The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1892-11-24
HER QUEER SPIRIT TALK.
A LOT OF LEARNED MEy FAIL TO
UNDERSTAND MEDIUM O,NETLL.

She Goes Under Control Before . Company
Familiar with FIFTY Ancient and NJ odern
Tongues, but tho Message from Spirit
Land II Gibberish to Her Hearers.
Mrs. George Hackett whose husband Ia con.
nected with the Windsor Hotel. is an enthusl-
astio believer In splritualism. She was at
tracted several months ago to Miss O'Nell. a
hairdresser. an eplleptlo spinstsr Of Rhode
Island. who recently developed tom
dcncy to talk. after the oracular manner
OF trance mediums, In o languags.or dialect,
that none OF her friends could understand.
Mrs. 1iackett heard Miss O'Noill. was much
Impressed by hor gibberish. and took her as
FREQ boarder. She marvelled much at the
spinster's occult deliveries. and determined to
make an effort to find out their meaning.
Mr. Hackett was not as much impressed
with Miss ONeill as his wife. being somewhat
OF a skrptic. but he wanted to know what Ian
euags or dialect Miss O'Nelll spoke under the
alleged influence OF spirits. Mrs. Hackett
and her spiritualistio friends thought that
Miss ONeill was controlled BY tho spirit
OF some ancient Greek or Roman. or. perhaps.
an Oriental snge OF n remoter era. Mr.. Hack
cit was inclined. 1t is snid to think that there
was not much mystery ABOUT Miss O'Neilrs
lncoherencies. But, being an indulgent hus-
band. and wishing to know the truth. he de.
cided to have convention OF learned lin.
gusts. physicians. and students OF psychology
to find out, II possible. what Miss O'Nell was
talking about
So Mrs. Hnckett was introduced to DR.. D. II.
sleem. Syrian physician and Orlentnlist. IA
mlinr with half a dozen Eastern languages
and dialects. and II was arranged thut Miss
UNcill should. before a company OF linguistic
sT1 kn: nonr forth her several orations on
Psychological students from this and other
can Society or Psychical Research. were in
and and stsS Miss FGS b
II. lieber Newton was invited. but he could
not attend. being In Europe.
But there were about twenty-five men and
women, including several Spiritualists. pres
sn rns ss ,y could k in
lects. There were present DR. Haddad. Prois
llysI9p anI Gio,tfeit Of CYllm ba college. Dr..
Dr. M Boy ,SEa,h {, ana bF il bar,an1i
although Of Irish parentngc looks like typi-
cal New England maiden lady. She is slightly
b built and OF very nervous temperament Her
nnd quiet observation OF the distinguished
scholars who s, had assembled; purely in ths
t. t. utter unintellicible things. The company
thought that she might be- speaking in a lam
Euaee unfamiliar to any other one.
NJ Then Questions began tS pour in upon her.
in the ancient dialect Of the be iouins. in
Latin. Greek. Italian. French. Spanish. Portu-
questions always in words. or sounds. rather
| that had no meaning to tho 0uestioner.
DR. Sleem tried her In Arabic She answered
In tumble of sounds. cultural and otherwise.
Even an inquiry in Rhode Island English was
responded to in untransatabls utterance.
Miss DNeill kept up her jargon with brief
intermissons for two hours. Mrs. Hack EFT
| seemed to think that she hadn't enough talent
OH hand to unruvel tho mystery.
But the professors and doctors thought
otherwise. They decided that Miss O'Neil
was honestly deceiving herself: In short. that
she was affected by some mental disorder
DR.. Sleem said that she reminded him
at first OF the woman who had recov-
cred from a long illness and began
to recite Latin. OF which she had no knowl-
edge before she had been stricken. 1t de-
veloped afterward that q Latin student In tho
noXt room had been repeating aloud his les
sons. and that she had absorbed them while in
deirium.
Miss ONeills case is not Dr. Slesm thinks.
similar to that OF the reciter OF Latin.
At first the company OF learned folks re-
garded Miss O'Neill with much seriousness
After an hour or 80 they were OF the opinion
that her condition was due to some uncon-
trolable nervous trouble. Of which epilepsy
was one manifestation.
Mrs. Hackett took Miss O'Nell homo cling
ing to tho impression that tho hairdresser was
Il medium Of tremendous power. and that her
incoherencies were expressions beyond tho
understanding Of scholars OF either ancient or
modern times.