Sacramento daily record-union., 1890-03-15
TEE ENPEROR'S DEATH.


the influence of one mind is very seriousl
felt by other to class them all as coinei
dents, as the disbelievers fain would dc
How often have you felt, we viii say, tina
some old friend is in your neighborhood
and have him call on you before tn
thought had left your mind ? Or, hoV
often have you stepped into an office wher'
you have not been for months before, to b.
greeted with the salutation, 'Glad to Sc,
you, old man Strange but l was jus
thinking of you" Have you never had
your thoughts mysteriously directed to
ward certain person, and within few
minutes. or at the outside a few hours
received some communication from him
Have you never had a premonition thai
some evil thing was about to occur-a pre-
monition not founded upon any reason OF
formed after any personal observations
and find it verified in all its unhappy
aspects If none of these things have
occurred to you, you may fairly claiIA tC
be unique, and if you have been foolish
enough to regard them wholly as eoincl.
dents you have willfully placed yourself
on the side Of ignorance and error. The
Society of Psychical Research in England,
which has branches all over the world, has
been for years engaged in investigating
these psychical phenomena, with the in
tention of classifying its returns, and from
them building a science This, | am
afraid, viii never succeed. Psychical force
is SO wary in its working and so delicate
in its communications that it never can be
written down in textbooks like the New
touian theory of the Rule of Three No
two persons are affected alike by this force
In some 1t awakens q quick and sensitive
response. In others 1t may cause sensa-
ton that the recipient pleasantly attributes
TO Indigestion, and then dismisses from his
mind. Yet in spite Of the difficulty in
harnessing the force, know it can be done.
/ know it has been done. | was for years
the most intimate friend of the man who
dld it, and although | have kept silent for
the past sixteen years, and have heard him
called a lunatic and crank, have even
repelled this statement in argument, and
am grateful for the opportunity, even at
this late day, to yindicate in the public
print the much maligned reputation of
my gifted friend.
George Lawrence and [ were friends
from the first day we met. We were both
reporters in the employ of morning news
papers, and we first met at ball in Har-
lem some time in 1870. l have forgotten
the exact date, but | shall never forget the
impression George made on me- He was
slender to a degree that almost made him
eligible for a museum of freaks. His legs
seemed to have been worn thin by sheer
worry. They were bent at the knees.
where the trowsers took a forward lunge,
and when they were in use, they had
shambling, apologetic gait that carried their
owner over the pavement very much in the
same way that convivial man gets home
from his club at cock 's-erow in the morn
ing. But when one looked at the head of
George Lawrence he forgot all about the
other portions of his anatomy. 1t was a
royal head, covered with a splendid growth
of curly brown hair. The forehead was
broad, the nose aquline, the mouth as
sensitive as a girls, and the chin, though
firm was delicate and refined. | cannot
tell you why George and | became friends
at once unless at was because | helped
him out with his "story," supplying certain
important facts that he had missed, and
otherwise seeing that he should not be
"beaten" as the vernaeular of the trade
runs. He was very grateful, and during
the hour or longer we spent in riding back
to our offices in Newspaper Row he man
aged to tell me a great deal about himself,
and great deal that was interesting, too,
for George Lawrence never told anything
al l. - Ii
rowing life ever since he had left college,
about ten years before, to finish his col
legiate course at Heidelberg University.
From Germany he went to France, where
he lived two years. Thence he wandered
into India, soon as far east as China, and
on his return he spent nearly year with
the gypsies in Hungary. Here he acquired
the Romany tongue, and here he picked
up vast number of the peculiar beliefs of
these wandering tribes He learned to
read destiny in palms, to tell the future by
the stars The wild life he enjoyed was
Just to his liking. He entered into the
sports and into the practices of his no.
madic friends with zest that civilized life
had never possessed for him.
When he came back at the death of his
father to take possession OF his modest
patrimony, he delved into the mysteries of
the future as no professional soothsayer
would ever think of doing Palmistry and
astrology he mastered as completely as was
possible, and then turned his attention to
mind-reading. The way he took up this
branch of psychical research was singular
in the extreme. He related the incident
to me after we had become well acquainted,
which was not later than fortnight after
the evening of our introduction.
Il was walking up Broadway one after
noon" said Lawrence, zone of those bright,
sunny days of early fall, when l met
man whom ! had never seen before.
He was tall and soldierly in his bear
ing, and was dressed in excellent taste.
! should Judge that his age was some
where between forty and fifty years.
The instant l met him / felt that he knew
something about an old friend of nine
| even felt more. | felt that he was
thinking of that man when | met him,
and that his thoughts were unpleas-
ant ! dismissed the idea from M mind.
An hour or 50 later | met the stranger in
the St Nicholas Hotel cafe There was
introduced TO him, and over a bottle of
wine | told him OF my impression. He
said it was correct. He was an intimate
friend of Johann Gartoner, classmate of
mine at Heidelberg. And at the moment
met him he was pondering over letter
he had just received from my friends
brother announcing his sudden death"
This was George Lawrence's start in
the particular field he was soon TO cul-
tivate as man had ever done before.
After we had become more intimate and
l saw more Of the workings of his mind,
l discovered that he had extraordinary
abilities in the line he had laid out for
himself. At our evening meetings in his
rooms, for George was comparatively well
to do and met the expenses of an es-
tablishment from his private fortune.
saw many men Of renown in the world