NEW SHERLOCK HOLMES

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIII, 24 November 1928, Page 3

NEW SHERLOCK HOLMES

FUTURE OF CLAIRVOYANCY PROPHECY P.Y CONAN DOYLE The coming of a clairvoyant Sherlock Holmes and a practical crimeless world was visualised by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in an interview in London recently. “We shall have a clairvoyant in attendance at every police station and every offence will be hunted down so that crime will become very difficult, if not impossible/’ he said. “Clairvoyants will often be able to tell who actually committed a crime. If you give them a portion of the dress of a murdered person they are frequently able to throw themselves back to the time of a murder and get. a kind of intimation of the circumstances of the murder and how it was done. Even now the police use clairvoyants surreptitiously in many places—in the intervals of persecuting them. “Spiritualism is going to revolutionise the world in every possible way. It will revolutionise religion by getting back to actual contact, which I have no doubt once existed, but has been completely lost. Then it will revolutionise science

and medicine and criminology in many ways. The whole question of lunacy and mania and obsession comes up.

“We have at least two doctors in America engaged entirely in easting out devils. Ordinary doctors could no nothing with an invasion by an outside spirit, but those men persuade it to leave. One or two are just attempting it in this country.’’

Speaking of the enormous growth of spiritualism Sir Arthur said that they had now 550 churches, and they would be at least 200,000 strong if they allied themselves to one of the political parties at the coming general election. “We want an assurance from a party leader that we shall be free from police persecution,’’ he continued. •'The laws by which mediums are prosecuted existed long before spiritualism and were applied to lawless characters. To apply them to respectable women and householders is preposterous. I think I should be putting it high if I said that 5 per cent, of mediums were frauds.” The principal strength of spiritualism came from the North and lie thought there were 50,000 or 60,000 in Manchester alone.

Sir Arthur said that although he would devote himself more to literary work, Sherlock Holmes would not appear again. “He is definitely dead.” lie said. “There are plenty more tilings to write about.”