THE SUNDAY OREGONIAX, PORTLAND, JUNE 30, 1918- 30, 1018.
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Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Offers What He Believes to Be Irrefutable Proof
That He Has Been in Communication With the Spirit Realms "Our
Dead Soldiers Y&t Live and Speak to Us," Says Dr. Hereward Carrington
BT CLIVE MARSHALL.
ONE of the most remarkable -phenomena
ol the war has been, the
tremendous worldwide reviv a I of
interest In all subjects pertainiiijr to
death and the possibility of anoth nf.' life J
name unknown to any of us. She said
she had died at Melbourne five years
before at the age of 16: that she was
now happy, that she had work to do,
and that she had been at the same
school as one of the ladies. On my
asking that lady to raise her hands and
beyond the grave. i
So many have grone to the other 1
world that it seems to have been
brought closer.
We cannot forget them, we -cannot
gret away from thoughts or -.them
those boys dead upon the battlefields
of Europe.
There is not a man or wonjin who
has not thought more abo-fct death
within the last three years tban in a
whole lifetime before.
It is not a cold, academic interest.
It is vital. It is personal.
Fathers, mothers, the be-freaved In
many lands are looking intjo the be
yond, where are their heroic 'dead. With
a. new, a passionate questio hinft.
Religion affords the agre-odd consola
tion of faith that the dead!, shall live
again, but religion has pier;d the cur
tain Into the beyond only with the eyes
of faith.
Today, simultaneously rfrbm scien
tists of England and An terica, comes
the amasing--statement t hat -this cur
tain has at last been lilted, and that
living human beings are in daily com
munication with loved ones who have
gone beyond.
Sir Arthur Conan JOoyle, known
throughout the world asi the author of
the Sherlock Holmes stories. and
known to many as a physician and
scientist of note as weYl. has followed
recent magazine articls by an aston
ishing Book, entitled "THie New Revela
tion," in which he seta, forth his abso
lute conviction that he and others have
been in communicatioii with the other
world, and offers whj-it he believes to
be irrefutable proofs tor this belief.
At the same time Hereward Carring
ton, Ph. R, one of America's foremost
thinkers, and a man a r hose work on the
causes and phenome na of death have
won him a distingu (shed place, pub
lishes a new volume, entitled 'Psychi
cal Phenomena and the War," in which
he declares that in k. literal sense "Our
dead soldiers yet liva" and gives a host
of communications "which he declares
have been received, by bereaved par
ents. Long Is realisation.
Sir Arthur Con.-in 'Doyle, in the as
tonishing book wlilch he has written
after 30 years of scientific study, says
that "the subject of life after death
Is one upon which. I have thought more,
and about whicl t I have been slower
to form my opin ion, than on any other
subject whatsoe t er."
"When I fini fehed my medical edu
cation in 18S2." he says, "I found my
self a convince 1 materialist. When it
came to a. que scion of our little per
sonalities survi ying death, it seemed to
me that the whole analogy of nature
was against IU
"This was ro;y frame of mind when
spiritual phenrvmena first came to my
notice. I had tilways regarded the sub
ject as the greatest nonsense upon
earth.
"I met sonm friends, however, who
were interesUfl d in the matter, and I
sat with themi at some taole-moving
BcancpS. Be.wr in mind that this was
30 years ago.. We got connected mes
sages. But U am afraid the only result
they had on my mind was that I re
garded thetie friends with some suspicion."
Such. then, was the initial attitude
of the ma a who today declares that
communication with the dead is an ac
complished scientific fact.
"When I regarded spiritualism as
vulgar delusion of the uneducated. I
could affoi.nd to look down upon it; but
when It w ids later indorsed by men like
Crookes, whom I knew to be the most
rising Bri'fcish chemist; by Wallace, who
was the r tval of Darwin, and by Flam
marion, tjie best known of astrono
mers, I ctjauld not afford to dismiss it.'
Dr. Do;riie tells of his first crude ef
forts to get in touch with the other
world, oC unsatisfactory seances with
mediums -whom he mistrusted, and of
communictations purporting to be from
the other: world which were of such
silly na Cure that he could not take
them seiiously.
