The manufacturer of St. Petersburg.

The following fact of spontaneous manifestation was transmitted to our colleague, Mr. Kratzoff, of St. Petersburg, by his compatriot, Baron Gabriel Tscherkassoff, who resides in Cannes (Var) and guarantees its authenticity. Moreover, it seems that the fact is very well known and caused a sensation at the time when it occurred.

“At the beginning of the century there was in St. Petersburg a rich artisan, who employed a great number of workmen in his workshops. His name escapes me, but I believe he was English. An upright, humane, and well-behaved man, he enjoyed not only the good income from his products, but, much more still, the physical and moral well-being of his workmen, who, consequently, offered the example of good conduct and of an almost fraternal concord. According to a custom observed in Russia to this day, the master bore the cost of lodging and food, the workmen occupying the upper floors and the attics of the same house as he. One morning, on awakening, several workmen did not find their clothes, which they had set aside on going to bed. There could be no thought of theft: they conjectured in vain and suspected that the more mischievous ones had wished to play a trick on their comrades. At last, thanks to the searches carried out, they found all the vanished objects, in the granary, in the chimneys, and even on the roofs. The master issued general warnings, since no one confessed himself guilty; on the contrary, all protested their innocence. “Some time having passed, the same fact repeated itself; new warnings, new protests. Little by little the phenomenon began to repeat itself every night, and the master grew quite alarmed, because besides his work being much harmed, he saw himself threatened by the flight of all the workmen, who feared to remain in a house where, according to them, supernatural things were happening. Following the master's advice, a night watch was organized, chosen by the workmen themselves, to surprise the culprit. But they obtained nothing: on the contrary, things grew worse and worse. To reach their rooms, the workmen had to climb stairs that were not lit. Now, it happened to several of them to receive blows and slaps, and when they sought to defend themselves, they struck only the void, while the violence of the blows made them suppose that they were dealing with a solid being. This time the master advised them to divide into two groups: one was to stay at the upper part of the staircase, and the other below. In this way the joker of bad taste could not escape and would receive the correction he deserved. But the master's foresight failed again; both groups were soundly beaten, and each accused the other. The recriminations became atrocious, and the discord among the workmen reached its height, so that the poor master was already thinking of closing the workshops or moving away. “One night he was seated, sad and pensive, surrounded by his family. All were downcast when, suddenly, a great noise was heard in the room next door, which served him as a study. He rose hastily and went to seek the cause of the noise. On opening the door, the first thing he saw was his writing-desk open and a candlestick lit. Now, a few moments before, he had closed the desk and put out the light. On approaching, he made out upon the table a glass inkwell and a pen that did not belong to him, besides a sheet of paper on which were written these words, which had not had time to dry: ‘Have the wall demolished in such a place (it was above the staircase); there you will find human bones, which you will have buried in holy ground.’ The master took the paper and ran to inform the police.

“The next day they began to search out where the inkwell and the pen had come from. Showing them to the residents of the same house, they came to a dealer in foodstuffs who had his greengrocer's shop on the ground floor and who recognized both as his. Questioned about the person to whom he had given them, he replied: ‘Yesterday evening, having already closed the door of the shop, I heard a light knock on the shutter of the window; I opened, and a man, whose features I could not make out, said to me: I beg you to give me an inkwell and a pen; I will pay you for them. Having handed him the two objects, he threw me a large copper coin, which I heard fall on the floor, but could not find.’ “They demolished the wall in the indicated place, and there they found human bones, which were buried, and everything returned to normal. It was never known to whom those bones belonged.”

Facts of this nature must have occurred in all ages, and it is seen that they are by no means provoked by spiritist knowledge. It is understood that, in remote centuries, or among ignorant peoples, they gave rise to every kind of superstitious conjecture.