The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-06-16
SAYSHE TALKED ID
 SPIRIT OF STEAD  Notorious Art Takers Are
 Caught USING 'WHISPER GIRL Persons Band Together to Prosecute Fake Damage Suits-Only Ob- tain World Peace by Going
 Back to God
By PAUL LAMBETH

By PAUL LAMBETH
 London. June 15.-(special.)-A Scotch professor claims to have conversed with William T. snead in the spirit world. Professor James Coates of Glenberg House, Rothsay. fig indignant because the Scotch and English people will not ac- cept seriously the remarkable revelations which he pledges his scholastic honor were made to him by the dead publicist Coates was an intimate friend of the late editor of the London Reviews Of Reviews" He says they often discussed psychic matters together and both prom ised to try and communicate aSter death Di- ing seance which was being held in the home of the professor. suddenly and without the least warning, they heard spirit voices singing Nearer My God To Thee" Mrs. Coates, who was the medium, became as rigid as though dead Then, they heard a voice saying: T know have passed over. The past has been like nightmare, with beautiful awak- ening" May I ask who you are?' in- quired John Dunca& of Edinburg, one of the party. T am Stead" came the an- swer; T tried to reach you before, but couldn't make my voice heard" Coates and the others present at the seance affirm that after this Stead told them what had happened aboard the Titanic | just as she was sinking. It was at my l request" said Stead, according to the i Rothsay account, that the band played 1 Nearer, My God to Thee Oh, if the | world would only heed. I shall speak to 1 Hyslop later. l have an urgent message l to send him. The world must forget strife and live In peace. My son, Willie, is with me, helping and strengthening me and working for others. l can work much better here" The voice then faded away while the spirit was trying to explain to the medium how to reach him. England treats this revelation just as the English people treated Steads spirit communica- ton" from Gladstone, shortly after that statesmans death. The Gladstone family repudiated the authenticity of the Stead 'proof' and the stolid British followed the lead of Hawarden.
 Hundreds of spurious "Od Masters have been seized to pay the costs of prosecution waged against the most notor ious firm of ''underground' art dealers in England.
 It has been found that clever but un- scrupulous artists have been elng out precarious livelihood making Gainesboros, Morlands, Teniers and Sidney Coopers at the rate of one and sometimes, two a day They averaged about s2 per picture, which they received under a regular agreement with the "art dealers" James Laurence Castigione and Robert George Porteous. When the paintings were ready for the market they were consigned by the truck load to some out-of-the-way town, where Castiglione entered suits against fictitious defendants. Porteous swore out affdavits upon which judg lnents were entered against people who had no actual existence. This clever per formance brought the gullible to the sales looms of the 'art firm" under the belief that through the sheriff's sale they were getting bargains at absurdly low prices. One very well known Pittsburg steel man was duped in this way, and hundreds of Britishers walked into the trap. Porteous has been sentenced to a years conf1ne- ment and Castiglione to six months. The sponsors of the new ''Old Masters" re- ceived their punishment at the New Old Baiy court
 I wonder if the "Whisper Girp' has reached the theatres of the United States. The Whisper Girl'' is Charles Frohman's latest addition to the staff at the Globe theatre. She glides through the aisles of the darkened house. and everybody makes way for her as she passes from seat to seat, whispering telephone mes sases. tidings of projected suppers. bridge parties and calls for the doctor out to snatch an hours pleasure Under the new arrangement everybody is registered at the box office of the Globe theatre and l the Whisper Girl is trained to do her | work quietly. She is absolutely firtproof | Mr. Frohman assures me.
 
 Enterprise is not altogether lacking among the English. II has just been dis closed through investigation made by electric tramway companies and accident insurance companies that a number of persons have banded themselves together so that they may recover substantial | damages. Three of the alleged leaders | in this conspiracy fled recently to Phil | 'adelphia when the scent was becoming |
 warm. It is just likely that efforts | will be made to extradite them. One of the gang is a woman who is said to have to her credit the remarkable record of 15 children born within three years. That is to say. she figured as the complainant in 13 cases, and in each case her evidence was given with either brace of twins or a single babe in her arms to plead her cause for damages with judge and jury. An injury which she received Tn HeI NUulu was used as tHt SpeciiS itd- son why each of the companies should pay up. And doctor still carried on the rolls of the Royal college testified to the care she had received at his hands. In every case the gang succeeded in get ting away with damages.
 Monsignor Benson one of the most forcible of British pulpit orators. says the world will never conquer the passion for war by mere humanitarianism We can only hope to attain world peace he says. ''by going back to God. Sordid men think that they can make men good and peaceful by sordid means. l.lt is impossible. Look at any of the modern wars that the world has seen
 Can 1t be said that God was obviously on the one side or the other? Can 1t be said that Divine truth or Eternal justice was al stake? Christians accept, apparently as a self-evident truth, that if Germany needs the expansion of her empire, or it England thinks her reputation is at stake, they are justified in fighting. Our whole scheme of reasoning is wrong from base
 ment to roof and we must readjust it or | fail. To love our neighbors as ourselves