Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1894-12-09
CAN PRESAGE DEATH
Wonderful Work Of Mr.. Johns In De-
terminilS the Life Of Man.
4 NEW USE FOR THE BIBLE.
Novel Theories That May Some Day startie
the Scientific World and Destroy
Atheism and AgnostiCism.

Abl NHt hOiSt WIN "HltH Ht ~ NbiitSAtht
man who. II he succeeds in An under |
taking which he has started upon, will |
| undoubtedly startle the entire world, de-
stroy agnosticism and atheism. and give |
the scientific and philosophical a shock |
| for which they are altogether unpre- |
| pared.
This man IS Mr.. NJ L. Johns OF New
| York, who is registered at Murphy's Ho-
tel. Mr.. Johns has practical business
| ideas, is digni1ed in manner, and very
retiring in his disposition; yet he pos
sesses an occult power which is almost
| beyond human ken. the extent OF which
| he himself can hardly realize. While Mr.
| Johns is not what could strictly be called
| a horoscopist. his knowledge Is such as
would lead one to believe that horoscope |
casting Is very simple 10 him, and when
| called upon nc does not hesitate TO demon
| strate by actual figures what he claims 10
| be able 10 DO
To give him the date Of your birth is
| almost equivalent TO presenting him with
| a carefully prepared diary Of your me-
| and IL is with the most skilfll ease that
| he tells the exact time Of death OF any
individual even down to the time OF day.
As has already been stated, MT. johns
docs not himself understand this strange
power which he posseases bat MS calCu-
latlons are accurate, and the results nave
| been verified IN hundreds of Instances IN
substantiation Of which he possesses In
| Vulnerable certificates from prominent
| gentlemen throughout the country.
| This wonderful man. according TO ms
| statements cleaned every bit OF his IN
! formation or knowledge from the bloIe
and IN passages Of the Holy writ iouhd
| the secrets which he claims 10 be in pos
session Of and discovered reasohlnBs ana
| causes and effects which have hitherto
not Welded 20 the Investigations OF just
| as ardent students. He has In his pos
| session a chart of each month OF the
/ twelve filed with figures arranged IN
peculiar diversity, and IL is from this that
| he works out the past, present ana tuture
Of his fellow-man when placed in posses
| sion of the smallest data on which 10 base
! his calculations.
DIVIDED INTO CYCLES.
He divides mans life from the time OF
| birth to that of death into two cycIes-
| a bodily cycle and mental cycle. The
| length of these cycles vary according 10
the person on whom he Is working, and
are obtained from the Bible. He declines
| to disclose the interior knowledge when
| he possesses; bat very interestingly de-
scrlbes the relation of the child 10 the
| father and mother The bodily cycle, ne
| SAYS, IS evolved from the mother ana
| the mental from the father lhese
cycles, he claims, produce conjunction
| p0ints on their onward course from con-
| ception 10 death and Upon one Of these
conjunction points, or mathematical days
| as he terms them, the individual will ina
the day of his death In explanation OF
| this he said: "The sun, moon, ana stars
( come into conjunction at certain PERIODS
| known to scientists, and at certain stated
periods these conjunctions are repeated
| at regular intervals. In such way the
human system may be compared as a
| universe in itself, the sun being compared
| to the mind and the earth the body
Bodily cycles, he says, have 10 DO win
the physical beng Of man and mental
cycles to do with the mind. These two
cycles are evolved from the Holy Writ,
and Mr. Johns claims ara intsllibie Suies
to ascertalnng coming events as well as
disclosing those Of the past.
II Mr.. Johns were travelling about the
country simply trying to catch people TO
whom to explain these theories of his,
which are beautiful and logical to the
extent that he Is willing to reveal them,
weight would fail to attach TO what he
processes to be able to do; but he Is
travelling I'm the prosecution Of his legi-
innate business and only discusses his
theories when asked so to do.
TELLS OF SICKNESS.
He has been sought out by number
| of Richmonders, to all Of whom he has
given an accurate account Of the notable
events that have already occurred IN
| their lives. He can, with an astonishing
degree OF accuracy, tell one, perfect
stranger to him, of every event Of note in
| their lives, when they were sick the nature
| of the illness, aud also advises many
when they may expect future ills. He de-
clncs 10 tell any one when they may eX-
peCt death for obvious reasons, but 10
the Dispatch man he showed numbers OF
letters from doctors 10 whom he had
| given information concerning the death
| Of their patients, and in every instance,
as shown by the letters, death ensued
within few hours of the time indicated
! by him.
No matter what city Mr.. Johns goes u
| he never fails to try his system for his
| own benefit. He has as yet, as he him
| self declares, not perfected IT. and every
| day he is making rapid advances with
| it. While here he visited the various
| cemeteries and, with the aid Of one OF
! RichHOnd's citizens. who called out 10
! him the date Of birth engraved on num-
| bers OF tombstones, he calculated the
| time of deaths OF the individuals buried
underneath, and In but few instances
| did he vary from the Inscriptions on the
! stones more than one day. In his cal
| culations Mr.. Johns does not claim 10
! be able 10 foretell sudden deaths, and
! yet his calculations are Just as unerring
| whether the death be by suicide or
| otherwise. When discussing this, Mr.
! Johns said that he could in no way
! account for this accuracy, as he had
nothing absolutely on which TO base the
| calculation of a death by accident.
ALL BASED ON THE BIBLE.
Although firmly convinced Of his power
| having had peculiar interesting demon
| strations Of it, the reporter attempted to
| dispute several claims of the wonder
ful man. These disputes or arguments
were invariably set at naught when, at
| the request Of Mr.. Johns, the scribe
| read a passage from the Bible, which
| bore out the theory every time. On one
| occasion I'm this city he gave accurately
| the date-even the hOur Of death-of
! person whose relatives gave the required
| data. and TO fully score Of visitors he
! told Of every sickness which had occurred
! I'm their respective lives, recalling in some
! instances slcknesses which the individual
| himself had forgotten and only remem-
| bered when Mr.. Johns recalled some In
! stance In connection with it.
! Mr.. Johns is a Methodist, q son OF a
| Methodist preacher and is q very re-
! ligiousy y-inclned man. He possesses a
| thorough knowledge OF the Book Divine
| and attributes all Of his power or know
| ledge 10 continued reading Of II. To the
reporter he exposed several links IN his
| new theory, but was careful 10 request
| that they be kept out OF print as he
| has in preparation series of lectures
which will be printed.
There are a number of interesting H.
| lustratlons which Mr.. Johns uses, but TO
| even hint at them would be a breach OF
| confidence. II may be said, however
that some day he will give the sleeping
| scientists of even this progressive age
an insight into laws and affinities that
| they have never before possessed.
| PEpt tES TO IDA WELLS