The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1904-01-01
to be seen going into that piece OF
woods with a gun.

70 discover that genuine psychics are
not found In the edge of the woods bp.
sfde the beaten path; that it is hard. ~
IND them even when one knows wherl
they are, for they lie low, ana. Me -
rabbits, they initiate the nafufni @c6Jo5
or the surroundings. ssss s,I;s i. !
ION may accept this az aSkeuS<Al
rule: When your fellow man ,tsskeS vol,
by the button Of your coat Ind ieadS
you into a corner, to ten you OF d sptos
phetic dream or mysterious psych.c
message, he does not believe the story
himself. Perhaps he may be trying to
believe 1t, but no one has to try to be-
neve In real experience Of that kind
arter he has had It. He knows. And
the chances arc good that he will not
talk Of 1t to his closest intimate. It ia
ever the element Of doubt that leads to
talking.
Our hobby gave to Hackett and me
an excuse for study, an aim in travel
| ana an opportunity Of meeting cultivat-
ed men and women. As 1t was an
elected hobby and not the result of
congenital mental distortion, we rode
IL calmly and were never mistaken for
cranks except by cranks. 1t is true
that some OF our earlier experiences
were more or less absurd, but we were
saved from serious error by the busi-
ness mans faculty of turning from the
1mpracticable to the practical. When
we encountered an impostor, we
promptly charged him up to ''profit and
loss" and passed on to the next item.
IL was while engaged in a fruitless
though not uninteresting investigation
IN Boston that we came quite by acci-
dent upon the most important informa-
1on. We made the acquaintance of q
young physician named Harold Whit
Ing, who was then and is today one Of
the most honest minded men in the
world. l believe that Whiting would
not lie even to himself, and there are
rev OF whom 80 much can be said. He
was amusing himself with experiments
In the matter Of peculiar capacities and
knowledge exhibited by persons in the
hypnotic state, but confessed that he
nad FOUND no facts upon which con-
clusions Of any Importance could be
based.
We discovered that his thought had
been turned. into this channel by a re.
markable occurrence which he had Wit.
messed, but We had considerable din.
Guilty In persuading him to say any
thihg more upon the subject. Id ~
pledge IN the martef. ef.-~-----5v
''There is friend Of mine. now in |
New York." said he, "who received a |
psychic message from his brother, who
was then upon the other side Of the
world. This thing happened under cir
cumstances which make doubt impos-
sible. was present when the message
was received. know tho story In oil
its details. but cannot give you the
facts nor tell you the mans name be-
cause gave him my word that would
nos disclose them"
Perceiving our disappointment, he
expressed sincere regret, and by way of
atonement he gave US the name Of a
young woman In New Haven whom II
might be worth our while to see.
II received q letter about her some
time ago from an instructor In psychol-
ogy at Yale. an old friend Of mine,"
said he. my friend and several other
members Of the faculty are investigat.
ing the cnse, and they regard 1t as gen.
uine and important. The girls name 10
Dorothy Vaughn. She is an orphan
and lives with her aunt, Mrs. Eustis,
who has had certain occult experiences
herself, as am told"
He gave us the address Of Mrs. Eus.
tbs and the name OF his friend. His
reference to the fact that unusual pow
ers appeared both in the aunt and the
niece led to a general discussion Of the
restriction Of such powers and their
persistence In families. No one who
has given the subject any study can
doubt that these traits are handed
down from generation to generation
Often a vague family tradition leads
back to the true psychic whose powers.
weakened by admixture with a COM
mon strain. renppcar to flicker uncer-
tainly I'm the present day.
Hackett seemed to find much mate
rial for thought in this conversation.
| He did not contribute largely to it, be-
| ing q man Of a slow mind and Of few
words, but some days later, while we
were on the way to New Haven, he
suddenly emerged from a reverie to
say:
I wonder what would happen II two
Of them should marryT
| When I had found out what he was
talking about, agreed with him that
the experiment would be very inter
esting IL there were any way Of max.
ing It. Hackett suggested that we
should go forward into the smoking
car, and when we were there and he
hnd smoked a part OF long cigar he
said:
II don't see why there isn't"
| repljed with the argument that two