The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-01-08
MISS FANCHER'S CASE
FOR NEARLY THIRTY YEARS TT HAS
MysTIFIED THE PHYSICIANS.
ALI that Time She Lay as Dead, Mo-
tiOnless. Speechless-A Linking OF
Spiritual and Material.

New York Recorder.
In a neat volume, under the title or
''Mollie Fancher the Brooklyn Enigma.
Judge Abram H. Daley, the Brooklyn
spiritualistic leader in Brooklyn, has
published what he calls an authentic state
ment of the facts in the life of this psyche
logical marvel in the nii.ateenth century
She born in Attleboro, Mass in 1873
Her parents moved to Brooklyn when she
was but two years old. When dying, Mrs.
Fancher said to her sister, Miss Susan
E. Crosby: ''Mollie, / see, is child
of sorrow, and will need your care, and
want you to make me promise. that
if anything should happen to her YOU will
look after and care for her your own
daughter That promise has been kept.
Miss Crosby herself had a strong intuition
al nature and had pref ton of her
niece's coming disaster.
Mollie Fancher, when fiji her stud
les at the Brooklyn Hels, Seminary,
was. tall, slender. graceful, beautiful OF
face, ambitious brilliant. She was known
as a fearless equestrienne. She was thrown
by a vicious horse on May l. 1864. Her
head struck with great force on the curb
and two of her ribs were broken. year
later she was thrown from a street car
and dragged for more than a block by
her skirt After that pulmonary hem-
orrhages and spinal troubles began. Sew
eral times the doctors said she was dying
and singers sang hymns about her bed
side. But her pulse continued to beat.
Then began those frances, the mystery
of which has. baffied science and become
the wonder of the world Her Jaws were
set. She had all the appearance OF one
| dead. These frances always followed VIC
We're often required 10 hold her in her
bed. In May, 1866, after desultory periods ois
| a long trance All efforts to break the
| spasms failed. The smallest quantity of
| rejected them. The doctors thought her
more rational in my life. IS l begged
| to be let alone. spasms and frances were
| essential to my life, but this my physician
| did not know. 1t was only in these con-
got any rest, and it ever since has been
So, When they stop I shall surely die, die"
| to science-burnng, freezing on ice. cleo
tricity, everything-which was not used
| in wet sheets, she burst them with her
| elbows. Strait jackets were used. She
the hope that she might thus absorb
nourishment. for the physicians were
convinced that without it she would die
ment she emerged with some new. COM
| plication. Deafness, dumbness followed.
| her nostrils. On Feb. %, 1866, her eyesight
failed her, and she has never recovered
| use of my eyes. When 1 first became con-
| scious of my failing sight 1 was greatly
| alarmed, but hoped to recover it again,
l When / came out of my trance 1
I found it suddenly growing dark, and sup
/ posed it was the approach of night, and
! so that 1 could see. She replied: 1t is
| lighted, darling; cant you see it?' re-
/ piled, No, it is all dark.
/ MARVELLOUS EXHIBITIONS
The doctor found that. by touching a
| spot back of her ear, she knew him. She
1 recognized him by a popularity of of
4 his thumbs. All this time she in per-
| feet possession of her mental faculties Her
1 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. Mis- Faucher says:
| My aunt had got into the habit of OPEN
| ing and reading my letters and commune
| eating their contents to me. Upon one
| occasion a letter came, and she proceeded
| to open it and read 1T to me- insisted
| that she should give il to me. She replied,
Why, darling, you know you can't read
| it, but 1 persisted. and she gave it to me.
| 1 at once took it in my hands and read
| it to her. She aStonished, because she
| saw at once that / did it without the use
make various tests. asking me all sorts
of questions as to what they had in their
pockets and in their hands, and it
| found that could tell them correctly. My
sense of feeling was not gone, probably more
| d
came back possessed it more keenly than
! ever before"
in the book bear out Miss Fancher's mar
| ratve. Miss Crosby writes: Some of the
| remarkable things which she has done dur
| ing her sickness are as follows: She could
tell the exact time by simply passing her
hand over the crystal of the watch, also
tell the exact time across the room; she
could tell the approach of thunderstorm
some hours before it came; she could also
tell the fire bells We're going to ring some
times as much as five minutes before they
| really did ring. She has very often told
what certain persons were doing over in
| sons ringing the doorbell at the house she
could recognize before they entered the
She could see, spiritually. through the
walls of her room, and describe persons in
Her strange, but, nevertheless, accurate,
vision reached even TO distant houses.
Upon being twitted by those present she
turned upon one of the gentlemen and said:
a very pretty girl YOU were coming across
the ferry with Then she described the
o ooa au was true The most f rsid tests
were made of her mysterious powers of
mental vision. Blndfoided. She was placed,
face downward. the bed, with her face
buried in the pollows, but could tell pre-
cisely what every person in the room was
doing.
4 Then came the long trance as her friends
called it, 1t began in June. 1856. Miss
For the nine years which followed she
has no recollection whatever of anything
that occurred anything she said or did.
During that period her right arm up
| in a rigid condition back of her head
| the fingers of both her right and left
hand were rgidly closed She had the use
of her left arm. During those nine years
she had spasms and frances; sometimes
her eyes turned upward and back
ward in her head. but always remained
sightess During those nine years am
informed from unquestioned authority she
wrote Upward of $500 letters. worked up
1000 ounces of worsted did vast amount
OF fine embroidery, and great deal OF
very beautiful wax work. cutting and color
ing the flowers and leaves in the most
ingenious and perfect manner When the
use of two hands required the work
was done above her head. Her writing
was done by inserting a pencil pen r
between the closed fingers of her left hand
in the palm. SO that the pencil or per
was held in the fist. Her handwriting was
very regular and beautiful her powers oil
composition very superior. She has made
numerous acquaintances during that time
as her room was constantly beset bs
strangers from all parts of the country
anxious TO see and converse with her..
AN ENIGMA TO HERSELF
When at the end of the nine years he
] Ief,s.