The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1889-01-02
DEPEH's GLASS LEG.
He Can whack it With a Ham
mer. and No Natter.
A Curious ssbstitnfe for a crzteh
which the View Yers
Statesman wears.


Ssw York san.
The Hon. Chsancey " Depew sp~rat
Yesterday IN his office At the end of
the hall On the second fo0r Of the
west -iae Of the Grand Central depot.
behind . glass door OF Shich the siaa-
pie but sagge tive word President i
painted. How he got there, the world
may never know. bat il be walked. be
must have started a week ago last
Friday. 20 slowly and with such DELHI
Grafton does he walk On his new gias-
leg. lie saw the gsual 20 persons
during the jay. and they al talked
about tina; Eeg. They were railroad
presidents who eame % iaapk him for
what be said 10 reply 70 Charles Fran
cis Adams. bat Who never got beyond
the utterly n0vei idea 81 the glass leg
To them Re sai8. People who walk
on gla.s leg .canT afford r. throw
stones.
There were beads u departments
under his4 WhO came TO report all
sorts Of thing, from snow blockade
al Syracuse 70 The putting N Of 2
ntueh-uee.led lantern in a dark corner
Of the deH1t. but they fell 70 ialklrg
about the gia leg. and couldn't any
more get OF il than he could To
them be said be was on deck, even .
he had taken q glass Lex too much.
There were politicians who canse To
tall ~ tie headsaf the Big Four i
making toward getting into tie next
cabinet. hut WheH they learned about
the new limb that was as far a. they
got before he shut them OF To them
he said that in long and lively pglit-
icat career be bad discovered that
when gou want cabinet = ace or any
thing else ia politics you u better have
a gias. leg than no leg at all 70 stand
on. Finally. there was the sta repof-
ter, who honestly came q talk a9Uut
the glass leg, nnd gho vas all cooked
and pfimed with pafaphFa on Tom
Eo04'. poem OF Nj ki.nansegg and
her precious leg. and Ar Depcw SAID
something better about a man with "a
Transparent understanding
lie looks al right until be tries 10
walk. That Is where he fails. lie
bungie II j. Ike horse with three
legs. His injured liTBb necessit ~
the wearing Of right shoe two sizes
too large. bar hi3 trousers fail a
gracefully over the Rlazed appvndage
as they would over The marble leg OF
iife-sized statue. lie carries a cane.
and while he vas talking he raised the
stick and bit the glass leg o rCsound-
Ing whack.
aDont do that. said the reporter.
"you send the COLI shiyer through
me.
why" said the great man, II
could whack II with a sledge-hammer
and IL would not break "
The glass leg wears sock and q
drawers leg. just like the other one.
but when he disrobes il there appears
a cylinder Of glass that, without being
clear or smooth, or at all artistic in
finish, Is certainly the most surprising
looking case for human leg that any
one ever saw. The glass has 10 be es-
pecially prepared, with the brittleness
taken out OF IL by means OF recent
discovery, 80 that IL can he moulded
while in plastic condition. The
peculiarly OF il is that il il not
put on red-hot, as one would suppose
glass must be- IL Is in the con
ditiOn OF lead The Injured leg was
tbiBIitlflf HNAt4iti anu utiti iiAlUiN
In the position in which il was to re-
main. and then this thick sheet of
pliahle glass was wrapped around il
SO that the edges met This was sub
stituted for plaster because the weight
of the foot or the movement of the
ankle Joint broke the plaster The
glass will not break, no matter what
strain IL is subjected To- The reason
he Iaa 60. ..laaa Lar Il tIas 10.
sprained the achilles tendon of his leg
By mishap while poking about in the
new house he j. reconstruCting out OF
the house he bought OF Dr. Ham
mond In order TO cure the sprain,
the tendon has to have q long rest,
and encasing the leg makes it impos-
sible TO exercise or use IT, In one sen
tence, for the period Of that tsndon's
vaeatisn, the president Of the New
York Central has an outside leg built
on to the old one. aud he walks on the
outside one a. If it were woosen one
or a crutch.
While be was talking to the reporter
and there seemed chance 10 get
something even wiser and more inter
esting about glass legs than what Mr..
Dcpew has written and said about
plaster legs, luck would have il that
Mrs. Depew should come along in her
carriage To those who know Mr.
Depew no more needs To be said
When Mrs. Depew appears. though
she is a. little exaCtiug as a wife ever
was, every body else and everything
In hand has 10 take second place with
Nr. Depog H. tancie@ himself the
most tcnuer and ipdulgent OF fathers.
and thinks that his bright little boy
gets all al his affection. but the truth
: that il is a. a husband that he shines
or he went In the carriage. like a
young man IN love