"Now the fact that the foregoing is an accurate statement of a dream experienced by me is not a matter for marvel. Taken alone, there is nothing remarkable in the time at which this vision blackened my sleep. The spell was upon me between two and three o'clock in the morning - of that I am certain. I am positive of the time, because, when I awoke, I heard the clock distinctly, as it struck three.

"On the morrow, I - who usually forget an ordinary dream long before breakfast - recounted to the family the details of the night's distraction. From my hearers there followed only the ordinary comments of how ghastly and how shocking the story was as told, and how strange the nature of the accident - that no parts of the body had been found. The latter circumstance was, to me also, quite an unusual feature of railroad casualty.

"The evening following the night of the dream (30th December), at 5 o'clock, I returned to my home, stepped into my study, and, as I am in the habit of doing, I glanced at a page of the St. Paul Dispatch, a daily evening newspaper. It had been casually folded by a previous reader, so that in picking it up flatly, the article which first fixed my attention read:

"Fate of a Tramp. Horrible Death Experienced by an Unknown Man on the Omaha Road.

"Duluth, 30th December - Every truck on the incoming Omaha train from St. Paul this morning was splashed with blood. Trainmen did not know there had been an accident till they arrived here, but think some unfortunate man must have been stealing a ride between St. Paul and this city. Trainmen on a later train state that a man's leg was found by them at Spooner, and that for two miles this side the tracks were scattered with pieces of flesh and bone. There is no possible means of identification.*

"Here was an evident verification of all that transpired in my mind between two and three o'clock on the previous night I reflected, and the more I pondered the faster I became convinced that I had been in some mysterious form, spirit or element, witness of the tragedy reported in the columns of the press - that my vision was perfect as to general details, and the impression complete and exact to time, and circumstance. The next morning I scanned the pages of the Pioneer Press of 31st December, and read the following paragraph:-

"'Unknown man killed, Shell Lake, Wis. Special telegram, 30th December. - Fragments of the body of an unknown man were picked up on the railroad track to-day. Portions of the same body were also found on over 100 miles of the railroad. He is supposed to have been killed by the night train, but just where is not known.'

"With this case, the conviction came to me that, living and asleep, 100 miles from the place of the killing, I had been subjected to the phantom - sight of an actual occurrence on the Omaha railroad, as vivid and in truth as I have stated it above.

"I have not written this account because Mark Twain and other authors have published in current magazines their experiences in what is termed mental telepathy or mental telegraphy. On the contrary, having read a number of those articles, I have hesitated to utter, as authentic, what I now believe to be a material and striking evidence of the extent, the caprice, and the possibilities of this occult phenomenon.

"Harry W. Wack."

In reply to Dr. Hodgson's inquiries Mr. Wack wrote: -

"St. Paul,

"20th February, 1892.

"My Dear Sir,

"Replying to your valued favour of the 15th inst, I will say that you are right in understanding that my account of the dream submitted to your society is a true narrative.

"I re-affirm every word of it, and give you my solemn assurance that, as I have stated, I informed my family and friends of the dream and its details, before I had the first suspicion that the public press ever had contained or ever would contain a report of such an actual occurrence.

"If desirable I will make affidavits as to the truth of the substance of the narrative in your hands.

"1 enclose a few corroborative letters, the signatures to which I procured yesterday, 19th February. If these serve you, well and good.

"Harry W. Wack."

The following were the corroborative letters enclosed:-

"St. Paul,

" 2oth February 1892.

"Gentlemen,

" Referring to an account of a dream submitted to you by Mr. Harry Wack of this city which I have read, I beg leave to add the following facts corroborative of the narrative: -

"After careful consideration of the article, I find that the story of the dream on 29th - 30th December is in substance identical with that which was related by Mr. Wack at breakfast on the morning of 30th December, 1891. On that occasion Mr. Wack stated that he had been agitated the previous night by a dream of unusual features, and then, at the request of those present, he recited what now appears in his article, which I have just perused for the first time. On the evening of 30th December, 1891, when Mr. Wack discovered the newspaper item, he again mentioned the dream and called my attention to the newspaper item, and several of the family discussed the matter. On the morning of 31st December, another newspaper clipping bearing on the same matter was debated by the family.

"Aside from the unusual features and hideousness of the dream, there was nothing to startle us, until the newspaper accounts developed the affair in a mysterious sense. The first version of the dream was given in the morning of 30th December. The first newspaper dispatch appeared and was discovered in the evening of the same day. This I know of my own knowledge being present on each occasion.

"(Mrs.) Margaret B. Macdonald."

"St. Paul,

"Minn., 20th February, 1892.

"Gentlemen,

"I have read the letter of Mrs. Macdonald, with whom I visited on 29th, 30th, 31st December, and days following, and with your permission I will say that I also was present at breakfast when Mr. Wack mentioned the dream, and at dinner (6 p.m.) when Mr. Wack called our attention to the newspaper item, which he then declared was a positive verification of the dream he experienced the night before. I have read the account of the dream, and I believe it to be precisely as I understood it from Mr. Wack's account given on the morning of 30th December, 1891.