The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1911-02-03
Blind GIRLS TRANCE.
PREDICTED THAT GOD WOULD SURELY
PERFORM A MIRACLE.
For 5 Days She Has Occupied the
Bed Without the TWitCh of a Mus
Gle.

The miracle so confidently expected
by the religiously ecstatic people at
the bedside Of Margaret Shipley, the
blind girl who has been for eight days
in trance, is still delayed. The girl
has been lying in narrow white cot
in bed chamber whose entire color
ing is a special white; her attend
ants moving softly in white robes; the
girls own thin face and attenuated
hands being nearly as white as the
nunlike hood of muslin that she
wears.
Tuesday night at o'clock the pre-
diction was made that God would sure
ly perform a miracle; that the young
woman who has been blind since
birth, through all her % years of life,
would arise from the white cot with
her sight completely restored. For
eight days she has occupied the bed
without the twitch of a muscle or
the quiver of the hands clasped over
her breast.
But tonight when the hour predict
ed for the happening of the miracle
had arrived, with the chant of prayer
of her bedside watchers arising to the
strident tones of hysteria, the girl
did not open seeing eyes upon the
world. At the hour she did arise and
move slowly several PAGES across the
room and seat herself in an armchair.
She accomplished this feat without
the putting forth of her hands. But
it was afterward claimed that she had
been able to see. 1t was frankly ad-
mitted that she knew the room well
and the location of articles OF furni-
ture and had been able to move about
with certainty between chairs and ta-
bles and the like
All that came from the strange
white room that has been Mecca
for 10000 persons in the last eight
days was that the Shipley girl had
whispered that the miracle was de-
layed for another day; that she had
suddenly been plunged into a battle;
her soul against the strength Of the
devil, and that when she had con
quered the demon, as she knew she
would, God then would restore her
sight and send her forth on her
mission of drawing the whole world
to Christianity. At dawn tomorrow, she
said, she would surely see.
The first thought regarding the af-
fair has been that McKeesport has
become the scene of merely another
fake, promoted to work upon the sus-
capabilities of the religious and emo
tional
But at least this affair of the blind
| girl and her trance shows no effort
to make pecuniary profit. No admis-
sion has been charged to see her, and
contributions voluntarily offered have
been turned aside.
The girl is the adopted daughter of
Mr.. and Mrs. Charles P. Haldeman,
the man a thrifty worker in the mill
town, who has acquired a two-story
frame dwelling of the usual type in
such communities. Haldeman, his
wife and the Shipley girl have been
intensely religious. Mrs. Haldeman
and Margaret Shipley have taken lead
| ing parts in attempting to get converts
for local mission.
Mrs. Haldeman prepared the dining
! room of her home for the scene of the
miracle. Windows and doorways were
draped with curtains of spotless white;
chairs and sofas were shrOuded in
white and i'm the centre of the room
was the cot with white covering, into
which tn girl was placed, her body
clothed in flowing white robes and
her head covered with the white head
dress OF nun.
In q white-covered chair beside the
bed has sat constantly through all
hours of the day the little girl of the
revelation, rolling her eyes, prayerful
yet conscious of the stares of the thou
sands that have been attracted to the
house.
The educational average OF McKees-
port ia not high. Surrounding mill
towns also have population in which
superstition has considerable sway
The strange case OF the blind girl in
trance has been whispered in all
directions, and in trolley cars from
many towns scared men, women and
children have come to obtain a swift,
furtive glance and as swiftly to move
away.
The whole room suggests death
chamber. had ID impressed were hum