St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-01-26
WRITTEN BYA SPIRIT.
A Strange Message Which Led
a Young Woman to a
Fortune.
How the Remarkable Warm
ing Of an AstrOioger Was
Realized.
Affection the Ppedominating
Cause Which Brings
Spirits Back.
The Romance Of Sarah Ray
NORA Man Sees His'MOth-
er's Spirit.

Lafayette avenue, Brooklyn, Friday
night. There were five of US in all, and
some interesting manifestations were
expected, because a young lady from
Boston was present whose automatic
writings while sin the trance state DUR
ing the past three years have been phe-
nOmenal. The seance, however,
amounted to nothing, but there was
good deal of food. for reflection IN
story that followed it, and which is here
given for the delectation of Mercury
readers. After we had withdrawn from
the table the elderly medical gentleman
who had acted as interlocutor remarked
that he had enjoyed the high privilege
of being present at seance Ill Boston,
or rather in Cambridge, two years ago,
when the young lady who had sue
ceeded so imperfectly tonight with her
trance writing had been the medium OF
a most wonderful communication.
The sitting took place i'll the spring,
and there were six or seven persons
around the table. He had invited GER
tain persons of some intellectual -proml-
nence because his niece, Miss Emma,
had rapidly and Unexpectedly devel-
oped the faculty of automatic witt
ing. They had only surrounded the
table very few minutes when all were
conscious of the presence OF spirit.
Vigorous rappingS were used to convey
the spirits wishes, which. when finally
spelled out, were: LET Emma write
At the moment the announcement be-
came ineligible by the repetition and
spelling out of the alphabet; the young
lady herself was seen to be In violent
agitation. Although she held the pen
Gil in her hand it was some time before
she could control it sufficiently to write
legibly or at all. When finally she be-
came calmer there appeared In curl
ously cramped, old-fashioned English
handwriting, such as was In vogue DUR
ing the first lustrum of the current CEN
fury, this message:
Bid Sarah Raynor she will find matters to
her advantage at Corlass, NO. 16 Parliament
street, Hull, England. ELIZA MoRRoD.
''None of US could make head or tail
out of it, and there were no further
manifestations. AS we were about part
ing for the night an elderly wealthy
friend of mine muttered as l was bid
ding him Good night Sarah Raynor!
Sarah Raynor! Why, Raynor is our
Sadie's name! Cad, L must take that
piece Of paper along with mev And
he did," Now Sadie Raynor was a
comedy, sbapely lass some two and
twenty years of age. She had lived in
this family since she went there as a
nurse girl at Ia. She had won such a
warm place in the affections OF the
family that she was now, in 1888, sort
of higher servant, with hardly any we'll
defined duties. and yet having sort of
authority everywhere. With paper in
hand, the learned gentleman put Sadie
through a gentle course of crOSS-eXami-
nation. He asked her when her mother
married the second time, although he
knew to a day. He asked the name OF
her mothers first husband-her own
father, in fact. though one would think
he must have known that. Finally. by
a series of gradually lessening circuits,
like Indians surrounding and closing In
upon their foe, he asked her If she ever
heard of anybody of the name OF "Mor-
rod" -.
"That was my grandfather's name"
She answered straight from the Shout
der, "He was drowned at sea when my
mother was little girl three years DID,"
Her mother had not been communicative
respecting her ancestry, however, or
She NAV have been in ignorance herself.
for Sadie couldn't tell whether this
"Morrod" was paternal or maternal
grandfather, and knew nothing OF his
given name nor that OF his wife, Sadie
grandmother.
The next thing that the retired lawyer
did was to write letter of inquiry to
the address '.Corlass, No. 16 Parliament
all nd 40 tnnlY q shrpyN6
random shot by asking if the "MOrrOd
estate' were in settlement, or how long
il had been settled. In due course the
Hull LAWYER sent letter informing his
Boston correspondent that he was anXi-
Gus to find some heir or heirs Of Capt.
Morrod, who died with his wife in a
storm at sea on Jan. 4, 1S41, leaving one
little girl of about two years OF age,
who was subsequently taken by her
maternal aunt to the United States. of
America, This communication worked
the old gentleman up TO great pitch of
excitement. Never, probably, in his
palmiest days at the bar had he con-
Quoted case that so ticiSled and ex-
cited him. In the first place he invited
Sadie's mother, now Mrs. Haynes, to
visit her. The husband came himself,
and said that his wife was sick. Before
the LAWYER and Sadie reached the house
she was unconscious and beyond hope
from pneumonia. So that any
or all of the information that they might
expect to receive from this poor woman
was shut off by her death, which fol
lowed in a couple of days. Three weeks
after saw Sadie and her enthusiastic
employer on the high seas bound fol
England, and in due course found them
selves in the lawyers Office on Parlia-
ment street listening to facts which il
concerned Sadie and her protector tc
know. First of all, Capt. David
Morrod accompanied by his wife
Esther, sailed from Hull fol-
Hamburg OH Jan. 2, 1871. 1t was
greatly contrary to his wishes that the
good lady had accompanied him, but
she sometimes consulted an astronomer
of whom there was then half dozen il
Hull, and this seer had recently foretold
great danger to her husband. especially
around Jan. 4, 1871. He had therefore
advised her to invent some excuse to
keep her husband at home around tina
date. Capt. Dave was, however. a:
stubborn as a mule.
cpl not die till my time comes" hi
kept saying, and sail he would. Beina
mus OBSTINATE Ill Ills way, sue was
equally obstinate in hers. She in
sisted on accompanying him. The bari
that bore them to Hamburg was driver
on the rocks of the Durham coast in {
tremendous storm from the northeas
about 10 o'clock on the night of Jan
4. 1t was his birthday, and i
that time Saturn and Mercury were il
conjunction in his ascendant. Tht
bark was total wreck, and every SOU
on board, except Newfoundland dog
persisted. The owners of the ill-fatet
Ship communicated with the sister Of
Mrs. Capt. Morrod, in Boston, U. S. A.
concerning the little orphaned child
whose only outlook at that time seemed
to be the poorhouse. Capt. Nor
rod had well-to-do friends in Kent, O
whom the owners were unaware, blu
newspapers were sparse in those days
and the mail coach was the rapid transi
| of the day. At the owners expense tn,
aunt came from Boston and took ava,
| the child Esther, with about two hun
bred pounds sterling.
In gradual installments the tw,
! deeply-interested visitors learned al
1 O., -, E., II.