The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1897-01-27
rsn.rr.b,. Peat, Of . Blind Nan.

4
/ Ira Beachley, the blind merchant of
Beachdale, is certainly q most remarka-
BILE man, If one-half of his alleged per-
formances are correct. When it Is re-
membered that Beachley has been in
T, total darkness since early youth and that
no special effort has been made to de-
velop his remaining faculties one is at
/, loss 10 understand how be has been able
TO acquire thu knowledge. which he un-
cries and appliances.
I When the telephone line between Mey-
ersdale and this place was first construct
ed Beachley manifested lively interest
in it, and phone having been located in
his place of business, he constantly kept
! his ear to the wire. BY and by his invent
i've genious asserted itself and he began to
pry ipto the mechanism of the instru-
men. that transmitted the voice of per-
son twenty miles distant into his ear.
He soon solved the riddle and was happy.
One day he visited the Somerset office
aud learning that the phone was out of
order, he hesitatingly asked ito see it,"
Persons present smiled at his request,
knowing that he was bereff of sight.
Beachley dexterously removed the front
of the box and swiftly passing his fingers
over the delicate mechanism suddenly
halted, remarking as he did so. "here's
where the trouble is" In a moment he
had adjusted the tiny little wires which
had become crossed, and the instrument
xxorlr al parfacfiv tberaafter
Beachley was the lessee of the phoue
line for a brief period, and he is reported
to have undertaken to keep the line free of
obstructions, being able 10 locate them
unaided. II was not an unusual thing for
him TO drive along the route and cut on
branches of trees that iuterfered with
the working of the wires. He was gen
orally accompanied on thess trips by
small boy.
The blind merchant has long been ac-
customed to putting away and hitching
up horses, and frequently visits distant
parts of his fathers farm unaccompanied.
Two Somerset business men testify TO
the following story, which illustrates Mr..
Beachley's fearlessness as well IS his
natural intuitiveness. The gentlemen re-
ferred to were hunting in the neighbor-
hood of Beachdale, when their attention
was attracted by a dog, sitting in front of
Beachley's store, which one of them
claimed as his property. After short
discussion on. ofthe men spoke to the dog,
when the animal leaped into the vehicle
In which be was travelling, showing every
evidence of greeting an old friend. The
hunters started down the road at brisk
speed and their surprise can better be
imagined than described when few min
utes later they saw the blind merchant,
mounted on a horse, galloping after them.
Beachly overlook them and an angry dis
cussion followed. The dog came on 10
Somerset. A few nights afterwards one of
the men who tells the story treated Beach
lev to a serenade over the phone.
Notwithstanding the darkness to which
he has BEEN doomed, Mr.. Beachley
is of a sunny. happy disposition. al
ways prepared to make sharp retort to
the sallies of his friends. Not infrequent-
" he makes visits 10 distant parts Of the
cOuntry, one OF his last excursion being
a visit to New York City, made for the
purpose of seeing the Brooklyn bridge"
as be jocularly expressed it. Upon re-
turning from a visit to the city Mr..
Beachley is able 10 talh e1teEtainingly OF
his trip, always concluding a description
of an interesting object with 81 =aw that
myself
Mr.. Beachley's business career has been
marked with gratifying success, and is
another instance of a blind man over
comln. obstacles I'm der which thousands
of men with al OF their faculties sue
camb.