THE following case of an apparently prophetic dream was sent to us by the percipient, the Hon. J. Connon Middleton.
Mr. Middleton writes on April 17, 1912 :
WINCHESTER HOUSE,
OLD BROAD STREET, LONDON, E.C.It may be of some interest to you to learn that on the 23rd March I booked my passage to New York on the White Star liner "TITANIC." About ten days before she sailed I dreamt that I saw her floating on the sea, keel upwards, and her passengers and crew swimming around her.
Although I am not given to dreaming at all; I was rather impressed with this dream, but I disclosed it to no one, as my friends besides my wife and family knew that I was about to sail on the "Titanic," and I did not want to cause them any possible uneasiness.
The following night; however, I had the very same dream, and I must admit. that then I was somewhat uncomfortable about it. Still I said nothing to any one and had all my trunks packed, business affairs arranged, had given up my room at the hotel, and in fact had completed all my plans to sail on the 10th instant. I merely awaited the receipt of a cable from some business friends about certain matters which would require my presence in America. The cable came a few days before the date of sailing (on the 4th April, to be exact), but it suggested that I should postpone my sailing for a few days. I thereupon cancelled my ticket, and then—that is, more than a week before the sailing of the "Titanic"—I told my wife and several friends of the vivid dreams I had had on two consecutive nights.
I may mention that, previous to cancelling my passage, I felt most depressed and even despondent, but ascribed this feeling to the fact of my having to leave England—home-sickness, in fact! Parenthetically I may mention that my brother, whom I had not seen for twenty-five years, was to arrive from the East on the evening of the 10th, and I would thus have missed seeing him by a few hours, and, as things have turned out, never [seen] him again.
Beyond a few passing remarks very little was said or thought about my dreams, and you may imagine the state of my mind (not to mention my deep gratitude for my personal escape) and that of my friends when the wireless message of the disaster flashed to this country. Among the friends to whom I told my dreams days before
the 10th was the inventor of submarine signalling.
I have my ticket, cables, etc., in support of what I have written, but· I do not know whether what I have said is of any interest to your Society, but if it is, I shall be glad to send you any copies you may wish or show you the originals.I may add that crossing the Atlantic is nothing new to me, as I have crossed it a dozen times during the past few years, and I never remember having any feeling of uneasiness when about to do so or during the passage.
The following corroborative statements from the friends to whom Mr. Middleton related his dream have been sent to us:
10.45 a.m., April 15th, 1912.
I, WILLIAM JAMES FEDDON, Merchant, in the City of LONDON, E.C., hereby declare that a fortnight ago a friend of mine who was to be a passenger on board the s.s. "Titanic," advertised to sail from Southampton on the 10th April, said to me that he was glad his intended voyage thereon was not to take place, for the reason that, he had on two occasions dreamt that the ship was being wrecked. The cause of his not going was owing to the fact that he had received cable instructions to postpone his sailing, and as a consequence the ticket taken for the " Titanic " was cancelled.
WM. JAS. FEDDON.
25th, April, 1912.
DEAR MR. MIDDLETON,
In reply to your letter of the 19th inst. I beg to say that I recall that, about ten days previous to the "Titanic" disaster, you told me at breakfast that you had had a dream for two consecutive nights of seeing a large vessel bottom up and people swimming about it. I remember remarking to you that, according to tradition, if you had the same dream for three nights, the incident must come to pass. This is all I recall.
Yours very truly,
LUCIEN I. BLAKE,
(Consulting Engineer, Submarine Signal Company).
April 23rd, 1912.
Mr. Middleton told me, about April the 5th or 6th, on more than one occasion, that he had had a most curious dream about the " Titanic " being wrecked and going down in mid-ocean. He said he saw most distinctly the ship sinking and on her side, and all the people in the water struggling. He said it was an awful sight and had quite unnerved him. I asked him several questions about it at the time, as I was rather impressed by the way it had got on his nerves, as he is a strong-minded man, and especially as I did not believe in dreams myself. I asked him where he was; and he said he seemed to be floating in the air just above the wreck, and said he could see all the people in the water, all around. He said he had cancelled his ticket. I thought a great deal of what he had told me, and I told others about it at the time.
JESSE H. CURLING.
On May 2, 1912, Mrs. Middleton came to 20 Hanover Square and saw Miss Newton. Miss Newton's report of the interview is as follows:
[Mrs. Middleton] said that her husband told her that on two consecutive nights he had dreamed of a ship "turned turtle" and numbers of people struggling in the water, he himself floating above but not in the water. She asked him not to sail in the "Titanic," but he laughed and said how foolish it would seem if he postponed his business on account of a dream. He telephoned during the morning that he had received a cable to delay his departure, and that consequently he had cancelled his berth on the "Titanic." Mrs. Middleton describes him as a sensible business man, who has never attached importance to dreams, premonitions, impressions, etc. She said, "he never dreams," and, most emphatically, that he had never had a dream of this kind before.
In a letter written on May 1, 1912, Mr. Middleton, referring to the date at which he related his dream, says:
I did not tell my wife about [ the dream] until I had cancelled my ticket, which was on the 4th, as I felt sure that had I done so it would have caused her a great deal of worry, and in fact it was not my intention to tell her anything about it at all, had I not received the cable which altered my plans. I am positive of the fact that on April 4th I told my wife, because that was the day on which I received the cable. I had previously told my friends, Feddon, Curling and Blake, and while I cannot recall the exact date of this, I think it was about four or five days before I had received the cable from America.
It will be seen that there is some discrepancy in these statements as to the exact date at which Mr. Middleton related his dream. In his original letter of April 17, 1912,
he says that he told no one of his dream until after he had received the cable (April 4), but on May 1 he writes that he had told three friends of it before that date. The statements from Mr. Feddon and Mr. Curling imply that Mr. Middleton had cancelled his passage at the time when he spoke to them of his dream, and therefore corroborate Mr. Middleton's original statement; Mr. Blake's statement leaves this question open.
There is also a discrepancy between the statements of Mr. and Mrs. Middleton. Both agree that April 4 was the day on which Mrs. Middleton heard of the dream, but whereas Mr. Middleton maintains throughout that he did not mention the matter to his wife until he had decided to cancel his passage, Mrs. Middleton says that she heard of the dream on the morning of April 4 before the cable had been received. All the witnesses, however, are agreed that they heard of the dream some time before the wreck of the " Titanic," which, it will be remembered, happened on the night of April 14-15, 1912, and the above discrepancies are only worth pointing out as an instance of the difficulty of getting exact testimony in a matter of this sort, even in regard to quite recent events.
Mr. Middleton has also submitted to us the cable which caused him to delay his departure, marked with the date of receipt, 9.40 a.m., April 4, 1912, and his ticket for the
" Titanic."
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