Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-05-21
A STRANGE CLIENT.
He Describes his Adventure with
Rocket and Dumfounds his Lawyer.
From the Near York Sun.

sauntering down Broadway recently when
he was accOsted by cripple in clearly
garb. 81 am told that you are a lawyer"
the cripple said. Mr.. George Hopcraft
of Franklin street recommended you TO
me-"
Mr.. Williams was unusually pleasant
fanoying that he was securing n desirable
client. eyes," he replied. "Tm mt your
service" He took the cripple into his
office, invited him to take chair and
cigar, crossed his own legs, assumed a
Chauncey Shatter expression OF count
enance, and in deep and forensic tone
of voice invited the man to estate his
case"
The cripple hesitated. He cleared out
his throat, and began: "Mr, HOpcraft
told me that you had invented a monkey
wrench, and that you were interested in
inventions. l would like to tell you bit
of the unwritten history of scientific de-
votion. There was once young machin-
lists apprentice who worked hard by day to
earn living and at night pursued his
studies. After five years of steady APP
plIcatlOn be was considered one of the
best men in the shop, and was in position
to lay by money to conduct those expert
ments on which his heart was set. His
passion was the invention of projectiles
for use in time of war, but his mind was
especially bent on improving the modern
rocket. While bordering over the value
of rockets as signals he was suddenly
seized with a desire to know whether
rockets could not be made large enough
to rise II mile in the air, and-it was a
wild thOught-carry the weigh of man.
tie was fascinated by the idea. 1t was of
little practical value, but the more he
thought about 1t the more he became con-
WINGED that it could be done. You will
say that If it were possible for man to
rise up with rocket he would be 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 max
ing an experiment by which he demon
strated that a common ten-ounce rocket
which would rise to a height of 800 feet,
when loaded with rod Of iron weighing
eight ounces would rise 100 feet. Then he
constructed a cylinder of the best sheet
steel 90 feet long, pointed at the TOP, and
| foot in diameter. To nil this he made
a compound which would exert a pres
sure OF 100 pounds TO the square inch on
the air without through the whole 1l5
square inches of what 1 will call the
muzZle of the rocket. In other words,
the rocket would have lifting force of 80
tons. The figures seem startling, but they
are accurate.
81 should say bere that the cOnstruc-
ton of this cylinder caused much COM
ment in the shop where he worked. but as
there are always numbers of inventors in
every shop he was not interrupted. When
his cylinder was completed he placed it
up against an unused wing Of the shop.
Instead of the ordinary rocket stick he
prepared a slender piece Of gas pipe, at
Of hi Il s.tn1
basket, point up, with a wire grating
across the bottom, through which a man
could enter. Here was the place in
which the inventor intended to crouch
while the rocket shot up through the
clouds.
$50 far he had taken no one into his
confidence, but when he was ready to fill
the cylinder with the explosive, and
attach the stick with its basket, and the
apparatus which was to ease his tall, he
needed help. Two trusty comrades gave
it. They helped him secure a parachute
around the huge cylinder which was
intended to open to a spread of forty feet
as he fell. They rammed home the eX-
plOsive that was to send the whole flying
upward, ana when all was ready hOisted
the whole up SO that il leaned over the
top of the high factory just as a common
rocket leans on a common guide. A long
fuse ran down and came up under the
basket so that the inventor could fire it
himself. The last touches of the work
were completed at night, and the two
tired assistants went home antici pating
a wonderful exhibition in the morning.
sit was just midnight as the inventor
saw his companions pass out through the
ward gate and heard their footsteps die
away down the street. 1t was a beauti-
full starlight night, and right IN line with
the huge rocket Mars shOne with un-
WOnted beauty. The supreme moment
OF the inventors life had come. He was
to see the fruiton of his labors alone,
with none to cheer his success and none
to tauut him if be failed. He raised the
wire screen across tne bottom of his mar
row resting place and climbed IN, drew a
match down the steel rib Of his
basket, and fired the end of the fuse. Ii
smOuldered for a moment and then the
bright scintillations broke out and, sput-
tering, 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 sufOcatlng gas and deilriOus
with pain. he crOuched on his grating
and prayed for death. An age seemed TO
have passed, when suddenly the roar
ceased, the smoke was gone, and the pure
air Of heaven was cooling his brow. He
recovered instantly and for a moment, as
the rocket Of its own inertia scared alOft,
he was able to look around. The city
was a dark blotch scanned and checkered
with the lighted streets far below. The
rivers and the bay sparkled in the star
light. Then he began TO descend, gently
for a time as the parachute caught the
air, but a moment later his basket began
to sway. He had forgotten TO leave a
hole for the esape OF the compressed air
in the apex OF the parachute. IL was
awful. His basket was like huge pendu-
lum. increasing its motions with every
foot il descended. He was thrown from
side TO side, and dazed by the rapid mo-
ton. Then, in the hurried descent, as he
began 70 distinguish the tall tenements OF
the east side, a new peril arose. lie would
be dashed Sideways"
The lawyer held up his hands. The
cripple hesltated, flushed slightly, and
continued:
eyes, sir. am the man. the grating
gave way when the basket struck. My
arm was cut Oh as Ii by a knife, and my
leg was broken. IL has never been as
good as before. My money went for
doctor bills. can no longer work at my
trade. ! am wholly disheartened, and
only when looking at the triumphs OF
other scientific men do | feel relief from
the constant misery Of my existence. III
you could Thanks"
Mr.. Williams bad given the crippled
stranger quarter, taking his cigar from
his mouth meanwhile, and saying.