Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1909-06-01
SIX TOES TO A FOOT.
Farming Community Remarkable FOR
General Freak of Nature.

Farming Com I'M nifty Rem arkab1e for
General Freak of Nature.
On the line between Lincoln and Sag
adahoc counties is settlement of
thrifty farming folks who have pecu-
side, says Bangor (Me.) correspond
ent of the New York Herald 1t is not
visible and a stranger might go there
year In and year out without ever dis
covering that they were any different
from ordinary persons in a farming
community They are peculiar for the
number of people In the settlement who
have six toes On each foot, one more
than they really ought to have and one
more on each foot than they are enti-
tied to.
The six-toe belt lies partly in the
town of Dresden In Lincoln County and
partly In woolwich in Sagadahoc Coun-
ty. Just how many people there are
who have more than their share of toes
In that vi nifty would be hard to say,
but there Is quite number and the
way in which they came By them is a
mystery in the first place, although
there are number of traditions as to
how it happened.
Like many country districts, the peo-
pie have been born, brought up, set
tied on farms in the vicinity and mar
ried into each others families until
time has produced number of six-toed
people in a comparatively small com
munity.
The settlement Is an ordinary coun-
try place, in which is a store or two
postoffice and grange hall which
serves as meeting place for all social
occasions which are held In the homes
of the people of the vicinity.
Rather than being a benefit to them,
the extra toe is somewhat Of an attic
tion in a number of ways, especially in
getting shoes to fit them, for no shoe
maker has yet ventured to manufacture
a special line of boots for six-toed per-
sons. So much of bother has this
been to some Of the people that they
have submitted to surgical treatment
and had the offensive sixth member re-
moved, that they might wear shoes
much the same as others.
At time, several years ago, when 1t
was Gil the rage to wear the extreme
pointed toed shoes these people were In
a sorry plight To crowd six toes into
a shoe with capacity for three, but in
which vain man often crowded five,
was too much for these people They
were fairly ostracized from being in the
fashionable swim by the freak of ma
ture which put them out Of tire run
ming Being possessed of sound sense
they submitted TO the inevitable and
waited until their flve-toed brethren
had become crippled by the freak styles
and then they were In the swim again
with broad-toed shoes.
How it happened that this colony Of
six-toed people settled In this place is
hard to explain. Tradition has 1t that
some man of several generations ago
settled in that vicinity, and while 1t
work In the woods split toe with an
ak, and, instead Of adhering, the two
parts separated and in the course of
time as the generations passed the
sixth toe made its appearance In a more
perfect form. This theory does not find
many ready believers among the people
there. who have given up accounting
for it.
The sixth toe is an offshoot from the
little toe of the ordinary foot 1t is
perfect in shape, although 1t is not al
ways in alignment with the other five
toes Of the foot For this reason 1t is
troublesome, and becomes more so as
the people advance in years.