MEDIUMS IN ENGLAND,

Otago Witness, Issue 3881, 31 July 1928, Page 32

MEDIUMS IN ENGLAND,

INTERESTING COURT CASE.

/ nQtable WITNESSES. i‘ - , LONDON, Considerable interest was by the appearance of Sir Artjidf; Conan Doyle and Sir Oliver minstey. Police Court in fftfenye of a medium, Mrs Clarke [ Cantlop, w.-ho de-' dared that tsh'e -was dominated bv the spirit-.of Great White Clriefi'an Americau Ret) Iridian; ■ whp. lived ' 401). yeark' ago. Lhe Crown char’g&i Mrs .Cantlori. with telling fortunes, basing. thpXarie on the evidence of four policewomen who visited heri /,‘ *-?:v ■■■/:•/[- '■;'■"■ Miss Mercy I’nillimorc, secretary, of the London Spiritualist, Alliance, was charged with aiding her. The alliance contains, many prominent London people, who re-garded-the case as .. of the utmost importance. “ I have lived long enough to realise that there are a great many things in. the world of which we cannot be certain,” declared the Tiiagistrate when .dismissing the summonses, but : ordering the accused to pay 30s costs. Sir’Arthur Conan Doyle ghve .evidence that the, alliance did, not, countenarice Jor-tune-telling, but. existed to study-causes and facts- and the -possibilities of receiving messages from/the dead, and to refute the idea that death ends all. The careers of mediums were watched most carefully, and undoubtedly ' the majority were genuine. The laws governing these things were beyond human comprehension, as the mediums were unconscious during-con-trol.

Sir Oliver Lodgt. said that he always approached the subject popularly described as Spiritualism from the purely scientific viewpoint. He • was-positively; satisfied .that many mediums,, were genuine. - It .was a kind, of human faculty which was not understood, but which the alliance was driving, to investigate, and mediums were instruments .for that purpose. • ; . Dr Hector Munro declared that -a month before the war a medium foretold the catastrophe in his presence;-.-. . - Miss Phillimore gave evidence that-she ajivays told people that the mediums worenot, ferigaged in fortune-telling. If the medium was iinablq to jet into a trance, ■the; sitting .was cancelled,, arid the. moriby refunded. Mrs Cantion had since been disiriissed from the alliance because of incidents which had arisen since the .case. The'magistrate said that his mind had; changed as the result of the evidence; rind lie had'decided to give Mrs Caution the ' benefit of the doubt fn his mind. He. assumed that on the occasion .[.of the policewoman’s visit Mrs Cantion believed that she was under the control of Big White Chief, his black dog, and his white rabbits, but he strongly- advised her to rid herself of the disembodied spirit “ who wants to know fhe time for luncheon and tea/’[..[. ’ • ■