The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-11-26
Sbahbv TTentment OF an Inventor.

Uy spIDBR Gun AND MR. sNIDRB's TBoUBLFs.
Tbe death OF Mr.. Snider, inventor OF the
snIder gun, vac recently announced. An Eng
lish paper gives the folloWing aeconnt of the
treatment he received In EnRlant;--- l..f. Z '
$50 far back as 1869, Mr.. Snider, 1t appears,
presented the Storm system OF breech-loading
to the English Government and was called on
to convert two En6elts upon that plan. Sub
seoueutly ii was suggested that the ammuni-
ton should be made mp with Government DOW
der and bullet; and. MIR. Snider having applied
for and received these articles, the trials duly
proceeded before the Ordnance COMMITTEE.
demand was then made upon him ior the suIa
of Ell Is. 3D. for the material thus furnished,
and iJ is affirmed that the Government actually
sued him andEobtaned iudment against him tor
that amount AT that time hts experiments
occupied about eighteen months Early In 1861
he went to the Continent to pursue his re-
searches into the best system OF breech-loading.
In 1868 be returned to England, and first eX-
h bited model of gun which formed the basis
of his present invention. He was assured that
the Government would never consent to lock at
a system of b-eech-ioadlug carrying its own
ignition, but the scientific persons having the
subject IN charge Zealously met hIs views, and
after eight years OF labor and heavy expendi-
ture. he had the satisfaction TO see his system
practically successful and adopted by the State.
But the further pecuniary and painful part of
the history Is described TO be as folio ws:-ln
June last he addressed LORD Harrington, the
then Secretary of War, saying he thought the
time had now come when he should be einformed
how he was to be dealt with. The reply was
that his claim must be considered under three
heads:- FIRST reimbursement for expenses; two,
compensation Tor services while employed in
the departml nj; and, three, reward tor the iu-
ventIon; and ii was added that the first two
points could be speedily settled without waiing
for the third. Mr.. Snider named e2700 as due
to him for expenditure and services wheIeupon
he was notified that the matter had been left
entirely in the hands of Mr.. Clode, tue Govern
ment Solicitor Tor War, and that his decision
olive fI000 and HnraS9pd nv
creditors for debts incurred during his long and
costly proceedings, and at the same time help-
less from sickness, and being told that II he did
not accept what was offered and give an acuuit-
tance in full, he would Get nothing, Mr. Snider,
about fortnight back, consented, by the ad-
vice of his friends, to take the amount, the
whole of which went Immediately TO his Credi-
tors, not one tarthlng finding ITS way to his own
hands.
"Ibe only mitigation of the story is that it is
understood he has been informed that when he
shall be well enough to present himself at the
War Office, the matter will be recOnsIdered and
u more hitting allowance made. Such are the
facts as they have been conveyed in answer to
inquiries; but there may be some minor mac
curacies in them, as Mr.. Snider, in his helpless
condition, is unable fully to state his own case.
Not unfrequently the sorrows of inventors are
traceable to their own improvidence or unit
ness for business, and also to the inevitable
operation of the Patent laws; but in this ln-
stance there is nothing on the surface to lead 10
any such assumption.
"Apart from his labors on the Continent, Mr.
SDider was, it is believed, necessarily engaged
for eight months in the service of the depart
meHt OF Woolwich, and, looking at the expenses
of his previous models, drawings, etc, his
charge Of 9270O for actual time and outlay will
strike most persons as extremely moderate,
while the arbitrary cutting down of such an
item to $1,000 is sufficient 70 account TOR the eX-
istence of great pecunlary distress. In all coun-
tres where patents are conferred the Govern
ments have the legal power 10 use such nven-
tions free of cost but this is merely for selpro-
lection, and can never be properly pleaded as a
bar to "a liberal acknowledgment for benefits
conferred. Mr.. Snder asserted that, in accord
ance with a promise he originally gave, he
always faithfully resisted inducements and offers
held out to him by other Governments TO fur
nish them with a copy of his gum"
The new railroad depot at Cleveland is the
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