The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1871-06-10
The ~SummerfIeld Story.

The Sacramento Union of the Goth ult.. has a
long story, occupying some four columns, purport.
ing to be the written statement of one Leonidas
Parker, lately deceased. This statement Parker
confided to W. H. R. with a request that il
be published after his death. The remarkable
story is to this effect. Gregory Summerield
called on Parker in San Francisco last September,
and in a private interview convinced him that he,
Summer6eld, was in possession of the secret of a
wonderful chemical compound, which, if dropped
into the ocean, would at once cause a confagra-
ton that would wrap the world in flames. In
short, that Summerfield held in his hands the
fate of the whole world, with it's millions of
human beings Parker says, that having by ex-
pertinent fully tested the combustion of sea water
as well as fresh by the terrible compound, he felt
it his duty to call the attention of a few of the
principal men in San Francisco to the extreme
Importance of Summerield's discovery, to whom
only the tremendous secret was known. Expert
ments on a large scale were witnessed lin privately
by "a leading banker, a bishop, two State Uni
versity Professors, a physician, a Judge, and two
Protestant Diyines, - who were convinced of the
fearfully dangerous nature of the secret. Sum-
merfeld demanded a million of dollars, without
which he was determined to set the world in
flames. Half the money was subscribed in San
Francisco, and it was proposed to go to New
York to collect the balance. Parker, as agent of
the committee of San Francisco subscribers to the
fund accompanied Summerfeld on the cars of the
Pacific Rail Road. About the middle of October
last, while the train was passing the dangerous
curve IN the track at a place called Cape Horn,
where the road skirts a p~reeipice with rocky
perpendicular sides, extending to the bed of the
stream, nearly LOO feet deep-at this spot,
was showed from the platform of the
car by Parker! and of course persisted instantly,
md with him that dread secret.
Such is the story in the Union, which is sufi-
sensational, but not ~skillfully enough
woven, to have emanated from the pen of the
luthor of "The Gold Bug or the Moon
Hoax A correspondent, who undoubtedly be-
ieves the whole story, sends us the following
ccount of Gregory Summerfeld:
"The tragical death of the individual who bears
bis name, and the circumstances connected with
are calculated to awaken a curiosity to know
nore. If the statement of Leonidas Parker be
rue. the great secret that persisted with him will
o doubt become again known in the progress of
umdu uiscOfery, anu eart0 nnal cataclySm OF
re may originate in the agency of one man. The
tie OF Summerfeld will only make some future !
more cautious. 8
Who was Gregory Summer6eld? 1t is a mere t
ON de plume. Some thirty-6ve years ago a 7
oung man by the name of Alfred w. Arlington e
igrated from North Carolina to Western Arkan- G
s, then a wilderness. He was a preacher OF n
e Gospel, able and eloquent, and for some years e
ught with effect among the rough people of that o
But he was ambitious, talented, ener- 4
tic, and the mantle of religion rested lightly ri
ION him. Bold and speculative in theory, he u
Is prompt In action. His personal courage was q
at one time he stood with his back m
the wall of the court house at Fayetteville and SC
fed an infuriated mob of desperados and made ;,
EN- quail and dispense. He was ambitious to W
eel in eyerything-to discover-to create. He al
ank ~insatiate at every source of knowledge. He tn
ard of the discovery of the wonders of the tele- IN
by Morse with a feeling and look of disap- nc
intment, and said that he would yet make dis m
7eries greater. T,
He abandoned his clerical profession and stud dc