An account

In the meantime nothing whatever of the movements of these men was known at the Mill of Boyndie ; but all the household retired to rest at the usual hour. My sister, as was her custom, locked all the doors, and placed the keys on a table beside her bed. She was awakened in the middle of the night by one of the domestics coming to her, and asking for the key of the kitchen door, as two of the three lads who had left in the morning had just looked in at her bedroom window, as if they were in want of something. She said she had asked them what they required, but they had returned no answer, and having slowly moved down, left the back of the house, where they were joined by the third one. [The premises were searched without result.] A messenger arrived early next morning, saying that the three young men had been drowned. My sister is now dead, but I am certain, if she had been alive, she would have corroborated the whole of the foregoing statement. [The evidence here of course depends, not on the mere tale of a frightened servant, but on the assurance of Mrs. Gardiner's sister that the fright related to the apparition of certain persons whose death was not known of till next day. A mistake of identity seems improbable ; as though a servant, startled from sleep in the middle of the night, would be likely enough to mistake friends seeking admittance for tramps or burglars, she would not be likely to mistake tramps or burglars for friends. It must be observed, however, that a joint apparition of three persons who were all dying at the same time is not a type of which we have any first-hand specimens ; and though such an event would quite admit of a telepathic explanation, it suggests a certain infusion of the mythical element. Clearly, a genuine telepathic incident may be unconsciously exaggerated and improved, just as much as a spurious one.] § 5. The remaining second-hand cases are from narrators who were not relatives of the original witnesses, but for the most part were thoroughly intimate with them. None of the cases are the mere recitals of stories casually picked up without any warranty as to their bona jides} (537) Mr. Colchester, of Bushey Heath, Herts, sends us the following case from a MS. work entitled Reminiscences of the Bermudas, written by his late father, who at the time of the occurrence narrated was assistantsurgeon in the Royal Artillery. The names of the two officers. Lieutenants 1 At the same time, these are specially the cases in respect of which the drawbacks to transmitted evidence, which were