St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-05-08
A FORGOTTEN STORY OF IN.
VENTION.
Sad Fate of the Man Who Was the
Discoyerer of Steam Power.

Sad Fate of the Man Who Was the
Discoverer of Steam Power.
There lived in Normandy, where he
was born, in 1916, man named Solomon
Caus. He was an engineer and archi-
tect, and had held several important po-
sitions. He wrote great many Scien-
tific works and papers, of which, how
ever. 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
Shut 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 life, such sur
roundlngs would shatter any brain.
In time Solomon CauS was as mad as
every one believed him.
1t was in 1924 that an English noble
man, Lord Worcester, went to Paris
and visited Bicetre. As he was passing
through the great court, accompanied
by the keeper, hideous face with
matted beard and hair appeared at the
nd G
"Stopl stop! | am not mad. l am shut
up here most uniustly. l have made an
an invention that would enrich
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. lie IS
from Normandy. He believes that
by the use of steam of boil
ing water he can make ships go
over the ocean and carriages travel by
land, in fact, do all sorts of wonderful
things. He has even written book
about it which l 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
the greatest genius of the age. lie has
certainly made very great discovery"
After this Lord Worcester made many
efforts to procure the liberation of the
man, who doubtless would have been
restored to reason by freedom and Or
binary surroundings, but i'll vain; the
cardinal was against him, and his Eng
llsh friends began to fancy that he him.
self had lost his senses, for one wrote to
another: "My lord is remarkable for
never being satisfied with any eXplana-
tions which are given him, but always
wanting to know for himself, although
he seems to pierce to the very center of
a speakers thoughts with bis big blue
eyes that never leave theirs. At visit
to Bicetre he thought he had discovered
a genius in a madman, who delareS he
would travel the world over with a
kettle of boiling water. He desired to
carry him away to London that he
might listen to his eXtravagances from
morning till night, and would, | think,
if the maniac had not been actually raw
ing and chained to the wall"
Thus in Bicetre died the man to
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
"Water-commanding engine" which he
afterward invented. Historians have
denied that Caus died in prison, but
there exists a letter written by Marion
de Lorme, who was with Lord WoreeS
ter at the time of his interview with
CauS, which establishes the fact beyond
doubt