The blind man who sorted colour laundry

A short while ago a man left totally blind by brain damage made world headlines because he astounded scientists by flawlessly navigating an obstacle course without the help of a cane, writes Toby Neal.

But there was a totally blind Salopian from yesteryear whose abilities were every bit as incredible, but for reasons which will become apparent, nobody will ever have heard of.

He was “Dummy” Mason who, despite his total blindness, routinely sorted laundry by its colour.

His astonishing daily feat was witnessed by, among others, Keith Cubbin.

“He was so called because he was blind, deaf and dumb,” said Mr Cubbin.

“He sorted every item by colour – all the red tea towels together, all the blue striped shirts, the light green counterpanes were separated from the white ones. All were in neat piles on the storeroom shelves.

“Alongside these would be the blue and fawn blankets, again all in the same coloured piles. I tried on several occasions to switch a few items round as Dummy was in the sorting process, putting some red tea towels with the green ones or a blue blanket with the fawn, but by the time Dummy had put them on the shelves, they were all back in order.

“It is said that people who are blind develop a much greater sense of touch and hearing. But since Dummy couldn’t hear either, was his sense of touch so incredible that he could feel colours? It would certainly seem so as there is no other logical explanation that I, or others who regularly saw this phenomenon, could explain to any degree of satisfaction.”

The reason you have not heard of Dummy Mason is that he was a patient in Shelton psychiatric hospital, Shrewsbury, where Mr Cubbin worked as a nurse in the 1950s. He told the story of his time working there in his 2006 book “The Waiting Room To Hell.”

Mr Cubbin, who after a long career retired to Spain, pulls no punches in describing Dummy’s grotesque appearance – among other deformities he had no nose, just a hole in the middle of his face – but says he had a great sense of humour, and he had an affection for him.

To get around he used a cane, about four feet long, and exhibited further incredible abilities as he did so.

“It was quite uncanny the way Dummy would suddenly stop about the length of his cane from the oncoming person. Dummy never collided with anyone, and from the way he held his cane straight out in front, it appeared that he received some sort of ‘feeling’ through the cane, to warn him that another person was approaching.

“I tested Dummy on many occasions, standing quite still as he approached, not even breathing. Down the corridor he came, waving his cane from side to side and just as his cane was about to touch me, he would suddenly stop and reach out with both hands to ‘feel’ who was there.

“It was as though his cane emitted some sort of radar signal to warn him that someone was in his path. No matter how many times I, and others, tested him, he never collided with anyone.”