WCP6742

[1] [p. 274]

1827, Jefferson-place, Washington, D.C.

December 18th, 1887.

Mr. Alfred Russel Wallace.

MY DEAR MR. WALLACE, — In fulfilment of my promise I now send you a full statement of how I became acquainted with "Nellie Morris."

In May, 1885, I attended several "materialisation" séances of Mrs. Beste in this city. Before going further, I should state that my daughter, Carrie, had departed this life in July, 1882, at her grandmother's residence in the interior of New Jersey, and that I am positive that Mrs. Beste knew nothing of me (except my name), or of my family, or that I had ever had a daughter.

At one of these séances, held on the evening of May 8th, a female spirit-form (veiled, as usual) came to me, calling me "papa," affectionately greeting me as my daughter, and giving me her name. After a few moments' conversation she retired. Later in the evening I asked "Daisy," apparently a child-spirit, who usually comes and talks to the sitters at Mrs. Beste's séances, whether she had seen the spirit that had come to me as my daughter Carrie. She said she had, and gave me a description of her that corresponded with her appearance in life, and added, spontaneously,"that my daughter had a dear friend in the 'spirit land' named Nellie Morris." In answer to my questions, she said that Nellie Morris's father had been our Minister to Turkey for about 11 years: that she was a beautiful and lovely young lady that had died, she did not know exactly when, but some two or three years ago, in Philadelphia.

Next day I examined the records of the State Department and found that E. Joy Morris, of Philadelphia, had been our Minister to Turkey from 1861 to 1870. I at once wrote to two old residents of Philadelphia to know if E. Joy Morris had a daughter named Nellie. From one of them I received no answer; and the other replied that he knew nothing whatever of the family.

At the séance of May 17th, my daughter came to me again. I asked her if she knew Nellie Morris. "Yes," she exclaimed, "and she is my best friend" ; adding that they were constantly together. In answer to my questions she said that Nellie was quite tall and graceful, with beautiful blonde hair and blue eyes; that she had died of consumption some three years ago in Philadelphia; that her father had been our Minister to Turkey during a longer term than any of our Ministers abroad. I informed her that Daisy had told me about her friend, and that I had written to two gentlemen in Philadelphia for"information about her. She asked to whom I had written. I told her. "Papa," she said, "write to the proprietor of the Hotel St. George, in Philadelphia, and he will tell you all about her." I promised to do so, and asked her where that hotel was. She pondered for a moment and then said, "I think I see Broad-street, and Walnut-street; but I am not quite sure."

[2] [p. 275] Next day I wrote as my daughter recommended; simply asking the hotel proprietor first, whether Mr. E. Joy Morris had had a daughter Nellie, and second, if so would he describe her to me. In answer I received from him the letter appended to this statement marked (B).

At the subsequent séance of May 24th, my daughter having again come to me, I told her I had had an answer from the hotel proprietor confirming all she had told me about Nellie Morris. She seemed much pleased, and then said that Nellie was an Episcopalian, and that they had sung together some of the Episcopal chants. She then sang for me two or three verses of an old Venite, and part of the old Gloria in Excelsis chant. (Although my daughter had died a Catholic, she had been born and brought up in the Protestant Episcopal Church, which fact the medium could not have known.)

Afterwards, at the séance of May 26th, a tall and graceful spirit form came to me saying "Nellie." I asked for her other name. She made repeated efforts to give it, but without success. I said, "Is it Nellie Morris ?" She answered "Yes," and was evidently much pleased at being recognised. I said, "May I stand up by your side ?" "What for ?" she asked. "That I may see how tall you are. "Certainly," she answered. I did so, and found by comparing her with my own height that she was at least 5 ft. 6 in. high. Then followed a long conversation with her in which two or three members of the circle took part. She cheerfully answered all the questions that were put to her, and in a manner indicating a marked individuality and a bright and cultivated mind. Inter multa alia [Latin: Among many other things] she told us that she had lost her mother when a baby, that her relations with her stepmother had not been harmonious, and that her life had been a sad one, but that "she was happy now" ; that her early childhood was passed in Constantinople, where her father was United States Minister; and that she had died at the Hotel St. George, in Philadelphia, when she was about 19 years old, of "a galloping consumption" in January, or "at least in very cold weather," saying this with a shiver. I told her that Carrie had already spoken to me about her, and that I had received a letter from the proprietor of the Hotel St. George, corroborating all that Carrie had said. "Yes," she said, "but he flattered me in one thing. My hair is not golden, but flaxen. I asked her to give me a lock of it. She could not then, she said, but would do so at another time.

