New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1880-10-27

A Poor lnvent4r's Sudden Prosperity
Proves Too Muck for HIM.
Once brilliant inventor, then q per-
sistent litigant, suing for the rights of
which he had been defrauded, made
suddenly rich by winning his suit, and
now an inmate of the common Jail for
intoxication and contempt of court.
Such are the brief chapters of Augustin
j. Ambler's life. Years ago, to COM
mence at the beginning, he started life
under the most favorable auspices. A
passion for mechanics was fostered bv
favorable surroundings, and the young
man soon developed a latent faculty for
invention. Again and again he devised
little improvements, but nothing which
proved either great as discovery or as
a financial success. At last. however,
Amber discovered road which seemed
to lead to fame and wealth. Filled with
sanguine expectations, as are all in
ventors, he commenced his new work.
A long period of toll and patient en-
deavor succeeded, marked with alter
nate hopes and fears. Failures were
frequent, but the inventor laughed
at discouragementsi in the hope of fut-
ure success. At last, however, his
funds gave out and he saw despair and
failure staring him in the face. Money
must be forthcoming or the investiga-
tons would have to cease. At this
point Mr.. R. NJ. Whipple became asso-
ciated with Amber as a partner, and
the National Gas and Iron Company
was formed in St. Louis. When the
secret of the invention was made
known to Whipple its Importance was
at once manifest to him, and he took
in another partner, Thomas S. DECKER
son. In the meantime the invention
was completed. 1t was furnace for
smelling metals by means of petroleum
vapOr. produced by the action of super
heated steam. The old tedious meth
DDS of smelling by the ordinary proc
esses were to be done away with, and a
revolution wrought in this great branch
of manufactures. At last it seemed
to the Woodworking inventor that
the long-expected success was
to be q happy realization. At once he
took steps to get out patent, but was
met at the threshold of his application
by a startling discovery. While toiling
and studying his two partners had OBJ
tanned patents for his Invention, and he
was excluded from all benefits. His
delay had been fatal to him. All the
work of his lifetime was to 90 for
naught. The glory and the wealth for
which he had striven were completely
out of his reach. There was only one
way to seek immediate redress, and
that was to have the illegal patents
cancelled. Proceedings were at once
instituted in the Patent-office, and a
legal fight, which was to last decade,
was begun. There were many vexa-
tious delays, and it was necessary to
take evidence from all the parties con-
cerned. But Amber proved so conclu-
sively that he was really the inventor
that he gained his point. But this first
victory did not by any means end the
matter. The case was taken into
the courts. The delays which the
wronged litigant, impatient to be right
ed, had suffered in the Patent Office
were nothing to the long and tedious
struggle which now commenced. From
court to court, from the District Justices
to the Supreme tribunal of the United
States, the case was appealed and trans
ferred until Mr.. Amber began almost
to despair. But, holding in his hands
the Cancelled patents as a powerful
argument in his behalf, he continued
the fight, wearisome, discouraging and
expensive though it was. Finally, aft
er ten years, he began to see daylight.
A special auditor, Mr.. E. G. hgersoll,
was appointed by the court to examine
into the case and see what was really
due Mr.. Amber. A thorough examin-
alton of all the accessible documents
showing the amount paid for patent
rights to Whipple & Dickerson was
made, and the total found tc
be over $1,250,0o0. As an equita,
BILE adjustment the auditor de-
cided that Amber should be paid
one-haf of this amount. Therefore,
on the 18th of last June Justice Cox
ordered the defendants to pay the
plaintiff the sum of six hundred and
seventy-seven thousand four hundred
and thirty-four dollars, and, within
thirty days, one thousand three hun.
dred and seventy-ive shares of the
National Gas and Iron: Company. Am.
bier was thus suddenly placed in the
possession of a fortune. But, though
a man of sixty years of age, the turn
in the tide of his affairs also seemed to
turn his brain. With the first payment
of the money he commenced series OF
sprees, or rather one long-continued
state of intoxication. At length an at
tendant became necessary companion
of his wanderings. His condition be-
came worse, and the possessor of hun
dreds of thousands of dollars found
himself in cell in the station-house.
This was well known at the time and
referred to in the Sunday Post as fol-
lows:
"A prominent citizen, whose aygre-
gate wealth is over $4,000 spent Fri
day night in cell at the Central
Station-house, sleeping off drunk"
The sequence to it all came yester-
day. Wandering into the Police Court
in an intoxicated condition, he abused
one of the messengers and was arrest
ed. He was brought out from the cell
and charged before Judge Smell with
profanity. He was promptly fined five
dollars or twenty days in Jail, where
upon he cursed the Judge. A sentence
Of twenty dollars or thirty days in Jail
and two days in jail additional, without
a fine, was imposed for contempt of
court. He was again placed in a cell.
Shortly afterward Amber stepped into
the Black Maria and was driven to jail.
Washington Post
Ladies' Fall and Winter Dresses.
The earliest importations of French
dresses are made up of short dresses
for day wear, with very long trained
skirts for full dress; the medium demi-
train does not appear in the first in
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