The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-04-03
BEECHBR'S SPIRITTO DR.. FUNK
RETURN TIE WIDOWS MITE you
BORROWED OF PROF. WEST.


publishing house Of Funk d Wagnalls and
widely known as q Prohibitionist worker
and writer. attended private spiritualistic
seance In Brooklyn recently at which a
, spirit known In the spirit world as John
Hakestraw, acting, 30 he said, for DR.. Funk &
former intimate friend, Henryward Beecher,
; communicated startling piece Of informa-
ton to DR.. Funk. 1t was nothing more nor
less than that q valuable coin borrowed
In 1898 by DR.. Funk from Prof. Charles F..
Wost. well-known numismatist, for the
purpose Of illustrating the Standard Die
| tionary. published by DR.. Funk's house.
had never been returned to Prof. West or
J to his heirs, and that Prof. West, who died
| two years ago. was doing a good deal Of
worrying in the spirit world over the alb
sence Of this coin from the valuable oollec-
tion he left behind him when he died. and
would like II returned.
When DR.. Funk Indignantly denied to
the ghost Of John Rakestraw that he had
failed to return the coin to Prof. West.
the ghost of John Rakestraw talked II over
with the ghost Of Henry Ward Beecher.
who in turn talked it over with the ghost Of
Prof. West, with the result that in a very
short time the ghost OF John Bakestraw
returned to tell DIR. Funk that II he would
look In the big iron safe in his Office he
would find the coin in small drawer there,
hidden under heap Of papers.
The following day DR.. Funk looked in
the safe and sure enough he found the coin
there. The coin is one Of the only two old
Jewish coins, known as the widows mite, in
existence and is worth many hundreds Of
dollars. Its presence in his safe after all
Of these years and the communication Of
this fact by the spirits Of John Rakestraw
and Henry Ward Beecher, acting for Prof.
West, when he himself had no idea OF its
whereabouts, has startled DR.. Funk He
Is no believer in spiritualism and 80 he has
turned tho entire matter over to the
Psychical Research Society for explana-
ton, and Prof. Hyslop. Prof. Hudson Of
Boston, the secretary Of the society. and
wrestling with 1t. in the hope Of reaching
some reasonable explanation.
DIR. Funk when seen at his home, 1876
Washington park, Brooklyn. last night
gave the following interesting account Of
bis experience with the spirits OF Henry
John Rakestraw, Of whose condition in life
neither DIR. Funk nor anybody else seems
to know anything:
Il want to say in the first place that I
can be by what has happened, and that
eagerly seek some explanation. My first
intention was TO keep the matter quiet
until the Psychical Research Society had
made some further investigation. but now
that it is out will tell the story, and IL any
one can explain it all TO Inc i should be glad
to hear from them.
Although no spiritualist. have attended
a number of seances, some palpably fraudu-
lent, others rather bewildering; Whenever
l have heard OF wonderful medium
have sought her out TO see just what she
could do, but almost all that l have had
experience with have been professionals.
Recently / was invited by friend to
private house, where a widow, 20 years old,
was going to hold service for few friends
of the family. The affair was private, no
money was asked. and the service was the
regular religious service OF the Spiritualists
that this family holds every night. !
sought the invitation to this house myself
there the widow didn't know was coming
and guess had never heard OF me.
well, the old lady went through a per-
Torrance behind a curtain. A great many
messages from the spirit world were re-
ceiyed. ...,. . .ae.
bored, for had heard II all before. when
there was q silence, followed by this in
qury from the control spirit, who Is known
in this household as George Carroll:
Is tneTe dnyDOuy mere WHO HAS ldiicu
to return something he borrowed from
Henry Ward Beecherp
Il knew this must mean me, for the
crowd there were all very poor people,
and l was the only one who could possibly
have known Mr.. Beecher in life. ] made
no response for a moment and then George
CAROLS voice came from behind screen
with the same inquiry. l responded at
once, saying had known Mr.. Beecher very
well, but had never borrowed anything
that had failed to return;
Il asked IL the spirit Of Mr.. Beecher was
in the room and was told that 1t was not,
but was near by and that John Rakestraws
spirit was acting for him; For a long time
l could not get out Of John Rakestraws
spirit what ii was that Mr.. Beecher 8 spirit
referred to, but finally the control spirit
told me that Rakestraw had told him that
had once borrowed a coin, very valuable
coin from either Mr., Beecher or a friend
Of his. and that the original owner OF this
failure to return 1t as it broke up his col
lection Of coins. He added that I had
borrowed the coin TO illustrate some book
that had published.
Now this startled me and III tell you
why. Back in 1898 knew Prof. West very
we'll He and Mr.. Beecher and had been
intimate friends and all members Of the
Clerical Society In 1893, when we were
getting up the Standard Dictionary, Prof.
West showed me a widows mite he had,
one Oh t1o Oiiiy WV !" SOU.
The other was In the Philadelphia Mint.
I persuaded him to lend me the coin so
could have a picture of IL made for the
dictionary. About the same time my
brother, Benjamin +. Funk, got q coin
that was said to be a real widows mite,
so / turned Prof. Vests coin over to him
and he sent them both to the curator OF the
Philadelphia Mint to find out which was
genuine The curator sent them back
with word that Prof Vests was the genuine
coin. saw Prof. West repeatedly up to the
time he died and always supposed that
my brother had returned the coin to him.
He certainly never said anything about
It's not having been returned to him.
when the ghost OF John Rakestraw
accused me Of holding on to this valuable
coin I replied that Mr.. Beeoher was mis-
taken. as the coin had been returned. Rake
straw said 1t had not been, and we had
quito a discussion over 1t. Then Rake
straw was silent for time. but after talk
with Mr.. Beecher and Prof. West (by the
vay. he never mentioned the name OF Prof.
West) he said the coin was in big iron safe.
First he thought the safe was In Plymouth
Church, then said II was in my office. !
couldn't get any more information out OF
John Rakestraw that night, but the next
day / lunchcd with my brother, and In tell
ing him Of the matter, asked him what he
had done with Prof. Vests coin. He said
n had been returned. After we made our
cut Of 1t, he said, he gave 1t to Mr.. Raymond
orr cashier, who sent il back to Prof. West.
A, tha of7ce I asked Mr. RAYMOND about