The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1908-11-29

| tainly a sign of dementia, and yet
| Chaloner gives a most reasonable ex-
PLANTATION of his rash act He says
| that he was but experimenting to
prove that the law touching the con-
| servation of energy, held good in
things mental, as well as in things ma
terial
For three years Chaloner. has been
resisting the desire to eat meat. and
had placed himself on what was dis
| tasteful vegetable diet. Now Chalo-
ner desired to know if this force of
will power was stored up, or wheth ar
it was lost. He tried the fire test:
fire, because it is the most painful ell
ement to human beings.
Taking a handful of live Goals. maxi
ing no sound, and walking on square
heel and toe, a distance Of fifteen feet
to an open window he vigorously
threw the Goals onto the lawn, not
having dropped one during the trying
ordeal. Chaloner says that the pain
was excruciating, but he felt justified
in undergoing it to prove his theory.
1t required three buckets Of cold water
to draw the fire from his badly Bills
tered hand, which he carried in a ban
dage for ten days afterward.
Even to this day Chaloner declares
that his eyes have changed in color.
They are gray now, and he has the af-
fidavit of his former wife, the Princess
i Troubetskoy that they were brown
when she pictured him in THE Quick
of the Dead"
The change in the color Of his eyes
Chaloner attributes to what he calls
the "Xfaculty." This faculty" he
says. grew out of his system of diet
ing. With this dieting came the reali-
cation of a mysterious power. How
could he harness this unknown "facul-
ty," and make it of service, he asked
himself.
, Follows the PIanchette.
Chaloner was formerly an expert OF
, pool. One day when breaking" the
balls, he was surprised to see them
form in the position of the stars in the
consultations of the big and little dip
pers. On setting them up again they
broke" in the same way. He says
that he started to plot their position
\
on paper, and then experienced tho
mysterious power of automatic writ
ing.
He secured a planchette, and when
he turned it loose it told him that nc
was the reincarnation of Napoleon Bo
naparte. The planchette told him tc
try his luck in Wall street. To test
the truthfulness of this Singula,
power that had suddenly come to him
) he went to New York, and walked in.
; to a brokers' office. There he tried
the planchette again. and it advised
him to take risky flyer on Man
haitian. For three days he followed
the mysterious dictates of the "X-fac
ulty" and at the end of that time he
had won ST. 300, and was told to quit
Chaloner says that he experienced
the novel sensation of watching his
own eyes change color. The ''X-fac
ulty' told him to stand by the window
facing west. with a mirror in one hanf
and your pearl pin in the other; watcl
> the change. He declares that his
eyes changed from brown to gray il
: three hours.
Prof. William James, the noted psy
chologist of Harvard, has taken mucf
interest in Chaloner's extraordinar,
case. In a written opinion, Prof
: James says: "Chaloner is evidently
possessed of a strong 'mediumistic' o.
physic' temperament. But whereas
most mediums promptly adopt the the
-. DRY, current in mediumistic circles
that these automatisism are due t
spirit control. Chaloner, prepossesset
! against this theory, appears to have
, set to work Systematically land as i
would appear from the narrative, crit
; ically) to explore them to determine
9 their significance himself. In this at
tempt he seems to me to deserve moth
{ ing but praise. The only question Il
as to the amount of judiciousnes
: shown in allowing the subject to ab
sorb him SO continuously The mos
injudicious act Of which he is accuse,
= is the experiment with fire. AS dc
Il scribed in the motivation of this ex
+ pertinent was rational and its result
interesting, NUT moderately harmful
1t seems to me a monstrous claim t,
say that man may not make expert
= ments, even as extreme as that upol
5 his own person without putting hi
legal freedom In jeopardy. The Ma
: poleon experiment (going off in
trancelike state) falls strictly within
the limits of pralseworthy research.
!, !, Escape Well Planned.
When in Bloomingsdale Chalone
utilized his time most profitably mai
ing a systematic study of the bible
reading the masters keeping himsel
. in athletic trim and devoting nan
hours each day to perfecting his es
cape. Whether or not insane, Cha.
, oner exercised the cunning of a mar
l. lac in laying plans for his escape.
Finally Chaloner gained the conf
Il dence of his keepers, end was allow
s. cd short walk each day. Cleverl
: extending his strolls each day, an
Il carefully conserving his energy, he bt
8 came an expert at walking being atl
: to cover IL miles in three hours
: through the hills.
u At last the desired time came. an
G having borrowed SO from a perso
s outside the asylum. Chaloner caugh
o train. eight miles from Blooming
l. dale and made his way to the Sha