The Spiritualist newspaper > No.326, November 22nd 1878

Nov. 22, 1878.
THE SPIRITUALIST.
251
their two houses in the forenoon, and arranged to meet her ;
at the Whip-poor-Will rook in the afternoon, and bring her !
some medicines to help her out of her troubles, in which he j
was implicated. [Mr. Hayden has since confessed meeting |
her at the spring.] Dr. Hunt said that he first struck her i
with a stone, and then cut her throat with his pocket knife,
on the blade of which a small quantity of blood would be
found. He said there would be none on the handle, as he
wrapped that with some clothing and a pocket handkerchief,
to prevent it getting bloody, and afterwards soaked them
with kerosene and burned them. When Mr. Hayes and Mr.
Stannard reached the spot, they found the place exactly as
Mr. Hunt had described, and Mr. Hayes remarked to Mr.
Stannard : y This Dr. Hunt has certainly described the place
with remarkable accuracy, but if I can get the stone, I shall
be satisfied that either he is what I call a first-class clair¬
voyant, if there be such a thing in existence, or is himself
the murderer of Mary Stannard.” Mr. Hayes’ narrative
continues : “(We shall find that stone,’ was the grand juror’s
reply, < not far distant. I’m sure of it.’ I followed him in
a westerly direction. The rest of the party did the same, one
of them remarking that they had looked all over the place
for some evidence of the crime without success. When we
had walked thirteen paces by our measurement, I caught
sight of a curiously shaped bit of rock, and at the same
instant a little boy exclaimed, * Why, there’s a stone that
looks as if it was bloody.’ I immediately said, ‘ Don’t
touch it, but observe the ground closely,’ for I intended to
mark it. I then picked up the stone in the presence of the
gentlemen, looked it over carefully, and made the remark,
(If this is not human blood, it is not blood at all.’ I
wrapped it in a clean white pocket handkerchief and brought
it away with me.”
h The stone somewhat resembled a shoemaker’s lapstone,
with a sharp edge which made the incised wound on the head
through the sun-bonnet. Dr. Jewett subsequently testified
in court that the edge of this stone fitted the hole in the
head.
Several distances given by the clairvoyant in his descrip¬
tion at his home were afterwards verified to an inch by actual
measurements by the county surveyor. Also Dr. Hunt’s
statements with regard to the time occupied in throwing the
wood, which Mr. Hayden claimed occupied him all the after¬
noon ; and the time required in going to and returning from
the Whip-poor-Will rock, from his swamp lot, where he was
throwing out the wood, was singularly verified. “ Mr.
Scranton, a gentleman sixty years of age, threw all the wood
in seven minutes that Mr. Hayden claimed occupied him the
entire afternoon.” Dr. Hunt also stated that i( powerful
friends would make every effort to save him, and leave
nothing undone to secure an acquittal. That the person
who was to try the accused party would have great personal
pressure brought to bear upon him, if there was the slightest
loophole for escape, and that the public prosecutors being
harassed in all their movements, a conviction would be equi¬
valent to a miracle.” So true was this that on his first ex¬
amination he was discharged.
f (In conclusion,” said Mr. Hayes, (i I repeat that both
Judge Harrison, the senior counsel, and myself, while always
sceptical in these matters and doubtful of the propriety of
placing dependence on the assertions of clairvoyants or
spiritual mediums, have both been impressed by the extra¬
ordinary proofs of the accuracy of the clairvoyant in the
present instance, evolved even by the defence in the pro¬
duction of the testimony of which we knew absolutely
nothing, including that of Rev. Mr. Hayden and his wife.
Even the counsel for the defence, Messrs. Samuel L. Jones
and L. M. Hubbard, who at first scoffed at the information
of a clairvoyant, finally acknowledged that there was some¬
thing wonderful in the revelations. Of course none of us
attempt to account for them.”
After writing out his interview with Mr. Hayes, the re¬
porter, in company with Mr. Hayes and several other gentle¬
men, visited Dr. Hunt, and had an interview with him.
