821. Here, again, is an averted railway accident, where smell may possibly have played some part.

(From Proceedings S.P.R., vol. xi. p. 419.) The following letter was received by Dr. Hodgson in confirmation of an account in a newspaper, concordant with Mr. Stewart's account given later.

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company, August 14, 1893, Garrett, Ind.

Yours of August 10th received. Must say, the story as printed in many of the newspapers of our country, regarding the train being saved by a premonition, or warning, given me, was true as printed. The fireman I then had, since became an engineer, and was killed in an accident on a railroad in Iowa two years since. The conductor who was with me at the time you refer to is running passenger train on the Mackinaw road. I do not know his address, but his father, a minister of the gospel, and his brother, Dr. Charles Stewart, are residents of this city. A letter addressed to Mr. Joseph Stewart, care of Dr. Charles Stewart, Garrett, Ind., would reach my conductor.

Yes, sir, I have had an experience of similar nature since the occurrence you refer to. Had a warning from the same source, and by obeying it I saved what otherwise, without obeying the warning, must have been a most dreadful accident, and must have resulted in the entire destruction of my train, with the lives of many, if not all the persons on board. I am not a Spiritualist, do not believe in so-called Spiritualism, but do believe that the living are often visited, often warned of danger, and often comforted in times of affliction, by the spirits of departed loved ones. ... C. W. Moses.

Battle Creek, Mich., August 28, 1893.

Richard Hodgson, Esq., - Dear Sir, - Your request received, and will, as far as memory serves, give a correct statement as to the incident referred to.

Train No. 2 of the B. and O. R. R., due in Chicago at 6.20 a.m., Sunday, in the month of August 1883 (have forgotten exact date), was on time, running at about thirty-five miles an hour. On approaching Salt Creek Trestle Work, about forty miles east of Chicago, the engineer, Mr. C. W. Moses, felt that something that he could not define compelled him to stop before attempting to cross over. He applied the air and came to a full stop at the approach. I occupied front seat in smoker, it being the second car from engine. The time was about 4.30 a.m. I immediately went forward and joined the engineer where we found thirty feet of the woodwork burned, the rails being held to place by charred stringers. We went across, by climbing down and up the bank on the other side, and woke up the watchman who was employed to look after the bridge, who, on seeing us and the condition of things in general, took to his heels and is running still, as far as I know. I would say that in more than a score of years engaged in railroad work, that was the most narrow escape I ever experienced; for undoubtedly, with a fall of thirty feet and the length of over a hundred, we would not only have been disabled, but burned.

Now you especially ask as to what impelled Mr. Moses in his action. He only stated to me at the time that something especially pressing on him told him he should stop, and he acted on the impulse. There had been fires all along the side of track at other points, but he paid no attention to them.

In conclusion, I see some newspaper man got hold of the incident as late as last June, and attempted to make Mr. Moses say that the spirit of a sainted mother took hold of him. Well, Mr. Moses is an upright and truthful, old, reliable engineer, and owing to his great advance in years at this late date may have intimated as much, but nothing was said about the old lady at the time; that I vouch for. . . .

I. J. Stewart, Conductor C. J. and M. R. R. [Formerly of the B. and O. R. R].

In another case again (given in 821 A) some subliminal sense of smell may be conjectured.

822. In the next case (it comes from a good observer) some warning may have been received from the closer smell of slimy water; - or perhaps from a vague difference in the look of the darkness, or even in the resistance of the air. (From Proceedings S.P.R., vol. xi. p. 422).

5144 Madison Avenue, Hyde Park, Chicago, October 30th, 1892.

Dr. Hodgson, - Dear Sir, - I send you an account of an incident in which, I think, my life was saved by my obedience to an impulse arising from nothing within my conscious knowledge or perception.

Some years ago, I landed in Stillwater, Minn., from a steamboat on which I had come down the St. Croix River. The boat was a small, local affair, and no conveyances came to meet it. I was, I believe, the only passenger on board when we reached Stillwater, and there I was left to make my way alone to the hotel. We landed at about 9 p.m. of a starless night, and in the shadow of a warehouse which cut off the lights of the town; the hour, the clouded sky, and the shadow of the warehouse, uniting to make the dock extremely dark.

I had been in Stillwater once before, and had a general idea of the topography of the town, although some years had passed since my previous visit, and I am quite certain that I had never passed over this particular locality.

As I left the boat I saw the lights of the bridge at some distance on my left, and knowing the bridge to be at the foot of the principal street, on which stood the hotel where I intended to put up, I naturally commenced to walk along the dock in that direction. I had gone but a very short distance, when I suddenly felt so strong an impulse to turn and go the other way that I instantly obeyed. I saw nothing, heard nothing; I did not even have an impression of danger, though I did have a feeling that it must be in some way better to turn.

I distinctly remember that my reason protested, and berated me for a fool in taking a roundabout way to my destination when the straight way lay before me, with the added prospect of losing myself in the railway yards, with perhaps a ten-feet fence to climb. I laughed aloud, and articulated, or at least, mentally formed the words, "You fool! What are you doing this for?" However, my impulse proved stronger than my reason. I persisted in "going round Robin Hood's barn," reached my hotel, and there the matter passed from my mind.

The next day I casually came to the same place, and discovered that I had turned within a few feet of a spot where the dock was cut away into an incline for hauling freight up into the warehouse. This incline was so steep that a person could have kept his footing on it only by great care. If I had unexpectedly stepped down on to it in the darkness, I should certainly have lost my footing, and should have slipped into the river; and as I am but a feeble swimmer under the most favourable circumstances, and was encumbered with a fall overcoat and a rather heavy satchel, I should just as certainly have been drowned.

The value of the incident lies in the fact, for which you must take my word, that I am not an impulsive and changeable person, but rather logical and persistent. My action was entirely contrary to my nature, and the unavailing protest of my reason against what appeared to me an inconsequent and absurd proceeding convinces me either that I was influenced by some intelligence entirely without, or that my "Subliminal Self" perceived and acted upon what my "Supraliminal Self" could not see.

I have never had any other supernormal experiences.

Marshall Wait.