In the next exhibit, you can see a picture of the three Beaune sisters standing by Ticklish Rock, an oddly shaped rock formation poised to topple into the valley from the ridge on which it stands. There is also a watercolor painting of the Beaune Cottage, a grand and sprawling frame structure built in the Second Empire style, with a tower, mansard roof and numerous gables. Overlooking the valley, the Cottage was blessed with cool breezes in summer. The three sisters loved the place, and made it their home.
Auguste Beaune thought that his younger son, John, would straighten up his life if given some responsibility; and so, he established a trust for his daughters, deeded the Beaune Cottage to the trust and named his son the trustee.
Regrettably, John Beaune saw the trust as an opportunity for profit and not an opportunity to take responsibility. With the help of a clever lawyer in Stapleton (the new name for the town of Dingman's Hat), John was able to defeat the terms of the trust, take ownership of the cottage, and evict his sisters.
Therese, Catherine and Isabelle pled with John as he tossed their suitcases, furniture and belongings on the lawn. He ignored them. Furious and heartbroken, they took their plea to Auguste, who admitted he could do nothing; the trust was irrevocable. As consolation, Auguste promised his daughters that they could live in his home as long as they lived. He disinherited his son.
When John Beaune heard of his disinheritance, he changed his name to John Bone. Needing income, he built a rendering plant to process dead animals into grease and bone meal. Since there were an ample quantity of dead animals in Washington County, and ample demand for grease and bone meal, the plant thrived; a steady stream of wagons rolled in and out of the plant.
Traffic was so great that the Beauneville Municipal Railway extended its line to Ticklish Rock. Day and night, railway cars brought rotting animal carcasses to the great hulking plant, which belched forth black smoke and the noxious stench of burning flesh. Ticklish Rock had once been a pleasant place where families from Beauneville could picnic on a Sunday afternoon. No longer. Every square inch of the place was covered with black soot from the plant, and visitors to the plant held handkerchiefs over their noses to avoid vomiting.
Bone imported impoverished workers from the cities and paid them a pittance to unload rotting animal carcasses and stir the rendering vats. To house the workers, he built shacks on the grounds of the Cottage -- tiny shacks, with a few shared outhouses. For fun, Bone would stand on the porch of the Cottage and throw meat torn from animal carcasses to the hungry workers, and laugh when they were repulsed by the maggots. The Cottage he reserved for himself, all forty-three rooms, but to what end? The once magnificent home was covered with soot from the rendering plant, so that one could no longer see through the windows; and the home was bereft of comfort, since Bone had never bothered to replace the furnishings after he evicted his sisters.
Meanwhile, in Beauneville, Auguste Beaune decided to attend the great International Exhibition of Arts, Manufactures and Products of the Soil and Mine in Philadelphia; otherwise known as the Centennial International Exhibition. This was entirely appropriate, for the Beaune Valve would be prominently on display.
