The best tooth pulling story comes from Ocean Park and involves two boys and a bicycle.
This is the start of a November 25, 1912 story in The Republic (Columbus, Indiana) newspaper about what just might be the funniest bicycle story ever! Think I’m exaggerating? Keep reading …
Roy Fosdick, nine years old, told his playmate of his aches and was offered many devices for relief. Finally this plan was evolved: John Tower was to bring around his bicycle, a string would be tied to it and the tooth. Tower would ride swiftly away, Roy would brace himself and out would come the tooth.
All was made ready. The boy mounted the bicycle and started. And right there Roy’s nerves failed him. He started after the bicycle. The bicyclist rode faster. It developed into a race. Finally Roy was close enough to make a wild grab for the machine. The result was that the two boys and the bicycle landed in a heap, with the youngsters suffering from injuries ranging from a cut on Roy’s head to a wrenched ankle for John.
This story originally ran in the Los Angeles Examiner, and was picked up by scores of papers across the country because, well .. this is hilarious.
Here’s one more humorous cycling history story from a newspaper on this date in 1954…
Bismark (AP) – Police Captain Gordon Kern looked over some bicycles children had brought to headquarters to be licensed. Dents in the fender of one bike looks familiar, so Kern checked the serial number. The bicycle had been stolen from his own son, and then sold to another boy for $6.
Ironwood Daily Globe, Ironwood, Michigan
This one sounds like it inspired an episode of The Andy Griffith Show. That ended with Opie – and maybe Barney – learning a valuable lesson.
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Here’s the link to my five Biking France books (Provence, the Loire, Normandy, The Dordogne and Bordeaux). I’ve taken them off Amazon, iBooks and all the other eBook platforms, and can now offer them to you directly. They’re now PDFs … and $2 or $3 less.
The Biking France Blog 