429 D. From Proceedings S.P.R., vol. v. p. 420.2

From Miss Richardson, 47 Bedford Gardens, Kensington, W.

The writer is a very worthy wife of a shopkeeper, who told me the occurrence some years ago, then with more detail, as it was fresh in her memory, and her husband can vouch for the facts told him at the time, and the strange "uncanny " effect of the dream on her mind for some time after.

From Mrs. Green to Miss Richardson.

Newry, 21st First Month, 1885.

Dear Friend, - In compliance with thy request, I give thee the particulars of my dream.

I saw two respectably-dressed females driving alone in a vehicle like a mineral-water cart. Their horse stopped at a water to drink; but as there was no footing, he lost his balance, and in trying to recover it he plunged right in. With the shock, the women stood up and shouted for help, and their hats rose off their heads, and as all were going down I turned away crying, and saying, "Was there no one at all to help them? "upon which I awoke, and my husband asked me what was the matter. I related the above dream to him, and he asked me if I knew them. I said I did not, and thought I had never seen either of them. The impression of the dream and the trouble it brought was over me all day. I remarked to my son it was the anniversary of his birthday and my own also - the 10th of First Month, and this is why I remember the date.

1The words "quelques jours auparavant," coupled with the fact that the number of the day is right, suggest that fèirier is a mere slip of the pen for mars.

2 This case was admitted to Phantasms of the Living as a death coincidence by mistake. (Case 138, vol. i. p. 375) The death took place at the Antipodes, and the coincidence between it and the percipient's experience was represented by the narrator as exact, through the not very uncommon error of reckoning the difference of time made by difference of longitude the wrong way. We did not discover this error till the first edition of the book had been published. In fact, the percipient's experience followed the death by more than twelve hours.

The following Third Month I got a letter and newspaper from my brother in Australia, named Allen, letting me know the sad trouble which had befallen him in the loss, by drowning, of one of his daughters and her companion. Thou wilt see by the description given of it in the paper how the event corresponded with my dream. My niece was born in Australia, and I never saw her.

Please return the paper at thy convenience. Considering that our night is their day, I must have been in sympathy with the sufferers at the time of the accident, on the 10th of First Month, 1878.

It is referred to in two separate places in the newspaper.

From the Inglewood Advertiser.

Friday evening, January 11th, 1878. A dreadful accident occurred in the neighbourhood of Wedderburn on Wednesday last, resulting in the death of two women, named Lehey and Allen. It appears that the deceased were driving into Wedderburn in a spring cart from the direction of Kinypanial, when they attempted to water their horse at a dam on the boundary of Torpichen Station. The dam was 10 or 12 feet deep in one spot, and into this deep hole they must have inadvertently driven, for Mr. W. McKechnie, manager of Torpichen Station, upon going to the dam some hours afterwards, discovered the spring cart and horse under the water, and two women's hats floating on the surface.... The dam was searched, and the bodies of the two women, clasped in each other's arms, recovered.

Extract from Evidence given at the Inquest.

Joseph John Allen, farmer, deposed: "I identify one of the bodies as that of my sister. I saw her about 11 a.m. yesterday.... The horse had broken away and I caught it for her. Mrs. Lehey and my sister met me when I caught the horse..,. They then took the horse and went to Mr. Clarke's. I did not see them afterwards alive." William McKechnie deposed: "About 4 p.m. yesterday I was riding by the dam when I observed the legs of a horse and the chest above the water".

Mr. Green confirms as follows: -

Newry, 15th Second Month, 1885.

Dear Friend, Edith Richardson, - In reference to the dream that my wife had of seeing two women thrown out of a spring cart by their horse stopping to drink out of some deep water, I remember she was greatly distressed about it, and seemed to feel great sympathy for them. It occurred on the night of the 9th of January.

The reason I can remember the date so well is that the loth was the anniversary of my wife and our son's birthday. As the day advanced she seemed to get worse, and I advised her to go out for a drive; when she returned she told me she was no better, and also said she had told the driver not to go near water, lest some accident should happen, as she had had such a dreadful dream the night before, at the same time telling him the nature of it. As my wife's niece did not live with her father, he was not told of it until the next morning, which would be our evening of the 10th, and which we think accounted for the increased trouble she felt in sympathy with him. Thos. Green.

Mrs. Green has had no other experience of the sort. Inglewood is in Queensland, on the border of New South Wales.