State of Ala., Madison Co.,

Meridianville, May 10th, 1876.

In 1867, I lived two and a half miles east of this village, on what is known as the Harris place, on the other side of Brier Fork Creek; and was engaged in selling goods in this place, spending the nights at home.

Some time during the summer a bunch of keys, among which was my wheat-garner key, was lost. After a lapse of about one week I requested Mr. William White, who was employed in the store and boarded at Rev. C. B. Sanders' in the village, on going to his dinner, to ask him to tell me where my keys were. On his return Mr. White said he made the request, but Mr. Sanders paid no attention to what he said, he being in one of his spells. However, during the same afternoon, while my younger sister, in company with other persons, was at his house, he told her that my keys were under the steps at the west door of my dwelling. In consequence of this information I returned home earlier than usual. As soon as I arrived I told my wife what I had heard. She ran immediately and found the keys under the door-step, just as Mr. Sanders had said, and somewhat rusty. They must have been thrown there a week before by a little child that played about the house.

I add that I know Mr. Sanders had not been in my house nor on the place for at least twelve months before that time.

A. J. Bentley.

We, the undersigned, certify that the above statements are true as far as they relate to us personally, and that we heard all the particulars, as above mentioned, at the time they occurred.

Mrs. Josephine E. Bentlev.

Miss Mary A. Bentley.

Several cases are given of his supernormal knowledge of accidents occurring to distant persons, such as the stumbling of a lady carrying some boiling-hot water, and the scalding of her arm in consequence (the incident occurring in another State); he also gave a description of injuries to another lady (thirty-five miles distant) from a lightning stroke, at the time of the occurrence. His account of a fire in Salisbury, N.C., with a description of "the tin-shop in which it broke out, and the extent of its ravages," reminds one of the incident of Swedenborg's description of the fire at Stockholm when he was at Gottenburg (see 936 A).

Several cases are also recorded of his knowledge that a distant person was just dying or dead. I quote one of these:-

On the same night he revealed the place of the lost gold coin, as before related, and perhaps about one hour afterwards, Dr. Blair, my wife, and myself being present, Mr. Sanders took his seat at the front window of the parlour. Our attention was attracted by manifestations of sympathy, sadness, and distress from him, accompanied by such expressions as "Poor fellow! What a pity!" He continued to repeat them, alternated with inarticulate expressions of intense emotion for a short time - I would say from one to several minutes. Then he said, as well as I remember, "He is gone! gone! gone!" closing in a solemn whisper. There was for a short time a silence and stillness, such as usually is witnessed at the closing scene of a dying friend, which was broken by my asking him the cause of these manifestations. We were quite shocked on hearing his reply that "Lieutenant McClure has just died suddenly from an internal haemorrhage, near Clarkesville, Tennessee".

We append the following facts: Lieutenant Robert McClure some few months previous had married Miss Pattie, daughter of R. W. Vasser, deceased (long a prominent citizen and merchant in this place), and had, a few days before this, gone on a visit to his father, whose residence was then, and still is, in the immediate vicinity of Clarkesville, Tennessee, about forty miles below Nashville, having left his wife at her mother's, as he expected to make a flying trip. On the next morning after Mr. Sanders' development, above written, a telegram was received from Clarkesville bringing to his young bride the unexpected and melancholy news of her husband's sudden death. And it confirmed, in every circumstance, what Mr. Sanders had stated the night before. Clarkes-ville, Tennessee, via Nashville, is nearly one hundred and fifty miles distant from Athens, Ala.

A recent letter, from a lady who was present, states that Lieutenant McClure died on Wednesday night, between eight and nine o'clock, the 2nd of November 1866. He was sitting in her room, reading aloud a book; had a paroxysm of coughing, and remarked to her that it was blood that he spit out. She put her babe down, which she was nursing, and assisted him in sitting down, for he had arisen to his feet. She thinks he did not breathe after being seated.

After writing these last two cases, I received the following testimony from J. S. Blair, M.D. G. W. Mitchell.

Mr. Mitchell adds the corroborative testimony of Dr. Blair.

The last account which I quote is of an incident which occurred much later than those recorded in the book by Mr. Mitchell. An account of it was sent to Dr. Hodgson by Mr. Mitchell, in a letter of February 1891, which agrees with what follows from the witnesses themselves:-

Bodenham, Giles Co., Tenn., May 27, 1891.

We, the undersigned, certify that on Saturday night, August the [24th], 1889, Rev. C. B. Sanders, who was holding a protracted meeting with our pastor, Rev. G. W. Mitchell, at Mt. Moriah Church, repaired to our house, where they (the preachers) lodged. Mr. Sanders was suffering considerable pain in his head and chest, and lying upon a bed, and after hours spent in conversation and singing religious songs, and while Mr. Mitchell was temporarily absent - we think it was about eleven o'clock, or later - he said, with evident amusement, "Humph! Brother Forsythe, like a child, knelt down to pray and has gone to sleep." Mrs. Wheeler said to him, "How do you know?" He replied, "Child, you ask too many questions".

On that night, before Mr. Sanders dismissed the congregation, he proposed that all who would join in praying for the penitents until midnight to make it known by rising to their feet. To which Deacon Forsythe was a respondent. Mr. Forsythe lived about two miles on an air line from our home. . . .

Geo. E. Wheeler.

Mrs. Geo. E. Wheeler.

Wales, Tenn., May 28, 1891.

I, the undersigned, hereby certify that on the night of the [24th] of August 1889, I did kneel at my chair for prayer, in my own house, between the hours of eleven and twelve o'clock, and having been labouring day and night for a week past, and being quite weary, in a short time I went to sleep. I went to church next morning, and Deacon Long and myself were asked by a brother if we complied with our pledge last night. I replied that I did not fully, as I went to sleep on my knees a short time before the time expired. . . .

I had not heard then what Mr. Sanders had said about me at Mr. Wheeler's. When we got to the church door, Mr. Wheeler was telling the incident that took place at his house on the night before, as having occurred about the time I went to sleep. R. H. Forsythe.

Mr. Mitchell writes in July 1902, that he has not been notified that Mr. Sanders has had any recent communications from "X + Y = Z".