FULL OF ELECTRICITY

Evening Star, Issue 20310, 19 October 1929, Page 27

FULL OF ELECTRICITY

A DIVINER OF GOLD USE OF INSULATED BOOTS. It is said of Mr Frederick Stone, of Brandis Corner, Holsworthy, North Devon, that because he is heavily charged with electricity Mr Stone cannot use a telephone or wear wireless headphones without receiving a shock, and he can earn his living as a chauffeur only by wearing a vulcanite insulation pad in his boot, which enables him to place his foot on the brake and change gears without experiencing a choking sensation. This electric man has spent twenty of his forty-nine years in hospitals puzling doctors. He can now walk about in comfort by wearing boots fitted with soles an inch thick, made of old motor tyres as insulators. Mr Stone has had some success as a water diviner, and about three months ago was astonished to discover that he also possessed uncanny powers in the divination of metals. In the garden of Mrs H. M. Jeffery, of Tembani, Brandis Corner,-by whom he is employed as chauffeur, Mr Stone has ‘‘ divined ” a gold watch, gold rings, gold bracelets, and silver spoons buried in various places, some of them 6ft deep. A public test of his powers has been made at Plymouth Municipal Museum, under the critical supervision of the curator, Mr A. J; Caddie. Hero the electric man located without difficulty nuggets of gold, gold-bearing quartz, and gold jewellery, which had been hidden in the grounds by the curator and his assistant. • : •Water diviners generally' use a hazel twig in their work, but Mr Stone finds gold, silver, and copper by means of a wand, consisting ;of an ordinary steel clock spring. ;; This wriggles and writhes in his hand like a serpent when he is near the buried metal, and the number of wriggles denotes the number,of feet he is distant from ’ the object of his search.

■ " Divining puts a great Strain upon Mr Stone, and is followed by much lassitude and exhaustion. " The only way in which I can got relief from the electric currents when I am thus overdone,’’ he states, “is to touch a tree. I enjoy listening to wireless by loudspeaker, but as soon as I put on a pair of headphones I feel physical helplessness, as if I had received a blow on the head. I cannot even, use a telephone without intolerable .discomfort, ; I once wore one.of my wife’s wristlet watches, and it came all to pieces. I must be supercharged with electricity.”