The New York herald., 1920-01-10
MIRACLE PICTURE
Of HIS DEAD WIFE
GOES WITH PRAYER
Five Thousand Visit Missouri
Farm to View PhenOm-
enon Ceiling.
ESPECIAL DESPATCH TO THE HERALD ]

lSfEClAL DESfAlCt1 ~ ftab k1Eh(AAAD.I
PRINCETON, Mo-. Friday.-On the cell
ing of the living room in Morg Donelson's
farmhouse, six miles north of Princeton,
there is white spot as large as the palms
of your two hands which looks as if it had
been freshly scrubbed with soap and
water.
| That spot is all that remains OF the
miracle picture" which lashed this COM
munity into a religious frenzy two weeks
ago and Drought more than 5000 persons
en- a pilgrimage from all over THIS county
and tar up into Iowa.
Whatever it was, the picture is gone.
Here is the story. Donelson's wife died
October g. She and her little baby were
buried in the same casket. Donelson says
she had predicted the date of her death
almost year before. The night or De
cember 10, two months and a half after
his wfe's death, Donelson was sitting IN
his living room reading his Bible.
Suddenly, he says, heard voice just
as plain as day saying 'Morg, look up.
looked and the house seemed to open
up: saw the forms of my dead wife and
little baby coming down out of the sky.
My father was sitting across the room and
he noticed my eyes bulging and the
strange expression on my face.
~Its Annie and the BABY"
HE came over where I was sitting and
he too, looked up. 1 said to him, Pa,
what do you see? and he said to me,
Morg, what do you see? and then
said, Pa. its Annie and the baby
my mother was in the room and she
saw 1t too. The children came down from
upstairs and they saw the picture right
off, Theodore, who is fifteen years old,
said he could see right down through the
ceiling from upstairs. Joe said, It's
mamma come down to take us away
with her. Rosie, the little girl, she saw
lit too"
two and a half or three inches long and not
quite as wide. There were the outlines
of the upper part OF a casket and living
inside were the figures of a woman ana a
baby, Donelson says. He could clearly
recognize his wife, he declares. the way her
hair was parted and the expression on
her face
DoneIson did not sleep any that night.
The next day he told the story or the
picture to two men who were helping him
haul hogs At dinner time he took then
into the living room to see IT. Ihey stareo
ceilingward with barred heads for while
and then nodded knowingly to eacn other.
Yes. it was Morg's wife an right.
From those two farm hands the story
snre.d The roads leading to Donelson'
home were filled with motor loads or Gu
rious pilgrims. The Donelson house was
thrown open and Donelson himseir met
the visitors at the door.
Freight Train Shops.
Three hundred motor cars were IN the
front ward on Sunday. A freight train
etonned ON O siding three-quarters or a
niIa away and the whole crew tramped
across the fields to the farm house and
trooned into the living room. Some Oh
them could see the picture; others could
not. .,,,
Tuesday afternoon, while the crowds stili
,vere mourning into the living room,
stranger appeared and took Donelson TO
ono side. He told him about dream ne
had had.
.I can't repeat that dream" Donelson
told a reporter land 7 can't tell just what
connection it had with the picture, but
when he had finished arguing with me
we went back to the living room and 1
got my Bible.
"And then. right there before all those
people prayed again that IL that picture
was the work of the devil, for God to
take It away. 1t disappeared"
Ibid YOU rub the wet towel across tne
ceiIing?" Donelson was asked.
well, yes, I did. But that wasn't what
took the picture away. 1t was praying
that did it, and all the people who were
in the room then will tell you so, too
The picture remained on the ceiling
about ninety hours from the time Donelson
first discovered it to the time he rubbed
it with soap and water and prayed