The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1891-11-19
A MATHEMATICAL GIFT.
PECULIAR ARlTHMETlcAL POWERS
OF AN lLLlTERATE MAN.

W nv lt-A-t ' @fhNl l. NHNlNs
Rube Field, of Hazel Hin, Mo-, who Can
Neither Read Nor Write, Does some
Wonderful sums-IIis Calculations Are
Simply Marvellous.
Although the public has heard some
| thing Of Rube Field, the mathematical
prodigy Of Hazel Hill, what has been said
and written of him has generally been
guessed at. He is the mathematical won
der of the world, as regards calculations.
| Rube is as illiterate as a savage and can
instantly solve any mathematical prob.
| lem. He would not recognize his name IL
IL we're placed before him in type three feet
| high, nor can he tell a figure seven from
cipher, yet he can tell how many grains Of
| wheat piled upon each other would reach
the sun if you gave him the distance from
| the earth TO the sun. Such problem he
considers quite simple aud will announce
| the answers by the time you have con-
cluded the question.
| Rube Is not easily engaged in conversa-
tion, and there is not person in the world
| TO whom he would conflde his secrets No
more to his mother than to you. He be-
lieves that all mankind is in league TO take
from him his gifa or, as he puts It, his
mystery" He regards every man in the
same way, and that ungovernabe fear will
no doubt keep him out Of sight Of the pub
lie, as it has for the last twenty years.
Though he is mercenary to degree In
his dealings, he does not seem to possess
any special desire for riches, but rather
evinces the desire to see "fools," as he
calls the human family, put to some ex
pense on his account 1t makes him feel
l 90 ka, g., I, s,.Iu
viewed, and yet he will not make public
exhibition of himself, another evidence of
his unusual composition.
He cannot tell how he manipulates fig
ures and computes numerals as with
thought, and his inability to explain both
ers him least of all who are aware of the
fact. He says he is aware If he could write
an arithmetic with his system of calcula-
tion as Il basis he could make more money
than ten railroads" but he can't do it and
doesn't care anything about it. He is sat
sned with his lot and has great plans for
the future II is his belief that he came
into this world TO herald to men that be-
yond their vision of the science of num-
bers lies the key to all the mysteries of life.
The great work he is to do upon earth has
not been outlined to him by the Omnis-
cient, but will be.
] FEW lNIRlCATE SUMS.
Taking him unawares, asked:
"Can you add 26,s96,432 to 1,93s, ,54s to
80 959s, GA 1888 to SAC, ,O23 OO1 to 14,374 with
out stopping to figure"
"That makes a, ,473, ,406, ,40i," said he on
the Instant and then he laughed at my
surprise.
AS | called the numbers TO him he added
them, having the aggregate Of the first
two before l had finished the third, and
Of the whole while ] caught my breath
after enumerating them. Then / read him
q column of figures ranging from tens to
hundreds of thousands, the length of n
sheet Of legal cap, and he had furnished me
an accurate aggregate the moment fin
lshed.
Such an evidence Of unexplained power
will astonish the most credulous, but
what must one think when such charac-
ter says that he is a living, walking, chro-
nometer, and proves the same before you
can dispute it. He mistrusts all men, and
financial consideration, together with
the Inducements of facquaintances is neces-
sary to set his tongue going, which done,
he keeps you busy listening, for he talks
like torrent rushes; swears with the fury
: Of cyclone and calculates with the rapid
ity of electric pulsations. employed him
to be interviewed for one hour, and desir-
ing to test him as to his knowledge of
time without giving him an opportunity
to consult timepiece, asked:
what is the time now, professor" Gle
delights to be called professor"
twenty-five and one-quarter minutes
after g." he replied. / reached for my
watch to see il ne was right, and before l
could see he said "Your watch is one and
one-quarter fast"
"How do you knowp / asked.
81 can't tell you, but l am right" he
said. And so he was, as the Western
Union regulator proved. then concluded
to test him further, and resolved that l
would say nothing of it when his hour was
ended and note il he knew It. Imagine my
Eurprise, when in the middle of problem
he stopped me and announced that his
time was up Consulting my watch /
found him right to a second.
EXAMPLES OF REMARKABLE SIGHT.
Previous to that / had asked him the
Stne in st. Petersburg and he stated it
correctly, saying that he was conscious of
the degrees of longitude and latitude in all
: his calculations of time. He knows their
location and can answer any question of
time whenever asked. Often he has been
aroused from sound sleep, and upon being
asked the time would state it accurately
while rubbing his eyes.
Reading the dial plate of a clock in Ber-
lin, he says, is no more trouble to him than
that of the watch in my pocket, and In
this he brings proof of the assertion that
he is conscious of every correct clock tick
In the world whether sleeping or awake.
You may take him by surprise, and after
stating that the distance from Kansas City
to New York and the dimensions of a loco
motive drive wheel, allowed q stated loss
for slipping of the wheel in each mile trav-
eled, and he will instantly tell you how
many revolutions the wheel will make in
. travelling that distance.
His memory is almost as remarkable as
his calculating genius. Having heard any
statement he will remember it, and, though
he may not understand words he hears, he
will use them in the SINE or similar
sense to that in which they were used
when he heard them. By this means he
has vocabulary far in advance of other
illiterates.
Speaking Of his youth he said he remem,
bered no change, so far as his knowledge
Of things is concerned, since his seventh
year, at which time he came into posses
sion of his mystery" He Is not fond of
his relatives, who, he believes, would make
a fortune at his expense If he were not so
. | a,rt . 10 .,n