Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-07-05

Utterances of the Washington Scientist
and the Alexandria Occultist.

To the Editor Of THE EvEsrss STAR:
Several times in reading the sayings of the
Washington scientist, DR.. Coues, / have been
amazed at their identity with the ut.erances of
John Trust, the Alexandria occultist. whose
confessions I had occasion to translate and
publish some twenty years ago. The Alexan-
dria magician saw then, as DR.. Coues does now,
the spiritual double which makes part OF every
human being. DR.. Coues in The STAR of last
Saturday, in explanation of his phrase "a phan-
tasm OF the living" says: This may take
number of shapes. In some cases it assumes
the appearance of a face or of hand, in others
OF On entire body"
John Trust in his confession, thus describes
how he saw the phantasm of his living sister at
their first meeting: Merely of feature there
was nothing, though raven tresses curtained
glorious brow and a complexion, tinted at the
south, grew intos radiance beneath ewes that
were black as night and glowing as its stars,
but upon ALL and above all. there grew a
spirituality, as If a shadowy face were blended
with the real one. and the mere material
beauty melted III the deeper loneliness that
overshadowed 1T. Words vain to describe
that deeper beauty-the canvass and the chisel
can only tell how little of earth there was In
her to copy"
DR.. Coues depicts also this phantasm of the
living when 1t Is departing from its friend and
"A real phantom of the living, to be not
mere hallucination, should present an appear
ance nearly, II not exactly, like that OF the nat
ural physical individual. have several times
In my life beheld such phantom, which only
differs, so far as l can see from the reality in
that it does not consist of such material mar
Ncles as those composing our physical bodies.
Nevertheless, not only the attitudes but the
movements, actions and gestures of these
hsares are the same as would be those OF a
las a matter of fact they ordinarily result
from states of great mental perturbation with
the cause or which perturbation the individual
TO whom the phantom appears is in some way
connected as, for example, intense solicitude
Tor friend or relative supposed TO be in great
danger The most startling cases are those
winch occur at or about. a little before or a
little after, the death of the phytical body of
HIM or her who thus pro jects the phantasm A
majority OF the best authenticated cases have
occurred IN connection with and at about the
time Of the death of the individual"
1t was John Trusts fortune to see with NOR
tai eyes the phantasm which DR.. Coues de-
scrlDes. he thus narrates what his eyes be-
held at his sisters death. He was on the po-
tomac In boat escaping from the conse-
quences OF murder which he had committed
on July 5.1821, near what is now Fort Rupysn
and when passing off Alexandria he saw in the
old town, he says, "as 1t were. the image of an
idea as representation, external to the BODY
OF thought wish, hope, fear" lust as
Dr. Coues now indicates to be possible. This
Is an extract from Trusts confession of what he
then saw:
"As l gazei memories kindled in my heart.
the town seemed as glass before me. Old
memories and young hopes trooped along it's
streets clad in the garments that mortal art
clothes angels in. Regrets were among them,
standing sun, with faces pale, yet glorious.
wistfully looking back-and sorrows clad in
somber shadows so gIlded by the bright moon
that, at hrst glance, my eye passed them by
unnotlced. The stones of the street WAYS like
gems, and every wall was of crystals trans
parent to my vision as the circling air There
lay sleep on young faces, and from their tiny
dreams halo went up toward the skies while
from coarser thoughts dark shades fell earth
ward, nor were hindered by the earth, but
penetrated still-downward
Amid 1T all one scene fixed my gaze upon it
and tonight if l close nv lids-this convent
cell passes only to be replaced by the same
image which will shine in my eyes forever. /
saw my sister; she was at repose upon a couch,
clothed in white, just as / had left her. The
dlmmed lamp cast no shadow, for an amazing
glory hlled the room i'll which she lay. All
her attendants had retired but she was not
alone, for as looked saw angels, one on each
hand. For awhile she seemed in pain but
soon sweet expression fxed itself upon her
lace, and, at the same moment, wierd light
rose from her forehead, taking quickly the
i"'h " uoAic VI sITdIlSt DedILy; as i Sill
gazed her breathing grew iaborious. and the
dome rising drew out into the exact image of
her head, made as it were of pure
light, and glowing in TRANSPORTED beauty
with an immortal loneliness. 1t startled
me to see carewOrn, weary face
below and its bright counterpart smiling
above; but, while l thought she Iabored for
breath, with yet greater energy the while up
rose the head upon a well-defined neck and
shoulders, as if rising from the dying body be-
low, until the whole form stood at full length,
with arms uplifted, and its tapering feet rest
ing at their extreme verge upon the lips Of the
girl, now struggling in deaths agony. Can
that be her pure soul issuing from Its mortal
tenemenH" My thought scarcely framed the
question when there was a convuisive sob-the
bright soul figure darted upward attended by
its two companions-like flash of iight-tLe
mortal hands fell motionless, the mortal ewes
were glazed for evermore."
1t will ever be subject of regret if an oc-
cultist like DIR. Coues shall not find means by a
train of thought to put himself in commune
cation with John Trust, whose death on q
lonely island in The Potomac is recorded in the
The STAR of January %, 1856.
ALEXANDRIA, Va, July 3, 1890. VIC.