Getting In Touch
"I waK in medical practice in South
tea at cms time," he continues, "and
uweuin;p mere was lien. Drayson. a
man of -very remarkable character, and
one of the pioneers of spiritualism in
England. To him I went with my
difficulties, and he listened to them
very paitiently. He made light of my
criticism of the foolish nature of many
of these messages, and of the absolute
falseness of some. 'You have not got
the fundamental truth into your head
lie saiid to me. 'That truth is, that
every srpirlt in the flesh passes over to
the ns3:t world exactly as it is, with
no change whatever. "This world is
full of weak or foolish people. So is
the next. Tou need not mix with
them, any more than you do in this
worldj One chooses one's companions
But suppose a man in this world, who
had litved in his house alone, and never
mixed, with his fellows, was at last to
put hfc? head out of the window to see
what .sort of a place it was. what
would", happen? Some naughty boy
woulrl probably say something rude,
Anyhow, he would see nothing of the
wtsd'Om or greatness of the world. He
would draw his head In, thinking it
was a. very poor place. That is just
what you have done. In a mixed seance
with tio definite aim, you have thrust
your head into the' next world, and you
have met some naughty boys. Go for
ward and try to reach something
bett sr."
"Tint was Gen. Dray son's explana
tion.. and though it did not satisfy me
at the time, I think now that it was a
roujrh approximation of the truth.
These were my first steps in spiritual
ism.."
Slaortly afterward, the investigator
got in touch at a table seance, he de
clai"es, with spirits who gave him
deriinite and coherent Information
life beyond the grave information
wh tch he says he has since verified by
other revelations.
Spirit Messages.
yTwo spirits sent messages, says
Dr. Doyle, "the first of whom spelt ou
asf-a name 'Dorothy Pothclthwaitc,
give a succession of names, the table
tilted at the correct name of the head
mistress of the school.
"She went on to say that the sphere
she inhabited was all around the
earth; that she knew about the planets,
that Mars was inhabited by a race more
advanced than us; there was no bodily
pain in her sphere, but there could be
mental anxiety; they were governed;
they took nourishment- she had been
a Catholic and was still a Catholic, but
had not fared better than the Protes
tants; there were Buddhists and
Mohammedans in her sphere, but all
fared alike; she had never seen Christ
and knew no more about him than on
earth, but she believed in his in
fluence. "Spirits prayed, and they died in
their new sphere before entering
another; they had pleasures music
was among them. It was a place of
light and of laughter. She added that
they had no rich or poor, and that the
general conditions were far better than
on earth.
"This lady bade us good-night, and
immediately the table was seized by
a much more robust influence, which
dashed it about very violently. In
answer to my questions it claimed to
be the spirit of one whom I will call
Dodd, who was a famous cricketer, and
with whom I had some serious conver
sation in Cairo before he went up the
Nile, where he met his death in the
Dongolese expedition. Dodd was not
known to either lady. I began to ask
him questions exactly as if he were
seated before me, and he sent his an
swers back with great speed and deci
sion. The answers were often quite
opposed to what I had expected, so that
I could not believe I was influencing
them. He said that he was happy, that
he did not wish to return to earth. He
had been a freethinker, but had not
suffered in the next life for that rea
son. Prayer, however, was a good
thing, keeping us in touch with the
spiritual world. If he had prayed more
he would have been higher in the spirit
world.
"When, he died he had found people
to welcome him. He knew more than
he did in life. Duration of life in the
next sphere was shorter than on earth.
He had not seen General Gordon nor
any other famous spirit. Spirits lived
in families and communities. Married
people did not necessarily meet agatn.
but those who loved each other did
meet again."
Offering tlie Proofs.
After telling of coherent and intelll
gent messages received in other
seances at which he was present. Dr.
Doyle says that he asked himself at
the time;
'What proof was there that these
statements were true? I could see no
proof and they simply left me bewil
dered.
"Now with a larger experience, in
which I find that the same sort of in
formation has come to very many peo
ple independently in many lands. I
think that the agreement of the wit
nesses does, as in all cases of evidence,
constitute an argument for their
truth."
In 1891, Dr. Doyle joined the Psy
chical Research Society and continued
more seriously what he sincerely be
ieves to be his communication with
spirits in the other world and his study
of such communications alleged to have
been received by others.
Summing up the result of these mes
sages received by him and others Dr.
Doyle gives the following remarkable
picture of what happens after death:
"The departed all agree that passing
s usually both easy and painless and
followed by an enormous reaction of
peace and ease. The individual finds
himself in a spirit body which is the
exact counterpart of his old one, save
that all disease, weakness or deformity,
has passed from it. This body is. stand
ing or floating beside the old body, and
conscious both of it and of the sur
rounding people. At this moment the
dead man is nearer to matter than he
will ever be again.
