![]() That exit was blocked and undetectable where it met the river. Joe’s street was one of the first to have old pipes dug out and replaced, which was a good thing.Ī stone-lined tunnel that led down to the river was discovered in front of Joe's house. Actually, it led to replacing outdated lead pipes for safer new pipes. The tremor created havoc on the town’s water and sewer pipes, dislodging and breaking pipes. Joe had no choice but to put a fence around the mound. A few drove their cars onto the lawn and grabbed a handful of coins. ![]() Traffic around Joe’s house increased as sightseers snapped cell phone photos. The next day’s front page announced, Coin collector benefits from tremor. There was Joe in the background barefoot and in his blue robe, watching the coin pyramid grow taller. Instead, he persuaded them to bring their giant suction street cleaner to vacuum it all up and blow the coinage into a pile on the front lawn.Ī news reporter caught the action. He argued with the men as they wanted to shovel all the coins into their truck. He flew downstairs and stepped out the door and immediately saw what had happened. Still in his blue bathrobe, he saw a village truck out front and lots of coins. The drain hole in the bathtub popped up and out of alignment and the coins flowed into the exit pipe, flushed with water from Joe's shower upstairs.Īfter the tremor, village workers drove by looking for ruptures on fire hydrant lines and were amazed at the coins flowing up and out of Joe’s front lawn. No one had ever heard of an earthquake in the area, but it began with a shudder, then a rattle, then an up-and-down pipe joint-snapping motion. Since Joe showered upstairs, he didn't notice the disintegration of the floor under the first-floor bathtub filled with coins. Naturally, that weakened the support for the ever-increasing weight. Joe's bathroom of this older house was built during the Great Depression when building materials were expensive and carpenters improvised by setting floor joists farther apart. The time came, however, when the tub was full, clean, but too full. Joe eventually used a shovel to cleanse the coins, and even brought in a power cleaner with a hose to rinse them well. So, he used the shower upstairs instead.Īfter several years, the bathtub bottom could no longer be seen and Joe periodically ran hot water with soapy suds to keep the coins clean, after swishing them with a broom. Good thing, because Joe threw his extra change in the bathtub from his vending machine repair job. Not only did he have a large bathtub in his home, he also had a shower in a second-floor bathroom.
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