Evening star., 1898-10-29


married man. ard instead of living in the
suburbs after the fashion of his class, he
occupied rooms in the Albany, near Pic
cadiIy. He was particularly interested in
the questions Of thought tTansference and
Of apparifions cf the living. and in No
yernEer l>.Ii he commenced a series of eX-
pcrlmeuts in conjunction with Mr.. Vincent
of Staple Inn. in order To test the alleged
possibility of projecting an apparition on
one self by force of will across an interVen-
ing space.
The experiments were conducted in the
following manner At prearranged houf
Mr BesSel shut himself in one Of his rooms
in the Albany and Mr.. Vincent in his sit
ting room in Staple Inn. and each then
fixed his mind as rcsniutely as possible on
the other Mr.. RcsSe had acquired the art
of self -hypTotiSm, and 50 far as he could
h. attempted first to hypnotic himself and
then to project himself as phantom OF
the living across the intervening space or
nearly two miles into Mr.. Nincents apart
n, 1T. ON several evenings this was trled
without any satisfactory results. but on
the fifth or sixth occasion Mr. vincent uld
actually see or ina sine he saw an apparl-
tiCn Of Mr.. BeSSel standing in his room
He states that the appearance. although
brief was very vivid and real. He noticed
that Mr.. EeSSels face was Whlte ana ms
EXPRESSION anxious and moreover that ms
hdlT was Il~IfltlSN Fbl 81 Li'i4iN''t '''
Vincent in spite of his state "f expectation,
was too surprised to speak or move ana
in that moment it seemed to him as though
the figure glanced over his shoulder ana
inccutinently vanished
II had been arranged that an attempt
shuuld Toe ,ma le To photograph any phah-
raSrn seen but Mr.. Vincent had not the H.
s-aur presence Of mind To snap the camera
that Law ready IN the table beside him ana
when h. .!iI he too Iate- 'rEealF
elated. however. even 10y TINS paFuaI sue
cess lie made note Of the exact time anu
took cab 10 the AlbaTy to INFORM MI
BeSSei Of this result
H. v.s SURPRISED to find Mr.. Bessels
outer door standing open to the hShl' "IiI
the inner apartments 1T ana vacant dita
I'm an extraordinary disorder. An empty
chanpaCue rnagTum lay smashed upon lhe
floor: its neck had been broken of against
the inkpOt on the bureau and lay beSiue
H. An octaEonal occasional table when
carried a bronze statuette and NUMBER OF
choice books had been rUdeiy overturned,
and down the primrose paper OF the wall
inkv fingers had been drawn. as II seemed
for the mere pleasure of det!ement- one
of the. delicate chiutz curtains had been Vio-
Ieur!y torn from its rings and thrust upon
tn FIRE that the smell Of its SmolderlnS
dU-l the room. Indeed. the whole place was
di>arrauged in the strangest fashion For
A few minutes Mr.. Vincent who had en-
tered sure of finding Mr.. Bessel in his easy
chair awaiting him. could scarcely believe
his eyes. and stood staring helplessly at
these unan1iCipated things.
Then. fun of a vague sense Of calamity,
he sought the porter at the entrance lodge.
Where is Mr.. BesseI?'' he asked DO YOU
know that all the furniture is broken in
MIR ResseTs rOom?' The porter said moth
ing. but. obeying his gestures. came at once
10 Mr. BesSeIs apartment to see the state
Of affairs. This settles 1t, he said. sur
veying the lunatc confusion Il didn't
know Of this. Mr.. Bessels gone Off He's
nad"'
H- then proceeded to tell Mr. Vincent
that about half an hour previously, that IS
to say. about the time of Mr.. Bessels ap-
partition IN Mr.. Niuceut's rooms. the miss
ing gentleman had rushed out of the gates
Of TIL, Albany into NigO street. hatess and
with disordered hair. and had vanished in
the direction Of Bond street. And as ne
eHt past me. said the porter, he laughed
"a sort of gasping laugh, with his mouth
h fair scared met-like this
According to his imitation it was any
thing out pleasant laugh. He waved
his hand with all his fingers crooked and
ClGwirg-like that And he said in sort
Of fierce whisper-'Life" Just that one
WOrd-1ifer
Dear me- said Mr. Vincent Tut, tut
dear me-" He could think Of nothing else
to say. He was naturally very much sur
prised. He turned from the room to the
porter and from the porter the room in
gravest Derplexity. Beyond his suggestion
that probably Mr.. Bessel would come back
presently and explain what had happened,
their conversation was unable to proceed.
1t might be sudden toothache.' said the
porter, "a very sudden and violent tooth
acne. Jumping or him suddenly like and
driving him wild. I've broken things my
self before now in such a case"
He thought "If it was why should he say
Life to me as he went past?'
Mr.. Vincent did not know. Mr.. Bessel
Old not return. and at last Mr.. Vincent,
having done some more helpless staring,
and having addressed note of brief in
qr!iry ana left it in a conspicuous position
on the bureau. returned in very perplexeG
frame Of mind To his own premises in Staple
Inn. This affair had given him a shock.
He was AZ a loss to account for Mr. Bca-
selS conduct on any sane hypothesis. He
tried to read. but he could not do so, ne
went for Il short walk and was SO preoccu-
pied that h narrowly escaped cab at the
top OF ChaGctry lane. and at last-a full
hour before his usual time-he went to bed.
For considerable time ne could not sleep
because Of his memory Of the silent con-
fusion OF Mr. Bessels apartment and when
al length H. did attain an uneasy siumber,
Il at once disturbed by very vivid
and distressing dream Of Mr.. Bessel.
lie saw Mr.. EeSsel HcStiCulatiug wildly
and with his face white and contorted.
Ard trexplicably mingled With his appear
2nce, suggested perhaps by his gestures,
vas an intense fear an urgency to act.
He even believes that he heard the voice
OF his fellow eXpcrimenter calling distress
fully to him, though at the time he con-
s!dered this to be an illusion. The vivid
impression remained though Mr.. Vincent
awUke.
For space he lay awake and trembling
In the ddgkress. possessed with that vague
Uuaccpuutahle terror Of unknown possibili-
ties that comes out Of dreams upon even
the hrayest men But a. last he reused
himself. and turned over and went to sleep
again. only for the dream to return with
enhanced vividness.
He ,.woke with such strong convic-
ZION that Mr. Bessel was in overwhelming
distress and reed Of help that sleep was
10 longer possible. He was persuaded that
his friend had rushed out 10 some dire ca
lumity- For "A tina he lay reasoning vain
ly against This belief and a last he gave
way 10 H. He arose. against all reason, lit
bis gas and dressed. and set ont through
the deserted stTeets-dcSertcd save for d
n"ts=leSs policeman or so and the early
news carts, for it nearly half-past
= in the mOrnirS-tOward Nigo street to
inqCire il Mr.. Bessel had returned
But he never EOt there. As ne was go
Ing down Long Acre some tnaccountaDle
Impulse turned him ASIDE out Of that street
toward CoVent Garden. which was lust
waking TO its nocturnal activities He saw
the market in front Of him. a queer effect
Ct glowing yellow lights and busy black
figures. He became aware Of a shouting
AMI perceived a fgure turn the corner by
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