Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1909-04-23
PSYCHIC TELLS
OF HER POWERS
MRS. DORA BARNETT GIVES
EXPERT TESTIMONY
SAYS LATE RICHARD SMITH WAS
HER positive"
Woman Who Was Bequeathed $1o'ooo
by Believer in spiritualism
is Called as Wit
ness

Mrs Dora Barnett, who says she &C.
cupied the position Of negative force
while the late Richard Crawford Smlth
nsvchical attributes exercised a positive
strength to the thought current carry
ing messages of cheer and good Will 10
q natient in an eastern sanitarlun,
stated Yesterday that she had received
a communication from the spirit Oh
Smith. whose will, by the terms VI
which Mrs. Barnett is bequeathed $1O'
900, is being contested by relatives ol
the deceased in Judge Rives court.
Mrs. Barnett was on the Witness
stand all day yesterday, ana was SUI
iected to a penetrating cross-eXamlna-
tion by ]. Cassat Davis, who, with At
torney Bradner w. Lee, is conducting
the case in behalf of the contestants.
Says She Saw Smith
IL received one communication from
Mr.. Smith last August" said Mrs. Bar
nett, in response to question Dy MI.
Davis. Il saw him as plainly as see
you"
Mrs. Barnett contended the communl-
cation was privileged and the curios-
ity of the large number of spectators TO
learn the contents of the message from
the spirit world was not satisfied, for
the court sustained an objection to
further inquiry on the point.
Smith, she said, was guided by spirits,
but never controlled by them. his
guardian angel was Marian Blake, re-
ferred to in the earlier proceedings as
Smiths spirit wife.
"She was a poetess who lived in Eng
land during the reign of Mary and John,
l believe" said the witness. "She was
very beautiful and was the source of
the poems recited by Smith. She told
him in her first communication where
and when she had passed away. He
delved into history and found that what
she said was correct"
did Smith receive communications
from his father?" asked Mr.. Davis.
Eyes" responded Mrs. Barnett, "be-
fore his fathers death they entered
into a compact, the father promising to
communicate with his son from the
other world, and this promise was
kept"
incidentally, Mrs. Barnett confded to
the court that there are two spooks in
the spirit world who have taken upon
themselves the duty of guiding her
own actions. One of these guides is the
spirit of an Indian chief named Still
water, who, as a member of the Paw
nee tribe, living near the present site
of Philadelphia 200 years ago, helped,
in his savage way, to populate the
spirit world with the ghosts of his enc
mics. The other guardian of her we'll
being is a DIR. MacGrudder, who, she
said, died in st. Louis.
Born a Psychic, She Says
ct was born a psychic" said Mrs.
Barnett, land had the gift of clair
yoyancy and trance mediumship."
1t was not until 1893, she said, that
she began to use her inherent talents.
Then a number of persons sent her ores
with requests to inform them as to the
value of the incipient mines from
which they were taken. 81 would
psychometriZe the ores and tell them
what their mines were WORTH" said
the witness. 81 was successful in many
instances"
Mrs. Barnett accompanied her def1ni-
ton of absent treatment with a sug-
gestion to Attorney Davis that he send
q telephone message from his office to
q psychic living on West Ninth street
and ask for a mental treatment. This
psychic would send out thought waves
and they would reach you and you
would feel their influence" said the
witness.
Thought Waves Powerful
These thought waves, she added,
spread all over Los Angeles, hundreds
of people in this city receiving absent
treatments at this time.
Mrs. Barnett denied she had any sell
fish motive when she visited Smith or
when she invited him to her home.
"Mr. Smith," she said, visited my
home almost daily for two years to get
my assistance in treating his sister in
the east He was a splendid psychic.
He was a positive and needed a mega
tive. / was the negative.
1--WE sat near each other. ! always
faced the north, he the south. Eshis is
necessary to assure success of the
treatment. Then he would place his
hand on mine--or I would place my
hand on his-that don't make any diff
ference-and he would take a thought,
something helpful. and send it east. 1t
was not at all easy. as the effort to con-
centrate our minds was extremely eX-
hausting."
The hearing was continued to Tues
day.