The Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1895-1897, 1896-11-26
MIND MYSTERIES.
Several Experiences for the Materialis,s
to Eyplain
III The Chicago Times-Heral,

The stories am about to relate | got
ut first hand, which is, perhaps, their
chief merit. We read II good many things
In books and newspapers that are out of
the ordinary range of our experience and
which we hesitate to believe, but when Il
friend tells us face to face and with all
seriousness of some extraordinary occur.
renee we are very apt to treasure it up
in memory and classify it with the uneX-
planned phenomena of this mysterious
human life of ours.
A lady of my acquaintance, who is EN-
gagged in newspaper work in New York,
received II visit u few days years ago from
n Western friend about to take aSSound
steamer for Boston the same evening.
While they were talking the lady had
startling vision. She seemed to see u
man walking on the deck of steamer
on n dark night, when the falling rain
froze into sleet rs it struck the dock
He slipped and fell, slid under the guard
rail and was ingulfed in the sea. The
vision came and passed in n second. The
lady begged her friend not to go on the
steamer that night. She told him what
she had seen. He was IL materialist and
laughed the whole matter off. He took
the boat that evening, slipped on the icy
deck, fell overheard just as he did in the
vision and was drowned.
Three years ago L was living in cur
and travelling from town to town in the
State of Washington. In Cheney had Il
call from real estate man. Some way
or other the talk drifted to queer exper-
iences. My friend told me he had one
suc., experience in life, and only one
Ten years before he was running Il train
out OF Chicago as II conductor OH one of
the Burlington lines. One morning
after heavy rains, when there were fresh
cts IN the streams, he stood upon the
platform of II way station about three
miles from the crossing of n small river.
He was about to signal his engineer to
go ahead, when voice spoke plainly in
his ear, Lookout for the bridge' No
one was standing near at the time He
walked forward and said to the engineer,
"Jim, l think you had better slow down
Mt the curve just this side of the bridge.n
There is nothing the matter with the
bridge" said the engineer, cor we would
have had wire from it, "Perhaps
there isn't, " replied the conductor, 'but
slow down all the same" There was n
sharp cure IL short distance from the
approach to the bridge so near, in fact,
that it would have been impossible to
stop the train after coming in sight of the
bridge had it been running at the usual
rate of speed. The engineer slowed
'AONh. Ht was SOuc III n1u
been carried away between the time the
train left the station and its arrival at
the curve. Had it not been for the niys-
FERROUS warning the whole train would
have gone into the river.
y prominent Chicago physician once
kept drug store in II small to~n in Illi-
nois. Across the street from the store
was IL considerable stretch of unfenced
town lots. Sitting in the shade in front
of the store one summer afternoon the
doctor saw young man of his acQuan-
lance approaching across the open lots
When he was five or six rods away the
doctor, without any symptoms of being
in IN abnormal condition, seemed to see
the whole anatomical structure of the
| man-all his bones and internal organs,
| and ut the same time he saw the contents
of the young mans pockets The vision
passed in an instant. When the youth
came up to the doctor the latter said ::
Henry, can tell you just what you have
in your pocket. In one of the pockets
of your trousers you have n bunch of
strings for tying up bags; in the other
there is black handled jackknife, two
ten-penny nails and halfdolla-. The
date on the half dollar is 1856" The
young man turned his pockets inside out
and showed that he was carrying the ar
oiNtC3 NcSCllJCu. I1c LOOK tIlt cOlll look
ed at it and found that the date named
by the doctor was correct. He was so as
ton!shed mt this case of cldirvoyancy that
he nearly tainted.
| will fdd II queer experience of my
own. In company with three friends I
undertook to ford slough of the Yakima
river, in the State of Washington, four
years ago. We had big wagon and n
four-horse team. The river was very
high and the broad slough was running
like II mill race. We knew that the ford
ing place was narrow and the water deep,
but we expected nothing more serious
than to get our feet wet by the water
coming into the wagon box. When
about half way across the lead horses
got their hind feet over the doubetrees
and became unmanageable. The wagon
was swept off the ford into deep water.
One of my friends, w. S. Mellen, who
was then general manager of the North
ern Pacific railroad, swan ashore. Two
others climbed out of the tail end of the
wagon and managed to keep their foot
ing In the current until rescued. | at
tempted the same feat, but | was the last
man to get out, and before | could find
any footing the wagon was swept into
ueep water, overturned, and wagon,
horses and myself were soon houndering
IN the current. l could not swim and
gave up all hope of saving my life.
While under the water had very clear
experience of what psychologists call
the double consciousness. 1t seemed as
II were two persons, one physical
man, still intelligent enough to struggle
among the horses; the other consciousness
was entirely serene and happy, land look
ell With admiration ut the beautiful color
OF the overhead, wondered if the BODY
would come ashore somewhere down
stream and be recovered, and felt quite
delighted at being released from partner.