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VOL. XV., NO. XII
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OBSERVATIONS. 8
The Stotsenburg Fund.
Had Colonel Stotsenburg lived,
there would have been no need of a
Stotsenburg fuud. No man in the
army had a brighter or more assured
future than Colonel Stotsenburg and
when the war, which he entered as a
captain, was over, he would have been
a general. He-would not have asked
anything of Nebraska, but if he had
come home with the First, in the
gladness of the return cf the volun
teers and the rejoicing over their
glorious record, their colonel would
have received a hero's share of grati
tude and fame, which would have had
as immediate effect upon the war de
partment as in the case of General
Funston. But Colonel Stotsenburg
did his duty first always. When he
was ordered to take out from themen's
pay enough to pay for the cook's
services and for the stores stolen dur
ing the voyage across the ocean, he
tried insofar as an inferior officer
might, to alter the decision. Failing,
he enforced the order as though he
approved it. He realized that it
would make him unpopular with the
volunteers but he did his duty then,
as, when standing under shelter be
hind the rice fields at Quingua where
the Nebraska boys lay in the trenches
he realized that the only way to get
the soldiers out of the trap into which
they had been led, was to order a
charge. He himself then advanced
over the field where the men crouch
ed in the rice ruts. As he leaped
from hollow to hollow he was a con
spicuous object, and besides the men
cheered him. He fell with a bullet,
in his heart just as he reached the
men and ordered a charge. He was
late arriving. The attack was unex
pected and Colonel Stotsenburg was
off duty when the trouble occurred.
When the men were once on their
faces in that rice Held the officers
were uncertain as to how to get them
out A retreat would keep them in
the line of fire longer than an advance
but a retreat was about to be ordered
when the Colonel of the First Ne
braska reached the battle field.
"Without stopping he ordered up the
big guns, glanced about, realized tlia
greater loss of life should a retreat
be oidercd and, not crouching or
stooping, ran on to the field himself.
To save his own soldiers and to do
his best as a soldier and an otlicer was
all he thought of . It seems to me if
the commonwealth of Nebraska fails
to recognize the obligation that rests
upon it because of this soldier's un
hesitating, brave doing of his duty,
we are lacking in the common, pri
mary, virtues.
Mrs Stotsenburg is an invalid.
She has never recovered from the
shock of her husband's death and
from the strain of that long journey
across the Pacific when she brought
back to his country the man who had
fought a good fight, who had been
misunderstood and maligned but who
fought just tne same. Perhaps some
who read these words may hesitate
because of the participation in the
early suspicions of Colonel Stotsen
burg's just treatment of his troops.
It is a long time now s:nce those
suspicions . were proved unfounded.
The man who suffered because of
them is dead. As a state and as in
dividuals we owe his widow and chil
dren support. "We owe it. to justice
to right, as far as possible a wrong,
and if we do not pay our debts we are
bankrupt in conscience. No sum so
small that it will not add to the
Stotsenburg fund and to the number
of contributors who thereby express
gratitude and appreciation of a brave
man's life and death.
The Scientist's Medium.
The Society for Psychical Research
has monopolized the services for
twelve years of Mrs. Piper who lives
near Boston. All the sittings given
by her are under the charge of Doctor
Hodgson, wiiose detective genius has
earned him the reputation of having
exposed more mediumistic frauds
than any other one man. He even
journeyed, years ago, to India to in
vestigate the alleged phenomena of
Madame Blavatsky, which he soon
discovered were fraudulent. The So
ciety for S. R. has conducted its in
vestigations through Professor Hy
slop and he is very sure he has not
been decieved by Mrs. Piper. It is
impossible to read his report of Mrs.
Piper's trances and messages without
being convinced that Professor Hy
slop believes that his investigates
have demonstrated the fact of per
sonal identity after death, and that
the rigid conditions of the investi
gation have absolutely excluded the
hypothesis of fraud.
A curious fact about scholars and
scientific men which everyone who
has had opportunities of observation
has noticed is their childlike sim
plicity and transparent truthfulness.
