The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, October 20, 1901, Page 7

td hy myself while n Iatent in (1) my 3 arze of the mitting, d of the person who was trying to aet communica tion with some one in another state of existence, or same com: panion present with such person, or (4) in the mind of some absent person alive somewhere else in this world. may have been coneclous of any knowledge of in my mysterious subliminal consciousness, vity when 1 was In dition, the knowledge my waking life. It might, in nd of one of those present and from one of thelr’ minds ay devel- ealm of physical sclence make me feel that it r me to say What may or may not be possible m n the subiective mind by laws not yet fprmulated. t shown me that ali the laws of the objective mind = that the knowledge of facts stated by me while in the & was © or with any of thoke present in the oom w r t still have been in the mind of ¢ world. It might have . and have been trans- then to wiy subjective e. 1 do not find it as spirit telling the things. Regqrding Thought Telegraphy. unconseio! rred to me from a person ot see any rem person could not have re- sge from somebody at a long distance mnd then thought, direct to me. 1f telepathy is possi Yy not among three, just the same as with with the common coincidence of letters cross- whka had not written for & long time and who at the same time. Distance does not seem to out such meetings in, perhap: that sort of human wireless telegraphy; t rd person learning by the same .means of facts An interesting ease of what seemn like direct thought trans- ference in the subjective mind was when I geve Intelligible an- swers, in English, of course, while in the condition to questions ked of me by a sitter in Italian, a ) uage | do not under- and. All the communieation scemed to be entirely b the sabli 1 thonght of the sitter and mynelf. think that may be the way we shall all talk to e in the future state. = sometimes happened that things I have said at a sitting were consoling or important to those who were trying to satisfy s or hearts by these hical experiments. Story of a Boston Physician. 1d Boston physician had a sitting with me It seems Once when ar that ed most about a pencil which was put into my hands. it havir be y of eased file hen I came out of the condition he drew himseif n his chair and . with excusable gruffnes t to mccept It, if It seems | I lowed by detectives. Her personal lug- “What made you talk about nothing but the top of an o'd penci! Why didn’t you talk about God and the angels?” 3 ‘What do you know about God and the angels? T could not help ng. He was good enough to smile, for of course the pencil was part | . the other talk would not have been nother and still more famous Boston do me, he said afterward that he “found good side of her by caressing her children.” A8 - “I know Mrs. Piper is consclous, be- cause she listened when the door bell rang.” One sitter as 1f T had the face of my clock illuminated so that I could know wh 1e hour was u s I did not make it a practice to remain in the condition for more than an hour at a time. It has, however, at times been much longer. Cuitivated people have often been surprized at first meetings that 1diq not seem pecullar or unllke other women, and some of them expressed their wonder, or came to se A European Halluclnation. When I was taken to England the wife of one of the celebrated English men of sclence met me with ihe exclamation to her husband: “Js this Mrs. Piper? You don't mean to tell me that this Is Mr: Piper!” Then to me: “T thought you would be sure to be very fat and like magenta color and wear friselettes!” These words In her rich English volce made us both smile, but we aft- erward became good friends. I have been o fortunate as to make good friends and pleasant ac- | quaintances through my work. Some of them do and some do not bLelleva that spirits heve spoken through me. I do not think that even those who do have liked to see me mentioned in print, as I have been, as “the human telephone to the next luch expressions were of course never used concerning me in the ra- ports of the Psychical Research Boclety or In such articles as those of Mr, Lang, or of Professor Hyslop in the Literary Digest, the Arena, etc.; In Mrs. Katherine Tillman Bull's article in H 's Magazine last year, or in any similar articles published at home or abroad. I am grateful for all thoughtful, profound or kindly intentioned articles. I am aware that | run the risk of the disapprobation of some people by voluntarily ceasing to be a “case” for study. But most students and lovers of science and hu- manity will, I hope, understand. Phillips Brooks sald in a public address: “Thers is a belle? In God which does not bring him rather say, does