The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-08-21
SPIRITS OF THE DEAD.

SPIRITS OF THE DEAD.
The Eagle is in receipt of the following:
To the Editor of the Daily Eagle
Seeing an article in your daily Of Aug
ust Is. $685. headed, believes in Spirits"
l wish TO give to the public some OF the
things have learned on this subjeci
during half century.
1 contend that there are no such things
as conscious spirits Of the dead. What
is called communication of spirits is SIM
ply mind reading. The medium. uncon-
scious of the fact reads the mind CT
minds of those present during a seAnce.
After careful investigation I have fond
that no truth is revealed in these se3nces
that is not known by anyone present. 1t
| is hypnotism, the medium being the nyp-
Noticed person. I do not pretend TO know
how mind reading is performed. ThLt is
one of the marvels of nature that has not
yet been revealed to man. But the facts
OF mind reading are beyond a reasonable
doubt. Let me illustrate this subject by
actual occurrences:
Near Manchester. Ia, lived a man
named French, who believed in spiritual
ism. And in that town lived a spirit
medium. Mr.. French called on this me
dunn at certain time and had the spirit
of his father called UP. He was sskc
when he died, or went to the spirit world.
A certain date was given which exactly
agreed with Mr.. F.'s memory. Later Mr..
F. called on his married sister, who lived
a few miles off, and with whom / was
we'll acquainted, and asked her when her
father died. She replied that she would
get the old family Bible that had the rec
ord. That being produced gave different
date from that given by the medium. The
explanation is simple. The medium read
the mind of Mr.. f. and gave his under
standing of the date and not the true
date.
Years ago a noted medium came to
South Bend Ind. and called upon the
citizens to investigate spiritualism. A
committee was appointed to investigate,
and my friend Mr.. Bugibee was one of the
committee. This committee was to hand
to the medium in a sealed envelope the
name of some l,c s.sed friend. But Mr..
B., unbeknown to the medium, handed in
the name of living person, one Of his
boarders who was rot present at the
seance Without opening the envelope,
tue UIlcuIuIu SdNG NtlICtL cll4SN NOlA-
corning those deceased persons. He also
gave equally correct answers concerning
the living person, whose name was given
by Mr.. B., and wound UP by saying he
would dine with Mr.. B. that day. The
solution is easy. The medium read the
minds of those present.
Mr.. Bugbee's wife was a noted hypno-
fist. She would hypnotic a person, ana
then Mr.. B. would ask the hypnotized
person questions. Mr.. B. took one of these
hypnotized persons on imaginary jour
mes ever wagon ads that he had traV
eled years before. And the hypnotized
man described the road just rs it had
been seen by Mr.. B. Not as it probably
was then, but just as it had been seen
by Mr.. B. years before And often the
hypnotized would mention objects along
the road before Mr. B. would recall them
from memory's tablet. l said the hyp-
Noticed would rescribe the road just as it
appeared years before. But there was
one notable exception. Passing barn
or this imaginary journey, Mir. B. asked:
What do you see now?" The reply was:
q see a barn, and the roof is all sagged
I'M" When Mr. 3. saw this barn it was
new anu JIle IOtl w dS iOl 81 y gu. nut ne
saw fhe roof from the inside, and he
made up his mind at the time he saw it
that the roof would, sag. The rational So
tuition Is, that the 'hypnotized mantle
medum-read the mind OF Mr.. B. And OF
the sagged barn roof, he said it was
sagged. not because that might then have
been true, but because Mr.. r. had thought
it would sag. On memories tablet we
have thoughts stored up that remain for
gotten until something brings them to
our attention again. And 1t seems that
the mind reader gets possession Of the
very tablets Of our minds, and uses them
as his own
Many years ago a man living in Niles,
Mich. went off and nobody knew where
he had gone. Mediums were comnsulted
who said he was murdered, and a glow
ing DESCRIPTION was given of how he was
murdered. Many believed the story. But
in about a year the man came back alive.
The medium made a mistake. because
there S,ere no minds to read who knew
Of the whereabouts of the man. II it
we're the spirits Of the dead who COM
municated through the medium, then the
medium could reveal secrets unknown 10
the living. This goes without arguing
That the medium can utter truths only
that are known by the diving, Is proof
that the thoughts in some way come from
the living and not from the dead.
I could give many more proofs of mind
| reading were it necessary. But deem it
not necessary. Both nature and revela-
ton teach that in death the thoughts
perish. CSee Pr. 1854; Eccl., s:5. 10; John,
HAD. The brain is the organ of the mind.
And hence when the brain IS injured the
mind is injured. And / reason from this
| that when the brain IS destroyed the mind
| is destroyed. Both eJsus and Paul taught
! that a future life depended upon the
resurrection from the dead. That as
| Christ arose from the dead so would all
! his followers arise TO an immortal life.
| And the whole Bible. when fuGy under
stood. accords with this view. (See Sra.
25Ie; John. 1885; Luke, 20:s5-SS; First
/ Cor. 1913 4e-55; First Their. 4:IS-10. Ac-
cordine TO Paul. If the dead rise not, we
might as we'll make the most OF this life.
/ for that Is all we viii bet. CSee First Cor.
1882. ELDER LAFAYETTE NORRIS
/ L-ahonla, Q. T.
WICHITA MANS COUSIN
! Secretary Longs recent announcement
/ OF the changes in the command % vessels