“During the dinner the conversation was general. We talked at my end of the table about many things, and as Mr. L—— was present, I talked about him and about Servia. But as far as I can remember the name of the King was never mentioned, nor was anything said that directly or indirectly could suggest the idea of his assassination. No such thought was present to my mind. As for Mrs. Burchell, she is a plain North Country woman, who dispenses medicine of her own making, who has had a family of ten children and who did not seem to me a person who had either interest in, or knowledge of, the Balkan Peninsula. She has since, in the St. James Gazette, written: ‘As to my knowledge of Servian affairs, I was then completely ignorant, and did not know either the King’s name or the Queen’s antecedents or name, or anything in connection with them in any way.’ She was tired and silent at dinner, depressed by the consciousness of the afternoon failure at psychometry, and I addressed most of my remarks to Mrs. Manks.
“After the dinner there were several descriptions given by Mrs. Burchell of the impressions which she had received in connection with various members of the company. It was in her descriptions of the impressions she had received from Mr. L—— that he nodded from time to time; an indiscretion which led to a protest from my private secretary. This, however, had nothing to do with the vision of the assassination. When the prediction was made Mrs. Burchell had her eyes closed. I had no idea, while she was speaking, whether she was describing a tragedy that had taken place long ago or was predicting what would happen. I did not know what was in the envelope which she placed to her brow until after all was over. When the paper was taken out of the envelope, not being able to decipher the Cyrillic characters, I asked Mr. L—— whose name it was. He replied, ‘The King.’He then entered into conversation with Mrs. Burchell, but I did not hear what she said.
“The other two clairvoyants present, Mrs. Brenchley and Mrs. Manks, declared that they saw the same scene when it was in progress, and Mrs. Brenchley was only one degree less excited than Mrs. Burchell. It was she who added the detail about the Russian uniforms.”
The Statement of M. Mijatovich
“I, Chedomille Mijatovich, now residing at 51, Palace Gardens Terrace, Kensington, make this statement, as being, to the best of my knowledge and belief, a full and exact narrative of what I know of this remarkable affair.
“I have long taken a deep interest in psychical research, and this brought me, five or six years ago, to make the acquaintance of Mr. Stead, the editor of Borderland and The Review of Reviews. Knowing my interest in these subjects, Mr. Stead invited me to be present at a meeting in his office in Mowbray House, Norfolk Street, London, on Friday afternoon, March 20, 1903, when a psychometrist of some repute was to give a demonstration of her capacity to receive impressions from articles held in her hand, of the origin and nature of which she had no information. The following is an extract from Mr. Stead’s letter:
“‘On Friday next at our “at home” we shall have a very good clairvoyant at Mowbray House. She has undertaken to do from twelve to twenty tests. That is to say, ten or twenty articles will be submitted to her at random, of all of which she will know nothing, and she will state what she sees in connection with each. I hope that you will be able to come and to bring with you one or two articles, the clairvoyant reading of which might be of interest or value....’
“I accepted the invitation. The rooms at Mowbray House were crowded. The lady, whose name I was told was Mrs. Burchell, complained that the conditions were bad, and the experiment was a failure.
“Among the articles brought to Mowbray House for submission to the psychometrist was the signature of King Alexander. The name was signed in Cyrillic characters on a sheet of paper which was enclosed in an envelope. It was prepared in order to see whether the psychometrist, from handling the envelope, could ‘sense’ and describe the person of the King. That was the sole object of the experiment. Nothing more was claimed or expected.