"In most cases I imagine that the
dead man is too preoccupied by his own
amazing experience to have much
thought for others. He soon finds to
his surprise that though he endeavors
to communicate with those he sees, his
ethereal voice and his ethereal touch
are equally unable to make any impres
sion upon those human organs which
are only attuned to coarser stimuli.
"The spirit is not a glorified angel or
a goblin damned, but elmply the person
himself.
"Now before entering upon his new
life, the new spirit has a period of
sleep, varying in length.
"Having awakened from this sleep
the spirit is weak, as the child is weak
after each birth. Soon, however,
strength returns, and the new life be
gins.
The Spirit World.
This leads us to considerations of
heaven and hell. Hell drops out alto
gether, as It has long dropped out of
the thoughts of every reasonable man.
Hell as a permanent place does not ex
ist, but the idea of punishment, of purl
fying chastisement is justified by re
ports from the other side. These pro
bationary spheres are perhaps rather a
hospital for weakly souls than as a
penal community. Aside from them,
the reports from the other world are
all greed as to the pleasant conditions
of life in the beyond.
They agree that like goes to like,
that those who love or have interests
in common are united, that life is full
of interest and occupation, and that
they would, by no means desire to re
turn. '
'All of this is surely tidings of great
Joy, and I repeat that it Is not a vague
faith or hope, but that It is supported
by all the laws of evidence which agree
that where many independent witnesses
give a similar account, the account has
a claim to be considered true.
'All agree that life beyond is for a
limited period, after which they pass
on to yet other phases, but apparently
there is more communication between
these phases than there is between us
and Splritland. The lower cannot as
cend. but the higher can descend at
will.
Life there has a close .analoev to
that or this world at its best. It is
pre-eminently a life of the mind, as
this ia of the body.
Preoccupations of food, money, lust,
pain, etc., are of the body and are gone.
Music, the arts. Intellectual and
spiritual knowledge and progress, have
increased. .
"The people are clothed, as one would
expect, since there is no reason why
moaesty should disappear with our new
forms.
"These new forms are the absolute
reproduction of the old ones at their
best, the young growing up, and the old
reverting until all come to the normal
-eopie live in communities, as one
would expect, if he attracts like, and
ine male spirit still finds his true mate,
though there is no sexuality in the
grosser sense, and no childbirth.
"Since connections ettll endure, and
those in the same state of development
keep abreast, one would expect that
nations are still roughly divided from
each other, though language is no
longer a bar, since thought has become
a medium of conversation.
"These, roughly speaking, are the
lines of the life beyond In its simplest
expression. All witnesses are agreed
that no religion upon earth has any ad
vantage over another, but that charac
ter and refinement are everything.
"At the same time, all . are agreed
that all religions which inculcate prayer
and an upward glance are good."
Such, then, is the picture of life be
yond the grave, as Dr. Doyle believes
it has been communicated to him and
others by spirits.
Among the world famous people of
the present and past generations who
hold or held similar opinions may be
mentioned Crookes, Wallace, Flamma-
rlon, Charles Rlcht. Sir Oliver Lodge,
Barrett, Lombroso, W. T. Stead. Judge
Edmunds, Admiral Usborne Moore, the
ate Archdeacon Wilbcrforce and scores
of others.
According to Dr. Doyle, the reve
lations have reached a point where
further proof is superfluous and where
the weight of disproof lies upon those
who deny.
Our Soldier Boys.
So much for tne English scientific
mind.
Now to return to the leading Amer
ican exponent of these new ideas. Dr.
Hereward Carrington, Ph. D., author of
many scientific works on death, its
causes and phenomena.
In his latest work, entitled "Psychical
Phenomena and the War," he not only
sets forth the same startling general
conclusions as those arrived at by the
English scientists, but declares that
this new knowledge is practical, and
that many bereaved fathers and mothers
In France and England are today in
actual communication with their boys
who were slain on the Held of battle.
In a thrilling chapter entitled "Our
Dead Soldiers Yet Live," Dr. Hereward
Carrington offers what he believes is
" ' owl- Jlmm- w" :
s suffer more here I A UTj 4 U &YV&&f$S? '
home in spirit and I 1 I -ft t rl S 'VV.YViC fn r:''.-
ng than ever lW I I I H -JjU Vt tfJtf !SuV AS3At-'i?M3b'
lefield? They know! I I. I 'i T T L SfJW-: HMJ 1 VPTv
faT. VnlVro'-bV ' A
assed by waves of I J II 3''
quotes many other V I V I r
Lgerb,o"comrunrcrt: v u fl i w n h sssc'v?
