Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 90.djvu/613

 Popular Science Monthly

��597

��Nature Hides a One Thousand -Pound Stone Tomahawk in a Coal Mine

THE biggest and sturdiest toma hawk ever seen is on exhibi- tion in a Httle town in Western Pennsylvania. It was not fashioned by an Indian "brave" nor by the hand of any man, but was made by Nature herself of solid rock. A coal miner, dig- ging away in the bowels of the earth, came across the natural curiosity and with the help of his fel- low workers brought it to the surface.

It is composed of one rock and weighs about a thousand pounds. When thequestionaroseasto the use to which the tomahawk cou be put, it was suggested that the handle be sunk in ground and the head be used as a hitching post. This was done. The handle was set three feet in the ground and a steel stake and chain fastened to the top. There is no horse in Penns\-1- vania fractious enough to pull it up.

���A hitching post of stone which resembles an Indi- an's tomahawk. It was found in a coal mine

��required to harness the machine between the shafts. The breast band of the single driving harness was put around the forepart of the machine and the traces itched to the singletree in the usual manner. A

short rope was provided to support the shafts and hold-back straps to keep the bugg\- from running over the machine when making quick stops. Two passengers rode in the bugg\- and two on the motorcycle.

The combination prov- ed to be a decided suc- cess. Several miles of country roads were tra- versed and numerous hills rere climbed without difili- lt>-.

The four passengers doubt- less made better time and were more comfortable during the trip than if they had all been crowded into the bugg>' with Old Dobbin in the traces. The motorcycle proved fully equal to the horse's job.

��. Hitching a Modern Motorcycle to an Old -Fashioned Buggy

HE needed a horse to haul a bugg^-, and so V. L. Snyder of Douglas, Oklahoma, used his high-powered motorcycle as a substitute. Onlv a few minutes were

���^JO^'-/

��The motorcycle not only drew the buggy over hill and dale but carried two extra passengers with ease

��Some Curious Fires Which Extin- guished Themselves

AFIRE in a church in Boston, Mass. melted the lead water pipes in the storeroom where it started, and the water gushed forth as from the firemen's hose. A manufacturer of metal pails, with an establishment in Phila- delphia, has his conscientiousness to thank for saving his plant from a fire recently. His orders were that all finished pails be filled with water and left suspended from the ceiling for a time in order to test them. During the noon hour one day, while the men were at dinner, fire broke out in the testing room, heating the upper portion of the room to such a degree that the solder of the bails connecting the pails melted and the pails dropped, splashing water all over the place and putting out the fire.

��i

�� �