The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1914-07-20
TINS 81 DOWN
MACHINE LANDS
HIM In COURT
Was to Pay Every Time They
Caught Him-S9 Was
Due
FEARFUL AND WONDERFUL
WAS IT'S CONSTRUCTION
Looked Like a Tin Octopus In
RepOse and Sounded Like a
Crazy Lawn Mower

This is the tale OF the double.ac.
ton, seif-eOck!ng, dropr5titch. auto
matte, asthmatic and audacious auto
mobile known as THE thing the fel.
/ lers made
/ It's history. antecedents and habits
were dlIgged out into the light OF
I day. Saturday In Justice RlchteRs
court and from all that was said OF
! IL and about il and az IL the automo.
bile must have been a weird and won.
derful affair.
II was built, constructed and nailed
together by three male boarders at
the home OF Mrs Marie Saunders IL
was built in the barn and its body
was constructed OF defunct table,
two or three barrels, the neighbor' $
fence an ash can, a few shingles
from the woodshed. some barbed wire.
clock works, clothes line a baby s
high chair, a horse hair sofa, and
what other odds and ends the me.
chanical boarders could find loose
and not nailed down The engine
was announced as a "twocylinder en-
CINE" 1t was considerable engine.
The purchaser OF the car said the
engine looked like a tin octopus in
repose and a lawn mower having a
| 1T when IL was in action To start
the engine a sledge hammer. an ak,
| gun powder. Cuss words. patience and
n postgraduate course In superior
mathematics was necessary IL made
noise like an Indian massacre in a
! boiler factory while the noon whistle
was blowing and it smelt like the
gentleman that runs Hades
| II became violently agitated at the
! slightest provocation and could reach
around behind the starter and land a
! blow in the ribs OF three innocent
| bystanders without missing a stroke
OF its piston They named il George
after a neighbor. and George was
proud and elated until he saw Il run
and then he went home for his gun
\ So they changed the name 10 The
Thing"
7 Just how II fell into the hands OF
Mrs. Saunders is not clear, although
there Is a suspicion that somebody
! wanted 10 play joke on her. Any
way she had II in the barn along
with some baled hay and hound dos
until the dog began to smell OF gaso
line and then the s. p G. A. took
the dog away,
Timothy Ford came along about
this time. Timothy is no relation e
Henry. II he was, he wouldn't have
been in court. Saturday Timothy
was taken out in the back yard anC
allowed TO look through the keyholt
at THE thing the fellers made" HI
admired 1t very much, Mrs. Saunders
said Timothy thinks he must have
/ been suffering from the heat and moi
mentally responsible. Anyway he
! bought IL
II was time affair, 81 down and q
! 81 every time she caught him. He
was separated from $31 after while
| and his drug store bill for arnlca was
enormous His batting average for
! starting the car was 1867 and his aver
age for stopping it after it was start
ed was .222. The other times II
stopped after the gasoline was al
gone.
Tim came home one day and was
told the barn wherein The Thing was
locked up had burned down and "The
! Thing" along with Il. He went out
in the back yard and danced a horn
pipe, and IL there had been fatted
calf around he would have killed II
and held a feast. AS IL was, he swore
| a solemn oath not TO pay the other
I$9. Mrs. Saunders wanted the money
| Then there was talk, argument
threats, defiance, lawyers and-the
case in court.
At noon the story was still being
unfolded.