Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 183, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 August 1910 — Elusive Tooth Puzzle in Chicago Court [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Elusive Tooth Puzzle in Chicago Court

CHICAGO. —“The mystery of the Missing Tooth,” a novel exposition of how seven and three (sometimes) make eleven, was staged for a large and appreciative, not to say quizzical, audience recently in Municipal Judge Torrison’s court. Plot theme: “Can a dentist recover damages for a swallowed tooth?” Leading characters: Dr. James L. Blount, Oak Park, praying a monetary revenge, and Mrs. Alice Andrews, heroine in the tragedy of “The Missing Molar.’ Dr. Blount demanded his fee for 11 teeth, false if you please, while the heroine pleaded but ten—seven in hand and three hidden by rpsy lips. “The teeth not only were false in material, but they were false to their trust and fell out,” said Mrs. Andrews. “One at a time they began falling out. The first one went on a round steak which cost 25 cents a .pound. I thought it merely a coincidence. But when No. 2 fell into the soup one noon, I knew there was something wrong.

Nos. 3, 4 and 5 came out in unison and Nos. 6 and 7, when a boy set off a firecracker under my feet the last Fourth of July, it was becoming so common then, I lost track of the cause and scarcely noticed the effect. I couldn’t even chew butter. i “I refused to pay the dentist’s bill unless he did the work all over again, and he wouldn’t. He said I must have been trying to chew rocks. Then he sued me.” As proof of the deciduous nature of the teeth, Mrs. Andrews began counting them out on Judge Torrison’s desk, while court bailiffs looked on agape. Then as she reached “seven,” Mrs. Andrews said: “Three I have In my mouth. He put in 11 for me in February, 1909. Most of them came out and I had three put back.” “But where is the other tooth? Three you still use, seven you have shown the judge, now where is the other one?” was the insistent query put to Mrs. Andrews. "Where is the other tooth?” The woman faltered. “I don’t know where it can be; I thought I had it, but I must have swallowed it while asleep” “Give the others to the bailiff; let them he preserved as evidence,” said Judge Torrison. The bailiff kept the teeth; the Jury found its verdict for the woman.