Year: 1859

bly-I have feft peculiar .a-te a. OF medicine, not
o. food or dIizk, bu, gas or vopoT.


have heard Of similar instances from others; Dat
neither in their csses or my can do oiner"lse
.h,n speak besi.atingly, for cannot b. sure that
spiIit influence had anything 20 do WITH II.


The medicated water, Of which have spoken, had


peculiar taste as well odor, and several instances
of the same kind have been related 20 me


g. Fteliag Touching the per-on has been much
more common than either Of the other two


The frst time experienced this a; dark c!r-
Gle. Ten or dozen persons were present sitting
around table. Two Of the company were direct q
10 psss behind the rest Of us As they did 30 slowly,
each one seemed 70 be touched. Sometimes | could
only Judge from their exclamatoEs, but sometimes
could hear the slap Of hand very di-tinctiy. The
manifestation was rather rude, and was offensive %
me; and as was approached was apprehensiVe oi


similar display with me; but, on the contrary al
felt was a hand gently laid on my head, and ;here
moved around few times, and then two or three sol
touches on nv side The room being dark, could
not of course kaoc that it not done by one o the
two persons who were behind me. But It was not


little remarkable that it should have been m .de 10
conform TO thought which hal not uttered, and 50
unlike all the others both before and aterward during
the evening and that it should be touch with which
! was familiar for it was the gesture with which my
wife was wont 70 pass my chair she would enter my
library Of an afternoon and find me at work at my
law cases. No one then present, think, could have
known that and it was too peculiar TO be deemed
accidental.


Ny doubts, however, were soon removed, Tor no;
long afterward, at circle, my arm was seized above
the elbow as by an iron hand. felt distinctly the
palm Of the hand, the ball Of the thumb and each
finger and was held fast, with force far superior
to any that mortal hand could exert was power
less in its grasp. tried 10 shake il of but could
not tried to move my arm, but in vain. There
was none Of the soness and elasticity OF human flesh
in the touch but il hard and in1exbe Ike metal,
and my arm pressed TO the verge OF pain. Yet
did not hurt, but simply held me fast. 1t could be no
human hand and, beside, knew il was not, for put
nv other hand on the affected part, and all around
H. so as 10 be certain. became uneasy and i'm
portuned it to leave me, but it continued long
enough to show me it independent OF my will,
andthen it left.


Beside these instances, my person has been ire
quently touched, and sometimes under circun-
stances that precluded the idea of its being done by
mortal hand. II would extend this paper too much
to enter into detail of the circumstances, out of
which this preclusion springs but at that time was
alike astute and skeptical, and labored like some
others Of later periods, under the fear that my
credulty might be imposed upon and ! made ridicu-
lous by some who considered my interiors in stand
ing, if not intellect. was, therefore, on constant
look out for trickery. Sometimes the events would
occur in such manner that they might be done by
mortal means, though the fair conclusion was that
they were not, but it was sometimes that all doubt
was cut off. Thus have been touched, when no
person was near enough to do il; Sometimes in the
IL .-1I that, +Hnan
present did it; sometimes in the dark, when
knew where was, even that was present some
times my foot has been patted as with a hand
times my Clothes pulled as by child; sometimes a
push in my side, as by a dull and nonelastic force
and twice have felt a human hand on my skin On
one Of these occasions the touch cold, but not
claumy and ON the other il was SOFT warm aud flesh
like.


have been present on numerous occasions when
nthars ho,-a said ,bny .~~Li, ~eA 49, ~at~i
a. if they were and when il was evidently no fabrl.
cation of theirs for they too really frightened
themselves. Once ] recollect my niece who was
standing by my side, had her feet SO pulled from
under her that she came near falling; and once
young man who stood near me was seized and pulled
from me. ] caught hold of him, but our joint re-
sistaAce was overpowered, and he was fairly lifted
from the floor and taken from me.


These things occurred in the earlier period OF my
inquiries. Their work having been done with me,
/ have witnessed little or nothing of them of late.
But was then in a peculiar state OF mind. AT one
moment ii would seem from the nature OF the incl
dents that il was not possible there could be any
deception but subsequent reflection would suggest
that there might be- and was therefore not yet a
full believer. While in this mood of mind, this
intel gence urged me to publish to the world what
had witnessed. refused and demanded more evil
dence. They answered they would give it TO me,
and they did in good earnest.


II would take more than column of your paper 10
relate the events Of that memorable evening. 1t
must now suffice for to say, that five mediums
were brought together, without my intervention, end
that for three hours and half in the hsnds of
this intelligence, and was operated upon by il
in a great variety ofwsys.


had no fear during the operation, but for several
evenings aiterward l confess that when l retired to
bed was frightened at what had been done to me,
and to this day the incidents live very vivdy in my
memory.


The object seemed to be to convince me, by re-
solt TO my senses that there was power al work
not Of mere mortal origin, and that object was a.
tanned.


Perhaps may, in my next paper, detail the events
Of that meeting, but l have filled my column,
without yet even alluding to the numerous
manii, atiops that addressed TO the OF
sight and hearing. must refer that topic TO another
occasion, and close this paper by remarkng:
First Tha. which struck me most amid all the
wonder. beleld was the intelligence that was dis
played il il all. II was not only guided by ntelli-
gen,e but il lad an intelligent object and held an
intelligent conversation with me.


Sand (tIars ssE a ciaye-