The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1906-05-08

at this point.
He committed suicide and was bur-
led at sea-" he aswered. That is al
| know"
But he will do more. There was
doubt as TO whether it was Il case of
suicide or murder. The woman who
mad appeared mysteriously on the
plates had been a passenger on the
steamer, and the young widow had
stated that ii was her opinion that she
was implicated even if she had not
done the shooting herself.
SEVERAL WITNESSES PRESENT.
The photographer, wishing TO test
n phenenOmena more thoroughly,
had brought several witnesses to CD
serve Miss Mannfng's third sitting.
One Of these witnesses had made a
separate exposure simultaneously with
n Of the regular cameras pictures
This plate showed the ghostly visitor
standing behind the girl, with the
dagger above her head. The large
camera revealed him in the same posi-
tin, though in one case twas a front
view and in the other a profile.
Miss Manning is not Il student OF
psychology or metaphysics. If she has
any theory for the explanation OF her
strange pictures it must be guessed at
for she will not discuss the subject.
Bue her mental processes, wna,egar
they were, resulted iii speedy a,ti1n.
Not t~wenty-four hours after exan:n-
ing the plates Il letter was on its WaC
10 Lieut.. Waters, notifying him tha. he
might consider himself a free man.
It is said that she frankly admitted
the photographs we're the cause.
Lieut.. Waters has by no means Civ
Ell up the fight. He has sent far and
wide for books on the subject and has
written to eminent authorities. He is
at present at a loss for an explanation
but is said to suspect his defeated riv-
al of in some way tampering with the
plates.
There is more than one man who
claims to have successfully imprinted
all imagine on a sensitive platefmeTeiy
by concentrating his mind upon the
image and looking toward the plate.
Readers Of these columns Will remen-
Der illustrations of several thought
pictures" published recently.
WILL SOLVE THE MYSTERY.
Lieut.. Waters is ~endeaVOring 10 OBJ
tain his furlOugh at once and to get
to the bottom Of the my3,cT- when he
reaches England. He hopes that his
broken romance will interest scienti-
fc man to help solve the mystery ami
win back for him the girl he loves.
The late Mr.. J. Trail Taylor, former
editor Of the British Jorunal of
Photography, made several most in
tere3cilg tests o Esprit photography
before his death. One of Mr.. TaylOrIs
last works was a paper on the subject,
| Which was published after his death.
/ Mr.. Tailor calls the phenomena psychic
photography, and he deprecates the
word spirit, believing that spirits nave
nothing to do with the subject.
For several years. said Mr.. Taylor,
Il have experienced a strong desire to
ascertain by personal Investigation the
amount of actual truth in the ever
recurring allegation that figures oth-
er than those usually present in the
room appeared on the sensitive plate.
Mr.. D, Of Glasgow in whose pres
ence the psychic photograph under
been alleged to have been obtained.
was lately in London on a visit, AMI
| a mutual friend rot him 10 consent toI
extend his stay in order that | might
try to get a psychic photograph under
the best conditions. To this ne will
ingly agreed.
EXPERIMENTS IN GHOST
PHOTOS.'
My conditions were exceedingly
simple, were courteasuly expressed to
the host, and entirely acquiesceG in.
They were that | for the nOnce would
assume them to be tricksters, and tOI
| guard against fraud should use my own
| camera and unopened pacgages of dry
plates purchased from dealers of re-
| pute, and that l should be excused
from allowing a plate to go out Of my
own hand till after development I'M
less | felt otherwise disposed.
Or. was the first sitter Il for a.
reason known to myself used a n1ol-
ocular camera. | myself took the plate!
out of a packet just previously ripped
I'D under the surveillance of two detec-I
| tives. l placed the slide in my peck
ct, and exposed it by magnesium rib
bon which l held in my own hand,
keeping one eye, as it We're, on the
sitter, and the other in the camera
There was no background. I myself
took the plate from the dark slide and
under the eyes of two detectives.
placed it in the developing dish. Be-
tween the camera and the sitter 6 f.
male figure was developed, rather in
a more pronounced form than thai
of the sitter.
OTHER EXPERIMENTS FOLLOW.
Many experiments of like nature,
followed, on some plates were abnor-I
NAL appearances, on others none. All
his time Mr.. D., the medium, during
the exposure of the plates was quite
inactive.
s'The psychic figures behaved badly
Some were ir focus, others We're not.
Some WE'RE lighted from the right,
while the sitter was from the Left;
some were comely, others were not so.
Some monopolized the major portion CT