The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1897-09-03
DOWSER MYSTERY.
THE OWNING ROD STILL HAS STAND
ING IN ENGLAND.
August PersonaSes Who Testify TO the
Powers of the Water Finders--How q
Frenchnan Tracked fundamentally
Milbanhe Was "A "yyater Witch"

mystery or the dOWScrs " You mny not
know what n dowser is, and when you do
know you will probably discredit the exist
ence OF such person. A dowser is a man
or woman who is possessed of some curl
Gus occult force which gives the owner the
power TO locate hidden streams of water
flowing 200 or 400 feet below the surface Of
the earth. A dowser can walk over an un-
known piece of country and point out tho
exact spot where we'll or pipes can be
sunk He can tell the exact depth at which
water will be found, and also the number
of gallons an hour which can be pumped
up.
Dowsers are scientifically termed hydro
scopists The presence of subterranean
water has a peculiar effect upon their nerv-
Gus systems. The dowser, when prosecut-
ing his work, always carries hazel twig
| in his hands. When he reaches a spot
where water Is flowing underneath, the
hazel twig bends and points downward
| ThiS sounds fantastic and unreal, but the
| truth of it must be acknowledged or the
| testimony Of some of the most respected
British peers doubted. The psychic folks
who have been investigating the dowsing
| mystery have collected a mass of corrobo-
rative fact from scores of great landowners
| and men who stand high in the opinion of
| the public. These men are either liars or
| the doings of the dowsers are real.
There are five OF six professional dowsers
| In England, and the leader of these Is a
| young man of 80. named Leicester Gataker.
| He is accommodating fortune by his curl
GUS work, and he Is kept so busy that he
| employs 40 assistants, who complete the
| work his strange faculties map out. Dows-
| ers have recently been employed by such
| august personages as the Duke Of Rutland,
| the Duke of Beaufort, the Duke of Grafton,
| Lord Jersey, Sir +. Weiby Gregory and
| host of others of like prominence Dowsers
| demand rich pay, and it would seem that
! If people Of the oaliber of those just named
! did not have faith in the art thoy would
| not take cognizance of it by patronizing
| 1t and paying well for it too.
1t is practically agreed among those who
| have studied the matter that the gift Is
not only racial with the British, but Sec
tional, as all of the dowsers come from the
west country of England. This is account
| ed for by tho fact that dowsing has existed
| in the Cornish mine sections for centuries
| 1t is claimed that some dowsers are able
TO tell of tho presence of tin and other
! metals beneath the earth surface by using
/ the hazel twig, or divining rod as it used
| to be called. Such u faculty would, of
| course, be of vast benefit to mine owner,
/ as no could discover the presence of metal
without first going to the expense Of sink
| ing shaft.
More than score of books have been
! written on the subject, several of them by
/ American students of the art, and from
| some of these it is learned that in olden
times wielders of the divining rod used it
/ for variety OF purposes, oftentimes with
success. 1t was commonly employed for
the solution of mysterious murders and
I for the hunting down of criminals. In
France it was used In the last century,
/ but tho priests frowned upon IL, and even
! tually the practice was abolished. 1t may
| be mentioned that in tho time Of the in
I QUESTION dowsers were put to death as
workers in black art
! Regarding the hunting down of crimi-
| nails by the divining rod, one of the last
| cases on record happened in France in the
early part of the eighteenth century. A
( certain Jacques Aymar, n native of Dau-
phiney, kept a wineshop and apparently
took in dodgers One day man and his
wife were murdered and their bodies hid
den In Aymars cellar. In spite of the
fact that the murderer left behind bottle
and bill hook wrapped in straw he could
not DO traced and the detective skill of
the period failed to find any clew.
Aymar himself had reputation for the
use Of tho rod, and when he introduced
this instrument Of divination into the Gel
lar it became disturbed at the spot here
the mans corpse had lain. AS he ap-
preached the site of the woman's corpse,
Aymar himself became excited and fever
ish, and the rod was violently agitated
Following the indications, he traced three
assassns step by step down through the
city to the river Rhone and down the
Rhone from Sablon to Beauclaire, where
the annual fair was being held; then to
the prison, where among prisoners late
ly charged, he pointed out one, committed
for petty theft, who confessed his share in
the murder. Unfortunately the others es-
capped.
In the sixteenth and seventeenth CEN
turtles dowsing was evidently an extensive
industry. There is a book written in 1889
by the Baroness of Beausoleil, in which
she gives list of $50 mines discovered by
herself and her husband by use of tho d.
vining rod. From 1850 to 100 no less
than 40 separate works on the subject of
dowsing were published, and when 1t Is
remembered that book writing and print
ing In those days were rare things the |
Importance of the subject can be imagined.
Lord Byron's motber-in-law was dows-
er, as shown from the following extract |
from the memoirs of Mrs. DE Morgan:
Lady Byron's mother, Lady Milbanke, |
had the faculty of using the divining rod |
and was often asked by her neighbors and |
tenants in Durham county to exercise it |
for their benefit when they wanted to sink |
a well. Lady Byron told us that she had |
seen her mothers hands held tightly by |
DIR. Fenwick, a we'll known scientific
physician In the north, who, going behind
Lady Milbanke, pressed the fingers of each
hand, holding it so as to make the stick |
point upward In the air. Nevertheless,
when the lady had walked a few steps the
twig suddenly turned round and, defying
the doctors hold, pointed to the ground
with such violence rs to tear the skin from
the fingers and even to draw blood"
Americans had some experience with
fake dowsers in the early mining days of
California, when a number of Spaniards
appeared among the miners with alleged
divining rods, which they claimed would
point out the golden treasure I'm the hills
Enpcv r,ricaa xvora mid for thaoo rode |