TRANCE MEDIUM

Manawatu Standard, Volume LII, Issue 119, 20 April 1932, Page 7

TRANCE MEDIUM

SCENE IN LAW COURT. JUDGE INTERRUPTED. LIBEL ACTION FAILS. (United Press Association —By Electric Telegraph.*—Copyright.) Received April 20, 12 noon. LONDON, April 19. The libel action which Mrs Maurig Morris, a well-known trance medium, brought against the Daily Mail was continued tc*-day:— The jury were out four hours. They returned with a verdict on behalf of tho Daily Mail. ' Mr Justice McCardie’s summing-up was interrupted by Airs Morris, standing with her eyes closed, exclaiming in a deep voice: “Hearken to my voice, brother Judge.” Whereupon Mr Justice McCardie said: “We've had so much of this,” and ordered her to be taken out. As an usher approached, Mrs Morris said: “Don’t touch her until I’ve left the body.” She then collapsed and was carried out in an unconscious condition. HYSTERICAL ATMOSPHERE. While Mrs Morris was under crossexamination during the trial she swayed in the witness-box, and counsel suggested that an attendant should go to her aid. Spiritualists in Court shouted, “Don’t touch her. She is under control.” The Court watched in complete silence. The woman stood erect in a trance-like attitude in the witness-box. Dr Lamond. an Edinburgh spiritualist, rose, waved his arms, and shouted: “Oh, this indignity.” Spiritualists rose in their places and gazed intently at the witness. Mrs Morris recovered her composure in a few minutes, and quietly apologised to Air Justice McCardie for the interruption, adding: “I’ve just had a vision of Christ.” Air Justico AlcCardie adjourned the Court for ten minutes, and friends helped Airs Alorris out of the Court. When the proceedings were resumed the hysterical atmosphere returned when a gramphone record was played of a sermon by the spirit “Power” delivered through Airs Alorris. This was delivered in a baritone voice quite different from Airs Alorris’s speaking voice. The cross-examining counsel suggested that the sermon was full of incomprehensible jargon. Airs Alorris admitted that there were many tilings recorded in “Power’s” sermons that she did not understand. Mrs Alorris, whose regular “control” is a spirit named “Power,” is the daughter of a market gardener. She has been recognised as a medium for many years, and has been delivering trance sermons, particularly at the Fortune Theatie, London, since 1924. The Daily Mail’s coi.'wnent, the subject of the action, suggested that all Airs Alorris’s sermons were similar, and the report added: “Her sub-conscious mind is crammed with spiritualistic jargon which she can trot out and hang on to any text.”