not let him come into close contact with our dally life. The very reverence with which we honor God may make us it him out from the hard tasks and puzzling problems with which we have to do. Many of us who call ourselves theists 0. In the desire to honor the wonderful sun dial them, bullt a root over it. Break down the roof; let He also said: in thiz great truth, that the soul of man carries the highest possibilities How every truth attains to its enlargement and reality within ftself.” LEONORA E. PIPER. What Scientists Have Said of Mrs, Piper. I N view of Mrs. Piper's exiraordinary confession—calm, dignified, pro- found—it will be interesting to read what sclentists of England and america sald of her; what experts thought of her psychlc manifesta- tions and her personality, together with the description of “how she aid 1. The strongest claim made for Mrs. Piper has always been that “she is cnest.” Professor Nathaniel S. Shaler said he belleved that “‘she herself honest, but that whatever the medium Is, I am convinced that this in- ssterous scoundrel.” A rofessor of ychology at Harvard, sald: “Taking everything that 1 know of Mrs. Piper into account, the result is to make me fee] absolutely certain that she knows things in her trances that she cannot poseibly have had knowledge of in a waking state, and that the Gefl hy of her trances Is yet to be found.” C;‘m, Eliot Norton, professor of art and literature at Har- J waw things at these sittings which appeared marvelous and Lensible to me, 1 Ao not attempt to explain them. 1 belleve, at hers is a field for the fullest scientific Investigation,” as the view taken by the Psycholcgical Research Bociety, and to guard against fraud she was taken in the custody and control of the soel- ets Professor Richard Hodgson of London, the American representative 1= society, who was originally employed to discover fraud, and who exposed Mme, Blavatsky, sald he first went to Mrs, Piper's house with Professor James to unmask her. For the first few years he was a con- firmed disbeliever in her. That was fifteen years ago, but later he became convinced of her power to communicate with the dead. The most distinguished New York authority, Professor James H. Hys- lop, instructor in ethics and mental science at Columbia University, who . Plper huffy, but got on the | | of exvosure or the discovery of any sus- ’ prefaced a long series ox psycnologicu If vestigations by exposing the frauduleid ctices of noted fpirit “wonders," also ume convinced ¢f Mres. Pi;\er'n extra- ordirary powers. At A test “gitting” he wsked for messages from his father, soma reminiscences of things happening before the professor's birth. The repiles related to events and inciflents, many of which We recognized as Having heard from liv- g witnesses, 5 After a thoroush investigation Willax Walsh. wrote of Mre. Piper: “The womai his case is an_excellent and imeproaci. abie character. She i3 Mrs. Plper, a resi- dent of Arlingten Helghts, near Bustoi. Her husband 1s a tallor in very moderals clrcumstancs She has two childrea. She Is an inieiligent rou would call an 3 ther handsome . neither tall nor short, neither She fs just an av the ave . as, g2 tes has ever woman' of the United Deen. “In 1852, or thereabouts, she underwent a dsngerous surgical o) tion. The phy- sician_who brought her through success- fully wes a sy ist Ly belief. He de- tected in her spiritualletic possibilities. Witk her consent he made a medium of her, fust (he average. ordinnry medium, who gives spirituaiistic seznces for a cons stderation. “But. unltke many of her fellow work- iper was absolutely hones:i. no explanation to offer of the hich she found her- G no consclousners of what_happened during the hypnotic warce. When she returned to her normal state she had no r mbrance of what she had s r what other forces bad gaid or done through her agepcy. Mrs. Piper’s Hongst Simplicity. “It was this transparent simplicity and I: genucusness of character, this lack of the ahd mumbo jumbo of ordinary hip. that made Mrs. Plper con- e the common herd of clar- milar charlatans. yvears or more she has been under the close observation, first of Professor James, afterward of Dr. Hodg- s0n and other competent persons~ “‘She and her husband have been shad- gage hae been searched, her correspon her goings out and comings in tched. Yet in all these years )t the smallest cireumstance has come v Light reflecting In ahy way upon her “Cerialnly no other medium has ever stringest an ordeal. faet thnt, under far rvision, Dr. Hodgson less competent inquir- in bringing home the charge of dishonesty to many professios al mediums, it 13 a fact ‘entitled to m weight that thi= medium should have rassed through the most searching and protonged inquirfes without