The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1862-01-14

Tho Hartford TDiEs, 10th, has the following
interesting remarks in reference to the la.o
Col. Colt -
Tho immediate cause OF his death was an at
| tack upon tho brain. On Christmas Day ho ex
| per.snced a relapse after an attack Of gout, to
1 occasional returns of which he had been subject
| for three or four years. He had, however, got
better, and was attending TO business in his of
| fee on Christmas. His covered carriage had
been ordered 10 the Office at a given hour TO
take him home, but he was ready alittle sooner,
| and resolved 10 mao nome III an ypen " :sOn
| that happened to be ready at the door, This
| exposure brought on relapse,
Col. Colt was emphatcally the architect OF his
own fortunes. Endowed by nature with an ener-
| gy and force Of character rarel mot with, he
| united TO this characteristic an uncommonly
| vigorous constitution that enabled him TO exc
cute the decisions Of his indomitabls will, and
| also possessed In very extraordinary degree
| the faculty Of discerning and using the elo.
| ments Of business success. His sagacity in dis
| covering tho means Of development and loresee-
ing from the ifst the perfected fruit Of success In
experiments that to other men looked barren Of
promise, if not absolutely ioo-harly, was one
/ Of the prominent characteristics OF the man.
His great enterprise Of building on the un-
! promising ii, Id OF the South Meadows Dyke,
moro iolld and formidable than the leyees
along the Mississippi, though 1t cost fair for
tune In ltssli end nev... , - 70 secure fo'
factory purposes an area of ground which could
nave been purchased in more favored positions
Tor loss money, yet proved to bs a 6rtun,to
anu sa9acious undertaking. Even the Dltah
osiers hat be planted along tho banks, while
their lntefwoyen network Of hUrous roots
ma1o the einbankment firm against the destruc-
tive action Of Connecticut river hoods, yielded
rcmuneratiye and increasingly Trldtable re-.
turn in the exteI siye manufacture Of all the
varieties OF willoW-Wire, which this proprietor
was hy this means enabled 10 carry on as
separate branch Of his large business.
As a boy, Col Colt, showed his tendency TO
mechanical pursuits, and early left tho school
room for the workshop. At fifteen, he ran away
from his school at Amherst, Mass, and ship.
ped before the mast on an East India voyage.
After his return, and subsequent experience
in the dyeing and bleaching department OF a
factory at Ware, Mass, he travelled all over
tho United States and portion Of tho British
provinces under the assumed name OF DR..
Coult, lectuIipg on Chemistry. Tho money
thus earned hG applied to the prosecution of his
invention OF the Repeating Pistol, the germ Of
which he had already devised while on hil voy-
age TO Calcutta. The first model of his pistol,
made in wood in 1929, while he was d slilor
boy, is now in existence, having been carefully
preserved by him among the many curiosities
IN his museum. II was in 1888 that he, AZ tho
age Of II, took O.t his lrst patent for revolving
lire arms, having i.rst visited England ard
France and secured patents there.
The first factory eroc cd Tor the production Of
these ayms was AZ Paterson, y. j., in 1885.
Here a company, with three hundred thousand
dollars capital, under the name Of tho Patent
Arms Company, went into operation, expend.
ing the amount Of its capital chiefly IN machine
~ ana IN improvements upon the pistol. A
low thousand pistols were, however, made, and
readily purchased for use il the Florida war,
ard for othor purposes. Tue company suspend
ed during tho hard times OF 1872, and Colonel
Colt from that time till 1917 battled against
adverse circumstances. General TAYLOR then
induced the Government TO order one thousand
OF thesc pistols for tho Mexican war, aud this
led TO the commencement of the work Tho
thousand were made at Whitneyville, New
Haven, and so favorabiy were they received,
and 90 fast did the orders come in, that the
Colonel found himself in 1913 In q position TO
be able TO carry out his long cherished idea Of |
setting up UoSks in tbS place Vt his birth.