New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1886-11-17
Gift Of Second Sight.

Gift Of Second Sight.
There are well-authenticated case.
in which entirely unexpected things,
seen to happen while the person see
ing them were asleep or in a trance
like state and Immediately described
to other people, occurred quickly after
ward, either just as had been foreseen
or with little difference, says writer
in Lippincott's Magazine.
In atleast one case this has happened
twice to the same person. Ayoung
lady living in one of the counties OF
Maryland has had such an experience
on two occasions. She is not at all
imaginative, and describes her two
presentiments in stralgtfor-
ward matter-offact way, making
no attempt to account for
them, but accepting them as a part of
the unknowable. One morning she
when the latter, who was talking to
her, was surprised to see her eyes be-
come fixed and vacant. In few mo-
ments her natural expression return
ed, and she told her mother she had
seen one Of her cousins, who was in
the house at that time, come into
the room below them with a knife in
her hand, and that she stumbled and
fell and the knife cut her face. II saw
it as plainly as I see you now" she
said. Neither thought any more about
the matter until they heard some one
fall in the room below, and, on going
down, they found that the vision had
been exactly fulfilled, except that the
knife had not actually made awound.
Several years afterward, while the
same young lady was on railroad
train with a party of friends, she fell
into a similar trance condition, last
| ing about as long as the former one,
| and on it's leaving her she told her
companions she was afraid there was
going to be an accident, for she had
seen the mangled corpse of the con-
ductor lying at the foot of a peculiar
embankment at the side Of the road
| She described this embankment
| infinitely, though she did not remem-
Der having seen it on any former
| journey. About half an hour after
the train stopped, and it was soon
known that some one had been 1un
over. 1t was not the conductor, but
a deaf man, who had been stepping
over the track, when the engine came
round curve and struck him, killing
1 him instantly. The train went on
slowly, and, as the car containing the
excursion party passed the scene of
the accident, they saw that it agreed
exactly with the description they had
heard.
In such cases as this it is hard to
know where speculation about their
nature should begin and in what di7
rection it should extend. The varl7
Gus forms of an extraordinary con-
sciousness concerning what is going on
at the time naturally suggest plausi-
BILE theories; and as to that vivid rec
election Of ones whole past life which
sometimes comes with the near ap-
proach of death, the explanation Of
fered by DeQuincey is at least worthy
OF serious consideration. 1t is con-
ceivable that something in the mind
OF one person might influence the sub
sequent actions Of another; but it
could hardly produce in a few minutes
or hours a combination of circum-
stances not directly dependent on
mere human impulse. The most
natural view OF the matter is that
Second sight" is really special pow.
er-possessed by certain minds, or by
all minds in certain conditions-o!
foreseeing occurrences which are fore
ordained, or part OF systematic
order. This view is one which neces.
sarians and other so-called "fatalists'
should not have any difficulty in &C.
cepting.