Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1913-04-29
WATER AND METAL OWNING
Some Remarkable Instances of Find
ing Hidden Streams by Means Of
Rod.

take place In London at the beginnini
of April, 1t may be interesting to learI
something beforehand concerning II
mysteries from one who happens t
possess in perhaps a somewhat un
usual degree, the power Oh readil!
sensing" both water and metals.
Up to the present time compare
lively few of the public seem to b'
aware that such a power exists. Pro
fessors, scientists and others who have
never witnessed a demonstration ap
pear to regard II, as rule, as brough
about by legerdemain and trickery
but the bald truth remains that II II
nothing Of the sort. Seeing Is be-
lieving," and I have had the pleasure
Of convincing many skeptics that there
Is no fraud at all about this divination
or "dowsing," as It is sometimes term
ed. For many years OWNERS have
been doing good work in various parts
OF the globe in the discovery Of met
ais, water and oil. One firm, Messrs
Mullins & Sons, have been water find
ing with the greatest success all ovel
the kingdom for more than 45 years
| It is possible that the following re-
marks may give some scientist cleV
as to the cause Of the phenomens
which accompany water and meta
divining, which so far has never beer
satisfactorily explained. Up till the
summer of 1908 I had not even heart
of its existence, which became known
to me in curious manner. While
out in q large camp Of exercise a.
Stobs, in the Border country, / came
across a partridge's nest with 16 eggs
in II. Thinking that the troops NIGH
trample on 1t or remove the eggs,
went to the keeper of the estate, ant
advised him to take them away ant
put them under a hen. The keeper
grateful for the information, at once
said: IF you will allow me, sir,
will come UP to the camp tomorrow
and iron" On the following afternoon
he gave me my first object lesson IL
the way of dowsing; but, to his grea
disappointment, / was totally unable
to sense" water at ell with his twig
and could only feel q scarcely appre
ciable symptom Of pull when helt
the twig over q wire fence. Two o.
three subsequent trials proved equal
ly unsatisfactory. am inclined u
think that the reason for this wa!
that my vitality must have been I'M
paired at that time by recent cam
paigning In South Africa. Two or three
years later, while staying In Fife,
cut one day a hawthorn twig, ant
| tried, along with q friend who pos
sessed the power in slight measure, t.
| find water for a farmer who was shor
of that commodity. Working inde
pendently, we both hit upon line o.
water running across the field. j
turned out to be a bricktile drain
| and though Of no use as source oi
supply to the farmer, IT proved to mt
| thar l had at length acquired In somt
| degree the gift Of finding water.
| My next essay was in the summei
of 1910, in Ireland, during prolong-
| ed drought, when ! went down from
| Limerick; by request, to Lahfnch gol
course to try to find water for tht
putting-greens there. The green-keep
| er, who hailed from Aberdeen, wa.
most skeptical, but said he would be
llieve in dowsing II my twig could 10
cate an old underground conduit lead
| ing from a well to an old ruined castle
once stronghold Of the O'Briens.
| quickly struck the line close TO tht
castle, ran 1t for some three hundred
| and fifty yards down to an estuary
and there correctly located the well
| though 1t was quite concealed undel
| twelve feet of sand. Casting around
happened to hit upon a second hid
den well, and showed the man where
the two Joined the old conduit. Thi!
/ satisfied him, as he had seen botf
wells exposed before sand had silteC
up over them.
| Subsequently I pointed out to hin
/ places where he would get water at
ldepth Of about eight feet near every
putting green but one, which wa.
perched on the top Of a high sane
| eminence. |EG- " a.
1 used In those days to hold the
twig in front of me, fingers upper
most; but on one occasion, while trav'
q severe blow on the mouth by the
tail Of the rod on passing suddenly
over a hidden spring. Since then
have, when seeking water, held the
| fingers down, with the tail of the roc
resting hard up against the under
side of my forearm. If the fork 1:
| splayed in this manner and the thumbs
are Tapped over the forefngers, 1t 1.
| impossible to turn the stick ones self
Only water or fluids can pull Its tai
| down.
During 1911 I kept on improving a.
water finder, and not only located
| the site and source which suppllec
water for the camp Of our brigade a.
Lisnagar, near Fermoy, but won a be-
with regard to the finding Of water a.
a depth Of under twenty feet In
most unlikely spot close to our mess
tent The Royal Engineers sank
Norton tube, and came on water a
fifteen feet. make no pretensions
however to estimating depths a
which water will be found, or the
probable quantity in gallons per hour
Some OWNERS can foretell these witt
marvellous accuracy, as the result o.
long practice and much experience.
| / have seen 1t stated that the twit
only turns to running water, but sucf
Is not the case. With me 1t will re-
volve to a wine-glassful of water or
the floor at a horizontal distance o.
three feet or more.
| In 1872 found that my rod wa:
| especially sensitive to gold, but turn
ed, though less readily to other me
| tails. with the exception Of silver. Why
silver has on me no effect whatsoever
seems most strange and inexplicable
| Last December a gentleman asked me
to try to locate a sovereign concealed
by him in a large room in which VIZ
were sitting. and I very soon "sensed'
1t correctly under fur rug on sofa
| While I was working 1t round ONT
side of the room my hazel turned t
small wooden model Of ship witt
apparently no metal at all about her
Thinking the rod might have jumped
| through careless handling, I tried
again, and with the same result. Or
my expressing surprise, my hos
laughed and said, THAT is collect
ing oney-box, and probably there
are several coppers in IT." which
proved to be the case. The hazel mus
have smelt, as 1t were, the copper'
through a small slit in the ships
deck, as even gold inside a shut wood
en- box has no effect at all; and a
| that time what may be called the "af
| finity" method, by which the actor
| of wood, paper, and water can be ne
| gatived, was unknown to me. Thi
system consists in sensing" an obtec
by holding a similar object in one'
hand in contact with the rod, the lat
| ter being in a state Of tension.
| I should first Of all explain that wa
ter and oil make the splayed stick turf
In the same way as the hands OF {
| clock, while metals turn 1t in the re