Hungarian Woman Sought Murder Clue From Spirits

Today’s blog post is another interesting newspaper article I stumbled across during my research.  It comes from the January 23, 1914 edition of the Huntington Herald Dispatch and is of interest to tri-state residents of both West Virginia AND Ohio!

HUNGARIAN WOMAN SOUGHT MURDER CLUE FROM SPIRITS

Widow of Thurmond Miner calls on Coreyville Spiritualist but Mrs. Blake is ill—instructed to return in February to communicate with unseen world.

Coming from a little mining camp near Thurmond, W.Va. to talk to her dead husband through Mrs. Blake, the far famed spiritualist of Coreyville, O., Mrs. Frankie Ravis, a Hungarian woman who cannot talk English, was forced to return last night when the mysterious woman of Coreyville was unable to talk with the spirit world.

Mrs. Blake told Mrs. Ravis that she was ill, but instructed her to come back without fail late in February, at which time she might hear her husband’s voice.

When Mrs. Ravis came to Huntington, she was taken to police station by a business man to whom she appealed. The man could not understand the language she spoke and therefore asked the police to find an interpreter. The woman had a paper in her hand on which was written, “Mrs. Blair.”

Sergeant Lee Wilson called Harry Ziegler, who speaks the Hungarian language, and in a short time Mr. Ziegler learned the Hungarian woman’s story.

Late in last autumn her husband had fallen from a bridge near Thurmond and was killed. The wife suspected that he had been a victim of foul play, telling Mr. Ziegler that he had been struck on the head by a robber or assassin.

She desired to communicate with him in the spirit world through Mrs. Blake, of whom she had heard.  One of Mrs. Ravis’ friends whose husband had been mysteriously murdered in a black-smithing shop had gone to Coreyville and talked with her dead husband through the spiritualist, according to the story given Mr. Ziegler by the foreign woman.

“How is Mrs. Blake going to communicate with the spirits when she probably can’t talk Hungarian?” suggested a bystander.

When this thought was conveyed to the foreign woman she was perplexed not at all but declared that she couldn’t talk to her husband in English because he didn’t know that language any better than she did.  She thought that Mrs. Blake would have no difficulty in summoning the spirit.

Mrs. Ravis said after returning from Coreyville last night that she would return in February to communicate with her husband. She was greatly disappointed at not having the opportunity of hearing his voice again.

“The woman has some property in Thurmond, according to her statement to Mr. Ziegler yesterday afternoon.  Her husband had been a successful miner and saved most of what he made.

Mrs. Ravis is a picturesque character and in her younger days must have been a beautiful Hungarian woman. She gave the impression of being a woman of considerable education and her manner was one of culture. 

She wore a black dress, hat, and veil of foreign appearance.  Although having been in the country for a number of years she had associated practically none with Americans.