The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1904-01-24
ALLEGED SPIRIT CURES
BY YOUNG BELGIAN LAD
1T GHOSTLY DICTATION

4
L interested that / asked whether
| | might attend a seance, which l did an
other night, wading through deep snow IN
company with two Belgian journalists. one
| OF them was the editor of the Journal de
| Charleroi, not believer In Splrituallsm
and inclined 10 doubt the spirit cures
| though he owned he had heard OF such mar
/ velous effects Of the herbal spirit treatment
/ that he fairly puzzled. He had, IKE
myself, paid previous visit 10 CheVeH,
1 pont and. struck by the reports ne heard
on every side, decided to test the wonder
i ful spirit cures. He therefore described
! the case of an old lady who was very ILL.,
/ having been unable TO sleep at all Ior
| many weeks. She had. moreover, a badly
| swollen leg which no one had been able 10
cure. and which prevented her walking ana
/ kept her in bed. -
| drew few moments TO a darkened room,
and emerged with a paper on Whlch was
written: II will visit the patient tonight
A prescription followed, Wholesome heIo
/ being required that was not in the house
4 was to be forwarded. The editor lived some
distance by train from Chevehpont ana
| returned home late without telling any one
| of his errand. Receiving the medicine next
| morning, he called on his old friend TO rec
! ommend its use. Greatly TO his amazement,
i he was told she had had the first good night
/ for weeks and that she was still sleeping
/ like child. She has continued to mend
ever since; the ointment has cured the bad
| leg, and she is walking about. Such testl-
mony from the editor of paper like the
! Journal de Charleroi and a man who is not
/ a Spiritualist, very striking.
HIGH JUMP FOR A TABLE.
The seance was held in kitchen divided
| in two by partition about seven feet high,
one-half being used for a dispensary and
| the clerical work connected with the quarry.
| The door between was open, and we were
| constantly in and out. The room was alb
solutely bare of anything except the chairs
and heavy kitchen table. The party con-
sisted of about twelve. the Pirsch family,
the Belgian journalists, myself and some
stolid-looking peasants, with certainly moth
ing suggesting imagination about them.
I The boy sat at the head of the table with
a blank copy book and pencil, and began
writing under the influence of Gallon, the
guiding spirit, soon the room was
darkened. The boy wrote without ceasing
in absolute darkness for an hour and a
half, the only break in the silence being the
| croaky voice of the grandmother in the
the three pencil taps which was the spirit
signal that the bottom of the page was
reached. cried Turn! Turn" like some
voice of fate.
The essay, when finished land glad we
were when the drop of the pencil on the
table gave the intimation that it was end
ed, proved to be clever treatise on spirit
ualism. excellently worded, and admirably
presented. 1t also touched on religion and
politics, and would have been a praise
worthy production for a man.
Many other spirit messages came later on,
but this and the tabIe-turning that followed
differed little from ordinary seances, except
| to aid in any cheating. The table was the
most lively 1 have ever seen. 1t endeavored
! to climb the wall, and actually succeeded in
| leaping the seven-foot partition into the
next room. The noise as it clattered about
and turned top down on the stone floor
with resOunding smacks. was deafening,
and by the end of the evening the top of the
table was we'll split.
A SPIRIT PRESCRIPTION.
The seance closed with a consultation of
DR.. Siprio by the various persons present
on behalf of their friends, and letters were
read from sick people anxious for remedies.
The boy wrote the answers in the dark as
before, each case being carefully diagnosed
and prescriptions given. L obtained the fol-
lowing prescription for friend who had
damaged her knee by falling when crossing
a railway line
O......................... %
Grind and make into an ointment
the following ingredients:
10 grammeS OF pure bOric acid.
grammes pure arnicd plant.
10 grammes ground elm bark
grammes powdered charcoal.
10 grammes very strong phenti-
Gated water.
Rub well with this twice day.
Up to the present have not been able to
| put the prescription in practice. but give it
as specimen of the spirit work.
The Belgian journalists who already had
| received specimens of the bows writing
from his college, carefully examined all the
papers written that evening-many being
written backwards-and failed to find any
similarity between any of the manuscripts
which varied with every spirit and the
| boys own.
The seance began at 9 in the evening and
lasted till o'clock in the morning. The
| only person of the party who did not look
worn out was the medium himself, who was
as fresh and bright as possible at the end.
| His mother says he is always we'll and very
bright and gay. Seances continually
being held, TO which anyone Is welcome
providing arrangements made before
| hand. That is obligatory on account of the
great number of applications. Four is the
outside number of strangers at a time, but
! Investigation is invited. and every days
| post brings piles OF letters from sick people
asking that the spirit doctor may be con-
| suited on their behalf, expressing graft
| tude for recovery
is WRITING A BOOK.
The lad is writing book under spirit
| guidance, but ne does not know which
spirit, and has been forbidden by the in
| tangible author to read what is written.
He. therefore. from time to time is busy in
a half-trance. writing he knows not what
| for a long book, which his parents naively
hope may be volume herbal treatment
| Many boys who had thus attracted atten-
ton would become conceited and seIf-as-
sertive. Edward Pirsch. however. remains
a simple lad apparently not greatly inter-
ested in all this spirit guidance of which he
/ Is the instrument, but rather bothered with
] IL. He is much more Interested in his stauD
| collection, or in the hundred and one other
things that attract a boy of his age
The last words of this mysterious bow as
/ waded out into the and set out
/ through a tempest of whirling flakes on a
! long walk through country lanes with my
ne az he al ofa
were:
Don't forget TO send the stamps YOU
| promised, and a copy OF the photograph
/ you had taken of me. 1 want to see III the
| mustache which l am sure l can feel COM
| ing shows at all in the picture"
few days after leaving Chevelipont
/ received, together with the letter acknowl-
| edging the photograph. the interesting in
| formation that young Pirsch was about
information that young Pirsch was about
| TO start a little monthly magazine. OF
/ which the editors to be lola. Victor
Hugo and other distinguished writer's who
| are no longer living. and whose services
are 10 be given for nothing apparently as
their journal Is TO he published at % cents
4 a year-just enough TO cover the cost of
| paper and printing. IL is hardly reason-
/ able TO suppose that any spirits would find
| IL worth while 10 pay for advertising mat
/ paper, the boy acting merely as n sort OF
| private secretary and business manager for
! them j. Il. WHITLEY.
| Copyright. 1904. by Curtis Brownl
Paris TO Have Docks.
PARIS. Jan. 2s.-In the near future Paris