Spiritist Review - Journal of Psychological Studies - 1869

The Petite Presse, November 19^th, 1868, transcribed from the le Droit newspaper the following fact:



“In a miserable garret in Oven Street^[1], an individual of a certain age, named P… lived in poverty. He did not receive anyone; he prepared his own meals, that were much smaller than those of an anchorite. Covered in sordid clothes, he slept on an even more sordid pallet. Extremely thin, he seemed parched by privations of all sorts, and was generally believed to be in the grip of the most profound destitution.



Meanwhile, a nasty smell had started to spread around the house. It increased in intensity and ended up reaching the establishment of a small caterer, located on the ground floor, to the point that customers complained. The cause of those miasmas was then carefully sought, and they ended up discovering that they came from the accommodation occupied by Mr. P ... The discovery made them think that the man had not been seen for a long time, and fearing that some misfortune had happened to him, they hastened to inform the district police commissioner.



The officer immediately went to the scene and had the door opened by a locksmith; but as soon as they tried to enter the room, they were nearly suffocated and had to move away promptly. It was only after some time when the air in the cubicle was refreshed that it was possible to enter and cautiously proceed to the findings.



A sad spectacle was presented to the police officer and the doctor who accompanied him. Mr. P's body was lying on the bed… in a state of complete putrefaction; it was covered with anthrax flies, and thousands of worms gnawed at the flesh, which fell apart in shreds.



The state of decomposition did not allow to recognize with certainty the cause of death, dating back to a distant time, but the absence of any trace of violence suggested that it must be attributed to a natural cause, such as a stroke or aneurysm. They also found in a piece of furniture a sum of about 35,000 francs, both in cash and in shares, industrial bonds, and various securities.



Following the ordinary formalities, they promptly removed the human remains and disinfected the room. The money and securities were sealed by Justice."





This man was evoked in the Parisian Society and gave the following communication:




Parisian Society of Spiritist Studies, November 20^th, 1868 – medium Mr. Rul



“You ask me why I let myself starve, being in possession of a treasure; 35,000 francs is a fortune indeed! Alas! Gentlemen, you are too well informed of what is going on around you not to understand that I was undergoing trials, and my end tells you enough that I failed. Indeed, in a previous existence, I had fought strongly against poverty that I had overcome only by prodigies of activity, energy, and perseverance. For twenty times I was on the verge of being deprived of the fruits of my hard labor. Also, I was not kind to the poor that I sent away when they came to my house. I reserved everything I earned for my family, wife, and children.



I chose as a test, in this new existence, to be sober, moderate in my tastes, and to share my fortune with the poor, my disinherited brothers. Have I kept my word? You see the opposite; for I have indeed been sober, moderate, more than moderate; but I was not charitable.



My unhappy ending was only the beginning of my sufferings, harder, more painful now, when I see with the eyes of the Spirit. So, I would not have had the courage to present myself before you, if I had not been assured that you are good, compassionate with misfortune; I come to ask you to pray for me. Alleviate my sufferings, you who know the means of making the sufferings less poignant; pray for your brother who is suffering and who wants to come back and suffer much more still!



Have pity on me, my God! Pity on the weak being who failed; and you, gentlemen, have compassion for your brother, who recommends himself to your prayers.

The miser of Oven Street.”

---

[1] Rue du Four-Saint-Germain (T.N.)

The Droit reads:



“Mr. Jean-Baptiste Sadoux, manufacturer of canoes in Joinville-Le-Pont, saw yesterday a young man wandering around on a bridge for some time, and later climbed on the parapet and rushed into the Marne. He immediately went to his aid and brought him back after seven minutes. But the asphyxiation was already complete, and all the attempts made to revive the unfortunate man were unsuccessful.



A letter found on him allowed to identify him as Mr. Paul D…, aged twenty-two, living at Sedaine Street, in Paris. The letter, addressed by the suicide man to his father, was extremely touching. He begged for his forgiveness for abandoning him and told him that for two years he had been dominated by a terrible idea, by an irresistible desire to destroy himself. He seemed to hear, he added, a voice beyond life calling on him relentlessly, and despite his best efforts, he could not help but go towards it. In the pocket of his jacket, they also found a new rope with a noose. After the forensic examination, the body was returned to the family."





The obsession is very evident here, and what is not less so is that Spiritism is completely foreign to that, a further proof that this evil is not inherent to the belief. But if Spiritism has nothing to do with the fact, it alone can give its explanation. Here is the instruction given on this subject by one of our usual Spirits, and from which it emerges that, despite the enticement to which this young man yielded for his misfortune, he did not succumb to fate; he had his free-will, and with a stronger will, he could have resisted. If he were a Spiritist, he would have understood that the voice that called him could only be that of an evil Spirit, and the terrible consequences of a moment of weakness.



Paris, Group Desliens, December 20^th, 1868 – medium Mr. Nivard



“The voice said: Come! Come! But the voice of the tempter would have been ineffective if I had not felt the direct action of the Spirit. The poor suicide man was called, and he was pushed. Why? His past was the cause of the painful situation he found himself in; he valued life and dreaded death; but, in this incessant call that he heard, had he found, shall I say, the strength? No. He drew on the weakness that lost him. He overcame his fears, because in the end he expected to find rest on the other side of life that this side had denied him. He was deceived: no rest had come. Darkness surrounds him, his conscience reproaches him for his act of weakness, and the Spirit that has drawn him laughs around him, constantly throwing persiflage at him. The blind man does not see him, but he hears the voice repeating to him: Come! come! And then laughs at his tortures.



The cause of this case of obsession is in the past, as I have just said; the obsessing Spirit himself has been driven to suicide by the one he has just knocked down into the abyss. She was his wife in the previous existence, and she had suffered greatly from her husband's debauchery and brutality. Too weak to accept with courage and resignation the situation that was presented to her, she sought refuge for her sufferings in death. She has since avenged herself and you know how. But nevertheless, the act of this unfortunate man was not fatal; he had accepted the risks of temptation; it was necessary for his advancement, for it was the only way to remove the stain that had soiled his previous existence. He had accepted the risks with the hope of being stronger, but he was wrong: he failed. He will do it again later; will he endure? It will depend on him.



Pray to God for him, to give him the calm and resignation that he so badly needs, the courage and the strength so that he does not fail in the tests that he will have to withstand later.



Louis Nivard.”