“Several letters signed ‘X’ were automatically written during the next few weeks; but, instead of becoming enthusiastic, I developed a strong disinclination for this manner of writing, and was only persuaded to continue it through the arguments of my friend that if ‘X’ really wished to communicate with the world, I was highly privileged in being able to help him.... “Gradually, as I conquered my strong prejudice against automatic writing, I became interested in the things which ‘X’ told me about the life beyond the grave.... “When it was first suggested that these letters should be published with an introduction by me, I did not take very enthusiastically to the idea. Being the author of several books, more or less well known, I had my little vanity as to the stability of my literary reputation. I did not wish to be known as an eccentric, a ‘freak.’ But I consented to write an introduction stating that the letters were automatically written in my presence, which would have been the truth, though not all the truth. This satisfied my friend; but as time went on, it did not satisfy me. It seemed not quite sincere. “I argued the matter out with myself.... The letters were probably two-thirds written before this question was finally settled; and I decided that if I published the letters at all, I should publish them with a frank introduction, stating the exact circumstances of their reception by me.” The interest aroused by “Letters From a Living Dead Man,” which had been published simultaneously in London and New York, astonished me. Requests for translation rights began to come in, and I was flooded with letters from all parts of the world. I answered as many as I could, but to answer all was quite impossible. Now I will quote again, briefly, from the Introduction to the second volume, “War Letters From the Living Dead Man,” 1915. “In that first book of ‘X’ I did not state who the writer was, not feeling at liberty to do so without the consent of his family; but in the summer of 1914, while I was still living in Europe, a long interview with Mr. Bruce Hatch appeared in the ‘New York Sunday World,’ in which he expressed the conviction that the ‘Letters’ were genuine communications from his father, the late Judge David P. Hatch, of Los Angeles, California.... “After the Letters were finished in 1913, during a period of about two years I was conscious of the presence of ‘X’ only on two or three occasions, when he wrote some brief advice in regard to my personal affairs. “On the fourth of February, 1915, in New York, I was suddenly made aware one day that ‘X’ stood in the room and wished to write; but as always before, with one or two exceptions, I had not the remotest idea of what he was going to say. He wrote as follows: “‘When I come back and tell you the story of this war, as seen from the other side, you will know more than all the Chancelleries of the nations.’”