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X plus Y equals Z, or the Sleeping Preacher of North Alabama – 1876 G W Mitchell
He said 'Sister Brown, have you gotten over the blues yet?' (I was troubled, as he knew, because I had not heard from my folks in Salisbury and vicinity for a long time).
'You need not have any uneasiness about your folks at home.  I went to see them last night.  They are all as well as usual'
I observed he had a slip of paper from which he appeared to  read, saying 'They had a burning in Salisbury last night.  It commenced in a tin shop, and burnt on to the corner of the Wheeler Block'.
Having several relatives living in the place, one of whom (Mr Will Brown) also had a tin shop, I felt much interest in regard to the case.  I asked him in whose tin shop did the fire break out?  He replied by naming the block in which it was located; by which I knew it was not Mr Will Brown's as it was on the other side of the street...........
Dr Searcy and Mrs Bentley came in, a few minutes after Mr Sanders had returned home.... I told them I would write to some of my friends in that community and would let them know what information I might get.
Without delay, I wrote to my sister, the wife of Major N F Hall, living in the vicinity of Salisbury.  While I was anxiously awaiting an answer, which was somewhat delayed, Mr Sanders in one of his spells, told me the letter I was so anxious to get was on the way; and that it would give me full satisfaction.
In a short time after this, I got an answer from my sister, Mrs Hall, fully confirming all Mr Sanders had told me about the fire in Salisbury – the time it occurred, the tin shop in which it broke out, and the extent of its ravages

The following may be reading perceptions or simply watching events unfold..........

I certify that one day about the middle of the month of February 1866, while Brother Sanders was confined to his bed from his dislocated thigh, I was at his house, and he was lying in his bed and in one of his so called sleeps.  He attracted my attention by a hearty laugh.  I asked him what was the cause of his amusement.
He replied 'I was laughing at De Witt'.  I asked what De Witt was doing.
He said he was having a hard scuffle to keep from falling off the fence, for the top rail was turning with him and he was trying to keep from falling over it.  Nothing more was said on the subject until De Witt arrived, which was in ten or fifteen minutes [and confirmed the story].
The fence where the difficulty occurred was from three fourths to a mile distant, on the other side of a thick grove of timber and underbrush and of an intervening hill.  And I further certify that no communication from any person or source was received in reference to De Witt until he arrived and confirmed what Sanders said.
J W Pruit