718 B. In the next case (quoted from Proceedings S.P.R., vol. xiv. p. 288) a dying mother had an apparently telepathic vision of an absent son who happened to be dying at the same time. The account comes from Colonel C. F. Hicks.

46 Valplaisant, St. Heliers, Jersey, December 23rd, 1889.

Agreeably to my promise I now give you a statement of my late wife's last moments. Some days beforehand I was informed she would not last long; and it was in the evening about 5 or 6 o'clock p.m., on 3rd October 1887, I went into her bedroom. There was the nurse, my second and third daughters in the room with me. The door was a little ajar. She was looking at it very earnestly when she said to my second daughter, Flo, "There is some one outside, let him in." Flo answered and said, "Oh no, mamma; there is no one - look," and she opened the door wider. We then talked to her gently for some little time. After a pause she said, "Poor Eddie (my second son who had gone out to Australia); oh, he is looking very ill - he has had a fall - broken his leg - poor Eddie." When we all assured her such was not the case - that the last news we had heard from him was that he was quite well - she became more pacified, although restless and doubtful, as she continued to say now and then, "Poor Eddie!" She died at about twenty minutes to 2 a.m., early on the 4th October. We little thought that her words would be verified, with the exception of the broken leg.

Some time afterwards I received a letter from Mr. Thomas Williams announcing my poor son's death. For he left a place called Wyndham on the Cambridge Gulf, N.W. of Australia, on the 4th [evidently meaning 3rd, see below] October 1887, with a young man of the name of Russell. He suddenly felt ill, and called for some water. The latter went off to a spring to get it, but coming back he found that he had fallen from his horse and was lying quite dead. So his poor mother's vision turned out to be quite true, excepting his leg being broken.

Now, the only question is about the time. Did the son die before the mother or after the mother? as, taking the longitude of Wyndham N.W. of Australia, so far to the east of us, there must be a good eight or ten hours' difference, and a ship going round the world making east all the way would gain a day, and by westing would lose one.

I give you a few extracts from letters I have received. The one from Mr. Thomas Williams, with whom my son left a letter to be sent on to me. Mr. T. W.'s letter is dated the 5th October 1887: "Your son left Wyndham to go to Durack station on the 3rd October, in company with Louis Smith and John Russell. They had to go over a very rough country, and your poor boy succumbed to the pangs of thirst, suffering at the same time with fever. I am glad to inform you that his sufferings were short, and that the great God was pleased to take him away quickly. He spoke very affectionately of his mother, and what he would do if he could only get back to Jersey, for he was heartsick when he was here".

I give you another extract from his employer, a Mr. Durack, a gentleman who dealt largely in horses, and had a great number of horse stations in Australia:-

"When I left your son at Wyndham on 27th September last, 1887, he was to start back to the station, as he had a horse, bridle, and saddle to ride".

In conclusion, I have now given you as succinctly as I can the death of the mother and son, the one having taken place here and the other at our Antipodes, both on the same day and date, and as far as I know about the same time. It is more than a coincidence - it is very mysterious.

(Signed) C. F. Hicks.

Colonel Hicks writes later:-

February 22nd, 1890.

. . . The witnesses in my wife's late case are none of them present here. My second daughter, whom I was expecting from Bombay when I received your letter, has arrived here. Her statement I enclose. My third daughter, another witness, is at present at Brisbane, in Australia. . . .

Discrepancy in dates: my late wife died at about forty minutes to 2 a.m. on 4th October 1887 - that is, taking the time from 12 a.m. on the 3rd to 12 p.m., after which it becomes the 4th. So all the conversation that took place with the above-named witnesses, viz., the nurse, Miss E. Fenn, two daughters and self, took place in the evening of the 3rd, about 5 or 6 p.m., as she died the same night, or more correctly speaking, being after 12 p.m., it was early in the morning of the 4th.

Now for my son's death. Mr. Thomas Williams' letter is dated the 5th October 1887. He says my son left Wyndham, on the Gulf of Cambridge, on the 4th [the date given in Mr. Williams' letter is 3rd, see below] October 1887, but he does not mention at what time. But being within the tropics, where people generally travel as early as they can to escape the heat of the sun, it is presumed that he and his friend, Mr. Russell, must have started early, and it is certain that they could not have gone far before he met his end, and most probably Mr. T. Williams must have heard of it the same day, as his letter is dated the 5th October 1887. . . . (Signed) C. F. Hicks.

The following letter from Miss Hicks was enclosed:-

February 27th, 1890.

I was in my late mother's bedroom between the hours of five and six in the evening, on the 3rd of October 1887, when she asked me to open the door, as some one was outside and wanted to come in. I answered and said, "Oh, mother, the door is open, and there is no one outside," and then I opened the door wider. Then I shut the door. She then said, "Poor Eddie, he looks very ill; he has had a fall." I said to her, "Oh, mother, how you go on; he is all right the last time we heard." She said, "Oh, he is looking very ill." The next morning, at about forty minutes to 2 a.m., she died. I heard from letters received that my poor brother Eddie died in Australia on the same day and about the same time. F. Hicks.

Colonel Hicks also sent us the letter from Mr. Williams giving an account of his son's death. The exact time is, as Colonel Hicks says, not stated, but the letter is dated October 5th, 1887, and states that Mr. E. Hicks started on his journey on October 3rd. It seems probable that the death took place on the same day.

For some other cases of this type see Proceedings S.P.R., vol. v. p. 459, footnote.