Democratic messenger., 1892-12-24
A REAL GHOST STORY.
STRANGE EXPERIENCES OF A RE-
SPECTACLE BUSINESS MAN.

Three Times In the Course Of His Life
He Has seen tho Shade of His Dead
Mother. and Each Time She Seemed to
Be Trying to Warn Him Of Danger.
There are more things in heaven and
earth, Horatio"-
1t came to the knowledge Of n reporter
quite by accident that in an eminently
respectable house lying between Mad
ison and Fifth avenues, on an eminently
respectable street, gentleman well
known i'll business circles has repeatedly
experienced what may be called, on lack
of a better word, visitations. This the
reporter learned, while the gentleman
was quite unaware of his connection
with the press, Thanksgiving evening,
when conversation turned on mesmerism
and other occult subjects. From talk
to experiment the step was easy, when
it was discovered that the man in ques-
tion was an almost perfect sensitive" to
hypnotic influence.
The discovery was probably surprise
to most of those in the room. The man
is perhaps forty-five years old, under the
medium height, stout and inclined to
badness, fond of the good things of life.
a shrewd business man, yet he was alb
solutely at the beck and call of an anna
teur of tolerably developed hypnotic
power. When, after some grotesque
manifestations, the subject was restored
to consciousness, the company, with one
accord, pressed him to explain his feel
ing while under the influence.
lyon are asking impossibilities, said
the man good humoredly, 'for while
in the hypnotic state my waking self
is submerged, and I-real l, the ego
of the metaphysicians-am what is
called unconscious, although something
that must be Il second !. or, alter ego, is
obediently active. 1t is all as great
marvel to me as it can be to any of you.
| am not weak willed man or one easy
to influence by ordinary methods. yet
have always been keenly susceptible to
psychic influences"
This caused stir of expectancy in the
little company.
II do not often speak of these things"
went on the man after little pause.
Such n nature rs mine must seem I'M
canny to others. and to be frank, in a
business way could not afford to be
known as u sensitive" but think am
safe to speak under this roof.
Il can remember when quite small
boy seeing my uncle drive toward the
country home where then lived. While
he was yet far off, and neither face nor
attitude could have borne TO me any
visual hint, | knew that his son, my
cousin William, was dead. / ran and
sobbed in my mothers lap: oh, MAN.
ma! Willie's dead. Willies dead* She
chided me for my folly, rs she be-
lieved. In n long two minutes my uncle
drove up, looking ashen gray and sad,
and the questions my mother would have
put died upon her lips. Ii was true. Ny
cousin had died unexpectedly after the
briefest illness. | couldn't have been
more than six years old, and had never
heard of occult art Of any sort, for ours
were old fashioned country folk.
"As grew up experiences of this kind
were more common. | was a stupid,
bullet headed fellow in the main, but
in this special sense, as | must think it,
was and am extraordinarily gifted.
To this attribute the fact that on three
occasions have seen the ghost Of my
mother, who died very soon after the
incident which have just related"
A stir of incredulity caused rustic in
the room, and one festive chap whistled
bar of Over the Fence Is Out"
"Oh, don't expect you to believe it,"
resumed the narrator easily. I'm way
I don't believe it myself. That is,
can't account for it. and my mind re-
volts against accepting anything against
my reason. Yet am brought face to
face with the fact. Thrice in my mature
life, while wide awake, fully clothed
and as much in my right mind as / am
at this minute. have seen the shade,
ghost or aura of my dead mother, SEEM
ing not worn and thin, as l remember
her. but young and fairer. And here
is the curious part of it. She was
clothed rs in the days before my birth
there were older children than lin n
dress which | had never seen or heard
described, and of which no picture is in
existence. Yet, by my description of
the dress as l saw it, my Oldest sister
recognizes it perfectly"
What did the ghost say to your"
asked one of the party.
Nothing. Yet in each case the visit
came before some misfortune which was
in a sense avertable. 1t seems to me as
If the wrath of my mother was trying
Intellectually to warn her favorite and
Youngest child. The set face, the mourn
full air, all SO indistinctly seen, might
convey that impression. All the visits
were at night. Twice the vision came
when | was alone. The last time my
wife was with me. l said nothing TO
her Mt the time. not wishing to alarm her.
But she can testify that | was wide
awake. The room i'll which we sat is
large, and was at the time lighted only
by we'll shaded lamp, which left the
farther end of the room i'll semiobscurity.
But the figure seemed interpenetrated
with light of its own. 1t did not move
or beckon. 1t simply was and then was
not"
An odd Thanksgiving night tale, was
it not? Il don't want my business asso
ciates to suspect me of seeing visions"
the gentleman concluded, but this is
my story, and | would like to know
what you make of it."-New York Re
corder.
Tho Oldest Amateur Orchestra.
The oldest amateur orchestra in Lon
don is named The Wandering Min
strels," and is composed of people be-
longing TO the highest social rank. This
society was organized about thirty years
ago in the smoking room of the Guards
barracks ut Windsor under the direction
of Sir Seymour Egertoa. afterward earl
OF Wilton. For twenty years it was led
by Lord Fitzgerald in his house in Sloane
.t-aat Nar, Xnrlr Press