Detroit evening times., 1945-12-30
Jack Pickering Goes Nuts: ~
See Here, Pvt. Gray,
This Can't Be Done!
BY JACK PICKERING

Gather round, chlllun, ana near now
The Detroit Times and Jack Pickering
rode to the rescue.
A bunch of GIs, parked out in the Pa
cific waiting for the army to send them
home, have been passing the time trying
to work out a single little puzzle.
They Just couldn't get the answer.
So Pvt. Donald NJ. Gray of the assist ON
depot company wrote his wife:
There are three homes and three utili
ties. Draw line from each utility to each
house without crossing line Don't try to
work it, or you'll be as screwy as the rest of
Us. Just write TO the newspaper question box
and see what they can do Tor u.s.
Simple, isn't it?
Well, the Times got to feeling pretty bad
about those puzzled Gls so the city editor tmay
his bones rotD said pickering, fix these guys
trio company, and the water board and let them
work it out?'
So that's how the Times rode to the rescue
ON Pickering's back City editors heels).
We went TO Mr.. n. +. Loomis at the Michi-
gan Consolidated Gas Co
well" said Mr. Looms, at would be quite
a feather in cap II could do it and the
the others couldn't" So he started drawing lines
on paper
We went to the Water Board Mr.. Law
renee Lenhardt 1t seemed, was out Mr. Garrlty
surely could take care OF little thing like this.
We left Mr.. Garrity drawing lines,
We went to the Detroit Edison Agreeably
they said they'd even have their engineers take
look see. Engineers are wonderful. City
editors aren't. They made me get my feet wet
i walked over to the Downtown Library and got
book of puzzles. I'm smart. But II was sushy
on the way. Hence wet feet)
Then not telling anybody.Id been 10 the
library | went back to the moguls OF gas, water
and kilowatts
Mr.. Garrity il seemed, was stumped and had
called in Mr.. Lenhardt. Mr.. Lenhardt was ditto.
but reSourceful. His drafting room couldn't get
the answer, so he gave the puzzle to some a.
year-old boy whose name | didn't catch. He
said the only way was to run one line right
through two easements.
We went back to the gas company Mr..
LOOMS said HIS engineers were stumped, too,
but one of them knew man who knew a man
who knew man who could do the puzzle. lie
spent all evening tracing the an-Who-could.
Inc man-Who-could was friendly enough about
being walked up at night but he said there was
slight mistake.
He DIDN'T know how
So Mr.. LOOMS said hepfully that they know
ONE way. You could run one line through a
basement of one of the houses.
" Which iine:" | said
why, the electric line" he said Easiest.
you know. We have our pipes underground but
all the Edison company has to do Is change
some wires. Above ground, you see"
So we went to the Edison company keeping
our feet dry by taking a cab. Listen, city
editor That's going 10 be on my expense ac-
count)
Up there, IL seems Mr.. Howard P Seelye
got stuck with the problem. Evidently there S
somebody up there who corresponds to a city
editor and passes the tough jobs on to somebody
else.
Anyway Mr. Seelye wrote that the only way
TO do the puzzle was run one lhe-~thc gas corr
panys-through somebody's basement
There's no good reason why a gas pine
should circle through the house next door" his
memorandum explained "But on the other hand
there Is no good reason why II shouldn't. There's
no good reason for the problem anyway 80 il all
adds up"
SO there's the only answer to the puzzle