“GUIDED BY SPIRIT”

Wairarapa Times-Age, 17 October 1938, Page 9

“GUIDED BY SPIRIT”

♦ - CLOAK FOR FORTUNE=TELLING ADVICE GIVEN AT SERVICES. That the religious side of a service held in a room in Kirkdale Road, Liverpool, appeared to be only a cloak for fortune-telling was a suggestion made during the investigation of a case in the local court. Mrs Florence Rooney, widow, was summoned for pretending to tell fortunes for money, and Miss Sarah Jane Hogarth, aged 40, for aiding and abetting her. Acting on police instructions, Mrs Winifred McKenzie visited the room in Kirkdale Road, paying 3d. The room was in semi-darkness, and some 40 people were present. Mrs McKenzie told the magistrates that Mrs Rooney was holding up a scarf and predicting a woman’s future. Witness placed her brooch on a tray, and Mrs Rooney forecast an accident to her leg, and added, “You are in financial difficulties, but by October things will change. “Have you pains near your heart? You think it is a little palpitation, but my spirit guide tells me to warn you to be very careful.” “MAKING A GOOD THING.” On the following night, proceeded Mrs McKenzie, she remained behind after the service, and Mrs Rooney stated, “A private reading is 6d each. There are things I can tell you that I could not tell you in front of a crowd of people.” In a part of the room which was screened off, she said, “You are going into a decline, I’m sorry to say.” In evidence, Mrs Rooney declared there was no fortune-telling in her church.

“There, is nothing but the truth handed down from the platform,” asserted Mrs Rooney.

“It is spiritual advice to help others on the earthly plane. Life after death does exist. I am a medium, and prayers can take me into a semi-state, or trance, a state only induced by real sincerity and truth.” Questioned by Mr D. E. Dalzell, who prosecuted, Mrs Rooney denied that she conducted a fortune-telling business on an extensive scale, and was making a good thing out of it. When the Bench intimated that they were recording a conviction against Mrs Rooney, Mr Dalzell explained: “The police have had a large number of complaints about this woman pretending to tell fortunes, and obtaining money from poor people who can ill afford to spend it in that way.” Mrs Rooney was fined £4, and Miss Hogarth £2.