The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-10-30

seems, Mr.. Bessel, a stout, middle-aged
TO fall down the shaft. He was saturated
in COLA OIL and the smashed tin lay pc
side him, but luckily the fame had Deeh
ness had passed from him altogetRel'
But he was, of course. terribly enfee-
bled, and at the sight of his rescuers ne
gave way to hySterical weeping.
In view of the deplorable state o1 ms
fiat he was taken to the house OF Qr;
Aatton IN Upper Baker S5Tee treatment
and anything that might recall the violent
crisis through which he had passed was
dav he Volunteered a statement.
Since that occasion Mr.: Bessel mas at
several times repeated this statementI.to
details as the narrator of real expert
ence always does, but never Dy 1 any
chance contradicting himself In any par
ticular And the statement he makes Is
in substance as follows; g. &,
In order to understand it clearly u IS
A e GO Pace 6eo 70 his remarkable
attack Mr.. Bessers first attempts ,e at
seif-projection, in his experiment., ,1 with la
member, unsuccessful. But through az
of them he was concentrating all ms ms
power and will upon getting QUIZ OUT OF Tue he
body, willing it with all my might, ton me
saws At last, almost against expectatadUtti,
came success. And Mr.. Bessel asserts
that he bHng sa aye his q bodx and PASS into
enrna p nj or state outside this world.
The release was, he asserts, 1nstanntaa a.,
neols cat one moment was seated III
my chair, with my eyes tightly shut my my
hands gripping the arms OF the cns.il ,,,,i EU
ing all 1 could to concentrate my In naIf
outside my body-saw my body near me,
but certainly not containing me, VIII e nc
hands relaxing and the head orooplls ~
ward on the breast" 80
Nothing shakes him in his assurance OF
that release, and he describes IN qu1 lie
matter fact way the new eva beeome i'm
pafpable, so much he had expected, puc
he had not expected to find himsel enoLdl
mously large: So, h h9We e Great cloTduif
I may express it that way-anchored 70 %
my body. 1t appeared to me at 1lrsC ' d1
the conscious being in my braln wa I15 9 Pic
q little part. I saw the Albany any any +ha
cadflly and Regent street ana al min in
ne and - VerV bright and distinct spread
out below like a little city seen droii
a balloon. Every now ana th of smoke
made the vision a little indistinct, but at
first paid little heed to them IhS biit q 20
that astonished me most, and Wmcn 5 %
tnnishes me still. is that saw quite dls-
tinctIv the insides of the houses as wen az
the streets, saw little people dlnlns and
J T@1T11ta5 dining. playing billiards and
| drinking in restaurants and hoteIs any ~
several places Of entertastinentt cbinq the
|
az snch we're Mir, Bessel's exact words, as
took them down when ne {oio v me .1te
story. Quite forgetful Of Mr.. Nin cen
| he remained for space observing tde .ss
| things. Impelled by curiosity, he says,
he stopped down and with tn nse s1a al st.
! tempted to touch man walking alo1is
| Vigo street But he could not DO SO, al
though his finger seemed TO pass i tnt So5g
| this. but what it was he finds II haru 10
| describe. He compares the obstacle to
IT felt as a kitten may feel" he said,
when it goes for the first time TO PAT
| it's reflection in a mirror. Again ana
again on the occasion when L heard MN
tell this story Mr.. Bessel returned to that
| comparison of the sheet of glass et
| it was not altogether a precise comp3Tl-
| son, because as the reader Will speedlly
| see there were Interruptions Of this gen,
| orally impermeable resistance, means OF
getting through the barrier to the ma
a very ietr great difficulty in expressing these
UNPRECEDENTED impressions in the IAN
| guage of everyday experience
A thing that impressed him instantly
and which weighed upon him through
out all this experience, was the stiffness
of this place-he was in world without
Al first Mr.. BesseTs mental state was
| an Unconditional wonder. His thought
chiefly concerned himself with where ne
out of his material body. at any rate
but that was not ALL He believes, an6
| I for one believe also, that he was some,
| where out of space, as we understanC
i it. altogether. BY a strenuous effort OF
will he had passed out OF ms poqy into
a world beyond this world, a world un,
dreamt of, yet lying so close 70 II
and so strangely situated with regard &c
it. that all things on this earth are GEAR
ly visible both from without ana IRON
Within in this other world about US. FOL
a long time as 1t seemed to MN, TINS re
alfzation occupied his mind to the eXclu'
sion of all other matters, and then ne re
called the enga cement with Mr.. Vincent
10 which this astonishing experience was
after all but a prelude. -.
He turned his mind to locomotlon IN TINS
new body in which he found himself: Fol
a time he was unable to SHIFT nlmseL
from his attachment to his earthly car
cass For a time this new, strange, clou(
hody of his simply swayed, contracted
exnsnded coiled and writhed with his ef
forts 10 free himself, and then quite sud
denly the link that bound him snapped
For a moment everything was hidden by
what appeared to be whirling spheres o.
Tark vapor. and then through a mo
Tnantarv gap he saw his dropping body
noIianse limpIy, saw his hfeless head droI
SideWays and found he was driving along
like a huge cloud in a strange place O.
shadowy clouds that had the luminous In
fricacy of London spread like model be
low. - 4,,+ +1,o 4,,o+,,o+ .
| ing vapor about him was something NOR
O 2 o o o 90