Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1886-05-28
A LONG TRANCE.
The Excitement Caused by the opposed Demise
ola Kentucky Spiritualist.


Portland, KY, is agog over the exploits
of Mrs. Margaret Trautner, an aged Ger
man lady, who is supposed to be infu
enced by the spirits of her dead relations
to go into all varieties of frances, and to
see all manner of queer things.
Mrs Trautner is 60 years old, and is a
welltO do widow of nine years standing,
says The Louisville Courier j oUrnal She
is well known in Portland, and has been
regarded as something more than an or
ordinary woman for number of years.
She bears the reputation of being some
thing of a spiritualist, and is well acquant-
ed with nearly all the believers in spirit
ualism i'll the city.
On last Thursday she locked the doors
to the part of the house in which she
lived and went into one of her frances in
which she was accustomed to indulge.
Her frances usually lasted twenty-four
hours, during which time she would re-
main quietly in her bedroom without food
or drink. No attention was paid to her
ordinarily, except that the neighbors
would be informed that Mrs. Trautner
was entertaining spirits and ghosts in
her bedchamber. The last freak, how
ever, took on a new appearance.
All udl Ihul0Oty NILS IduliltI lC-
mained in her room, and no sound was
heard from it. Friday morning she still
failed to make her appearance. Mrs.
Strassel her Tenant became uneasy dur
ing the day and raped on Mrs Trautner's
door, but without attracting the attention
of the occupant. Friday night the mem
bers of the Strassel family became con
WINGED that something was wrong. They
made observations from the outside and
found that a light was burning in the
room. The window shutters were closed
and nothing but the light could be seen.
Another effort was made to rouse the old
lady but it proved fruitless. The Stassels
discovered a horrible stencil which eman-
ated from the bedroom and it alarmed
them. Friday night passed, and Saturday
morning the conviction that the old lady
was dead forced itself upon Mrs. Stassel.
After careful deliberation it was deter
mined to call the police and have the door
broken down and the corpse removed.
With this idea in view Mrs. Strassel went
to the Seventeenth street police station
and reported the state of affairs. po-
iceman and the deputy clerk went to the
house on Eighteenth street. They en-
deavored to wake Mrs. Trautner, but fail
ed The light was still burning III the
room, and, after reflection. the officers
because impressed with the idea that the
woman was dead, as Mrs. Strassel stated.
The fastenings were removed and the
door was opened. A thick curtain hung
over the doorway and an odor from the
room nearly overpowered the policemen.
A large crowd surrounded the house
waiting to hear the result of the investi-
CATION. A number accompanied the
! ~ Al. :
ualist She was reclining on couch and
remained motionless. An oil lamp with
| out chimney gave dim light and OBJ
scured the room with smoke. The win
dow shutters were first thrown open to
| give access to fresh air. The supposed
| corpse astonished the spectators by throw
| ing one hand over her face so as to shut
| out the light, and with the other hand she
warned the intruders back. All fell back
! except the officers. who then called on
| Mrs. Trautner to explain what troubled
| her. She vouchsafed no reply except to
| say III German, My God! why have you
| offended the spirits" She continued to
repeat this until lifted from the bed.
| She then became angry and refused to
| speak. As nothing else could be done she
was left to herself, and the curious crowd
was expelled from the house by the police
men. who themselves left in few min
utes.
| Mrs. Treutner remained sitting on the
edge of her bed until the last was gone,
and then quickly relighted her lamp which
had been extinguished in the mean time.
She then closed her windows again and
| started a fresh trance which lasted until 4
o'clock Sunday afternoon. During the
time she was in the room she partook of
neither food nor water. She arose Sun
day afternoon, and, after carefully pre-
pairing her toilet, went into Mrs. Strassels
sitting room. She spoke freely of her
affairs, and said that the reason she closed
| her doors was because she did not wish to
be disturbed when commuing with the
spirit of her dead husband She said she
was surrounded during her trance by the
spirits of departed friends and relatives,
and that they remained night and day,
but would leave her if she admitted light
in the room.