Rensselaer Union and Jasper Republican, Volume 8, Number 38, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 June 1876 — An Explosion of Tooth-Powder. [ARTICLE]

An Explosion of Tooth-Powder.

Mr. Peters, who lives in a suburban village, had the tootache some time ago, j and he suffered so much that at last lie re- ' solved to have the troublesome tooth out. ' He had heard that a tooth could be rei moved suddenly and without much pain by tying a string around it, fixing the string to a bullet and firing the bullet from a gun. So he got some string and fastened it to the tooth and to a ball, rammed thg latter into his gun, and aimed the gun out of the window. Then he began- to iee’ nervous about it, and he cocked and uncocked tlie.gun about twenty times, as his mind changed in regard to the operation. The last time the gun. was cocked he resolved not to take the tooth out that way, and he began to let the hammer down preparatory to cutting the string. Just then the hammer slipped, and the next minute Mr. Peters' tooth was flying through the air at the rate of fifty miles a minute and he was rolling over on the floor, howling and spitting blood. After Mrs. I’eters had picked-him up-ancL giyen him water with which to wash out his mouth, he went down to the front window. While he was sitting there,, thinking that maybe it was all tor the best, be saw some men coming by, carrying a body on a shutter. Tie''asked what p was the matter, and Aleck Jones told him j that Bill Dingus had been murdered by somebody. Mr. Peters thought he would put on his hat and go down to the coroner’s office, and see what the nature of the tragedy j was. When lie got there Mr. Dingus had. revived.somewfiat, and heAolilhis- story to the Coroner. He was trimming * tree in Devlihjs garden, when he suddenly.. heafd tlie explosion of a gun. and the next minute a bullet,a.truek him in the thigh' and he fell to the ground. He said he couldn't imagine who did it Then the doctor examined the wound and found a string hanging from it, and a large bullet suspended upon the string. When he pulled the string it would not " give” any and he said it must be tied to some other missile still in the flesh. He said it was the most extraordinary case on record. The medical books reported nothing of the kind _ Then the doctor gave Mr. Dingus chloroform, and proceeiled to cut into him with a knife to find the other end of that string, and, while he was at work, Mr. Peters began to feel sick at his stomach and to experience a desire to go home. At last the doctqreut deep enough, and, giving the string a came a molar tooth that looked as |£lt might have been aching. Then the doctor said the case" was more extraordinary than he had thought it was. He said that tooth couldn’t have been fired from a gun,-be-cause it woul3Tiaved>eeß.broken to pieces; it couldn’t have been swgllowed by Din-

gus, and then broken through and buried in his thigh, for thgn how could the string ami ball lie accounted for? " The occurrence is totally unaccountable upob any reasonable theory,” said the doctor, ’“ and 1 do not know what to believe, unless wo are to. conceive that the tooth and the ball were really meteoric stones that hateassumed these remarkable shapes, and been shot down upon the earth w ith such force ns to penetrate Mr. Dingus’s leg, and thia is so very improbable that we can hardly accept it unless it is impos>iblctofind anv otlier. Hallo.' What's the matter with yon, Peters? Your iiuiuth and shirt are all stained with blood!" ‘‘Ob, nothing," said Peters, forgetting himself. “ I just lost a tooth, ami ” “ You lost a—who pulled it?" aeked the doctor. "Gentlemen," said Peters, "the fact is, I shot it out with my gun.” Then they pul Peters under bail for attempted assassination, and Dingus said that as soon as he got well he would bang Mr. Peters with a club. When thecrowd had gone t'he Coroner said to Peters: “ You're a mean, chuckle-headed sort of a num, now, ain’t you?” ” Well, Mr. Maginn,” replied Peters, ”1 really didn’t know Mr. Dingus was there, and the gun went off accidentally, anyway.” " Oh, it isn’t that," said the Coroner. "It isn’t that. I don’t mind your shooting him, but why in the thunder didn’t you kill hiifi while you were at it, and give me a chance ? You want to see me Starve, don’t you! 1 wish you’d a buried the tooth in his lung and the ball iii his liver, and then I’d had my regular fees. But as it is shave all the botnet - and get nothing. You haven’t got the generosity of a pig. I'd starve to death if all men were like vou.” Then Peters went home. After this, when he has the toothache, he will hunt up a regular dentist.— Philadelphia diullet in.