In experimenting witli chemicals,
plants, machinery, the phenomena of
energy, or animals, scientists record,
the results of their experiments with
absolute fidelity. Anima's, plants,
machinery, chemicals, steam and
electricity respond frankly to experi
ments and the investigator's mind is
free to ponder upon the results and
meaning of them. A human being
whose business and profit it is to run
a successful fake considers it a sn"ip
when lie has only a professor to fool.
The more profound'his learning, the
deeper his attachment to truth for
truth's sake, the easier subject is 12
for the fakir. Mrs. Piper could easily
have found out from Professor Hy
slop himself and from members of
his family the trivial incidents which
her reference to while in a trance,
lias convinced him of her authen
ticity. But because she closes her
eyes and lays her head on a pillow
with her face turned away from the
right hand which writes, and refers
to trivial incidents which any clever
woman can gather from conversations
with intimates of the man whom she
must convince of occult powers to
earn a salary of se.'eral thousand dol
lars a year. A better man than Pro
fessor Hyslop or Dr. Hodgson to in
vestigate frauds would be the mana
ger of a theatre or of a vaudeville all-the-year-round
house. Mrs. Piper
and her family would probably pro
test against being subjected to the
vulgar and penetrating scrutiny of
such a person. Such a man however,
is an adept and it takes an adept to
understand an occult.
To the complaints of tie trivial
nature of the communications ad
dressed through Mrs. Piper to Pro
fessor Hyslop, he replies by saying
that he has demonstrated that the
manner adopted by the communica
tors is the most natural way as well
as the one by which practical results
are most quickly obtained. He tried
the same experiment with living sub
jects. He ordered a telephone wire
to be stretched between two of the
collegs buildings at Cambridge, Mas
sachusetts, and not letting any one
know his object, lie asked a number
of his colleagues at various times to
station themselves at each end of the
wire. A at one end knew who B was
but B at the other end was totally
ignorant of A's identity. A was
therefore asked to try by what means
occurred to him to convince B as
quickly as possiblo of his identity.
In every instance the facts related
were of a trivial character, very simi
lar, in every resect, to those recorded
in the reports of the Society for Psy
chical Bcsearch.
Professor Hyslop believes, however,
that it is only permitted to scientists
to investigate spiritistic phenomena.
He says: "I must in the beginning
enter a strong protest against private
investigation of spiritistic phenom
ena. It docs not tend to help on the
great object of the society, and in
mostcases.it does the investigator
more harm than good. After a be
revemeut it is the first impulse of
many women to seek an interview
with a medium in the hope of receiv
ing some communication from the
departed. This is the impulse of an
unhealthy mind and should be
promptly discouraged. That there
are mediums who are frauds has been
proven time and again, and if the
public wishes to gain reliable inform
ation upon the subject, by far the
best way is to read and stm'y the
reports of the society." In this last
phrase is the true intolerance of the
"original investigator." It is not
given to you to use your own mind
and your own observation coupled
with your own opportunities of in
vestigation, but listen to, and read
the reports of a calf-eyed experiment
alist in psychic phenomena, a man of
the sort who buys gold bricks and
considers humanity as so many re
torts or as so much steam with un
retaliatory char"-teristics and pas
sive devotion to science and the mem
bers of the Society for Psychical Re
search, F. II S.
j
Mr. Thompson's Candidacy.
Judging from an article which ap
peared in these columns last week,
both the friends and the opponents
of Mr Thompson concluded that The
Courier was in favor of Mr. Thomp
son's candidacy. The Courier is un
alterably opposed to the election of
Mr. Thompson to the senate of the
United States. Two years ago, when
the delegation to the legislature -was
nominated it was vaguely suspected
that Mr. Thompson had designs upon
it. But the opposition of the men,
who. after all, have fought the bat
tles of republicanism in this county
and state was not really aroused un
til the men who had pledged Mr.
Thompson their votes, were seated
and actually began to fulfill their
obligations to their boss. The time
has come again when active work
by united leaders can easily de
feat bossism. Unless conviction
is opposed to persistency, unless
unselfish devttion to principle is
opposed to the most unscrupulous
selfishness, unless the men who are a
credit to the state and who would
adequately represent it in congress,
settle their personal jealousies and
differences, and unite upon a leader
