Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1920-07-15
GHOST WITNESS
IN COURT TRIAL
Dead Woman Tells of Procuring
Iron With Which Husband
Killed Her.
like STORY OF OLDEN TIMES
Supernatural Comes Again to Play
Recognized Part in Affairs of Men
in Country Which Calls Itself
Civilized.

Washington, D. CA man is ac-
cused of beating his wife to death,
and is brought before high tribunal
for trial. Judge and jurors and audi
ence sit and listen in respectful 81
lence while the ghost of the dead wom-
an teStifieS that she herself procured
the iron bar with which she was killed,
that she had intended to kill her hus-
band with it, and that he had great
provocation to kill her.
This sounds like a story of Olden
times It might have happened in any
of the great ages of superstition
when men believed in the supernatural
even more than they did in the nat
ural.
Civilization is supposed to have freed
man from these ancient fears, but it
has not done so. The fear is still
latent in us, waiting for chance to
express itself. For example, the in
cident related above happened, not in
the middle ages or in a fairy tale, but
in the Supreme court of the District
of Columbia a few days ago. The dead
woman's mother testified that she had
gone to several mediums, had con-
versed with the ghost of her daughter
and had so gotten the daughters
story of what happened. Still more
astonishing, she testified that an as
sistant United States attorney had adj
vised her to consult mediums. When
you take this in connection with the
fact that the Supreme court evidently
listened to the ghost conversation as
part of the testimony, you cannot blink
at the conclusion that ghost has been
admitted to court of justice in the
United States. The supernatural has
come again to play formal and rec
! ognized part in the affairs of men in
country which calls itself civilized.
SpirituaIism Involved
Of course, the whole question of
spiritualism is here involved. There
are many intelligent and sincere peo-
| pie who believe that the existence of
ghosts who can communicate with us
| has been proved.
Out in the West there is a certain
the grave Of many fortunes One man
| after another has tried to get this
| gold, and all have failed. Finally,
along came an inventor with a most
| ingenious and expensive plan for get
ting the gold He had absolute faith
in it. It appeared that he was in com
munication with the ghost Of his dead
sister, and that she had impaired this
plan to him, and had told him it was
sure to succeed. He spent every cent
| he owned and could borrow on the
| plan and lost it all. The ghost was
| wrong.
Here is another example of a med
! dlesome ghost who sought to make
| trouble. A young and attractive widow
was invited by an older woman who
| lived in the same boarding house to
| Join her in some Ouija board eXcur-
sions to the land Of the dead. They
! Immediately got into communication
with the spirit of the young WOman's
dead husband. He proceeded to crit
icize her goings and comings at great
length. He objected to the man she
| went with. He told her that such and
such a man was immoral, that an
other ate cocaine, that third had a
wife living in Australia He advised
her to give up all frivolities and stay
at home nights.
Widow Is Troubled.
The young widow was considerably
troubled at first. But she had strong
common sense. She reflected that
even if spiritism was a true revelation,
there were fake mediums, and her Ell
derby friend might be one of them.
She also reflected that her husband in
life had been a jealous fellow, inclined
to lie about all possible rivals, and she
saw no reason to believe that death
had reformed him. She was able to
prove that some of the messages which
had been sent her from 'The Beyond"
were not in accord with the facts.
When the next ouija board session
came off, there was struggle. Hub
bic tried to get in some more advice,
but the young widow had strong hands.
Instead of hubby, it was the defunct
aunt of her elderly friend who got the
floor. This departed lady Informed the
elderly friend that she was in danger
of serious financial reverses, that she
was apt to die a violent death, proba-
bly, by falling down stairs, that the
rubber company in which she had
bought three shares of stock was a
swindle, and that if she did not drink
less tea she would get cirrhosis of the
liver. All of this threw the good wom-
an into a sweat of apprehension; the
ouija board readings were discont1n-
ued, and the dead husband lost his
only means of communication with the
world of the living, to the great re-