The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1874-07-12
4 MATHEMATICAL MARVEL.
An UNLEr1ERED RUsTIc's WONDERFUL POWERS
OF CALCULATION.
[Tabo, Mo-, Letter to st. Louis Republican


OF CALCULATION.
[Tabo, Mo-, Letter to St. Louis Republican,
We have quite marvel Of man in our com
munity-a natural mathematician. His nam,
is Reuben Fields. Having heard of him fire.
quently through farmers and others, who go
him to do their counting, determined shor
time ago to make him visit and ascertain fol
myself if the remarkable stories told of hin
were true.
1 am free to confess that at first was fully
as lncredQlOus as many reader, Of this para
graph will be-in fact, would not have be
ieved the statements concerning him had not
the authority been undisputablyg
Proceeding to Fayetteville, the small vii
lage in which he lives, inquired for s'Reub,
and was told that he was in town, and was
shown his residence, toward which made my
way. When nearly there l met a young man
apparently about twenty-five years of age
walking a little lame, and who seemed to bt
leisurely and vacantly gazing about, and ac
costed him with, Does Reuben Fields live
in that house yonder?" Yes, sir" .Well,
I've heard that Reub. was a great calcu
lator, and l must 60 and see him, and
started forward, when he stopped me with,
Elm him.
"Well, Reub," said I, IL have few ques-
tons l would like to have you answer, and
will make it worth your while to do so.
Gazing around, he answered: THAT'S all
right" and remarked that he could "count y
anything he could understand
l may here remark that he cannot read or
write letter or figure; he says if he could
he should lose his gift He cannot explain
anything, but says he has Enumeration table
away on "beyond the books" He remarked:
"You commence at the bottom and work up
/ commence at the top and work down; it is
easier falling out Of a tree than climbing
one He frequently observes: ':If | could
read and write, l shouldn't know any more
than you do" 1t is said he never makes mis-
takes. Of all the questions l gave him, he
made but one, and he corrected that on re-
counting. The following are some of the
questions asked him:
If to the time past noon there be added its
one-half, one-eighth and twO-fifths, the sum
will be equal to one-sixteenth Of the time to
midnight, what is the hour?
Divide $1l SO between two persons so that
one shall have IS cents more than the other
A tree of 1876 feet long fell and was broken
into two pieces two-thirds of the longer
piece equals three fourths of the length of
the shorter. What is the length of each
piece?
What is the interest of one cent for one day
at Ola per CtuI per duuuIu
What is the exact length of one side of
square acre?
These questions were all correctly answered,
his answer to the last being, at can't be
told. :
then said: "Reub, hear that you can
tell what day of the week any given date was,
or will be; is that SOP" ''Yes, sir" sWhat
was July 1, 1852" Wednesday," "Cor-
rect" What was the 22d Of January,
1882" Sunday "What day will the
Fourth Of July come on this year?" Sat
urday." "New Year," Friday" "All
right" 81 have also heard, Beub that you
1, that SOP" eyes, sir" what time is it
now?" sit is II minutes past o'clock,
railroad time-sun time is u minutes slower"
We walked around town. and he gave me the
hour several times, correctly each time, within
two or three minutes. Several times he called
on citizens of the place to attest the truth of
his statements, which they did One Of the
leading citizens of the place told me he had
tried Reub on the time question on both clear
and cloudy days, and also ON dark nights, and
he always gave the correct time. Reuben
asked the gentleman we were talking with to
write down column of figures, which he did;
they were then read to him, thirteen num-
bers, two figures in each lumber, and he at
the numbers in the order in which they were
written, either forward or backward.
The tax collector got Reuben to look over
his work last fall, and Reuben said that he
could remember the numbers in the column
and the sum yet County clerks have sent
from Kansas for him to help straighten their
books A wholesale firm in Kansas City heard
Of him and sent for him to do the work Of ten
clerks in making computations. They told
him if he could he should have the pay Of
ten men, He mounted high stool with the
clerks around him. and he kept them busy
giving the number Of articles, price of each
and taking down his answers. They gave him
S45 for his days work. firm in Fayett-
goods. Reub. was sick at the time, but they
made it out and submitted it to him he found
a mistake of $500.
Sometimes witty person will try and make
a little fun at Reub's expense. One asked
him what he would do if the doctors should
catch him and take out his brains to see in |
what respect they varied from others. 'Go
around without any brains, like you go, was
The ready reply.
He is, indeed, wonder; probably without
any equal in that respect and vet it is said he
will not work or try to learn anything from
books. He travels where he chooses without
any further charge than counting " for con
ductors and other officers. People have tried
g get him to travel and give exhibitions Of
his mathematical propensities, but it always
results in failure; he will not do it.
A NEGLIGENT BUILDER CONVICTED OF MAN
SLAUGHTER. dispatch from Buffalo, New |
York, published Tuesday, stated that Charles
,eigwald, a contractor for making alterations
n n hnildinp which fell while underOoinu 70 |