The Washington times., 1922-08-24


ed mediums. under the guise Of
spiritualism, have continually, and
are still fooling the public with
their trickery. how do you account
for the innumerable and authentic
cases Of spirituaiistic phenomena,
as recorded In volumes published
by both American and foreign
Psychical Research Societiesf y.
How do you account for the vol
luminous mass of testimony from
persons in all walks OF LIE who
themselves--not through any
medium-received messages In vari-
Gus forms from their so.cailed
dead?
The libraries all over the country
are full Of books bearing first-hand
evidences Of spirit communication;
magazines devote pages to the sub
ject; and one can hardly read
newspaper without coming across
some happening OF a nature that
cannot be explained by other than
the spiritualistic hypothesis. one
only has to 70 to the Bible to find
enough evidence there OF q con-
vincing nature, that Is, II the Book
means anything at all. am not
dealing with the paid medium now.
/ am, like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle,
seeking a solution to problems that
and abroad. Again. ! ask. how do
PAUL L. COMPTON.
A.-The publications OF the
societies you name are divided, In
contents, into exposes and COM
mendations Of mediums. l have
copies Of all but one Of these publi-
cations, dating back many years. In
many OF the cases recorded as
genuine, my personal Investigations
have shown matters different than
as recorded.
am not trying to turn anyone
from spiritualism. / state only my
own findings Of an investigator OF
more than twenty-five years. / &C
cept your statement that persons re-
ceive messages from their departed
ones, with sympathetic understand
ing. These messages may be genuine;
and, again, the recipients mind may
be playing him false. have dis
cussed the Bible In previous answers.
OIL am sending you an account
Of a very strange happening which
took place in my own home, and
! would be pleased II you can solve
the phenomenon. or course, to me,
1t is exactly what 1t Is purported to
be.
A .middle-aged woman married
man somewhat older. The marriage
proved to be not an ideal one. The
woman, a very estimab1e person,
was in the habit of getting auto.
matte writing. which mostly proved
to be reliable. The husband proved
to be a very disagreeable person,
which gave the woman much dis
tress, and at times tempted her to
write and ask questions OF her
spirit friends. Now, the husband
had no knowledge Of her medium
ship whatsoever.
One day she received this mes
sage: You will soon be released.
You will soon be out Of this in
fernal fit"
This message amazed her so that
she told a lady friend who had no
belief in spiritualism and simply
laughed, which caused the woman
who received this message to be
quite sorry that she had mentioned
the subject.
Now! Inside Of two weeks the
aforesaid man one morning took a
market basket and left the house,
and about noon a physician and
another man brought him into his
home with his throat cut. The doc.
tor said he probably would live as he
had failed to cut deep enough. 1t
was evident that he was unbalanced.
The wife expected him to recover.
and in a day or two she received this
short message, saying: This Is the
climax"
The man showed signs of in
sanity and the authorities, deeming
him unsafe, took him away for
examination, and while he was
placed in a small room for a brief
time he stripped up a sheet and
hanged himself.
This surely proved to be he
climax" and, of course, as It
turned out, the wife was more than
gla dshe had told her friend who
would gladly affirm this to be abb
solutely true.
LILLIAN NJ. JENNISON.
A.-Your story cannot be explained
away on the ground Of coincidence.
l have learned of several cases Of
this kind, and I find them to be
based purely on scientific facts. Men,
tai science has shown us that, even
though we do not express II openly
even though we do not admit 1t to
our conscious selves-the wish that
Is nearest our hearts Is uppermost
in our subconscious minds. This
woman desired to escape from an
utterly wretched existence. The auto
matte writing was a manifestation
Of the working Of the subconscious
mind. Probably she would not per.
nit herself to believe she desired her
husbands death. Add to these fac.
tors the condition Of her husband q
mind. and II will appeal to your
reason that the result was inevitable,
Whether her subconscious thought
was impressed upon the husband s
unsettled mind cannot be determined.
OIL had the pleasure in 1918
OF meeting you on tho stage Of
the New York Hippodrome during
one of the Liberty loan cam
paigns. At the time / was in the
service and engaged in a speak.
ing tour, approved by my supe-
riors. On two or three other oc-
casions I witnessed your stage per
md haVa aiUya