The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-03-28

enceS-pSychic phenomena. am | tolerably familiar with the writings
 of F1ammarion, Lodge. Hyslop. Myers Lombroso, Ochorowitz, Podmore and ,, others; also with quite a little of the
 Proceedings of the Psychical Research Society.
 I have had some experience in ta- ble-tipping and rapping, slate writing naturalization, levitation or teleken- esis, and the other gross manifesto spiritism.
 The most convincing and irrefut- able knowledge of these matters, however, has come to me through one whom I believe to be- the most marvellous psychic who has ever Hv- ed-Mrs. Mary Vanderbilt. This re- markable woman-a regularly ordain- ed minister in a Brooklyn Church is, in proprie personae, a charming and cultured lady, with a catholic mind, and a wide scope of general and special information.
 It is in her inspired hours, however, when under spirit control, that her eloquence, logic, philosophic grasp, wealth of allusion, beauty of diction, and wonderful fluency amaze the lis tener. She plays with words as a skilled musician plays upon an in strument; she marshals facts and
 builds up her argument in masterly style; she cuts-with vitriolic sar- casm-beneath the thick hide of sham, hypocrisy, and economic and so- cial injustice.
 Her method of speaking inspira- tionally upon a number of themes, suggested off-hand by members of her
 audience-many of them most di- l thing in impromptu speaking I have ever heard.
 It is in her message work though
 messages purporting to come from de- carnate intelligences-thats she is abso- lutely unique. I doubt, if in the lit
 erature of psychic research, anything so convincing and accurate has ever 1 been known. I have heard her give
 hundreds of ssages-some of them
 most intricate and complicated in character-upwardo of a score of which I have personally investigated, and
 I have yet to hear where she has er- red.
 Occasionally. she has to drag from reluctant auditor-by a process of
 cross-examination which would be the eternal envy of a prosecuting attor- ney-an admission of the truth of | the excarnate beings who utilize her as a medium of their communication.
 But in every single instance, so far as have observed the accuracy of the
 information they reveal is finally ad- mitted.
 As an instance, girl who sat in conspicuously in the rear of the au-
 dience room, was importuned by the spirit of her mother to renounce her | intention to take her own life. The girl fiatly denied such intent, but on
 being pressed by her guardian spirit
 her mother-she broke down and con | fessed that she had planned to sui eide that very night, and in an agony of grief and repentance surrendered ,I,i iot, eI,1 was armed against herself. Another interesting case,-demon-
 strating beyond cavil the impossibility
 of telepathy being the agent. The
 spirit of a mother brought to her son. present-a message from another splr- it-a woman who, in life, occupied the
 house in which this young man now
 resided. She begged him to search 1 in a certain crevice in a designated closet, and recover a will which the
 spirit whom she brought had placed
 to the Surrogate's office, in order that
 certain alteration in the distribu-
 ton of her estate might be effected. The will was found, as directed, and
 the wrong, committed in a moment of
 pique, was lighted.
 On several occasions, Mrs. Wander | bilt gave me vivid and intimate mes
 sages from a dear brother who pass , ed out a year or more ago. In part,
 the information, relating to his es-
 tate and affairs, was of such a charac-
 ter that it's significance and accuracy
 could only be determined after ex-
 tended correspondence with friends "back home."
 | A short time ago, during a little
 dinner party at my home, Mrs. Van derbilt suddenly went into pro-
 found trance-something she very
 rarely does-and through her, my
 brother came to us, and talked as ra-
 tionally and beautifully, and convinc-
 ingly as he had ever done while in
 the earth life.
 | He epitomized, the university of | consciousness and the philosophy of
 life and death in a helpful, purpose full way in words that sung themselves into our hearts.
 After happily expressing his satis-
 faction and at 'one-ment" with his