"THE SIXTH SENSE."

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXIV, Issue VIII, 24 February 1900, Page 361

"THE SIXTH SENSE."

Mr Fitzgerald Molloy recounts in the “Humanitarian" some remarkable instances of the development of this “sixth sense" in Miss Maude Lancaster. A few months ago. he tells us. she was summoned by telegram to a country house from which valuable jewellery had been stolen. On arriving she was told by the owner, Mrs Blank, that though she had fifteen servants, she felt assured of their honesty, foil'll of them hail lived with her for years. Miss Lancaster saw them, and instantly felt assured that one of the maids was the thief, but Mrs Blank imagined this was a mistaken impression, as the girl in question had lhen seven years in her employment, and her honesty hail never been doubled. The next thing was to see the cabinet from which the jewels had been taken. Here the wave current was found and followed through various passages and rooms, downstairs. and into the basement, until a wine cellar was reached, the door of which was locked. Mrs Blank thought the jewels could not possibly- be there, as her husband always kept the key; however, the door was opened, and Miss Lancaster, still following the trail in this great underground space, came to a dead halt before a blank wall. Still undaunted, she felt it up and down, until a brick moved under the pressure of her hand. This was quickly displaced, when tn a hollow at the back the jewels were found wrapped in a cloth. The servant Miss Lancaster had singled out was taxed with stealing them, but denied it indignantly, until she was told that if she did not confess the matter would be handed over to the detectives, with the result that she would probably be convicted. Frightened at the threat, she then made a clean breast of it. and explained the means by which she had stolen the jewels, and, with the aid of a man-servant who promised to marry her, got into the cellar. Her mistress refused to prosecute her. Miss Lancaster thinks that one of her most noted discoveries of lost property is that which was connected with a dream. For one night she dreamt that she was sent for, and travelled down to the country to find some valuable silver that had been stolen from a manor house. She went all over the place in her dream, and eventually succeeded in her search. It was not until some fifteen months later, when her dream was seemingly forgotten, that, she was summoned professionally io a certain village, where she had not been before. She was met at the station by the squire of the manor, whose silver had been stolen, whose face seemed strangely familiar to her: so did the road along which they drove, and the village through which they passed, until at sight of the house it all came back to her that she had seen the place in her dream. Much to the astonishment of the squire, she told him that, if he would take her to the farmyard, she would show him where his property was hidden, for in her dream she had seen it thrust under a sloping haystack. On examination the silver was found on the spot site pointed out. In several instances she has seen men who seemed to be surrounded by a blood-red haze, and lias felt convinced that such men were murderers. Iler convictions have on more than one occasion been verified. Once in n place of public resort in New York. a detective pointed out to her a man lie suspected of murder. As Miss Lancaster failed to sei- the blood-red haze surrounding him. she thought he must be innocent. Whilst they were speaking of the subject the suspected man was joined by a friend in whose atmosphere she saw the lurid colour. Previously it was not thought that he had any connection with the crime, but from that moment he was watch ed, evidences of his guilt were discovered. ami he was condemned for murder.

On another occasion when walking down Broadway with a detective, she saw the same red haze surrounding a man coming towards them. Seeing her shudder, her companion asked if were cold, on which she told him what site had noticed. Then she heard that the man. who was a stranger to her. had been tried for murder, but had been acquitted for want of evidence.