Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1884-1886, 1885-07-16
A STRANGE CLIENT.
New York Snnl

| New York Sun
The Hon. Arthur d. Williams vas saun.
tering down Broadway recently when be
was accosted By cripple in clearly garb.
Il am told that you ara a lawyer" the
cripple said. Mr. George Hopcraft of
Franklin street, recommended you to me-"
Mr.. Williams was unusually pleasant
fancying that he was securing a desirable
client. "Yes," he replied. Il am at your
service He took the cripple into his office,
invited him to take a chair and cigar,
crossed his own legs, assumed q Chauncey
Shaffer expression of countenance, and in .
deep and forensic tone Of voice invited the
/ man to state his case
| The cripple hesltated He cleared out his
throat, and began: Mr.. Hopcraft told me-
that you mad invented a monkey wrench,
and that you were interested in inventions
would like to tell you bit Of the unwrit-
ten history If scientific devotion. There
was once 'young machinists apprentice
who worked hard by day to earning living,
and at night pursued his studies Aftcr five
years Of steady application he was consid-
cred one Of the best men in the shop, and
was in position to lay by money 10 conduct
these experiments on which his heart was
set His passion was the invention OF pro-
jectiles for use in time Of war, but his mind
was especially bent on improving the mod
ern rocket
while bordering over the value OF rock.
cts as signals he was suddenly seized with q
desire to know whether rockets could not be
made large enough to rise a mile in the air,
and-it was a wild thought-carry the
weight of n man. He was fascinated by
the idea 1t was OF little practical value.
but the more he thought about it the more
he became convinced that 1t could be done.
You Will say that If 1t was possible for .
man to rise up with rocket he would b
dashed to pieces when he came down with
the stick. This thought also occurred to the
young inventor, but he was ready to over
come that objection. He began by making
an experiment by which he demonstrated
that common ten ounce rocket which
would rise to n height of 500 feet, whom
loaded with rod OF iron weighing eight
ounces would rise 100 feet Then he con-
sTucted cylinder OF the best sheet steel
twenty feet long, and pointed at the top, and
one foot in diameter. To fill this he made
compound which would exert a pressure Of
100 pounds to the square inch on the air
without through the whole lis square inches
OF what VIII call the muzzle OF the rocket
In other words the rocket would have .
lifting force Of two and three-fourths tons.
The figures seem startling, but they are ac-
curate.
Il should say here that the construction Of
this cylinder caused much comment in tho
shop where Inc worked, but as there are al
ways numbers OF inventors in every shop he
was not interrupted "hen his cylinder
was completed, he placei it up against an
unused wing ofthe shop Instead OF the Or
binary rocket stick hs prepared slender
piece oil At the end OF which a
conical sheet-iron basket, point up, with wire
grating across the bottom, through which
man conld enter Here was the place IN
which the inventor intended to crouch while
the rocket saot up through the clouds.
$50 far be had taken no one into his con-
fidence. but when he was ready u fill the
cylinder with the explosive, and attach the
stick with its basket, and the apparatus
which was TO ease his fall. he needed help
Two trusty comrades gave it They helped
him secure parachute around the huge cyl |
inder which was intended 10 open to a spread |
Of forty feet as he fell They rammed homo |
the explosive that was to send the whole fly |
ing upward, and when all was ready hoisted |
the whole up So that it leaned over the top |
Of the hi III factory just as a com mon rocket |
leans ON a common guide. A long fuse ran |
down and came up under the basket 30 that |
the INV entOr ccui1 IRE IL himself. Inc last
touches of the work were completed at night |
and the two tired assistants went home an |
ticipating a wonderful exhibition in the |
morning,
1T was just midnight as the inventor saw
his companions pass out through the yard |
gate and heard their footOeps die AWAY /
down the street 1t was a beautiful star |
light night, and right in line with the huge |
rocket Mars shone with unwonted beauty. .
The supreme moment Of the inventor $ life |
had come. He was to see the fruitiou Of his /
labors alone, with none to cheer his success
and none to taunt him if he failed. He I
raised the wire screen across the bottom Of /
his narrow resting place and climbed in,
drew match down the steel RIB OF his
basket, and fired the eni Of the fuse II 1
smoulderet for a moment and then the
bright scintillations broke out and, sputt.r-
ing, disappeared from his view. His heart
leaped into his throat with suspense. and
then in sea OF flame and smoke the earth
sank out of sight Gasping for breath in the
sunocating Gas aud deiirious with pain, he
crouchei on his grating and prayed for
death.
IAN age seemed TO have passed. when sud-
denly the roar ceased, the smoke was gone.
and the pure air OF heaven was cooling hi.
brow. He recovered instantly and for q
moment as the rocket Of its own inertia
scared a!oft he was able to look around
The city was dark blotch. scanned and
checkered with the lighted streets below.
he rivers AID the bay sparkied in the tar