The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-10-13
wooopeckea.s MARVELLOUS FEAT.
Breaks a Telegraph Pole by Constant
Work with Its Hill.

"ofk WIN us fhu.
IL you have read and doubted the
story of the prisoner centuries ago who.
according to a comic opera libretto. cut
his way through a stone wall with a
~penknife. read this story. one of fact.
and believe. This Is an achievement OF
the industrious ed-headed w~oodpecker.
ON Hartford avenue just south of the
Belt line tunnel there was n tall, we'll
rounded N apparently sound tele-
graph pole. To passersby IL was just a
telegraph pole. doing its duty like any
of the army of timbers stretched along
the thoroughfare. Probably this pole
would have been heard of had It
not been for an unusual occurrence
Sunday morning. And this is what
happened: At 10 o'clock. without any
warning. like "A great, strong man
struck down by some slow but sure dis
ease. the pole suddenly %groaned, n
then, with a swapping. tearing. grind
ing sound. the upper portion fell To the
street. leaving about % feet standing.
There was no hurricane, not even a
brisk breeze. N surely not enough to
sever such a pole as that which had
weathered so many storms. And still
they wondered.
Explanations followed thick and fast,
and the argument over the cause be-
came all the more heated. The Oldest
inhabitant was sought, M after much
going over the past he remembered
that some time ago he had been dis
turbed while quietly reading his paper
and smoking his pipe by a sound as II
boys were tapping on the door. After
awhile he noticed a bird, a real. live
woodpecker. working energetically with
it's sharp pointed bill against the tele-
graph pole. This. he said, vas fully
five years ago.
Then somebody else remembered hav-
ing seen a bird pecking away at the
pole. but even this. they thought. could
have caused such a great timber to
fall. Then a small boy volunteered the
testimony that he had seen "A bird alight
on the pole and was about TO shoot at
Ii with his slungshot. the policeman on
the beat being at dinner, when the bird
disappeared in a hole in the pole.
Then the Oldest inhabitant took the
stand again. in rebuttal. as IL were, and
he c~orroborated the boys statement. In
fact. he had seen two birds go into the
hole. Then a resident who had at one
time worked in a sawmill until a GER
tain buzz saw. while on the buzz. had
changed his occupation to something
suitable for a one-armed man. openly
declared that no woodpecker i'm the
world could have even cut through
WOOD IKE mat III II had started before
horse cars ran out Gay street.
The oldest inhabitant scratched his
head. and another resident who had
lived in the country fatty contradicted
the man who had worked in the saw
mill. m while they fought il out
so to speak. the small boy investigated.
sure enough, there, right where the
pole had broken, was the hollow where
the woodpeckers had cut out their nest.
and, what was more and really unan-
swerable and convincing testimony be-
yond peradventure. was a poor little
woodpecker. half frightened to death.
The small boy % possession of IL, and
the Oldest inhabitant walked back and
remarked triumphantly. II told you
So" while the one-armed man went to
his home and the man who had spent
his boyhood days down on the farm
gave him the gleeful gurgle.
All of which goes to show that the
prisoner who Clipped his way through
"A stone wall with a penknife and the
spider that built a silken suspension
bridge have been outdone by the indus
trious little ~woodpecker.
III you don't believe this go over to
Hartford avenue just south Of the belt
tunnel, and be convinced.