A TABLE-RAPPING STORY.

Southland Times, Volume III, Issue 41, 10 February 1864, Page 5 (Supplement)

A TABLE-RAPPING STORY.

The following story is told by the; Bristol. Timies:— -" 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 niedical 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, hauding him £22, which he said the latter had at the tinie of his demise ; lie 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 as 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 coiiipany. 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 commiuiicate. 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 the 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 nature of the present which Dr. had given to the captain and which he believed could have been known to any 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 £70 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 remained in London, and from whom it was elicited that her husband had stated to her that he feared Dr. 's son. was poisioned, 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 that there was something so unsatisfactory about the narrative given by the captain when it came to be scrutinized, 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."

A TAiU of Tubastjbes BukiEb. — A Greek lady told us that her husband's brother, who was one of the leaders in the Greek struggle for liberty in 1828 or 1830, being "hunted by the Moslem foe," committed to the sure keeping of Mount Athos the gold .and gems which formed the sole remaining heritage of their house. He had, of course, intended to communicate the secret of its place of concealment to his brother, but he was unhappily slain in some obscure guerrilla conflict before they met again. A letter" left him informed the survivor ■that Mount Athos was their banker, Tmt did not in : the slightest degree «nter into particulars as to the absolute gpot in which the gold and jewels were buried. Probably the Greek chief iad a higher opinion of the patriotism •of his followers than of their honesty; for he confided the secret to no one. "When ■ Greece was tranquillised, the family had a strict search made on every spot where Odysseus had been loiown to rest or wander, but in vain — to this day Mount Athos keeps the secret of the hid treasure. We have "been told that amongst those which xemain undiscovered are the crown and regalia of Poland, buried at the time of the infamous partition of the country — as the statue of Charles I. ■at Charing Gross was in the days of : England's troubles. — Once a Week. i A Ghost on Board the Gkeat Eas- ■ tern. —On Wednesday, Captain W. ■ 3?aton, whilst addressing the members •of the Mercantile Marine Association in reference to the plan for repairing the big ship, mentioned a singular ooccurr r Terice which took place at ISTew York. An impression got abroad that the ship was haunted, the alleged .ghost being no other' than the impersonation of an ■unfortunate 'rivetter, who was heard plying his avocation in one of the wells or compartments. Captain Paton stated that before the vessel left this country he believed that one of the men employed in her construction was missing. The man was a rivetter ; he was missed from the ship, and never came for liis wages, the supposition being that he had been rivetted up in some part of the vessel. So firmly impressed were some of the men with this idea that they left the ship in consequence. They amrmed that they had heard their departed friend busily engaged rivetting in the middle of the night. The story was believed by many persons in New York, and on one occasion while the ship was under repair a diver signalled to be drawn up. H e appeared pale with frightj and declared the ghost of the rivetter was busy in the bottom part of the ship ; in fact, that he began rivetting immediately over his head. Such was the consternation amongst the divers that they called in the aid of one of the spirit mediums, who are somewhat numerous in the city of New York. The medium came on board the ship, and after an examination declared that the missing man was there both '• in body and spirit." Fortunately he (Captain Paton) by pure accident was enabled to dispel the illusion. Being in a boat near the bows of the ship he discovered that a swivel connected with the moorings workqd to and fro, the movement causing a chink or vibration which at times, more especially at night, was heard throughout the vessel. It was this sound which had conjured up, in connection with the supposed fate of the unfortunate rivetter, the phantom whose mysterious doings spread such consternation on board the big ship. The Oriental News of 26th October relates the following strange story : — " Upwards of thirty years ago a marriage took place in the neighborhood of Liverpool, the man and wife being in humble circumstances. After living together till after the birth of a child, the husband went to Australia to seek his fortune. His wife never heard from him after he left her, and supposing he was dead, on the lapse of seven years she married a widower with three children. To this number in her second married life she added five, making her whole family, including the child by her first husband, nine in all.' Some time since the second husband died, and she was left to struggle, with her large family. To her great surprise, at the beginning of the present year her first husband made his appearance, at Liverpool. During his thirty years' absence he had prospered in Australia, and was a large landed proprietor there. He had heard of his wife's second marriage; but as the fault ' was his, he never thought of returning until he had heard of the death of the second husband. To make amends for his former neglect of his wife, for notwithstanding her second marriage she was still his wife^ he behaved in the most handsome manner to 1 all her children, gave them c6stly v outfits and has taken them and the wife of his early affections out with him to the land of his adoption. The wife, who has thus after an absence of more thanthirty years, been restored to her position, is now about seventy years of age ; and so recent is their departure from this port that the vessel they sailed m is not yet out of the channel.