A CHAMPION OF SPIRITUALISM.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1400, 28 March 1912, Page 3

A CHAMPION OF SPIRITUALISM.

— 9 . AN ARCHDEACON'S AMAZING STORY. Archdeacon Collrv, the rector of Slockton, "Warwickshire, who on the first Sunday of the New Year startled his congregation by placing himself in his collin after evening service and ordering four employees to carry him round the church, has placed his resignation in the hands of the Jiisliop <>;' Worcester. The IJishop has accented it Archdeacon Collov won notoriety outside the Church of England as a champion of Spiritualism and a staunch believer in spirit manifestations long before his remarkable performance on New Year's Day. Ilis challenge to 51 r. Maskelyne, which led to that famous illusionist producing a "spirit form" from, and returning it to, hi - side, and the subsequent litigation are fresh in the public mind. Eight years ago the Archdeacon bad liis cofrin made and stored in the music-room of the rectory. In Ififl', he made a will bequeathing his body to the Vniversitv of Birmingham for direction—"to be cut up in the interests of anatomical and surgical science when. I have done with it." That disposition was not made without careful consideration. Tn a letter to the Univo">ity the Archdeacon recalled that as a child he wa- le'd out for dead and narrowly esrv.nc.l bdi-.ir buried alive, and (heri-Wc asked that "it may be seen that I am realty dead." "Please, again, (ell me whet I should do," h.e wrote, "about giving in a 'oiler or other f«:",ivil di-iiosal of my mortal remains. (o lie brought under my hand with my coffined oorii«e, particulars of what T should write as to mental idiosyncrasies, line of thought, bend »f disposition, bin -1 of will, likes ant! dislikes, with whatever else may be useful when (h.e top of my shall, as we arranged, shall be sawn oil', to enable exploration to be made, that it may be known if T am, or have been, any more mad than other people." For hi? churchwarden'-' he hod prepared a written request that his body, in clei'ir cr.l rob'-s, should be placed in the box (coffin) he had had prepared, and taken straightway to the Dean of the Medical Faculty at Birmingham "by four strong men."'while ho had also written out a telegram to be sent to his son. nn army officer in India, in tho following (erms:— "Just going forward for a little rest in the beyond, before seeking another incarnation". Shall try to let you know of my occasional presence. Have lest instructions, as wo together arranged. Fedv in box, just going to Modi-eel Faculty of ylirminghe.ir. t'niver-ity. Hurrah for next innings. a round, v.e 'rust, of ii'ei'ul life." On"Now Yr-r's 11.iv i.'ie Archdeacon was carried round his church in the collin. or box, clothed as ii" had a wish to be c!<>Hi*d ; ""r death—a perfor»waco that s(nvf>'d ; --"eiegaf ion already accustomed to his r : ... .i.ricl'ies. "1 (Wired to impress on uiv psnshioners (hoi 'death is the goto of life,' " he sssM afterwords. "[ hone and oxp'of that alter death and a sueil of r"t—which may be on? year or .Vfl—l shall return again for useful work. That i'- the doctrine I have taught, and the doctrine I believe in."