even a rumor cis have succee picious circumstances, “And ®o it was that she attracted uncommon class of patron® Educated and intelligent people flocked to her. Among the rest came Professor Willlam Jamen of Harcard University. = S ““He hardly needs an introduction to readers of unday Herald. Son of Henry Jamecs, the mystic; brother of Henr; Jluhr:l. m-’novonnt. and he himself the greatest of living American psychologists. “Jt has been sald of him and of his better ‘no-n but ‘net less eminent brother that the ene writes P-ychnll’(y like a novelist and the other writes novels like a psychologist. In other words, both are possessed of Imaginu- tion as well as insight, but the im flnn:ion of the psychologist, though most restrained by scientific methods, {s most in evidence. ““As one of the vice presidents of the Soclety for Psychical Research Professor James was naturally attracted to a case of mediumshlp which seemed to Invite the serious attention of the society and its officers. Professor James Also Convinced. “In 18%8-86 he visited Mrs, Piper about a dozen times and sent a large number of persons to her, making appointments himself for most of these ’)enplq‘ whose names were in no instance announced to the medium. His nvestigation_convinced him that Mrs. Piper was & person of supernormal powers. ““As to the exact meaning and value of those powers his attitude has been and is very frankly that of suspended judgment., Of one thing only is he certain—the suspicion of fraud is untenable. He Almost wishes this was not so, for if this suspicion be made plausible, ‘fraud would be by far the most satisfying explanation, since it would leave no further problem outstanding.’ “But the fraud hypothesis being eliminated, bewildering problems re- mafn walting for an answer. He therefore called the attention of the society to this extraordinary case, with the hope that some light might be thrown upon the attspdant problems. “These are the words with which he Introduced Mrs. Piper: °‘In order 10 Aisprove the azsertion that all crows are black, one white ¢row Is suf- ficlent. My white crow Is Mrs. Plper.'"” What Was Said of Mrs. Piper's fife. 7y Here 18 2 brief summary of Mrs. Piper's life as it was given: Married October 6, 1881, First child born May 16, 1884, First experience of being in a trance June 29, 1884, Becond child born October 7. 1655, Of her first trance Mrs. Piper was reported as saying: “I remember the date distinctly, because it was two days aftér my first birthday fol- lowing the birth of my first chiid,” 5 Bhe says she went to consult J. R. Cocke, a blind Mlnni for medical advice on a Saturday. “During the.interviaw,' she sald, #'l was partly unconscious for a few minutes. On the following Sunday 1. went into & trance. The first time I saw the name of my control, Dr. Phinuit (the 1aiming to be that deceased gentleman), written down was in Octo- g:n‘l!ii.: t 5"- Just after I had r.:tlred for the nu‘l‘n and before 1 had fallen asleep. § suddenly saw a light. I asked my husband if he saw it. He sald no, and asked If 1 were going into a trance. replied no, that I was my actual self, but that the room was full of light. @ safd he saty not‘nnl. A moment later I saw part of the name~Dr. Phinuit—on 'the wall near my in the interest of Dr. Hodgson, who had come from England in May, 1887, to investigate her, Professor on othar distinguished members of the Boclety for Psychical Research, Mrs. Piper went to London in ovember, to_have her psychic powers tested, and was under cons ceiving a salary, to sit exclusiveély for that soclet of her won :flr‘ful powers it 18 eald that its Anverican branch was established in .. Remembers Nothing of the Trance, a:« Regarding her condition while in a trance, Hr,( Piper was thup quoted two, nter the tranc I ember nothing— théfi' '}‘ g:ii“i‘:fi%‘r’v was sajd to m but a passive agent not of m & ve in the hands of the powers controlling me. I can I&O no account of what [ '} ~ THY SUNDAY CALL. becomes of me during a trance. The wisdom and inspired eloquence which of late has been conveyed to Dr. Hodgzson through my mediumship is en- tirely beyond my understanding. I do not pretend to understand it and can give no explanation—I simply know that I have the power of going into trance when I wish.” In Mrs. Piper's first (rances she was taken possession of by the spirit claiming to be Dr. Phinuit, his full name John Phinuit Schievelle, a Frenchman of Marsellies, horn In 1785; studied medicine, and died at the age of 70 of leprosy, He Informed Mrs, ngcr that his chief duty in the world of th'l(l was 1o communicate with those living on earth and prove to them the existence ol spirits. It was noted thal French birth spoke in English with a French aegent langnage was l?r'i\lhd to & few