The weekly Minnesotian. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1852-1858, 1855-11-17
i91 aserss 3From the California Pioneer. &
One Of John Phoenix's Stories. g.i5ftni

/ DIR. Tushmaker was never regularly bred
a physician or surgeon, but possessed nat,l-
rally strong mechanical genius and fine
appetite; ard finding his teeth of great SER
vice in gratifying the latter. propensity, lie
concluded he could do more good in the
world and ere tie more real happiness therein
by putting the teeth of the inhabitants in
good order, than by any other way So
Tushnaker became a dentist. He was tie
man who first invented the method of plac-
ing small cog wheels in the back teeth for
the more perfect lnastication of food, and he
claimed to be the original discoverer Of that
method Of filing cayaties with Kind of
putty, which, becoming hard directly, causes
the tooth to ache so gr'evously that it has to
be pulled, thereby giving the dentist two
successive fees for the same job. Tushma-
ker was one day seated in. his office in the
city of Boston, Mass, when stout old
fellow named BY hs presented himself to have
a back tooth drawn The dentist seated his
patient in the chair Of torture, ard scizing
his mouth discovered there an enormous
tooth on the right hand side, about as large,
as he afterwards expressed it, Gas small
Polyglot Bible" Ishall have trouble with
this tooth thought Tuskmaker, but he clapped
on his heaviest forcsps and pulled. It didn't
come, Then he tried the turn screw, exert
ing his utmost Strength, but the tooth would
not stir. ego away from here" said Tush-
maker to Byles, aand return in week, and
I'll draw that tooth for you or know the
reason Why Byfs got ZIP, clapped his
handkerchief to bis jaw, and put forth.
Then the dentist went to work, and in three
days invented an Instrument which he was
confident would pill anything. 1t was
combination Of thes lever, pulley, wheel and
axle, inclined plane wedge and screw. The
castings were madd and the machine put up
in the Office, over an iron chain rendered
perfectly stationery by iron rods going down
in the foundations Of. the granite building.
In week, old Byles returned he was
clamped into the iron chair, The forceps con-
nected with the machine attached firmly to
the tooth, and Tuslmaker stationed himself
in the rear, took hald Of, lever four feet in
length. He turned it slightly Old Byles
gave groan, and lifted his right leg Ano-
Their turn, another groan, and up went the
leg again "What do you raise your leg for?"'
II can't clip it," said the patient "Well,"'
rejoined Tushmaker, ''that tooth is bound to
come now" He turned the lever clear
around, with sudden jerk, and snapped old
Byles head clean and clever from his Shout
ders leaving space Of four inches between
the several parts! They had post mortem
examination-th roots of the tooth were
found to extend clear down the right side
through the right leg, and turning up in two
prongs under the sole of the right foot ! s'No
WONDER" said Tushmaker, che raised his
right leg" The Jury thought so too, but
they found the ras IS much decayed, and fire
surgeons swearing that mortidcation Would
have ensued in few months, Tushmrker
was cleared OH a verdict of ".justifable homi-
eide" He was little shy Of the instrument
for some time afterwards but one day an
old lady, feeble and flaccid, came in to have
a tooth drawn, and thinking it would come
out very easy, Tushmaker concluded, just by
the way Of variety, to try the machine. He
did so, and at the first turn he drew the old
lldy's skeleton completely and entirely from
her body, leavin her a mass Of quyering
Jelly in the chair !-Tushmaker took her
home in pillow case. She lived seven years
after, and they called her the India Rubber
woman. She suffered terribly with the
but after this occurrence never
had pain in her bones. The dentist kept
them in a glass case. After this, the machine
was sold to the contractor of the Boston
Custom House, and it was found that a child
three years of age could, by a single turn of
the screw, raise stone weighing 20 TONS
Smaller ones were made ON the same prin-
ciple, aud sold to keepers of hotels and res
taurants. They were used for boning tur
Keys. There is no moral to this story what
ever, and it is possible that the circumstances
may have become slightly exaggerated. Of
course there can be no doubt of the truth of
the main Incidents