It is easier for 4 I I Th viV.' A
says, when those who ; I 1 11 11 I I III AfXT.N.
confidence that the I MM III . - " J?5rk
r and better world. It .
way to extravagant VII H ill I Ml 111 -ff
t.
the convincing scientific proof that It
is possible to get in touch with the
dead.
And his words are not couched in aca
demic or obscure language.
It is a vital belief with him, a new
religion, which he offers passionately
and sincerely to all who have been be
reaved. He declares that these boys have been
heard from since they passed to the
beyond, and quotes from them in detail.
"Have they died In the real sense?"
he asks, and answers, "A thousand
times no!
"Are they still alive? Tea!. And they
are the self-same dear, loving, natural
'boys' as when they moved among us.
"There Is only one change. They
have simply lost their physical bodies.
The real man, the immortal ego, re
mains absolutely unaltered by the proc
ess of death.
"These deathless boys, then, are pre
cisely the eame today in their essential
characteristics as when enveloped in
their mortal robe."
The author quotes from a letter re
ceived from one who recently lost his
son in battle:
you quite grasp It.
the boys sometime
when they return
are refused a heat
suffered on the batl
they are alive, the)
loved ones of the
with and encomp
tormenting grief.'"
Dr. Carrington
such messages.
He says that
passed over are i
with their loved one
them to do so, he
are bereaved have
are living in anothe
and do not give
grief.
"Many there are.
aya the author.
"We have spoken with our boy (killed '"who have had the experience and have
in action) many, many times; In fact,
it is now a regular thing, and this is
what he said recently:
" "Do you know. Dad, I don't think
learned the truth of the ancient saying
that love bridges the chasm.
Could any revelations of life after
death be more amazing than those to
which these serious-minded men bear
witness?
If what they sincerely believe to be
true is really true, could there be any-
greater consolation for the hearts of
the steadily Increasing number of Amer
ican fathers and mothers who have lost
their boys on the battlefield?
LEADER OF WOMEN'S DEATH
BATTALION NOW IN AMERICA
Rheta Childe Dorr Recalls Bloody Days of Revolution in Russia When
Maria Botchkareva Became Famous.
w
BT RHETA CHILDE DORR.
(Published by Arrangement With the
New York Evening Mail.)
HEN I saw Maria Botchkareva in
a beautifully furnished hotel
room, saw her well groomed, in
a new uniform of fine cloth, with all
her orders pinned to her blouse, ex
pensive boots on her feet, the gold
stars of a Lieutenant-Colonel on her
sleeves, the other day. I closed my eyes
for a moment, another picture of her
flashing into my mind.
I pictured the day in Petrograd, less
than a year ago, when 1 saw Botch
kareva made a commissioned officer
in the Russian army. It was In front
of the Cathedral of St. Isaac, and a
thousand mounted Cossacks were
drawn up in hollow square to witness
the ceremony and the blessing of the
Women's Battalion of Death before it
was sent out to fight.
Botchkareva, as well as her soldiers,
were clad in khaki uniforms, rather
shabby, and about half the girls wore,
instead of army boots, the women's
shoes in which they had enlisted. These
women received their boots only a day
or two before they went into battle.
Woman Trnly Remarkable.
That day In Petrograd Maria Botch
kareva was much thinner and browner
than she appeared yesterday, but she
was a gallant figure as she walked
forward, proudly yet modestly, to re
ceive from the military governor of
Petrograd her officer's sword and belt.
I was glad yesterday that through all
the terrible vicissitudes of the Russian
upheaval her star has never been al
lowed to disappear; glad that the
friends of our unhappy ally have found
means of sending her to plead their
cause. It is a truly remarkable woman
who has come to America.
Mafia Botch.kareva ha.s had a career
as wildly romantic and improbable as
any woman in history. In fact, her
career is matclied, in. history oaiy by
Joan of Arc and by that 18th century
Spanish nun of whom De Quincey wrote
so well, and who, like Maria Botch
kareva, had a distinguished military
career.