phrases and not always correct. In explanation of this it was said that Mrs. Plper was En&l’uh. only that language could be used. At first Dr. inuit confined his efforts to {nterpreting between. Mrs. Piger and the spirits, but later he talked with her about hi and life in the spirit world. thing was that Mrs. Piper's volce changed acording to the nationality of the spirit speaking. I{ it were a man she spoke with a man's volee; If a child, with a child’s ve'd¢; if an Irishman, with the flavor and accent of the Irish tongue. It was observed that the Piper spirits, like those of bHther mediums, began by asking the psual number of “fish- ing questions' before they settled dowa to answeridg inquirfes. A New Spirit at tho "Phone. In 1892 a new 'Blr““.l interpreter appeared, who styled hinmweit Pelham. He had been known in life a8 George Pellew, a New York law- }er and Mterary ,man of distinction, and had but recently dled by falling rom a bullding. He seemed on Intimate terms with the French doctor, and they took turns in interpreting for the spirits, But Pelham's_com- municatisns were n in writing, and not verbally, through Mrs, Plper. n 1897 -there came another change. It was found that these trances were exhausting to Mrs, Piper, and notice was given by the celestial pow- f" in control n’ her that her fatigue could be frenly lessened by shorten- ni the distance, an it were, between the medium and the spirits—having a higher order of spirit, not of mortals, but of a godlike power. To this end two of the immortal ones wera selected, one to do the talking, the other the writing, through Mra. Piper. The spirit efiim “‘Imperator”” controlled Mrs, Piper's vaice; the one called "actor“ controlled her pen. “Imperator” was ":3‘" In #. cussing great subjects, as of the Diety, the unp‘_!l immortality, ete. 9 identity of this celestial was lnovu”only to Professor Myers, deceased, then at the h of the London Boclety. rit, “Rector,” was lmplmud for conveying informati piritual affairs, the condition of friends and members of As Rhre Pipes, 'y hmn‘ Weaker and feeding carsful thi rs. ai s spirit -'zmp.“’:fr":".‘ufim Mrs. Plper to cease vfn‘ |-m"m.u on all sorts of topics. Ie would take future charge of her, flmt is, he would preside at the spiritual end of the wire and confine ittings to matters of Important spiritual research. A Prisoner in Bpiritual Chains. he chi holal Mrs. Py in t '!od;.:.:? l: "0“:'0::‘1’;:‘!";‘.: Y o:f:l‘ : ;rflo::‘:r' lh’oolu ely. rc'u: "tr:m m‘; A world, . :‘;}!‘ é’fir I‘;:.lgun-'tln‘ to read the explanation that was given of “how L . . oy e gt s B o .8 gy e acing a & a W on . %1% oF ten minutes. bafore the elimax 18 reached. Then her 4 y twitches, becomes rigid, tha eyes having an upt m:a stare, and at her &nul talls on the éil:lw'l&% she cannot see b:hr.wun:‘ which rests on the pad and e To ask & u take her hand, put your to it and talk an {5 Wore 8 talephone. And often lke tha talegliona & this Frenchman of that his use of that £ s common u; . the conversation is those at the wire feel foolish a: {dlotic stuff coming over the wire. phenomena can be and con bad, If th ally acts a ecce! col L ccordtng She 19 In no sanse responsible. An ranced mind, and reason is in abe; ntly is eompelled ntric. ndition m- Kknowl her supernormal nelther nor rily foll Tote say “yem," for (his 18 the “last ditch® of Telepathy an x declare that the telepathic exi of cases as it abvis is in the nt‘otth.lakn v‘.m. ‘l:‘kbw&mt a Sepath t, can latter oh:'h -2 g A Scientific Explanation of It All ROFESSOR THOMSON JAY HUDSON, Ph.D! “The Law of Psychic Phenomena,” ete., has ‘Piper's remarkable powers: Before proceeding Fiper's so-called “spirit phénomena,” it is but fair to conceds that she Is honest, and that the information which constitutes the basis of her “communications” to her sitters is obtained by supernormal must also be conceded—nay, insisted upon—that her phenomena the only class from which proofs can possibly be derived of of her communications. Physical phenomena, such as possess in themselves no evidential value whatever, analysis of the content of “messages™ that thelr source can In short, all- things considered, she is probably the before the public for the sclentific investigation of spiritism; and it be admitted that if her alleged communications from discarnate cannot .hdo traced to any other source, the claims of spiritism have confirm Can Be Easily Accounted For. A fow words, however, will make it clear to the scientific mind ly accounted for on purely psychological fragm angry af patches_maxtg LL.D., suthor of s to say of Mrs. to estimate § o cor” Henos she is o A To belleve f to be a tllon is'In any way imparted (o her, y. th. cal regearcher will “that ::0 psychie obtains i haj = fER s s s AR HE