Iron County register., 1900-03-15
ADDED TO HIS STATURE.
The Mistake of a Maker of Artificial
Limbs Pleased One of His
Patrons.

The artificial limb business has its
amenities, like every other calling, for
there is no occupation so serious but
furnishes matter for jest to those en-
gagged in it. Some years ago in q
large western city switchman in
the yards of railroad company fell
on the track and the locomotive
wheels crushed both his ankles in
such way as to necessitate ampu-
tation about four inches above the
ankle joint. The man was taken to
the railroad hospital, the necessary
operations were performed and he
was placed in bed to await recovery.
day or two after the railroad ac-
cident the motorman of an electric
car, while leaning over the front
board to make running switch, lost
his balance, fell over and the wheels
crushed both feet. He was taken
home and the feet were amputated a
few inches above the ankle. Thus the
two accidents were remarkably sim
liar, so far as the nature and situa-
tion of the injury were concerned;
the two men recovered about the same
time and sent to the same legmaker
The obliging manufacturer came,
took measurements and made memo
randa of the height of the patients
ere they were shortened by the sur
geon's attention. The switchman
had been about six feet one inch and
the motorman was one of those short,
square-built, muscular men of about
five feet two, type that can work
harder and longer than men of any
other size or build.
The motorman got well first and
sent for his legs. They came, but by
mistake the locomotive apparatus
which had been manufactured for the
long man was sent to the short. Ow-
ing to the usual thickness of his men,
bers the leg sockets fitted well enough
to suit him, so he put on the legs and
went to his former home in an east
ern city. A few days later the tall
man sent for his legs and when he
beheld the stumpy appendages pre-
sented by the legmaker he flew into
a passion and refused to take them.
He didn't propose to be dwarf to
please anybody and if they didn't
give him good, long legs he wouldn't
have any.
The mistake was then perceived
and after a good deal of trouble the
manufacturer procured the address
of the short motorman and wrote, in
forming him of the mistake and re-
questing him to send back the legs
which did not belong to him and they
would promptly forward his own
members, pay express charges both
ways and thank him very much into
the bargain. But the short man would
do nothing of the kind. He wrote
back a.sturdy refusal, declaring that
he was very well pleased with the
legs; they made him about ten inches
longer than he was before; without
even taking thought, he had added
nearly cuDit to his stature and had
become person of consequence
among men, and if the manufacturer
did not know his business that was
no affair of his.
The case thus assumed serious as
pect. The legmaker considered the
propriety of going east to get the
runaway legs, but the cost of the
journey would absorb all the profit
of the transaction. Next he thought
of suing the stumpy man, but the idea
of suing for pair of legs was ridic-
ulous and the issue of such a suit, if
brought, extremely uncertain, so he
satisfied the clamor of the long man
by making him another pair of legs,
proportioned to his height, and is now
waiting for a short, stumpy man to
come in and buy the pair exposed for
sale at a bargain in his new window.
st. Louis Globe-Democrat.