Manifestations at Fives.

— One reads in the Indépendant de Douai, of July 6 and 8, 1865, the following account of the facts that have just occurred at Fives:

I.

“For about a fortnight, on the Rue du Prieuré, in Fives, facts that are still inexplicable have been occurring and are causing a profound sensation throughout the whole neighborhood. At certain intervals, in the courtyard of two houses of that street, a hail of projectiles falls, breaking windowpanes, sometimes striking the residents, without it being possible to discover either the place from which they come or the person who throws them. Things reached such a point that one of the two tenants had to protect his windows with a grating, fearing to be struck down. “At first the interested parties kept watch, but then they had recourse to the police, who, for several days, exercised the most active vigilance. This did not prevent pieces of bricks, hard coal, etc., from falling abundantly into the two courtyards. Even an officer received a projectile in the kidneys, at the moment when he was trying to explain to one of his comrades the parabola that the stones described before falling. “The glazier, replacing the panes broken the day before with pieces of brick, was likewise struck on the back. He at once rushed forward, swearing he knew the author of these reprehensible acts, but he was no more fortunate than the others.

“For some days a notable decrease in the size of the projectiles has been observed, but they are more numerous, so that the excitement continues. However, it is hoped that what is mysterious in this singular case will soon be discovered.

II.

“The bizarre phenomena that occur on the Rue du Prieuré, in Fives, since Thursday, June 14, and of which we had already spoken, have, since Saturday, entered a new phase, says the newspaper from which we extract the first account.

“It is no longer a matter of projectiles thrown from outside with an extraordinary noise against doors and windows and, much less violently, against persons.

“Here is what is now happening in one of the two houses spoken of, for the other is in perfect tranquility.

“On Saturday eight sous and five two-centime Belgian coins fell into the courtyard. The mistress of the house, seeing at the same time several pieces of furniture move and chairs being overturned, goes to call people from the neighborhood. They set the chairs upright; several times they fall over again. At the same time the clogs, left at the entrance by the servant, are seen in the garden to jump in cadence, as if they were on the feet of a person dancing. “At nightfall, a calendar placed on top of a fireplace leaped and whirled in the air; shoes placed on the floor also leaped and fell over on their faces.

“When night came, the master of the house, Mr. M…, resolved to keep watch.

“Scarcely alone, he heard a noise: it was a candlestick falling onto the fireplace; while he was getting up, a shell rolled on the ground; he stooped to pick it up; another candlestick fell on his back. These tricks lasted a part of the night.

“During this time the maidservant, who sleeps upstairs, cried out for help. They found her so terrified that they could not doubt her sincerity when she affirmed that she had been struck. They had her come down and lie down in a neighboring closet; soon they heard her laments and even the blows she received.

“This young girl fell ill and had to return to her parents’ house.

“On Sunday morning and the following day, sous and Belgian centimes still fell into the courtyard.

“In the afternoon Mrs. X… went out with one of her friends, after having inspected the whole house and finding nothing out of order.

“The door was carefully locked. No one could enter. On returning, Mrs. X… found drawn upon the bed a large 8, made with stockings and shawls that had been stored in a wardrobe.

“In the evening, with her husband, the nephew, and a boarder, who together with her constitute all the people of the house, she made an inspection of all the rooms. On the following morning, on going up to the room formerly occupied by the maidservant, she found upon the bed a strange drawing, formed with caps, and, at the lower part of the staircase, twelve steps covered with the jackets of her husband, the nephew, and the boarder, spread out and covered by a hat. “Tuesday morning a Belgian centime still fell into the courtyard. They intended to give it to the poor, as well as the coins fallen two days before. But behold, the case in which they were kept leaped from one room to another and the money disappeared, as did the key of the writing desk.

“While sweeping the dining room, they suddenly saw two knives plant themselves in the floor and another in the ceiling.

“Suddenly a key fell into the courtyard. It was that of the street door; then came that of the writing desk; afterward came the shawls, the handkerchiefs, rolled up and knotted, which had disappeared some time before.

“In the afternoon there was seen on Mr. M…’s bed a wheel made with clothes, and in the granary a drawing of the same kind, formed by an old rolled-up greatcoat and a hamper.

“All these facts, as well as those of which we spoke on Saturday, are attested by the people of the house, whose character is far from being inclined to exaggeration or illusion. They appear still more singular because the neighborhood is well inhabited and because an active and incessant vigilance has been exercised during the last three weeks. “One can imagine how much the people of the house suffer from this state of things. After having covered the windows on the courtyard side, they resolved to abandon the rooms where the facts we relate occurred, and now they are, in a manner of speaking, encamped in two or three rooms, awaiting the end of their troubles.” For the chronicle:

Th. Denis.

— As one sees, these facts have a certain analogy with those of Poitiers, of the Boulevard Chave, in Marseille, of the rues des Grès and Noyers, in Paris, of Hoerdt, near Strasbourg, and of a number of other localities. Everywhere they took the most active vigilance by surprise and foiled the investigations of the police. Thanks to their multiplication, they will end by opening people’s eyes. If they occurred only in a single place, we would be led to attribute them to a local cause; but, when they succeed one another at points so distant and at different periods, one is forced to recognize that the cause is in the invisible world, since we do not find it in our own. In the presence of facts so multiplied and, consequently, with witnesses so numerous, denial is almost impossible, so that we see the reports generally limit themselves to mere accounts. The Spirits announced that manifestations of every kind were going to occur at all points. Indeed, if we examine what has been happening for some time, we shall see that they are fertile in resources that attest their presence. The incredulous ask for facts; the Spirits furnish them at every moment, with a value all the greater inasmuch as they are not provoked and occur without the concurrence of ordinary mediumship and, most of the time, among persons foreign to Spiritism. It seems that the Spirits say to them: You accuse the mediums of connivance, of sleight of hand, of hallucinations; we give you facts that are not suspect. If after this you still do not believe, it is because you wish to close your eyes and your ears. The manifestations at Fives, moreover, are attested to us by Mr. Mallet, of Douai, a superior officer and man of science, who informed himself of their reality on the very premises and from the interested persons. We can, then, guarantee their perfect exactness.