A TABLE-RAPPING STORY.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Volume II, Issue 82, 10 February 1864, Page 3

A TABLE-RAPPING STORY.

The following extraordinary story is told by the Bristol Times:—" Dr , residing in the neighborhood of Bristol, had a son educated in his own profession, who received a medical appointment abroad. A few months ago the son resolved to return to England, and sailed by a British vessel bound for the port of London, undertaking to give his services as medical man in return for his passage. When, however, the ship was on its way home, the young surgeon, after a short illness died. The captain of the vessel, on reaching London, communicated with Dr —«, and gave him an account of his son's death, handing him £22, which he said'the latter had at the time of his demise ; he also gave Dr what he stated was a copy of the ship's log, in which all the circumstances were regularly given. Dr was so pleased with the captain's conduct that he made him a present of a gold pencil-case, a* a proof of his gratitude for kindness to his son. A few months after this Dr who, from being quite a sceptic in spiritualism and spirit-rapping, is now a believer in both, was with his wife at a seance of spiritualists in London, when a great agitation amongst the furniture of the room, and other symptoms of spiritual disturbance were noticed; upon which the medium, who was a lady, stated that the apartment was full of spirits, and that the unseen visitors were evidently desirous of making a communication to some of the company. The medium was then asked to request that the spirit or spirits would give some indication of the person present with whom they wished to communicate. Upon this, a large table, without any apparent agency, was violently moved from the other side of the room, falling on its top close to Dr . The spirit was then required, according to ihe usual fashion, to state who it was, when it rapped out the name of Dr 's deceased son, who had died at *sea, and who, to the terror of all present, intimated that he had died from poison. Dr wishing to ascertain whether he was or was not deceived, asked the spirit for some evidence of its reality ; upon which the unseen visitor intimated the r. ature of the present which the Dr had given to the captain, and which he believed could have been known to no one present. Dr then asked if the poisoning was intentional, and the spirit rapped out that it might or might not be so; a discrepancy, of course, noticed by more than one present. The spirit, however, proceeded to say that he had left £7O when he died, whereas Dr only got £22. Other particulars were entered into, and altogether Dr was so impressed with the revelations that he paid a visit to the wife of the captain of the vessel, who had remaiued in London, and from whom it was elicited that her husband had stated to her that he feared Dr 's son was poisoned, and that, instead of getting peppermint with some castor oil, when he was ill, he got prussic acid. A copy of the log was obtained from the owners of the ship, and Dr found it differed most materially from that handed to him by the captain of the vessel. There were other mysterious circumstances connected with the affair, which we are not at liberty to state ; but altogether, such strange secrets transpired, and there was something so unsatisfactory about, the narrative given by the captain when it came to be scrutinised, that Dr , we hear, has been induced to consult an* eminent criminal lawyer, with a view to ulterior proceedings. Dr is a man of the highest professional and personal respectability."