Several questions were asked by the reporter, after which
the following transpired, which we give in his own words:
“Did Mr. Stannard ask you any question?”
“ I don’t think he interrupted me until after I told him
what I had seen. Sometimes I think 1 am under the re¬
flection of a person’s mind, but in this case I seemed to
realise that we were distinct and apart.”
i Had you ever been on the ground ? ”
“Never; if I have, I don’t know it.”
At this point there was a pause in the conversation,
during which the clairvoyant underwent a curious change.
He was sitting on the sofa with his head resting on his
hands in a reflective mood. At first the hands worked
nervously, and the fingers twitched, and then in less than
half a minute there semed to be an involuntary twitching of
the muscles of the chest, accompanied by an occasional quick
catch of the breath, such as one occasionally observes in a
case of nightmare. Neither of the persons present spoke a
word, but recognised the fact that the clairvoyant was under
the influence of one of his peculiar spiritual charms. After
a minute or two he said slowly, and as if every word were
studied—we did not interrupt him from beginning to end,
and the language is literal, being taken in shorthand—“ I
saw that I was taken into a country place. I saw woods,
a road, corn and potato fields; I saw a spring and a big
rock. And this man—Oh! this man! (The hands of
the medium struggled convulsively over his face as if to
shut out some horrible vision.) He was at first alone and
quite a distance from this place; he came nearer; then
there were two ; one of them was a female ; they sat down ;
at first the conversation was quiet; the woman became
earnest; the man became angry; he picked up a stone; I
saw it; it was sharp. [The hands of the speaker again
trembled as they rested over the eyes.] He struck her down;
there was something of a struggle; it was not severe;
it was done very quick—very quick; he threw it
away, but there was blood, blood on the stone; I saw
the woman on the ground ; she lay still; he cut her
throat with a sharp instrument ; then the man took a
circuitous route ; he had on a slouch hat; I think it was of
straw; a checkered shirt and dark clothes; as they looked
to me a sort of dark colour; he went to the brook or spring
and washed his hands; he had a knife; it looked like
a pocket-knife, which he washed in the water; then I saw
him walk on. It appeared singular that such a circumstance
should occur in a place like that. One would not be looking
for it at all. There seemed to be a good deal of aggravation
and excitement between this man and that woman. Now,
who the man was, of course I do not know; nor do I know
who the woman was, but there had been quite an intimacy
between them. Trouble appeared to be growing out of that
intimacy, and the man showed a strong determination to
cover it up—that is, to prevent exposure.” (All this spoken
very deliberately, as if the words themselves were painful in
finding utterance.)
The writer asked the clairvoyant:—
“ Have you an idea of the source from which this intelli¬
gence comes ?”
“Oh, yes,” was the reply. “ If I should be told that I
were to be hanged next Friday, I would get ready. I don’t
think there ever was a man more sceptical than I once was
with reference to this spiritual question, and for fifteen
years I was testing the subject, but I look upon spirits now
just as I look upon you. They have simply got out of the
house they used to live in. The only thing I want to know
is that I have a truthful spirit.”
“ Do you depend on one of a number ?”
“ On but one—a gentleman. He was a New Haven man,
a physician, and, I am told, an excellent physician. I never
saw him in my life, and yet I depend on him for many of
my cures. His diagnoses are curiously correct.”
(i Have you any objection to mentioning his name ?”
“ None; it is Dr. Brewer. He died a number of years ago
in Middletown, I think.”
It will be seen by the foregoing that more than one was
hinted at by Dr. Hunt, as being engaged in the case, when
| he said : “ Of course there is a powerful influence seeking to
I protect the participants—or participant, from the charge—
| and shield what would necessarily reflect upon the moral
I influences of those teachings that are in this case represented
] by the guilty.”
Since that interview some of those “positive circumstantial
evidences ” have come to light, by the finding of arsenic in
the stomach of the murdered girl, and tracing the purchase