The New York herald., 1921-01-31
HE'LL PRETTY TOUGH,
CHALONER Is TOLD
Former Manhattan Club Mate
Puts Over Message as to q
His Experiences.
MANY SPIRITS ON WIRE
And They All Strongly Back
SubcOnscious Battle on
Lunaey Trust.

John Armstrong Chaloner and his E11s
conscious self mounted the stage tn she
Cort Theatre yesterday afternoon vhiIs
the orchestra played The Song Of Ths
volga Boatnnen'' and gave an exhioi-
ton of automatic writing. In rapid sue
cession Gas rapidly as the audience %
125 men and women could suggest ehe
names) he called upon the spirits o.
Ella Wheeler Wilcox. Theodore Hoooe-
velt. John Purroy Mitchell, Professor
Metchnikon. William T. Stead. Lord
Kitchener. Frank r. Stockton. Bishop
Burch, Jacob II. Schiff and even Mayor
Hylan-the latter not responding be-
cause II still is Imprisoned In the tefn-
poral body assigned to it--and they bade
him godspeed and courage in his fur1-
Gus forays upon the '1unacy truge'
which. he told his scant but loyal au-
dience, had kept him, sane person,
locked UP In the Bloomingdale Insane
Asylum four years.
The sp.rituallstic demonstration can1e
at the close of Mr.. Chaloner's f1rst read
ing of his latest literary effort--a
brochure ON the need of lunacy law re-
form and a follow up on Mr.. Chaloners
'Fcur Years Behind the Bars of Bloom
ingdale; or. The Bankruptcy Of Law
in New York." e. work that had no SALE
the author explained. not because II
lacked merit. but because the public did
Before the automatic writing began ne
answered random questions In the spirit
In which they were propounded. WaAn'f
1t true that almost any one In the
audience might be clappcd into the fool
ish house II the alienists had a record
of what he or she had said at odd
times when they didn't think any one
was around? Not at all-unless tho
alienists resorted to their old tricks Of
so separating the speakers nouns ana
verbs to create gibberish. Did Mr.. Chal-
oner have any faith In the theory that
insanity might be corrected. in certain
cases. by dentist? Not at all! The
foolish one only became more foolish
because, whereas he used to talk rot
inteligibfy inasmuch as he had the
necessary teeth to produce aspirates and
SO on, ne now went about mumbling.
which made him look and sound worse.
Alfenfsts PerJurers.
"Of course, there are some folks who
might profit by being In the insane
asylum for a while just to cool off,"
agreed Mr.. Chaloner. "Alienists are
professional perjurers. There may b
exceptions to that but I'd advise you
not to count on II when your time
comes"
Then Mr.. Chaloner launched upon a
comprehensive discourse on the SUBJ
conscious.
"Come to my next lecture" he said,
"and l shall procure messages frcr
your own dead. I am a medium or u.z
first water-a fact that landed me r
the insane asylum back In 1897. BNE
I can no more help talking to mys< q
than I can help transmitting messag y
from the other side. Down In ny
house In Virginia I have heard knock
and raps on tho furniture. like n mai
let. huge mallet wrapped up in
blanket, and hitting the outside OF the
house, which was we'll locked. live
alone. / WIS safe there. Once I heard
my own voice speaking without any vo-
lition Of mine, and / demanded:
Hello. Who are your
"Of course. knew il was trance
that / had fallen IN a trance. My voice
told me that It was my old friend Ton,
Miller speaking. and In my next lecture
/ shall tell you exactly what goes on
and what ones sensations are OF, the
other side OF the grave. ! have It from
n friend Of mine who died. and\ he
swears to God II Is true. He used to
be member Of the Manhattan Club"
Here Mr.. Chaloner gave his audience
sample of what to expect at the next
lecture. He said he had II on the word
of the former member Of the Manhattan
Club that there was fiery prrgatory.
you see." explained Mr.. Chaloner.
"sin's like the bite of venomous rep
tile--lt must be burned out. My friend
told me It was pretty severe on some,
but that he had como off pretty easy,
having been a pretty fair sort OF
citizen.
Now / call for names of the great
dead. Only the great dead. mind. be-
use I shall deal with the lesser dead
at my next lecture. II my pencil does
not move as quickly as / speak II -
because Il cannot My mind travels
faster than my hand. nave no con-
troll over this writing"
ELLA Wheeler Wilcox !" cried q
woman.
And then. In a matter OF fact voice,
Mr. Chaloncr. lounging negligently
AGAINST n grand piano on which bril-
liant electric light stood--the only IL
o.. on an otherwise Stygian
stage--produced the following rapid
message:
Gets q. *. Of spirit.
Il am the spirit Of Ella wheeler
Wilcox. wish 20 say that Mr. Chai-
Oner'S statements ABOUT p~ycHoioby nf',s
tbe sipernorn1af are absolutely correct"
william It. Stead -
IL am the spirit OF william T. stead
What Mrs. Wilcox said Is absolutely
correct"
Mr.. Chaloner amazed his audience py
breaking In upon the messages and m
tefrtiptlng the spirits 20 address side
r. marks 10 a stenographer secretad IN
the wings OF the stage. to locate rs'cr--.
sheet OF paper or 10 call upon his hearerr
10 witness that ne was altogether power
less 70 prevent the phenomena materlal-
izing
Frank r. Stockholm
Il am the spirit OF Frank r. stockton.
have nothing 20 add TO what Mr.. stead
and Mrs wilcox have said. except that
Mr.. Chaloner deserves credit for his
work In destroying the lunacy trust.
I'd like TO say. too. that there's as much
hunor this side of the grave rs on that"
Lord kitcbneri" J"
II am the spirit OF Lord Kitchner.
I acaulesce IN all that has been said by
everybody this afternoon. The iunacy
trust is as firmly intrenched in Great
Britain az In the United States. ] wish
you success. Mr.. Chaioncr."
Professor Metchnikoff ;"
II am the spirit of Professor Mctch-