The Tipton advertiser. [volume] (Tipton, Cedar Co., Iowa) 1856-1962, 1872-02-15

mont, anu 30 ON 70 lu110t t0oS vN(
plaintiffs ofIsr Of settlement flxss sh,
very maximum for which ne can asl
to have . verdict, he would act In
dishonorabls manner, and would de
serve to b thrown over the bar. fe
this IL precisely what the leading
London journals, almost with ono &C
cord, now urge their government I.
do.-N. Y. Post.
A Remarkable History.
In 1858, Mr.. Thomas Sheehan o.
Dunkirk, N. ", fDssman In the black.
smith department Of the Erie Railroad
shops at that plaes, patented supma-
riae grappls, which. though an insen.
ious invention, proved to be Que tol
which there was little demand. This
was his first invention. and the cost oi
its completion, together with one gears
struggie to manuiactuse and iutroduce
it, completely exhaustsd Mr.. She's
hams means and reduced him 10 ths
extrenest povesty. He was ia feet Ia
pretty nearly the Same condition .,
Palissy the Potter, at the moment Of
his greatest distress. A wife and eight
children, 6heshan's family were re.
duced to the verge Of destitution, and
Mrs. Sheehan became unconsciously
bitter.
Just at this crisis, Mr.. 8. d. Cowell
general freight agent of the Erie Rail
road ut Dunkirk, chanced to meet Mr.
Sheehan in the streets Of that town,
and accosted him with:
Well Thomas, how are the crap
Piles? hear they have used you up.''
Yes" was the answer, 1.-THE crap
ples have done my business; I wish
bad never seen them."
Throw 'em away advised Mr.
Coweil. "Hsve you any now fin.
ished?n
~ have one almost DONE" said
Thomas.
Finish that; l will pay you forty
dollars for It, and have Il used for pick.
iDg up coal at the dock. The money
will help you In your present emergen.
cy, and you can 60 back to your old
place In the shop. and earn . good liv'
ing for your family"
:" I will,n said Thomas.
Back to his humble home went the
inventor, with new hope In his breast
and set himself to finish the grappls
with all due speed. But upon VII II
slender threads do the fortunes Of men
hang! A tap, the only one our invent
or had OF the size required, suddenly
snapped asunder, and as It was essen.
tiai to the progress Of the work, he
must have new one or he could moi
60 on.
In this strait he applied to his wife
to lend him twenty Ave cents to bug
the necessary steel to forge the tap
But she, having no faith in the gr,p-
pie, refused for two very good reasons
-first, that she believed the money
would be thrown away II she gave i
to her husband and second, that ah.
had not the money to give him even 4
SO disposed. Tho refusal was seasoned
with some very hot word.spice, thai
made It very unpalatable to Thomas
But he bethought him of = merchau,
who, in brighter days, had seen the
color Of his money. and who, perhaps
would now give him the credit for the
small modicum of steel he required
for the tap.
To this merchant he hied, and some
what reluctant to prefer his request
began beating about the bush; and
finally straying into politics, hot word,
passed between them, and our friend
feeling his mapliness would suffer tor
keenly by asking credit for his steel
came away without it. With ne
definite purpose he went home, pom
dering how he should surmount thii
now no trifling obstacle of the broken
tap. He found his wife making lye fol
soft soap, but her acidity in no way
neutraIized by the alkaline reaction
Despondent aud discouraged, he ga
down in no very enviable mood, wher
he chanced to spy piece of iron lying
near the tub At which his spouse was
working. Meditating how he coulc
make that piece Of iron hard enough
for tap, he was led to rather rude
experiment, the results Of which have
in the end made him . richer mar
than he ever dreamed of being.
1t SO happened that from q distant
relative, Roman Catholic priest in
Ireland, our friend had inherited quite
q library Of works on chemistry, some
of them rare and valuable. He haG
read some of these books to very good
purpose. "There is surely carbon In
that lye, thought he. of l only
could get that into this iron in ths
proper proportion I should have steel
and from that my tap. and so finist
my grapple."
With little faith or hope that be
sho1ld succeed, he took some Of the
lye and adding, without any particular
reason for so doing, some saltpetre
and common salt, made 3 paste witt
this solution and hard grudged sau.
cer!ul of the little remaining fioul
there was in the house. He ther
forged the tap, and, enveloping it in
the paste, put the whole into lutet
iron box and exposed It to heat fol
two hours in blacksmith's fire. tt
his Joy and surprise. when he took i
out, It was hard enough to cut cast
steel. The grapple was finished, and
$40 flowed into the family treasury ol
Thomas Sheenan. He went back te
his old work, disguised with patents
and resolved never to have anything
to do with one again. But the remem.
brance Of the tap, hardened In q
unique . manner, stimulated him
Having great deal Of case hardening
to do. he thought one day he would
repeat the experiment upon q larg,
scale, which he did with perfect
sue seaa.
For twelve months he went on Il
experiment, purchasing the unateria