The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-10-20
HE is A TELEPHONES a a.
SHERLOCK HOLMES
Strange Gift of Man Who Describes
Speaker After Hearino Voice.

AL the world is likely to be interested in
the remarkable occult power possessed by
A.. X: eMcAdam, of Worcester, Mass, who
is daily giving exhibitions to many friends
demonstrating his peculiar ability to de-
scribe person accurately by merely near
ing his or her voice over the telephone.
Mr.. McAdam cannot tell how he gets
his impressions over the wire, but he
knows that he receives them and that thew
are very real and not mere imaginings
n he pelleyes. he has special talent for
Recently he was called up on the tele-
phone by persons Disgusting their voices
in all manner of ways. He had described
one man as four feet four inches, with
blue eyes and a light mustache, when
some one else deity shifted into place at
the phone.
the last minute said Mr.. McAdam; your
eyes have turned from blue to black, and
you have got clean shave
You are wonder came the reply;
the two of us together couldn't fool YOU. y
lie answered the phone on another oc-
caSlon, and was asked question by one
of the hello girls. He wrote her de-
Scription as follows:
Height, feet 3 or 4; eyes and hair
dark; complexion tending to the brunette:
size of Shoe 31a or 4; weight, 125 pounds y
turning to e. w. Atwood, of Worcester,
who was in the Office, he said: Here is
the description of one of the telephone
girls was talking with. You call up and
ask for the girl who called five minutes
Mr.. Atwood investigated and reported
the description as accurate.
Il know there are many people who are
skeptical and think L am unable to do
what 1 say 1 cam" says Mr.. McAdam.
'but don't know why it is so remarkable
II one person can describe another who is
one hundred miles away, from listening to
his voice over the telephone
Once the man who claimed that char
acter could be read in handwriting was
laughed at but now it is generally con-
ceded that character does in reality stand
out in the handwriting.
Il first began to be interested in the
matter as a pastime. but I soon found
that | actually did receive impressions,
they would vary, and not be exact but
who can ever describe a person accu-
rately?
You can look at man and guess his
age, and if you get within two or three
years of it you. call it a good guess If you
place his weight at 125 pounds, you think
you nave done Well That being the way,
you vary in your description when you
are looking right at a man, and Won GER
tainly can't expect to do any better when
he is at the other end of the telephone
wire.
1.-THE impression comes to me so strong
ly at times that it seems as though I
formed a mental picture Of the speaker
standing with the phone to his ear.
mot day goes by but 1 make some
readings, but can't describe a man I'M
less he speaks to me just as he is. man
IndC Calls me up anu attempts tO-fOOl me
by fraud has an unfair advantage, and I
don't pretend to be equal to such charac-
tiers.
"Some day voice reading will not be
such wonderful thing, and you will see
that skepticism in this respect will grad
ually vanish, just as it has in regard to
reading characters in writing
Years ago, when quite young man. Mr.
McAdam was connected with the police
department in the Mauritius islands, He
had many cases OF murder, arson, burg
larry and suicide reported to him, which
it was his duty to inquire into
In many of these cases, as is usual. he
had very little in the way of clews. and
it was then that he began to study faces.
the persons with whom he came in con-
tact.
He soon found that he never forgot a
face or voice. or walk, of any one with
whom he had direct dealings. He discov-
cred the fact that after hearing a voice,
where it was, not possible to see the per-
son, a mental picture of that person was
engraven, as it were, on his memory
Later on when he saw the person he
would almost Immediately know him or
her