The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1911-04-27
DRAWING A TOOTH
Tushmaker's Pulling Machine Was
a Wonderful Invention.
KILLED HIS FIRST PATIENT.
But That Simply Couldn't Be Helped,
and the Autopsy Showed Why the
Victim Lifted His Right Leg Each
Time the Lever Mas Turned.

Victim Lifted His Right Leg Each
Time the Lever Was Turned.
Mr.. Tushmaker was never regularly
bred as a physician or surgeon. but he
possessed naturally a strong mcchan
ical genius and a fine appetite, and.
finding his teeth Of great service in
gratifying the latter propensity, he
concluded that he could do more good
in the world and create more real hap
piness therein by putting the teeth
Of its inhabitants in good order than
in any other way, so Tushmaker be
came n dentist.
He was the man who first invented
the method Of placing small cog
wheels in the back teeth for the more
perfect mastication Of food, and be
claimed to be the original diSCOvCTCr
+. Of that method Of filling cavities with
n kind Of putty which, becoming hard
directly, causes the tooth to ache so
~grievously that it has to be pulled,
thereby giving the dentist two sue
ccssivc fees for the same job.
Tushmaker was one day seated in
his Office in the city Of Boston when a
stout old fellow named Byles pre-
sentcd himself to have n back tooth
drawn. The dentist seated his patient
in the chair of torture and, OpeninE
his mouth. discovered there an enor-
nous tooth on the right hand side
about as large, as he afterward cT-
pressed It. "aS Il small pOlyglot BIZ
BILE" Il shall have trouble with this
TOOTH thought Tushmaker, but he
clapped on his heaviest forceps and
pulled. 1t didn't ome Then he tried
the turnscrew. eXcrting his utmost
strength. but the tooth wouldn't stir.
60 away from here" said Tush-
maker to Byles, and return in a week
and I'll draw that tooth for you or
know the reason why" Byles got up.
clappcd a handkerchief to his jaw and
put forth.
Then the dentist went to work, and
in three days he invented 'an instrn-
mcnt which he was confident would
pull anything. 1t was Il combination
Of the lever. pulley, wheel and axle,
inclined plane. wedge and screw. The
castings were made and the machine
put up in the office over an iron chair
rendered perfectly stationary by iron
rods going down into the foundations
Of the granite building.
In a week old Bylcs returned. He
was clampcd into the iron chair, the
forceps connected with the machine.
attached firmly to the tooth. and TUsh-
maker. s]tationing himself in the rear,
took hold Of a lever four feet in
length. He turned it slightly. Old
Byles gave a groan and lifted his
right leg. Another turn. another
groan. and up went the leg again.
what do you raise your leg for?'
asked the doctor.
81 can't help it," said the patient.
"Wcll," rcjoined Tushmaker. that
tooth is bound to come out now"
He turned the lever clear round with
a sudden jerk and snapped old Byles
head clean and clear from his shout
ders, leaving a space of four inches
between the severed parts. They had
a ]postmortem examination. The roots
OF the tooth were found extending
down the right side, through the right
leg and turning up in two prongs UNI
der the sole Of the right foot.
"No wonder" said Tushmaker. she
raised his right leg"
The jury thought so, too, but they
found the roots much d~ecayed, and.
five surgeons swearing that mortiica-
ton would have. ensued in a few
months. Tushmaker was cleared on a
verdict of '.iustifable homicide"
He was a little shy of that instru,
ment for some time afterward, but
one day lin old lady. feeble and laccid.
came III to have a tooth drawn, and.
thinking that it would come out very
easy. Tushmaker concluded. just by
way Of variety. to try the machine.
He did so and at the first turn drew
the old lady's skeleton completely and
entirely from her body, leaving her a
mass of quivering jelly in her chair.
TuShmaker took her home in a pillow
case. She lived eve years after that,
and they called her the India rubber
woman" She had suffered terribly
with the rheumatism, but after this
occurrence never had a pain in her
bones. The dentist kept them in a
glass caSr.
After this the machine was sold to
the contractor of the Boston custom
house, and ii was found that a child
of three years of age could, by a sin
gle turn of the screw, raise a stone
weighing twenty-three tons. Smaller
oues were made On the same principle
and sold to the keepers of hotels and
restaurants. They were used for bon
ing turkeys. There is no moral to this
story whatever. 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.-John Phoenix.