739 A. From the Journal S.P.R., vol. vii. p. 175. The following is a case which was noted at the time, before it was known to be veridical. It occurred to the Rev. E. K. Elliott, Rector of Worthing, who was formerly in the navy, and who made the entry in his diary as quoted when he was cruising in the Atlantic out of reach of post or telegraph. The diary was still in his possession when we received the account, in August 1895.

Extract from diary written out in Atlantic, January 14th, 1847:-

"Dreamt last night I received a letter from my uncle, H. E., dated January 3rd, in which news of my dear brother's death was given. It greatly struck me."

My brother had been ill in Switzerland, but the last news I received on leaving England was that he was better.

The "January 3rd" was very black, as if intended to catch my eye.

On my return to England I found, as I quite expected, a letter awaiting me saying my brother had died on the above date. E. K. Elliott.

Worthing.

739 B. In the next case, which I quote from Proceedings S.P.R., vol. v. p. 409, the apparition was seen several weeks after the death.

The account came from Mrs. Clark, 8 South View, Forest Hall, Newcastleon-Tyne.

January 6th, 1885.

I send you a short account, describing what I experienced at the time of the apparition of my friend, who was a young gentleman much attached to myself, and who would willingly (had I loved him well enough) have made me his wife. I became engaged to be married, and did not see my friend (Mr. Akhurst) for some months, until within a week of my marriage (June 1878), when in the presence of my husband he wished me every happiness, and regretted he had not been able to win me.

Time passed on. I had been married about two years and had never seen Mr. Akhurst, when one day my husband told me he (Mr. Akhurst) was in Newcastle and was coming to supper and was going to stay the night. When my husband and he were talking, he said my husband had been the more fortunate of the two, but he added if anything happened to my husband he could leave his money to whom he liked and his widow to him, and he would be quite content. I mention this to show he was still interested in me.

Three months passed and baby was born. When she was about a week old, very early one morning I was feeding her, when I felt a cold waft of air through the room and a feeling as though some one touched my shoulder; my hair seemed to bristle all over my head and I shuddered. Raising my eyes to the door (which faced me), I saw Akhurst standing in his shirt and trousers looking at me, when he seemed to pass through the door. In the morning I mentioned it to my husband. I did not hear of Mr. Akhurst's death for some weeks after, when I found it corresponded with that of the apparition, and though my father knew of it before, he thought in my weak state of health it were better I should not be told.

He was found lying on the bed with his shirt and trousers on, just as he had thrown himself down after taking a sleeping draught.1

I myself am quite convinced that Mr. Akhurst's thoughts had been so concentrated upon me, before the draught proved fatal, that his spirit visited me on its way to that glorious land where it shall dwell in the presence of Him who said, "Come unto Me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest".

To me the memory of Mr. Akhurst will always be as of a dear brother greatly esteemed and deeply regretted. Emily Clark.

Mrs. Clark adds later:-

May 13th, 1885.

My husband will certify as to my mentioning to him seeing the apparition before I heard of Mr. Akhurst's death, but I am sorry I cannot tell you where it happened, nor the exact date of the death, but I remember when we heard about it my husband and I traced it to about the time of my "vision." . . .

July 23rd, 1885. I never experienced anything of the kind before. I think Mr. Akhurst's death happened somewhere in Yorkshire. What makes me think the time corresponded with his death, was, my asking how long ago it was from my hearing of his death, and the actual occurrence; and then knowing the time of my little girl's birth, I came to the conclusion it was about the same time. I think this is all the information I can give you. I shall ask my husband to send you a few lines to-morrow.

1 This, as will be seen, was probably a mistake, and it seems possible that the reminiscence of the Corsican Brothers may have helped to shape the hallucination.

Mr. Edward Clark, solicitor, County Chambers, Newcastle-on-Tyne, writes:-

July 24th, 1885.

At the request of my wife, Mrs. Clark, of 9 South View, Forest Hall, I beg to inform you of my knowledge of the supposed apparition of Mr. Akhurst. Shortly after my wife had been confined of my second daughter, about the end of September, 1880, my wife one morning informed me she had seen Akhurst about one o'clock that morning. I of course told her it was nonsense, but she persisted, and said he appeared to her with only his trousers and a shirt on, and the remark she made was that he was dressed just as she had seen him in the Corsican Brothers (he was an actor). She also described her feelings at the time. I tried to persuade her it was a dream, but she insisted that it was an apparition.

As near as I can remember, about six months after, I met a mutual friend of Akhurst's and my own, and in conversation I inquired after Akhurst. He said, "Don't you know he is dead?" I said, "No, when did he die?" He said, "I don't know the exact date, but it was about six months ago;" and further informed me that he died about one o'clock in the morning in the dress as my wife described him, from an overdose of chloral. I have endeavoured to see my friend to find out the place (Bradford, I think), but he is now in America. His name is John Brown, and he is the son of the leader-writer to the Chronicle here. If I meet him again I will try to get accurate particulars and forward them to you.

August 21st, 1885.

. . . My wife has, I find, no reason to think she has been mistaken as to the time when she supposed she saw W. J. Akhurst, as the date is fixed by the birth of my second little girl, which took place in September 1880.

In the Era Almanac for 1881, the obituary for 1880, p. 93, gives the entry, "Akhurst, Walter James, actor, aged twenty-four, July 12th".

The Era newspaper of July 18th, 1880, gives an account of the inquest. Mr. H. W. Akhurst gave evidence to the effect that he and his deceased brother went to the chemist's on Saturday (i.e. 10th), and procured a sleeping draught. Deceased complained of pains in his body and of feeling lonely. The next day (Sunday) he only got up to have his bed made; Monday he died. W. H. Cope, surgeon, attributed death to suffocation caused by heart disease. The verdict returned was "Death from natural causes".