429 A. The following case is quoted from Phantasms of the Living, vol. i. p. 365. The account is written by Mr. N. T. Menneer, Principal of Torre College, Torquay: -

December 18th, 1883.

I thought you would be interested in the following account of a strange dream that came under my notice some twenty-six years ago.

My wife, since deceased, had a brother residing at Sarawak, and at the time to which I refer, staying with the Raja, Sir James Brooke.

The following is an extract from the second volume of The Raja of Sarawak, by Gertrude L. Jacob, p. 238. "Mr. Wellington " (my wife's brother)

"was killed in a brave attempt to defend Mrs. Middleton and her children." The Chinese, it appears, taking Mr. Wellington for the Raja's son, struck off his head.

And now for the dream. I was awoke one night by my wife, who started from her sleep, terrified by the following dream. She saw her headless brother standing at the foot of the bed with his head lying on a coffin by his side. I did my best to console my wife, who continued to be much distressed for some considerable time. At length she fell asleep again, to be awoke by a similar dream. In the morning, and for several days after, she constantly referred to her dream, and anticipated sad news of her brother.

And now comes the strangest part of the story. When the news reached England I computed approximately the time, and found it coincided with the memorable night to which I have referred. N. T. Menneer.

In reply to inquiries, Mr. Menneer adds: -

My deceased wife never had, as far as I know, similar distressing dreams of death to which no real event corresponded.

There is no doubt that the Chinese struck off his head. Particulars of his fate were sent to Mr. Wellington's father by the Raja himself.

In saying I calculated the time and found it to correspond approximately, I probably gave you a wrong impression. I did not note down the date of the dream, but when the news reached England I calculated the usual time of such a voyage, and found it corresponded with the time I considered had elapsed since the night of the dream.

Professor Sidgwick, after an interview with Mr. Menneer, on September 17th, 1884, wrote:

He said that Mrs. Menneer had no definite idea where her brother had gone; they had not heard from him since his departure; she had certainly no idea that he would be engaged in military operations at all, still less that he would be engaged with Chinese. In fact she was in no state of alarm about him at all. Mr. Menneer said that they did not put down the date of the dream at the time, and that when the news came he could not remember it exactly; but he took pains to calculate it at the time, and satisfied himself that it was at the time of the death as nearly as he could reckon. He had not been a believer in dreams previously. He heard the particulars of the death from Mr. Wellington, the father.

"This dream" (said Gurney)," if it is to be telepathically explained, must apparently have been due to the last flash of thought in the brother's consciousness. It may seem strange that a definite picture of his mode of death should present itself to a man in the instant of receiving an unexpected and fatal blow; but, as Hobbes said, 'thought is quick.'The coffin, at any rate, may be taken as an item of death-imagery supplied by the dreamer's mind".

We have since, however, seen a letter from Sir James Brooke (Rajah of Sarawak) and an extract from the Straits Times of March 21st, 1857, in the (London) Times for April 29th, 1857, which make it, I think, quite conceivable that the dream was a reflection of knowledge acquired by Mr. Wellington after death, and that the head on the coffin had a distinct meaning. Sir James Brooke says: "Poor Wellington's remains were consumed [by the Chinese]; his head, borne off in triumph, alone attesting his previous murder." The Straits Times says: "The head was given up on the following day." The head, therefore, and the head alone, must undoubtedly have been buried by Mr. Wellington's friends; and its appearance in the dream on a coffin, with the headless body standing beside it, is a coincidence even more significant than the facts which Gurney had before him when he wrote.