Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1922-11-01
''Our American. Adventure"
British Author Calls Chicago Noisiest City He Has
Ever Known, But Has Interesting EN-
periences There.
BY SIR. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
periences There,

of unimaginative materialism. to show
the existence Of an evil spirit as OF a
good one. Anything TO make US I'M
derstand that We are In the midst OF
great unseen forces and that three
meals me a day and feather be BED do not
h5d a long talk With Col. West or
the United states Army as to the
causes which led to his understand
/ ing these truths. Like myself. he had
.beeu an agnostic until these phenom-
ena forced themselves upon his at
| tention.,
:. Automatic Writing by Child.
One Of his own little children de-
veloped automatic writing and wrote
out the whole life of one George
Smith of the Confederate army. de-
scribing his Imprisonment at Ander-
sonville, his death. and many family
particulars, which were a:terward
verified. AS an example OF how emil
dren grow up and are educated in the
other world. one of his daughters died
when two years old. Two years later
she returned at seance. lisped out
message of greeting. told that her
Grandfather Price was looking after
her. and finally said some words Of
Welsh which he had taught her. An
other child who had died at sea An!
was buried in the Pacific ocean came
back. i am your little girl. Don't
think that l was left in all/that wa
ter" said she. The colonel is in the
same happy position as !. for his wife
has shared the evidence and therefore
feels the same convictions with equal
strength. Together they should be
powerful instruments for good. now
that he is free from his military du-
ties. In the war he was head of one
OF the greatest prison camps In the
AS look back upon the mediums
whom we have tried in America 1t
, must be confessed that the result has
not been striking. Save for Miss
Besinnet. whose powers had already
been tested. there had been nothing
outstanding. I had been unable to
meet the elder Keller at Washington
though / am assured that his powers
have been very real. though now
somewhat impaired and under suspi-
cton OF the researchers.
Medium as Writer.
The criticism that his messages are
all written in the same hand is really
beside the point. for il is always ad-
mitted that. save In certain test cases.
| the writing is from the control using
the medium. The younger Keller was
also unable to meet me. but the evil
/ dence is strong for his true powers
; upon occasions. For the rest, we had
las in a glass darkly," where CLEANS
of evidence, like "F1oreat" of
Mrs. SOULS. came through a mist of
words. and John Ticknor was also in
teresting and impressive. 1t was our
good fortune now to come once again
in contact with a really great medium
in Mrs. Pruden Of Cincinnati. who
had come to Chicago for my Lecture
We had a sitting in the Black stone
Hotel. through the courtesy of her
host. Mr.. Holmyard. and the results
were splendid. She is an elderly.
kindly woman, with a motherly man
ner. Her particular gift was slate
writing. which I had never examined
before. / had heard that there were
trick states. but she was anxious to
use mine. and allowed me to carefully
examine hers. She makes dark
holds the, slate under 1t. while you
may hold the other corner OF it. Her
other hand is free and visible. The
slate Is double. with a little bit of
pencil put in between. After a delay
OF haif an hour the writing began.
Automatic Slate Writing.
1t was the strangest feeling to hold
. the slate and to feel. the thrill and
vibration of the pencil as il worked
away inside. We had each written a
question on a. bit of paper and cast
it down. carefully folded, on the
ground in the shadow of the drapery.
that psychic forces might have cor
rect conditions for their work, which
is always interfered with by light.
Presently each OF US got an answer
to our question upon the slate. and
were allowed to pick up our folded
papers. and see that they had not
been opened. The room. I may say.
was in full daylight and the medium,
of course. could not stoop without our
seeing it l. had some business this
morning of partly spiritual. partly
material nature with a DR.. Colbert.
a French inventor.
I asked in my question il this were
wise. The answer on the slate was,
Trust DIR. Colbert. Kingsley" 1 had
not mentioned Geibert's name in INV
question. nor did Mrs Pruden know
anything of the matter. My wife got
a long message from a dear friend,
signed with her name. The name
was a true signature. Altogether II
was a most utterly convincing demon
stration. Sharp clear raps upon the
table Joined continually in our con-
versation. 1t is certainly a very
beautiful form of mediumship. and I
have tried to persuade Mrs. Pruden.
who is not professional medium. to
come over to the Psychic College and
give demonstrations. The more 1 see
Of this subject the more feel how
indebted we are to Mr. and Mrs
Hewat Mackenzie for that excellent
institution.
Copyright by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. 1922,
for United States and Great Britain.
(Ta he continued In tOmOrrOw,s StarN