At the séance of May 28th, Nellie Morris came to me again. I showed her a photograph of my daughter, asking her if she had ever seen any one like it. She said at once, "It is a picture of my Carrie, but not so pretty as she is now." Before retiring she asked if I had scissors. I had none, but a member of the circle seated near me handed me a pair, which I placed in her hands. She then cut off for me a lock of her hair, which I have carefully preserved. I enclose it herewith for your inspection in an envelope marked (C). On examining it by daylight I found it to be really flaxen, but with a golden shimmer in the sunshine. Within the last few days I have examined it again, and whatever may be the cause, it is certainly new more golden than flaxen.

At a séance held June 16th, Nellie came again, and sang for us the old Gloria in Excelsis chant entirely through.

[3] [p. 276] The next séance of Mrs. Beste that I attended was at Onset, on the southern coast of Massachusetts. The cabinet was simply a corner of the room, across which a dark cloth had been stretched. Nellie Morris again came, giving her name, and saying, "Do you remember me ? I passed away with consumption, 19 years old. Am very fond of Carrie."

I saw or heard nothing more of Nellie Morris until March 22nd, 1886, when I attended a séance held in this city by P. L. O. A. Keeler. There was no cabinet ; only a curtain of black muslin, between four and five feet high hung across a corner of the room ; the medium sitting in front of the curtain. Writings on slips of paper were thrown or handed over the curtain by a hand that was sometimes visible and sometimes not. All of them were recognised by members of the circle as coming from departed friends. One of these writings was addressed to me, and signed "Nellie Morris." I feel perfectly sure that the medium had never heard her name mentioned. Since then, through the same medium, writings have come to me in the same manner and with the same signature ; and all of them in the same feminine hand.

On the 1st of July, 1886, on my way to Onset, Massachusetts, I stopped over a few hours in Philadelphia. I found the Hotel St. George at the corner of Broad and Walnut streets. I showed the lock of hair I have mentioned to Mr. Ward, the proprietor, and asked him if he recognised it. He said instantly, "It is Nellie Morris's." Finding him to be a decided sceptic as to all spirit manifestations, I cut my conversation with him short, asking him to give me Mrs. E. Joy Morris's address, which he kindly did. I went at once to her residence, and was politely permitted an interview with her in company with her daughter. I asked Mrs. Morris if her husband's daughter Nellie had not died some years since. She answered in the affirmative. I remarked that she was said to have been a lovely young person. After hesitating for a moment, she said, "Yes, lovely — in appearance." On my showing them the lock of hair they both exclaimed at once that it was Nellie's. I found them entirely ignorant on the subject of spirit manifestations, and they listened with astonishment to my narrative respecting Nellie Morris's return, and corroborated in every particular the statements Nellie had made to me, except her intimation of a want of entire harmony between her stepmother and herself, of which I had made no mention. In answer to my questions Mrs. Morris said that Nellie attended St. Luke's (Episcopal) Church ; that she was not much of a singer; that she attended the Church Sunday-school, and she supposed she could sing the chants with the congregation. Mrs. Morris asked me as to my own daughter's character ; and when I told her that when in good health she was full of fun, and had a decided talent for good-natured mimicry, she observed that Nellie was just like her in this respect, and it was not surprising that they should be attracted to each other.

This narrative is perhaps already too long, but I cannot close it without a brief mention of some further facts in the case which I think important.

On the 19th of July, at Onset, Massachusetts, I had a sitting with Mrs. Carrie M. Twing, a writing medium of unimpeached honesty and honour, to whom my name even was unknown, and who could never have heard of Nellie Morris. On reaching my lodgings after the séance and examining what had been written, I found a long letter beginning "My dear Papa," [4] [p. 277] signed "Carrie"; and another one beginning "My dear Friend," signed "Nellie," saying, among other things,"Carrie and I are inseparable." At several subsequent séances with Mrs. Twing I received letters through her hand signed "Nellie Morris," speaking always of Carrie in terms of great affection. At a séance with her as a "trance medium" on July 24th, "Ikabod," an eccentric, but very sensible "control" of hers, who speaks in a man's voice, said to me, "You have a friend here, Nellie Morris; she was introduced to me by your daughter, who is her companion." And at a similar séance on July 29th, he said, "Nellie Morris wants to get through you at her family, who are hard to approach, and she wants to remind you of the lock of hair she gave you." The members of this "Ikabod circle" were all strangers to me, and I had never uttered a word to them or to the medium respecting Nellie Morris or her lock of hair. And at a writing séance with Mrs. Twing on August 1st, in a letter written to me through her hand, the signature being the pet name of my departed wife (Carrie's mother, who died in August, 1859), it was said,"Nellie, the dear one of our adoption, is a source of perpetual sunshine." I would send you these letters written through Mrs. Twing, but for the fact that they are written on the same sheets with others of a private nature purporting to come from near relatives, and from which they cannot be detached.

