Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 200, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 August 1920 — HARD TO ACCOUNT FOR FIND [ARTICLE]

HARD TO ACCOUNT FOR FIND

Scientists PuzzleJ Over Location of Jawbone of Animal Discovered Beneath Big "Boulder. Workmen engaged in Removing a 10ton field boulder which is to mark the American Legion lot in Mt. Wollaston cemetery came across a strange find. When the boulder was lifted, after hard work, from its bed at the edge of a piece of swampland at the bottom of a small hill in South Quincy, the workmen found part of the jawbone of some animal, A large double tooth, wonderfully preserved, the enamel of which shone with considerable luster, was Imbedded in part of the jaw. The size’of the tooth indicated that the animal must have been of considerable size, but how it got under the rock was what puzzled the workmen. The big boulder was so firmly imbedded In a rocky strata it did not seem possible any animal could have burrowed under, because the rock on which the boulder rested was as firm as the bodlfier RselL The only explanation the contractor could give was that this big boulder might have topled over from the hill above many years- ago and crushed to death some animal that was standing or lying down there. No other traces of the animal were found. The tobth was given to James E. Burke, secretary to Mayor Whlton, who selected the boulder in the first’ place as a marker for the legion burial lot. The-nature of the ground and the size of the stone-made it a difficult job to get the boulder out where- the truck could receive it. It was necessary to construct a temporary bridge over a brook and drag the big stone over heavy timbers to keep it from sinking in the mud. —Boston Herald.