Telegram-herald., 1890-04-13
4 SPIRIT SPIDER WEB
4 Toy Frog Enficed Into It's Meshes
By Bronze Spider.
DIR. KNOWLES DISCOVERS SOMETHING
sPiritaalistte aaaifsstatiOR Proven Be
sosd . Dogbt- ii andreds Of People
View The Wonderful Curiosity
An ExPlARatt0E.

Or. w. o. Knowles, the magnetic
doctor and sp.T.tuaiist. has run across
startling freak OF spirltaallsue mani
feststiOn, which he thinks should not
fal 10 convince the most soeptcal that
the invisible portions OF departed
friends occasionally become homesiek
and descend 10 mother earth ID COM
mune with their old boon companions.
The story that the doctor tells Is as
follows; In the year 1888 his former
wife died, but before she passed away,
she and her husband, who were both
spiritualists. agreed that the one that
died first, should make herself or him.
self manifest IN spirit form after death
as often as possible TO the survivor.
This the deceased wife has done, and
the doctor says that 1t is no longer
necessary for him 10 hold seanees at ms
house N order 10 behold manifesto
tions, for the reason that the folks
from above are liable TO show up at
any time. without being bidden. Since
the death OF ms first wife, DR.. Knowles
has again married. He has considered
his present wife very sceptlcal, but she
and MS former wife were great friends,
and the spirit of the latter has APP
peared TO the former so often, that she
has begun 10 believe that il IS really
possible for the soul TO SAIL around
without the aid of material body.
Some weeks ago the doctor and his
wife were overhauling some old trink-
cts and IN doing so, discovered little
bronze pin IN the form of spider,
which had belonged To Mrs. Knowles
No. l. The present Mrs. Knowles took
the spider and pinned it upon the man
tel drape, saying as she did so, to the
spirit of the defunct Mrs. Knowles,
which was supposed to be in the room,
''There Is your spider; do what you like
with it," And II now transplres that
Mrs. Knowles, deceased, took advant-
age of this kind offer.
About a month ago, on Saturday,
the Knowles family left the house and
did not come back until 2 O'Clock sun
day afternoon. The doctor claims that
during this time no mortalS could have
been IN the house, for the doors and
windows were securely fastened, and
when the family returned, no evidences
were seen to indicate that any lntrud-
ers had gained an entrance. They were
not aware, of course, that anything un-
usual was in store for them, and no one
entered the parlor for several days.
One day, however, the atmosphere in
the sltting-rOom became go uncOmfort-
ably warm, that Mrs. Knowles threw
open the parlor doors.
She had scarcely opened the door,
when she beheld sight that caused her
eyes to stand out like crockerv door
knobs. On the farther side of the room
hung large portrait of the deceased
Mrs. Knowles, and across the picture,
from one edge of the frame to the op-
posite edge, extended what was appar-
emily an immense three-cornered cob
web, with the above mentioned bronze
spider sticking in the middle. The first
supposition was that some one had been
breathing the breath of life in the
| spider, and that it had Immediately set
TO work with that industry which
Robert Bruce was so struck on. Mrs.
Knowles swooned, so the doctor says,
and II was some time before she could
be brought to her senses.
On closer examination of the web, IL
was discovered that II wss made Of linen
thread, so ingenlousiy woven thas the
whole thing bore a remarkable resemb-
lance TO good legitimate spider web,
save that the texture was rather coarse,
| for any ordinary use that spider
would be likely to make of 1t. The
reason for the web beng made so strong,
was soon explained, however, when It
was observed that the spider had one
| foot planted on a toy frog, which
had evidently been lured into the trap
| by the cunning insect. This is acknOw-
ledged by authorities to be the first
instance in history, IN which a
| spider has succeeded IN trapping
such large game a. q bull frog
The frog must have taken an enormous
| leap 10 get into the web or else some
designing spirit placed ladder or bal
loon in front of the picture for froggy' 5
convenience.
Or. Knowles has cast food of light
on the mystery though, and practically
cleared It up. He says that when Mrs.
Knowles placed the spider upon the
mantle drape and told the spirit of her
/ predecessor to do what she wanted 70
with t, that the spirit IN question heard
what she said and wOve the web with
is own hands and placed the spider
and froggy therein. Upon hearing this
remarkable statement. the writer could
not help but surmise that the msnifes-
tatiOn represented hidden and unusu-
| ally important message from the
/ pearly gates. Or. Knowles was thereupon
asked what the manifestation had 10 do
with McGinty. lie replied that the Ub-
| ject was % prove the truth of spiritual
I lsm and the actual occurrence of mani
/ festauons. Il would not allow that
I web 70 be taken down for 500, SAID
/ ne The writer was exceedingly ANXIOUS
Z 10 have the web taken down, but as all
I his lands and chattels wsre already
/ mortgaged for twice theiy value. he
could not borrow tne stuff DR.. Knowles
I says the wonder has been viewed by
hundreds OF people, all Of whom sre
mined lately struck with ave. on seeing
Z u. He says the reason Why he has been
80 loath % give the matter 10 Che news
+ papers before. = that bis family could
not ho bothered by the swarms o. peo-
+ pie who would surely be- around trying
I g. get peep az the sp.der's sI6rn veb.
wrft - C~rttarnrf