The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1890-12-07
BARBED- WIRE FENCE.
The Inventor Was a Demented
Old Iowa Miller.
He DID NOT GET a PATENT.
The story OF Alvin Morlsy-His Concep-
ton of the Ranged Barrier Was
Exhibited ~ Fair i'm 1850.

In the musty tones of Law lie the out
lines Of many tragic life-not the tragedy
that reaches its grand climax in red bre
and the poisoned cup or the stiietto. but
the simple story of suffering man ac-
quaintei with grief Seldom in these ave.
some, gruesome. mysterious volumes with
which the man OF law surrounds himself
are given more than the outlines OF the
tragedies and comedies of clients dead and
gone. The details of the plots and the by.
plays, the walls and the simperlngs, are
unrrcorded and soon forgotten. Perhaps
II is as we'll. There is enough Of grief and
misery told every day in the courts with
out the CHASTITY tales Of the past. but II the
writer of romances could summon at Will
the ghosts OF great lawyers whose wisdom
is boiled down into those same awesome.
grewsome mysterious volumes. and make
them talk, what weird, fantastic, frightful
tales he might weayei What bogies they
would resolve themselves into in the dreams
of hearty dinersi
Perhaps before his honor-that bespect-
acled, learned, bordering arbiter in mems
affairs, law in sheepskin Is preferable TO
law in broadcloth, but to the world the
secrets of the lawyers Office, the heart
beats of his clients have peculiar fascina-
ton. Human nature Is an open book on
the other side of that closed door, and
many q story of suffering and oppression
is laid bare. how often but dreary, though
pathetic repetition Of mans wrongs to
man--the same old story with new names
and new Incidents
II was only last Sunday that there was
published in the Posr-IsrELLrGENcER
simple notice OF suit in the federal
court. Such notices have been common in
the last few years from one end of the
country to the other. and the complainant
has been successful in every case but one.
That one case is now sleeping peacefully in
the files Of the supreme court at Washing
ton, and as long as the men interested can
keep it there, the farmers of America must
pay unjust tribute to q great monopoly.
II is that particular case which is a ro-
nance and tragedy combined. The In
nocent appearing notice which proclaims
that great corporation may carry in its
oppression, notwithstanding the DEGREES of
court, was the following;
A $4,000 damage suit was begun In the United
States circuit court yesterday by the washburn
Mass. ard Isaac l. Ellwood against the Seattle
Hardware Company and C A. Block and c. Fl.
Block for infringement of patent by manu-
featuring certain kind OF barb wire for fencing,
which PLAINTIFF claim 10 the same ~ that COW
cred by their patent secured by purchase from
Joseph r. Glidden, the inventor and pssentee.
How many millions the farmers OF this
country have paid out in the belief that
Glidden was the original maker of this
peculiar fencing no one can figure, but by
. decree rendered in one of the federal
courts January 5, 1855. it was well estab-
lished that scatter-brain thirty years be-
fore had solved the problem Of how to build
cheap fence in . country devoid of tim
Der. and that the men who have grown
princely in their wealth through the patents
issued to Glidden have exscted their dol
lars with injustice. So long as they were
ignorant of the history of addle-
pated Alvin Morley. their accre-
tons had no semblance of crime,
but with the acquired knowledge
that for years they have been securing
money under pretenses that are in fact
false. their recent institutions OF suits
have q peculiar favor. Glidden's FIRST
patent was issued November "a, lisa. and
is known in the department as No. ISL. 124
The novelty claimed was the coiling about
wire at intervals OF short, sharp pointed
pieces of wire, making-not a fence ma
teriai that would Withstand great weight,
but one that cattle would learn TO avoid.
The patents, and many improvements
afterwards made, were assigned 10 Wash
burn d Moen, and year after year wit
messed vast increase in the manufacture
OF the wire. Heavy royalties were de-
manded, and the price of wire was main-
tanned far above the cost of manufacture.
Continually manufacturers. ailured by the
large profits, attempted TO evade the paw
ment of these royalties, and the Washburn
& Moen company was forced to maintain
its monopoly through the United States
courts. Invariably the courts had sus-
tanned the validity of the GIidden patents
aud ambitious manufacturers had about
given up the fight.
There was one little concern that re-
sisted ali attempts 10 exact royalties, and
resisted successfully, and If the Seattle de-
PENDANTS in the suit instituted week ago
are able TO procure the same evidence thew
are not in much danger of having judg-
ment rendered against them. About seven
years ago there was a company formed to
manufacture barbed wire on a small scale
at W aterioo, Iowa. The projectors aimed
to supply only local demand. and at no
time during the succeeding years did the
plant have a capacity for an output of
more than car load day. Had capital
lists known the secrets held by one or two
OF the originators OF the company, a plant
couio have been erected so extensive that
the famed establishment of Washourn &
Moen would have cwindied into insignia
canoe Whether by accident or design. a
name exceedingly appropriate in the light
Of events, was given the company. II was
known as the Beat EN- All Barbed Wire
company. Two years after the organiza-
ton the plant was removed TO Cedar Falls.
few miles distant. that the water al that
point might be utilized.
As usual the Washburn & Moen COM
psny instituted q suit for infringement of
patent in the United States circuit court
for the northern district of Iowa, asking
the usual writ of injunction and demand
ing the usual yalties in sum sufficient TO
swallow the little concern head and tail.
In was with the utmost surprise that the
compiainant's attorneys heard that the
Insignificant lows company wassprepared
10 enter upon bitter contest and the un.
heard of local lawyers were considered lit
tie better than idiots. The claim va. made
that the Glidden patents were null for lack
of novelty, and that bsrbed wire was in
public and common use for years prior 10
1874. Issue was joined and then began the
weary grind OF taking testimony. Day
after day, month after month, the work
tina RON, al All ants -.