Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1922-04-13
CONAN DOYLE
TELLS SENATORS
OF DEATH BED


New York, April 12.-(By A. P)-
scribed the sensations of the deathbed
as he said they had been communicat-
ed to him from beyond the Styx.
Listening to him was vast audi
cnce. an audience that filled Carnegie
hall. an audience many of whose MEM
bers soon will board Charon's craft for
the voyage which all must take. Pal
sled heads shook with emotion as the
earnest words fell from the lips of a
man who has turned from medicine and
letters TO search for the spiritual.
Death is not painful. but pleasant
process, said Sir Arthur. AS death APP
proachcs the soul--the etheric body
floats out from its early she'll and how
.ers above the human clay. tethered
OILY by the silver cord of which &C.
clesiastics speak. The only sensation
is one of delicious languor.
The first sight that greets the eye
is one of smiling. loving faces bending
over the dcathbed, continued Sir Ar
thur.
Proof" he asked
II have stood by the side OF the dy-
ing. seen hands turning cold in death
stretch out. heard words of endearment
fall from lips that soon would move
no more. Dclirium. say materialists.
No. It is not delirium.'
"Proof?" asked the preacher Of spir-
itualsm again. "The disengaging OF
the etheric body can be. has been pho
tographed. 1 am fortunate enough to
have such plate"
Then he told of eight-ali clairroy-
ants-who had sat beside their dying
mother.
1T was lovely to- see the ctherlc
body discngage itself" he said. There
was a multiplicity of beautiful light
Othcr accounts. agreeing in detail
had been given of the passing or a
soul. he added.
rs that not good evidence" he
asked
The tense silence was broken, as the
audience, evidently in sympathy VIII
the doctrines of Sir Arthur, broke in
TO prolonged applause.
throughout the lccture-the firs'
which Sir Arthur has given since ne
came to America last Sunday to raise
funds for propagation of gospe
which he said was the beginning OF 8
new religion for the human race
though not designed to displace the
old-his hearers followed with rap
attention the presentation of his evil
dence of the spirit world.
He described at length his CONVEX.
sion from a rank materialist to sucf
4 faith in spiritualism that he had de-
cided that his wife, his family, hi:
reputation as a man of letters were
but as mud in the gutter beside it.
His qualifications he said were
those of physician, trained to The
scientific point of view and what wa!
deemed by some who had followed
the adventures of Sherlock Holmes
some slight knowledge of detective
work.
Then he proceeded with his defense
of the hypothesis that physical phen'
ornean exist. Table rappings, he said
could be proved by such evidence a.
would carry a point in court of law
Puerle signals, he said they We're
corresponding to the knock on a doc
here below. designed merely to heralt
approach of friend and capture TIL
attention of a Skeptical world.
| Equal proof, he said could b,
brought forward that the spirits o
the departed through mediums, cOul,
converse with their beloved below ant
that. these messages were the essen
! tai things.
II stand but ankle deep in vas
ocean OF psychic know ledge, but ever
if am only ankle deep, | can pexhap:
bring some message TO those VII,
stand dry shod on the shores
Spirits not only can converse Will
+ those on earth. Sir Arthur continued
but they can present themselves il
material form. He himself he de
clared, had gaZcd on the faces of hi.
mother, son and brother and had talk.
Cd with them
The naturalization he said. wa!
made possible through "cctoplasm''-
a combination Of natter and ether
beaten togethel-which emanatec
from the bodies Of mediums
This substance. he continued, coult
be felt, analyzed and photographed
He himself had seen and felt it, he
said, and he had numerous photo.
graphs to prove its existence.
lie said an etherc body. the exact
duplicate of the living could be TEN.
porarily ASSOCIATED without death
THIS could be done. he said, sometimes
through the use Of narcotics, though
he smllinsly added that he did not adj
wise this method.