Lieutenant-Colonel Botchkareva never
claimed to be the heaven-inspired saint.
nor has she ever shown herself the
military strategist that Jeanne d'Arc
was. She did not. like the Spanish nun
get into the army in the disguise of a
man. nor did she fight, as the Spanish
oman did, because she loved adven
ture. Like the Maid of Orleans, Botch
Kareva made no attempt to disguise
her lex. She simply claimed the right
to ngnt tor her country side by aide
witn men.
Bravery Win Decorations.
She did fight and she fought well
She wears on her breast medals and
crosses representing the five degrees
of the Order of St. George, the highest
military decoration that can be be
stowed on any- Russian soldier. The
wearers of the cross of St. George,
which is the ultimate decoration after
the first four degrees have been won
have their names engraved in gold let
ters on the white marble walls of the
Hall of t. George in the Kremlin Pal
ace, Moscow.
The name of Maria Botchkareva
probably has not yet been written In
St. George's Hall, because, after the
world war began, formalities like that
were neglected in Russia, as elsewhere.
But when Russia gets back to sanity
and order, after some stable form of
government has been established there,
what Botchkareva did and what she
attempted to do when ruin threatened
the revolution will certainly not be
forgotten.
The first time I saw Mcrla Botch
kareva was in June, 1917, In Petrograd.
She was then organizing her famous
Women's Battalion of Death, and she
was having her troubles. The Bol
shevik, then being led in secret by the
men who later led them openly, had
heard with dismay of Botchkareva's
-audacious plan of forming an army
unit of women, who should shame de
serting men into going back to the
front. They feared, as well they might,
,hal her plan would be successful. They
did everything In their power to Inter
fere with her recruiting, and they tried
hard to breed discontent and Insubordi
nation in her ranks.
When I first made the acquaintance
short time she remained she stirred
up a rebellion that seriously threat
ened the existence of the corps. By
some means, which I never understood,
the Identity of the spy became known
. . ' ,
., ' ... ' "V, :. .. i J
t . i' .' , I
i . -v f
. a . . . . ' -r t
ot the Women's Battalion of Death and
its commander the Bolshevik leaders
had succeeded in planting one of their
spies In the regiment. This was a red
haired girl from Cronstadt, and in the
and she was thrown out of the bar
racks. Indeed, but for the firmness of
Botchkareva those fierce young Ama
r.ons might have done the spy violence.
iiotchareva insisted, on allowing tne
woman to go away unscathed, rightly
Judging that any other course would
bring discredit on the battalion. She
has -not invariably been as discreet as
that in her judgments.
The red-hatred girl from Cronstadt
worked up the rebellion by telling the
women soldiers that Botchkavera was
a tyrant and a bully, and they, being
unused to military discipline, were
ready to believe it. There is no doubt
that the Narhalnik, or commander, as
she was called, was autocratic and
dictatorial, and sometimes she was en
tirely unreasonable.
tlek. Ten per la Feminine.
Botchkareva is found of describing
herself as unfeminlne, but she cer
tainly possesses many of the weak
nesses usually called feminine. She has
a quick temper and a quick repentance
after the temper. I have seen her dis
cipline one of her soldiers in a beat
of passion, and almost before the sting
ing rebuke was out of her ribouth. throw
her arms around the culprit and kiss
her. Perhaps that kind of a temper
is Russian. It is feminine the world
over.
After order was restored in the bat
talion and Botchkareva had leisure to
be communicative with me. she told
me many stories of her life in the
array, and how she came to organize
her women s regiment. She joined the
army in 115. after her husband fell
In battle, and the remote village in
which she lived had been reduced to
extreme misery. The men gone, pov
erty overwhelmed, the families left be
hind, typhus came in and killed
many, and to Botchkareva the bitter
reflection came that war is harder on
womn tban It Is on men.
"They give men guns to fight death
with." she said to me. "but women
simply sit and wait for death."
She made up her mind that she
would die. If die she must, fighting for
Russia. She is almost unlettered, but
she managed to write a letter to the
Czar, a naive document, in which she
set forth her claim to a man's chance
to fight death with a gun in her hand.
She asked to be allowed to enlist in a
men's regiment then encamped near
her village.
Of course the Czar never saw the
letter, but the official to whom it was
referred must have had a heart, ami
also an Imagination. At all events
permission came from the War Min
istry that Maria Botchkareva was to
be J-Mowed to enlist, and she did.
She served almost continuously from
the Summer or Autumn of 1915 until
after the revolution of February, 1917.
It was February In the Russian calen
dar., which is two weeks behind that
of the western world. Her only ab-
n,.Hle1 on Pas Nine
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