmund has the un- considerable caimness to say that he is a man of no imagination. SeventhIy, the account of Mir. Lang's death, as given by Sir Edmund Hornby, is inaccurate ID more than one important detail"
 i The critic here quotes the passage in which Sir Edmund gives his version of the circumstances Of Mir. Lang's death, and proceeds:
 Nov, certainly all this makes up . very wonderful story. The intended Im- plication is either that, shile Mir. Lang was in the act of dylnx, hls sp,rii was projected before the perception of the judge, and tha, the 6ngers of his body, then in the Foochoo road, actually took down the judgment from dictzt,on goiag on in house upon the Preach Basd or else that be died in the middle of an un- successful attempt to recall the Judg- ment. and his spirit, unconscious of sss release, thereupoo flew of to Ssr Ed munds bedroom to get an authentic version. But unfortunately for these and similar fancifui theories, the fact is tina, Mir. Lang was not dead when Sir Ed mund believes he say him: he was then alive and yell, and did nos die nll be- tween eight and nine o'clock on the same morning. Mir. Lang had attended tcmpesance commitiee meeting the night before, and had left about ha6-paH ten n good health and excellent spssits. Whs, happened during the next lev hours we do not know but we may fsd psstty sure that he did not pay . noctarnal visit to Sir Edmunds bedroom. He