Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1893-07-19
A FORGOTTEN STORY.
sad Fate of the Man Who WIS the Dis
coverer of Steam Power.


There lived in Normandy, where
he was borne, in 1870, a man named
Solomon Caus. He was an engineer
and architect, and had held several
important positions. He wrote
great many scientific works and
papers. of which, however, no one
took much notice during his life. says
Invention. and finally was seized with
an idea which made his friends and
relatives fear that he was mad. After
Fostering the king and the cardinal
at Paris, he was ordered to be taken
to Bicetre-the mad house-and there
shut up. This was done. They had
just one way with mad people in
those days. They smut them in iron
cages and fed them through the bars
like wild beasts. They did this to
solomon Caus. For long time he
stood behind those bars all day and
called to those who would listen.
and to them repeated the story he
had told the cardinal He became
the jest Of the place. Some of them
even gave him writing materials,
and then, amid the misery of his
surroundings, he wrote down his
ideas and amused his jailers so much
the more. However, it could not be
long before such a life, such sur
roundings, would slatter any brain.
In time Solomon Caus was as mad as
every one believed him.
1t was in 1924 that en- English
nobleman, Lord Worcester, went to
Paris and visited Bicetre. As ne was
passing through the great court, &C.
compan ed by the keeper, hideous
face with matted beard and hair ap-
peared at the grating and a voice
shrieked wildly: stop! stop! / am
not mad. | am shut up here most
unju-tly. / have made an invention
which would enrich d country that
adopted it" What does he speak
OFF" the marquis asked his guide.
''Oh, that is his Madness" said the
man. laughing, THAT is a man
called Solomon Caus. He is from
Normandy. He believes that by the
use Of the steam OF boiling water he
can make ships go over the ocean and
carriage travel by land-in fact, do
all sort of wonderful things. He has
even written book about it which I
can show you Lord Worcester
asked for the book, glanced over it,
and desired to be conducted to the
cell Of the writer. When he returned
he had been weeping. The poor
man Is certainly mad now" he
said, but when YOU imprisoned
him here he was the greatest genius
of the age. He has certainly
made great discovery" After this
Lord Worcester made many efforts to
procure the liberation of the man,
who doubtless would have been re-
stored to reason By freedom and
ordinary surroundings, but in vain;
the cardinal was against him. and
his English friends began to fancy
that he himself had lost his senses,
for one wrote to another: My lord
Is remarkable for never being salts
fed with any explanations which
are given him, but always wanting to
know for himself, although he seems
to pierce the very center of a speakers
thoughts with his big blue eyes that
never leave theirs. At a visit to
Bicetre he thought he had discovered
genius in a mailman. who declares
that he would travel the world over
with kettle of boiling water. He
desired to carry him away to London
that he might listen to his extravagan-
ces from morning till night, and would,
/ think, if the maniac had not been
actually raving and chained to the
wall"
Thus in Bicetre died the man IL
whom, after his works were published,
many people gave the credit of being
the discoverer of steam power, and it
is said that from the manuscript
written in his prison Lord Worcester
gathered the idea of machine spoken
of as ''water-commanding engine"
which he afterward invented. His
torians have denied that Caus died in
prison, but there exists letter writ
ten by Marion de Loime, who was
with Lord Worcester ut the time of
his interview with Caus, which es-
tablishes the fact beyond doubt