Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1925-05-15


erations. after we are both dead"
Many scientists deride DR.. Mobiles
as crank. They laugh at his the
cries about the earth's crust or
canic activities beneath the surface.
declaring them ridiculous and un-I
tenable. But this strangest of
prophets merely smiles and contin-
ues to make his weird forecasts. And
then he sits back to wait for them
to come true, knowing with a conf
dence bred of experience that in all
likelihood they will!
DIR. Mobiles is student of cosmo-
graphy. The dark, little room which
is his workshop, is filed with maps,
old German maps, or English ones,
or French, and with scuffed, we'll
worn tones on the earth's substance,
many of them dating back hundreds
of years.
Often he will emphasize point
by drawing from one of the shelves
a French or an Italian chart of two
or three centuries before.
"See," he exclaims excitedly, trac-
ing certain features of the map.
These are not shown on our mod
ern maps! And why? Because the
worlds surface is constantly chang
ing, constantly changing. They don't
exist any more"
DR.. Mobiles has a reputation as a
geologist and has conducted impor-
tant surveys. For years he was a
practicing physician. He obtained
his M. d. from Syracuse nearly a
half-century ago. In appearance he
is picturesque, patriarchal, with a
scraggly white beard, and sharp,
piercing eyes. Were it not for a
merry laugh and deprecating sense
of humor, he might remind one of
the alchemists of the Middle Ages.
so intent he is and so serious.
Dr. Mobiles keeps no record of the
outcome of his own prophecies. This
he leaves to others.
at is like kissing a GIRL" he ex-
planned tits fun while it lasts, but
what good does it do afterward to-
make an entry in some notebook:
This afternoon I kissed Mary Jane?
That only destroys the pleasure of
it,"
Gave Warming of Floods on
Mississippi
And so DR.. Mobiles keeps no rec
ord of his prophecies. Abundant
proof of his accuracy of his predic-
tions, however, is furnished in the
contemporary newspaper accounts
about the man.
Nearly IS years ago the Public
Ledger, that staid and delightfully."-
respectable journal which still boasts
of itself as 1.-The Philadelphia BIZ
ble," had this to say about him I'M
der date of August IS, 1912:
st is believed that DR.. Mobiles is
the only man who has ever mastered
the study of the forces of nature suf-
ficiently to be able to predict earth
quakes."
The particular story in which this
statement appears had to do with
the great earthquake in Turkey,
which occurred about that time. 1t
continued:
''Dr. Mobiles foretold the disas-
trous earthquake in Turkey; fore
cast that in San Francisco; the great
earthquake in Sicily; and several
great South American earthquakes
as WE'LL"
Surely all these could scarcely be
put down as mere condolences. But
they are by no means all. That DIR.
Mobiles is that rare specimen, al
prophet with a modicum of honor in
his own land, is further shown by
another Philadelphia newspaper, the
North American, which, not to be
outdone by its rival, boasts the fact
that it is the oldest daily newspaper
in America and was founded by none
less than Benjamin Franklin.
In the middle of April, 1922, the |
Mississippi Valley was swept by one
of the worst floods in its history.
Levees were washed away all along
the mighty waterway. Hundreds of
families were rendered homeless. |
Thousands of acres of land were in
undated.
All this was foreseen by DR.. No
bles, who sent the following letter
to the North American on March 81,
long before the disastrous rainfalls
had set in, or had even been thought |
of by others:
IAN area of intense volcanic ac-
tivity is rapidly developing in the
Gulf of Mexico. 1t will produce a
great rainfall in the entire Missis-
sippi Valley and its tributary VAL
leys. probably exceeding in sum the
rainfall of the Dayton flood, and at
tended in the near coastal areas by
violent tornadoes on each side of the
Mississippi.
1.-THE climax should be well within
the coming 80 days. I have no idea
that the great 'earthworks' con-
structed to confine the food waters
will do more than substitute a sud-
den calamity for that which would |