Kansas City daily journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1892-1897, 1895-01-14
MOLLlE FANCHER A WONDER
HER STORY ~ LAST AJTHORiTA-
TIvELY TOLD.
For Nearly Thirty Years She Lay ~ Dead
Helpless. Motionicss. spccchicss-The
spiritual and Material Worlds
Closely Linked in Her
being.

Apram H. Daley OF Brookyn' mas pub
ished what ne calls an authentic statement
ot the iaets in the life OF this psychological
marvel OF the nineteenth century. She was
born In Attleboro, Mass IN ISIS. Her pa
rents moved to brooklyn when she was but
years old When dying Mrs. Fanchcr
said to her sister, Miss susan l.. Crosby:
"Mullie can see is child Of sorrow,
and will need your care, and I want YOU to
promise that II anything should happen to
her you viii lock after hor as your own
daughter" That promise has been Kept.
Miss Crosby herself had strong intu-
tonal nature ana had premonitIon of her
nigue's coming disaster.
Molle FaOcher, when finishing her stud
its at the Brooklyn Heights seminary, was
tail. slender. graceful. beautiful OF face,
ambitious, brilliant She was known as a
fearless pquestrenne. She was thrown 10y
a Vicious horse on May /. 1854, Her head
struck with great force on the curb and
two of her ribs were broken. A year later
she was thrown from street car ana drag
ged for more than a block by her skirt.
After that pulmonary hemorrhagcs ana
spinal troubles began. Several times the
doctors said she was dying and singers
sang hymns about her bedside. But her
pulse continued to beat
Their began those frances. the mystery
of which has bafred science ana become
the wonder OF the world Her jaws were
set She .ad all the appearance OF one
dead. Tncsc frances always followed
violent spasms. Seven and eight persons
were often required 20 hold her in her bed
In May 1865. after desultory periods OF con-
sciousnCss Miss Fanchcr went into long
trance All efforts to break the spasms
had failed. The smallest quantity of med
icine or food gave her agony. and She re-
jeCtcd them The doctors thought her In
sane, but" she says, II was never more
rational in my life. | begged to be
let alone Spasms and frances were cs-
sentiai TO my life. but this my physician
did not know. Ii was only IN these con-
dltions, strange as 1t may seem, that | got
any rest, and 1t ever since has been SO.
When they stop ] shall surely die"
There was no form of treatment known
to sclence-burning. freezing on ice, cleo
trcty. e"erything-which not used in
the effort TO break her spasms. Bound
in wet sheets, she burst them with her
elbows. Straight Jackets were used. She
was placed in hot baths of beef tea, in
the hope that she might thus absorb nour-
ishment. for the physicians were convinced
that without it she would die of starvation.
From every new treatment she emerged
with some new complication. Deafness,
dumbness followed. The only way she
could hear was through her nostris. on
February -. 1866. her eyesicnt failed her,
and she has never recovered it. II can
see" she says. but not by the use of my
eyes. When l first became conscious Of my
failing sight l was greatly alarmed but
hoped to recover it again. When |
came out of my trance | found 1t suddenly
growing dark. and | supposed it was the
approach of night, and asked my aunt to
light the gas In my room so ! could see.
She replied: 1t is lighted darling: can't
you see it?' replied, No, it is all dark "
The doctor found that, by touching a
spot back of her ear, she knew him. She
recognized him by popularity of one of
his thumbs All this time she was in per-
feet possession of her mental faculties
Her fingers became cramped into her palms,
but her thumbs remained free. Gradually
her hearing and power of speech returned.
Then began the marvellous exhibitions,
the stories of which set the whole think
ing world agog. Miss Fancher says:
My aunt had got into the habit of
opening and reading nv letters and com
municating their contents to me. Upon
one occasion a letter came and she nro-
ceeded to open it and read it, when | in
sisted that She should give it to me She
replied. Why darling you know you can't
read it, but | persisted, and she gave II
to me. / at once took it in my hands and
read ii to her She was astonished be-
cause she saw at once that did il without
the use of my ewes Then my friends be-
gan TO make various tests. asking me an
sorts of questions as to what they had in
their pockets and in their hands, and it
was found that could tan them corrcrtIv
NV sense of feeling was not gone. proh-
ably. more thau a week or ton davs ana
when II came back | possessed il more
kecnly than ever before
Miss Croshy's diary. which is embodied
in the book, bears out MISS F,ancher's mar.
rative. Miss Crosby writes: Some of the
remarkable things which she has done
during her sickness are as follows. she
could tell the exact time by simnly nassiny
her hand over the crystal of the watch
also toll the exact time across the room:
she could tell the apnroach of n thunder
storm some hours before IL came. she Couid
also toll the fire bells were going ia rinp
sometimes as much as FIVE minutes he.
fore they really aid ring She has very
often toid what certain nersons were d.
ing oyer in Now York ana even furtbcr
away. Persons ringing the doorbeu M the
house she could recognize before thev on
tered the house,
she r,uId 500 snirituolIy tbro,,rh, tho
walls of her room and describe nersons
in other roons who were stran,,ors To bar
Her strange but ncvnrthelrss acCurats
vision reached evcn Ia distant bousas
While In a trance one dov she Iaur,hsd
I,non beir1r twitt.d nv those rrasant sbs
turned upon one of tho gentlemen ana sail.
see here old friend he rorefriI Thai w,as
a very prettv girl Won were canine across
The ferry with" Then she desnriheI tbc
voun1 lady accurately ana tho ,rantIen,an
Guuod IN ,vas ,riin Tbn most rioid ,asts
yvare made of her nvsteriotis nnu,ars NJ
mental vision Blindfoided sho vas rI,ced
race downward on the bed. with her face
hurled i'm tha nilloNs but cnuII t"u ,,rariso-
o,.n, ,oS,, IN tb ,'
m, CANA tho Ior,, trauca ,s ,o,. f,i.,,,l
c,iiod If II ba,,on In 1npa IScc Ni,s
Croshv writes.
', ,,,