St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-10-18
A NEGRo's FORTUNE.
Mechanical Genius and Good
Judgment Enrich a Former

Mechanical Genius and Good
Judgment Enrich Former
Slave.
Boston Transcript.
In Birmingham, Jefferson county,
Ala, there lives man who, if his resi-
dence were i'll the North, would be re-.
garded as phenomenal; but the South is
full of such characters, and they need
only to be noticed in order to be known.
This mans name is Andrew Beard ::
born in Jefferson county, he is forty
one years Of age; he was a slave in that
county, and has risen to substantial
position of life by reason of the play
given to his mechanical ability. His
life is Interesting, and, as it will COM
mend itself to all, he may be allowed to
speak for himself:
MY name is Andrew Beard. l am
forty one years of age. | was born i'm
Birmingham. l never went to school
in my life, and ali the education that [
have is got by contact with the people
III the world. l was slave and be-
longed to family by the name of
Beard. l was set free at fifteen years
of age, and at sixteen was married
farmed five years in Jefferson county.
and moved afterwrrd into st. Clair
county. visited Montgomery in 1872
with a load of apples drawn by
oxen. | had fifty bushels. which
L sold at an average of
81 per bushel. 1t took me three weeks
to make the trip. After this venture
Quilted farming and went into mill
Wrighting at HardwickS, and built
while there my first flour mill. re-
manned there for about three years. and
during that time l ran the mill that l
built. | watched how people worked,
and that was the way | succeeded i'm
building flour mills.
sissDuring my work there began turn
Ing in my mind the making OF plows,
and i'll 1881 l patented one of my own
Invention. l sold it in 1884 for 1900
and then returned to my old home.
where l was born, and farmed there
four years. During that time l in
vented another plow; on the 18th of
December, 1886, | sold 1t for $1,000,
and then went into the real estate
Business. With the money made
II accumulated the sum of $4,000.
In 1883 L turned my attention to
another Subject-the making of fish
plate, and had caveat for it. My IN
tention is to have some manufacturer
take hold of it. manufacture these
plates, and put them On some prominent
railroad at my own expense for a mile
or two. and il they prove successful I
VIII sell the patent to the highest bidder.
lin 1889 l discovered the rotary en-
CINE. This engine differs from all
others in these principles. 1t is simple,
costs one-tenth less than other engines.
and saves 20 per cent of steam. and has
no eccentric. There is no danger of ex-
plosion, and every ounce of steam is
used from the boiler. This engine is
made wholly under my supervision
at the shop of Daniel I. Hood,
in Birmingham. and is now pat
ented. have just received the patent,
and it is my intention to put it out in
order to prove its merits. and will then
sell it to any prominent manufacturer.
paid the workmen who worked on the
machine so cents per hour. have also
another thing In view-a coupling ma
chine. propose to couple cars ire
spective of their height. This is G reat
difficulty that railroads have encoun-
tered; the present cars. being of un-
equal height, can not couple together