Evening journal., 1891-06-01
FOUND DEAD IN A BOAT.
The Tragic End of Journalist
- Prentice Mulford.
he WROTE AT A SPIRITS REQUEST
The Talented Literary wanderer Was "a
spirituAlist and believed That a Friend
ly Phantom Hovercd Above Him nnd
Instructed Him What TO write.

spirituAlist and believed That Friend
Iy Phantom Hovercd Above Him and
Instructed Him What 10 write.
NEW YoRK, June Prentice Mulford
author, editor, correspondent and yachts
man--is dead. lie died as he had been
born and had spent his life, breathing the
salt sea mir Saturday party Of yachts
men in Sheepshead bay saw small sail
boat riding at apehor. She was an odd
shaped craft rather sharp at both ends,
and the yachtsmen shaped their course IN
order 70 get q closer inspection, As their
yacht swept by they saw lying motionless
upon the bottom Of the boat atoutly
built man of about fifty
No Response 60 Their Hail.
They hailed him, but received no re-
sponse. They saw painted upon the stern
Of the boat the name White Cross, and All
hour later they had notified the polict
authorities on shore
Policeman Corson put of in rowboat
and went alongside the trim White Cross
He spoke to the prostrate form and then
shook it, There was no response The
man was dead. The little vessel was towed
ashore and the body removed to the
morgue Of Deputy Coroner A. f. Stillwel
at Gravesend
! The body was az once put on ice It was
| terribly swollen and discolored from lying
in the sun The blankets, clothing, stove
and papers found Ia the White Cross were
/ inventoried, as were a banjo and a large
ohlong wooden case IN which the nstru-
| ment was kept Among the papers We're
several letter heads and envelopes upon
! which was printed the name OF T. j. Need
ham, publisher OF the White Cross Libra
| ry, 50 West Fourteenth street, New York.
There were pens, pencils and copy pa.
| per such as IL used by journalists and lit.
erary men generally.
IL was Mulford's Body.
There were also some receipted bills
made out to "p. Mulford" One Of these
was for "A blue sailor sack suit price $50
made by Thomas II. Graham, Of Nassau
street, bore upon the tab the name Of II
milford In the pockets were s. aud
$40 gold piece, two s bills and some smal
change There was also letter signed by
w c. Wentworth, Of Jackson, y. II
This letter referred 10 Mrs. Needham, ant
| was taken possession Of by Chief Of poliel
John Y. Mekane, but was not made pub
lie. The deputy coroner thought that thl
| body was that of Mr.. Needham, and i
was not until yesterday afternoon, whei
the body had been ia his possession
twentyfour hours, that q reporter In
formed Stillwell that the body was no
that Of Needham, but Of Mulford. Up d
3 p- M no one had called at the Morgu
20 identity the body.
At this hour Needham arrived, and witt
the coroner visited the morple Befor
tbe body was uncovered Needham glance,
over the apparel Of the deceased and recog
nized IT, He also examined the boat
equipment and then, pointing t0 the boz
containing the banjo, said, with a sigh
Eyes; these are an Mulford's things"
Deputy Coroner Stillwell then remove,
the covering from the dead mans face
Needham tremblingly craned his neck an,
looked at the face Of his friend and thei
turned away with
"Yes, thai Is poor Mulford."
The Authors Work.
Then he gave the coroner some instruc
tions, which included the shipment Of thl
body to Sag Harbor where Muford wa
born, and where the only blood relatives
two sisters, reside
He was the author Of the White Cros
Library ," said Mr. Needham II last saw
him on Monday, when be was apparentl
quite we'll We owned the boat jointly
aud, as an old sailor, he spent much of hi
time coasting. When in town he fre
quently boarded with me at my fiat, 5
West Fourteenth street, which Is also m,
place OF business He went on a cruis
Monday, and that was the last heard o
him.
In the locker Of the boat were found tw,
long letters in Mulford's own writing
They were written in pencil upon ligh
brown sheets ot copy paper such as b,
used in writing his essays Few of Mr.
Mulfords friends were aware TINT he wa.
a Spiritualist, although il was suspected
by some of his journalistic confreres.
Watched by a Spirit.
Although blessed with a fine miml AMI
faciie pen, Mulfords friends say that ii
recent years he has grown somewhat eccen
tric, Within year he has written thirty
six essays for The White Cross Magazine
nearly all Of them having To do with wha
he was pleased tocall 'the force of though
and the silent power Of the mindn Th,
: titles Of few Of these essays are eTh,
Process OF Re-embodiment,m Mental IN
| temperance DtAA AtatnAuBt LAWS o.
Health, flaws Of Marriage, "The Slav
cry Of Fear, and ''The Art Of Forgetting
The letters found in the canoe close be
side Mulford's body prove very conclusive
ly that the spiritual world had a firm hole
on him. He wrote them, il appears from
their context, at the dictatlon Of a spiritu
alistic being who chose this means OF com
municating with him. The letters ar
filled with assurances that the spirit
was close beside him, watching over hin
and guarding him from harm, and tha
brighter days were in store for him. Vari
GUS incidents in his past life are men
toned in this rambling conversation Will
/ the unknown, and some persons who's,
names appear as "L.," Mrs. In ant
CO. are frequently mentioned Mr.
Needham, the publisher, was very anxious
to get possession of all this manuscript
which, he said, was a part of the essa,
which Mulford was TO have mailed to hin
from Sag Harbor.
An Adventurous Career.
Mulford's life had been one Of constant
changes and many disappointnents. II,
WAS born in Sag Harbor between 1895 ant
1910, and his early years were spent among
the ships and sailors that once frequentet
that busy whaling port.
In 1855 he shipped before the mast OF
the clipper ship Wizard, bound from New
York TO San Francisco, making the tril
around the horn in the double capacity d
cabin boy and deckhand For severa
months he drifted aimlessly about Sal
Francisco. The next few years be spent
as placer miner in the widest of ths
then partially populated gold fields. Ht