Tombstone epitaph., 1890-04-26
QUEER TEXAS HEARING.
The Most Wonderful Pair of Ears
 in All Christendom.
4 Youngster Who Heard the Breaking of the Johnstovn (Pa.) Dam in the Lone Star State-The Greatest of Nat
 ure's Many Freaks.

These were his exact words, as faith fully reported in the New York Tribune:
 ''Yes, sir-e-e, I've seen him with ny own eyes, an b'lieve what I see, 'causo my eyes ain't never gone back on no since they was first opened thirtynino years ago down in the good old Lono l Star State O Texas. God bless her an old Sam Houston. Yes, sir-c-e, I tell you I've seen him, an he is the wonder fullest human being or any other being | that ever drew the breath O life. ain't iokin'. Faint no occasion to joke, an I ain't lyin', cause down in Texas folks don't lie for fun. Yes, sir-e-e, he's got two of the curusest years you ever see. The one on the nigh side of his face ain't no biggcr'n the year of a mouse, but tho one on the off side-gee- mi-netty Wy, see the size O my hand? Well, sir, it's bigger'n that, bigger ty a right smart, an my hand ain't no baby's fipper.
 "There ain't no limit to his hearin' | I've knOwed him to hear two thousand miles in air line. Last spring he stood on tho front porch at home an counted the cannon shots what was fired as Pres idcnt Harrison come up the harbor at the Washington centennial. He hecrod the b:~~n.;. O the dam what caused the 1 flood in the ConCmaugh valley. He didn't know what it was at the time. He said it sounded like thunder, but he knew it warn't thunder, an we was all mighty puzzled till the papers told us what it was There's a big storm on the gulf he says, an sure enough in a day or two comes news of great waves an shipwrecks. Its rainin' in Cali fornia, he says, an by an by we hear of a storm over there. There's a cyclone in Kansas, he says, an cyclone it is, a thousan' miles away. Its comin' this way he says, an we get ready to dive into our cellars. I hear two engines crash together on a railroad over there. he says, an he points in the direction of the sound an We get a map an mark it down, an next morning read all about the accident in the papers, just whore he said it was. Ain't that wonderful enough for you?"
 1t seems incredible"
 ''There, I knowcd you wouldn't be- lieve it, cause you ain't seen it. Seein s b'lievin'. Le' me tell you sump'n' else. This boy can hear yesterday as well as to-day. It's fact. He can hear a hundred years ago-a hundred years back; yes, sir-o-e, a thousan'! They say in the philosophy that sound never does die. It just keeps on a-circtlat:l' around an around, gettin' further and further away from the earth, till we. with our ordinary years, can hear it no more. But this youngster-w'y, le' nc tell you; I've knowed him to hear back 3,360 years and listen to the song what Miriam sung after Moses an the Israel ties wadcd through the Red Sea!
 "Mind you" he added suddenly, Inc does all this big hearin, this hoarin . 'e~o"t7eou8's A-alc- in tho arcs an, ovCI distances of thousands o' milcs with thc big year on tho of side O his face, al the time a-keepin' the little tecnsy .TcaI on the nigh side closed up, But when he goes in the house he opens tho little year an shuts the big one, an, Sir, with that little year he can hear a pin drop on a sofa cushionl He can hoar a (ly walkin' on a window pane an Q cock roach a-runnin' across tho floor, an bedbug crawlin' between tho sheets, an well, thcr ain't no sound small Cnough to escape him. He can set ten feet from me an count my heart beats! He can almost hear person think!
 Wonderful, wonderful! How old is the boy?'
 "GOin' on twelve"
 ''Is he strong and hearty?"
 I'm sorry to say he ain't. He's mighty sickly an has awful spells with his head"
 Your nephew, believe you said"
 No kin; just my folks an his folks is neighbors."
 Has he good sense?"
 'He's a long ways from being idiot, I can tell you, but his folks was ten years indin' it out. They thought he was daft till they learnt by a accident that he couldn't hear out of both years at once; that is, he could hear well enough, but the sounds got so mixed up that he couldn tell nothing about 'cm; not thing"
 Ut seems to me I've heard of that boy bcfore."
 Its more'n likely. He's been con siderahly talked about"
 'Barnum ought to have him.
 That's what 1 tell his folks, but they aint willin' to let him out c their sight,
 Where is his home?
 ''On farm short ways from Shcr- i man. lis name is Hector - Hector l Braswell.'