Attempted Murder with Farmall M tractor!

Our 1939 Farmall M came to us in 1941, but was almost destroyed by sabotage in 1943…
During the Second World War the Allied Powers sent some prisoners of war to Australia, where many where housed in rural areas to work in primary production. There were three prisoners of war on our farm. It appears that there was some sort of dispute between two of the men, which my grandparents never fully discovered (or at least did not disclose). In any case, one of the three men took a hack saw and severed the upper bolster shaft for the steering almost completely through. the shaft is Number 31 in the first picture from the Farmall AM Parts Catalogue. It was known that one of the men liked to drive in top gear and tended to swing into the farm gate still driving in top gear. The plan was, apparently, that the shaft would break under the strain, the tractor would roll and the driver be killed. In the event my grandfather was driving the tractor in one of the low gears when the shaft broke. I am told that "he was thoroughly displeased," and that the three men were were very nearly sent back to a prisoner of war camp instead of remaining on the farm.
It was a great surprise yesterday, when looking for parts in one of the old farm sheds I found the severed shaft. Pictures attached.
SadFarmall

thats a good storey. id put the shaft in a display case and keep in the house for every on to see. ive had a farmall try to kill ne a time or to but it was my supity that was the problem. Bob

Good story and a good reason not to give a prisoner a hack saw in or out of jail.

What an interesting story! Thanks

Geeze,

A knife in the back or a shovel through the neck would have been easier and more immediate.

Why be coy about the attempted murder? Did the saw wielding perpetrator actually think he could stage a farm accident?

But the POW wasn't that dumb. He could appreciate that living with the Australians was better than being blown to bits with Navel gunfire on a rocky atoll.

I broke that shaft on our H in 1955 or so. Luckily it was in a field gear -- bouncing around on rough ground for several years weakened it.

This story reminds me of when Miss. State Univ and Extension Service was charged with operating the state prison farm at Parchman to grow vegetables and row crops "to make a profit for the state". New IH 140 and 1066 tractors were bought in large numbers. One day, a prisoner was driving a 1066 when he heard the train coming on tracks just outside the gate. He promptly parked the tractor on the tracks and fled far enough to watch the wreckage occur. Tired of driving a tractor, I guess.

One of the guards also told me that it had been one of the wettest years ever on the farm that was heavy gumbo soils recently cleared from swamps. He explained that it was so wet that even spraying with an airplane was impossible because the plane's shadow would bog down.

Great story about POWs during WWII. Many POW camps were pretty much controlled by intimidation by hard core Nazis, even to the point of killing inmates that were not Nazi party members. I wonder if there is a museum in Australia that would put your parts on display as an example of sabatoge during the war?
A fellow I worked with for many years was wounded in France and after he got out of the hospital and was not able to return to combat, he was a guard at a POW camp near Lindsborg, KS. One of his jobs was to deliver POWs to farmers in the area to help with farm work. He said most of them enjoyed getting out and working and he only had one prisoner that ever gave him any grief. This prisoner was convinced the Nazis should rule the world.

That is a fairly common problem with an H. We must have broken at least a half dozen on our Hs while I was growing up. Usually either on the loader tractor or while cultivating.

I have repaired quite a few by boring the broken ends and pressing them together with a 3/4 pin and then welding. I use the park lock pivot pin from the 06 and newer tractors.