This case is recorded in the February number, 1901, of the Journal of the Society of Psychical Research, told by Mr. David Fraser Harris, Lecturer at the University of St. Andrew.

I quote from the magazine:

A few years ago, pressing business prevented my returning home to London at the end of the week, and as I did not care to spend Sunday in Manchester, I went on the Saturday afternoon to Matlock Bath with the intention of spending a quiet Sunday there, and returning by an early train on Monday morning. On arrival at my destination, a small private hotel not very far from Matlock Bath Station, I immediately ordered tea and went to the sitting room to warm myself as it was a raw, cold day in January with a lot of snow about and the temperature many degrees below freezing point.

I happened to be the only visitor at the hotel, and I made myself comfortable in a large easy chair before a cheerful fire, waiting for my tea. It was hardly light enough to see to read. My back was turned to the window and I was not thinking of anything in particular: I was in a kind of passive, tranquil mood, when suddenly I seemed to become oblivious to my surroundings and in the place of the dark wall and the pictures facing me, I saw the front of my house in London with my wife standing at the door talking to a working man who held a large broom in his hands. My wife had a very concerned look, and I felt sure that the man was in great distress. I could not and did not of course hear what was spoken, but a strong intuition told me that the man was asking my wife's assistance. At that moment the servant entered the room with my tea and the scene I had just visualized vanished, and I again realized where I was. I was, however, so strongly impressed and so convinced of the reality of what I had seen that after tea I wrote a letter to my wife telling her of the strange occurrence and asking her to make inquiries about the man and to assist him as much as possible.

What had actually occurred was this: A boy knocked at the door of my house (which is roughly 140 or 145 miles away from where I was) and asked the servant whether he might sweep the snow away from the pavement and doorway for a penny. Whilst the boy was speaking, a poorly clad and ill-looking man came and said, "Please let me sweep away the snow: this boy very likely will only spend the penny in sweets, while I want it for bread. I have a wife and four children all ill at home: we have no food and not even a fire, and nothing more to pawn, and we owe rent." The servant asked the man to wait while she told my wife. When she came to the door and spoke to him the man repeated his statement to her, and added that he was a painter out of work and had been ill and that he and his family were in great distress, but that he did not want to go to the workhouse for relief if he could only get work of some kind.

It was this scene that I witnessed at the very moment it happened and which was probably communicated to me through the impression the man's distress made upon my wife's mind.

The rest of the story is simply this: My wife told the man she would call at his home in the course of the afternoon and see what could be done. This she did and found that the man had told the truth. She at once helped the poor family with money, clothing, food and fuel, and needless to say was very much astonished when she received my letter on Monday morning which told her what I had seen. A few days afterwards, I saw the man and instantly identified him as the man I had seen in my strange vision. He subsequently obtained a situation as milk man and for about a couple of years regularly called in our neighborhood with a milk barrow.

This is an example of what telepathy may accomplish in reaching the visual sense. By this means an image which has never previously been placed before a subject may be present itself to him.

However, it must be noted that the action produced upon the secondary center is not exclusive of that always vaguer action which tends towards the brain. Thus, in the preceding case, we see that the husband in telepathic communication with his wife sees the same picture that is visible to her, a perfectly defined picture, equivalent to a flash of reality, since it photographs, so to speak, the features of the person. But at the same time, the percipient's brain was impressed by something very strong which gave him an intuition of what the unfortunate man was asking. That which I wish to emphasize here is that telepathic action, exerted upon the secondary centers, is clear and precise, while it is vague and confused when addressed to the principal sense in which it can only arouse intuition.

Another fact to be noted is the feeling of certainty inspired in those who have received similar perceptions. Lady G. and her sister were so firmly convinced that it was indeed their mother who called them that they went through the unwonted proceeding of summoning their carriages at midnight. The mason of Winchester reasoned and struggled in vain against a seemingly irrational desire, and yielded despite the apparent absurdity of his determination. But a person who does not analyze her feelings, like the maid Midon, does not even perceive that she is the object of a phenomenon - she has felt a reality and responds: "Madame called me and I am here." On the other hand, a person of high culture, the Lecturer of St. Andrew, experienced so little doubt that he wrote immediately to his wife to gather information upon the subject of this man, apparition of whom he did not attribute to a dream.

Naturally, all the cases of abnormal visions are not telepathic. Certain apparitions are due to images really present. For the moment, however, we shall not go beyond telepathy.