A
friend, Mr. W. Castel, met him and invited him to dinner, at which meal
there were fifteen persons gathered around the table in honor of the
guest. At six o'clock, Swedenborg went out a few minutes, returning to the
table shortly thereafter, looking pale and excited. When questioned by the
guests he replied that there was a fire at Stockholm, two hundred miles
distant, and that the fire was steadily spreading. He grew very restless,
and frequently left the room. He said that the house of one of his
friends, whose name he mentioned, was already in ashes, and that his own
was in danger. At eight o'clock, after he had been out again, he returned
crying out cheerfully, "Thank heaven! the fire is out, the third door
from my house!" The news of the strange happening greatly excited the
people of the town, and the city officials made inquiry regarding it.
Swedenborg was summoned before the authorities, and requested to relate in
detail what he had seen. Answering the questions put to him, he told when
and how the fire started; how it had begun; how, when and where it had
stopped; the time it had lasted; the number of houses destroyed or
damaged, and the number of persons injured. On the following Monday
morning a courier arrived from Stockholm, bringing news of the fire,
having left the town while it was still burning.
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