On July 10th I had attended a materialisation séance of Mrs. Ross', at Onset. I will not occupy space by a minute description of the conditions under which she sat. Suffice it to say that they were such as to render confederacy or deception of any kind on the part of the medium physically impossible; and I had never mentioned Nellie Morris's name to the medium or to her husband. A female form, veiled, came to me and drew me towards the curtain. In answer to my inquiry as to who she was she could say only "Morris." I insisted on having her first name. After some unsuccessful attempts to give it, she retired, discouraged. I then asked "Bright Star," the medium's "control," to try to obtain for me the spirit‘s first name. She reported that it was "Ella." I said, "Are you sure ? Is it not Helen ?" "No." "May it not be Nellie ?" "Yes ; but the name as I hear it from her is 'Ella.'" The spirit then reappeared, and I asked, "Are you Nellie Morris ?" She said "Yes," and expressed her joy at being recognised. As she withdrew, she said, "I came to help Carrie ; to give her strength." My daughter had already come to me and retired.

Next day I wrote to Mrs. E. Joy Morris, simply inquiring what Nellie's real Christian name was, without saying why I wished to know. Her answer, dated July 26th, states that it was "Ella." You will find it appended to this statement, marked (D).

At a séance of Mrs. Beste, at Onset, on July 25th, Nellie Morris again came to me, giving her name. I asked, "Shall I write to your stepmother to come ?" She answered, "They will not believe. I was not happy with them," and retired.

On August 1st, in the afternoon, at a materialisation séance of Miss Gertrude Berry, at Onset, she came to me again, giving her name as "Nellie Morris." At a similar séance of Mrs. Huston in the evening of the same day she came again, giving her name as "Ella." As to her other name she said, "It is somehow gone from me. I am so glad to meet you," and retired.

[5] [p. 278] Afterwards, in Boston, I attended two materialisation séances of Mrs. Fairchild, on the 22nd of August; one in the afternoon, the other in the evening. During all the time the spirit forms were emerging from the cabinet, the medium was walking round the room, and conversing with members of the circle. I was a stranger to her, and to every person present. At both of the seances Mrs. Fairchild took me up to the curtain, where stood a spirit form that had pointed to me, and who gave me her name as "Ella"; and, in the afternoon séance, on my asking her if I had ever known her in this life, she answered "No." "Why, then, do you come to me ?" She answered, "I am attracted to you. I am a friend of one belonging to you."

Another fact I wish to state. Whenever a materialised form has come to me claiming to be my mother, my wife, or my daughter, I have been received with an affectionate embrace ; but the spirit calling herself "Nellie Morris" or "Ella" has invariably received me as any modest maiden would in this life, simply offering me her hand.

A few days ago I addressed a letter to Mrs. E. Joy Morris, asking in what month Nellie died, and when her father died. I also stated that through a trance medium at Onset Nellie had alluded to apprehensions in regard to one member of the family, speaking of "shortness of breath," "left side," and I expressed a hope to hear that all her family were enjoying good health. Mrs. Morris's answer to this letter I append to this statement, marked (E).

I regret to have made this narrative so long, but I have thought it best to err on the safe side by not omitting any detail that seemed to have any essential bearing on the important and interesting question.

Whether the mysterious being that has been coming to me, calling herself "Nellie Morris," is really and indeed the same Nellie Morris, who died in Philadelphia. in January, 1881, you must decide for yourself.

I have prepared this statement from the very full notes I made at the time of the respective occurrences above related, so that I have entire confidence in its accuracy.

You have full liberty to make any use of this communication, or of any portion of it, that you may think proper. — With high regard, I am sincerely yours. | FRANCIS J. LIFFITT.