The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-04-16
THE HUMAN TELESCOPE.

|
| So Called Because of His Peculiar Gilt
of Personal Elongation.
William Doss Is frequently called the
Human Telescope" and others refer to
him as the Snake Man" Either title
Is quite appropriate Doss struck Ro-
chester the other day from California.
TIe walked into Rattlesnake Pete's sa-
loon and introduced himself to the pro-
prietor
Il heard of you out In Frisco" he
said, land / thought I would walk in
and look about a little"
Pete glanced at the man and then
drummed a little tattoo on the bar and
| looked out on the street. In a moment
he sized Doss up again and nearly
| tainted when he saw the fellow was
shooting up toward the ceiling In more
mystical manner than the wonderful
bean stalk planted by one Jack in
| Mother Goose dore.
| When Pete recovered and looked again
he saw that the mans neck had extend
ed itself eight inches more than when
he first observed the stranger. Then
Pete pinched himself to see If he was
| awake.
| The two talked for few moments and
Pete bought drink The telescope
man said he would have beer. The IL
quor was placed on the bar for him
about foot out of his reach. Instead
of stepping over for it he stood perfect
| ly still, pointed his hand in the direc-
ton of the glass and caused his arm to
grow about foot longer when he
reached the drink with ease.
| Pete began to get nervous. He
watched the fellow narrowly and no
| ticed that he had big hump on his
| back Suddenly he Of the snakes let
whoop out of him and was about to run
for doctor That ugly hump, half as
big as a barrel, which moment before
had been on the strangers back, APP
peared bullying out from his breast and
his back was as smooth as that Of any
well-formed man.
Pete said he was peculiar genius.
Doss admitted it anr he began to play
with his left hand He took the right
hand and twisted the left around on the
wrist several times as though 1t were
set on a swivel much as nervous man
would twirl his lead pencil.
Doss is just twenty-five years old
He has never had any educational adj
vantages and is very illiterate. He
says he was born with the big hump on
his back, and as far back as he can re-
member he has been able to reverse the
hump and put II on his breast. He does
not remember when he learned to grow
or stretch himself at will Every bone
in his body seems to be made of rubber,
and he can control his muscles at will.
Doss has not displayed himself and his
wonderful powers professionally, but
has frequently given private exhibitions
of his almost superhuman ability. He
cannot explain his power, and he says
that he has never found a physician
who could explain it.
Many persons believe that when he
stretches himself from his normal height
of feet to feet inches it is due to the
Strengthening out of the hump on his
back. This Is not true. When he
towers to feet inches the hump is as
big as ever. but it falls lower on his
back, or, rather, his back stretches away
from it, leaving the hump resting al
most on his hips Most Of the stretch
ing is in the upper part of his body.
When he extends his neck eight inches
his body does not move. He stands per-
fectly still, and his neck Just grows to-
ward the ceiling without any apparent
effort. The Human Telescope" ex-
tends his arm toward wall with the
finger tips about foot from the wall.
Without so much as the slightest move
ment of his body the arm shoots out I'M
til 1t OlIcheS the wall
Doss says the most remarkable thing |
about his strange physique in his ability |
to transfer the hump from his back to !
his chest. He says that many doctors |
have examined him to try to discover |
the manner of the change, but that they |
remain as much in the dark as Doss |
himself does.
In fact, the man is an enigma to the
medical profession as well as to himself. |
He knows that he can stretch himself |
out like an India rubber man, and that |
is the eeXtent of his knowledge of him
self 1t is favorite trick of his to
stand talking with a man who is as tall
as himself, and when the man looks
away for a moment to stretch himself
to such height that his companion can
walk under his extended arm.
In addition to being able to stretch
himself at will Doss claims to be the
champion standing high kicker of the ]
world. The worlds record for such
Kick is eight feet two inches, but Doss
has no difficulty in going eight inches
higher. He says he does it by stretch
ng his leg out about a foot but the
Kick is made so rapidly that the man.
Ter of it cannot be decentralization
.er Herald.