The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-08-26
GOOD ENOUGH FOR STORIES.
Two Good Examples of Current Pat
ent Office Romances.
From the Boston Globe.

w dSnAtE LOus Aux. r III ludb StNGIt-
" beautiful buil1ing there is romance
enough to furnish a dozen novelists with
plots. Some of these days an American
Conan Doyle will come along and utilize
the material and make his fortune"
looked out from the big Office build
ing where l sat and followed the wave of
my friends hand across the street. He
pointed to the interior department
Romance enough there, [ suppose" I
said in reply. What with Indians ana
the public lands, those dry public docu-
ments must contain the germ of many a
pretty story.
My friend looked at me half contemptu-
ously. Fudge on your Indians and your
public lands. If there was anything ro-
mantle about an Indian, Cooper exhausted
him long ago, and as for the west and your
public lands. mining camps and undiscov-
cred treasures, hasn't Bret Harte worked
that field until it is fal!ow, If you want
romance, If you want stories of gold.
blood, luck, everything that goes to make
up the gamut of human passion, come
| with me to the patent Office and behind
| those cases filled with dry-as-dust speciti-
cations and legal phraseology, will show
| you skeletons that once had red blood in
| their veins"
! My friend, Anthony Connolly one of the
! best known patent attorneys in Washing
ton, walked across the room and picked
| up from his desk one of those little CYL
| inder banks to hold So worth of 10-cent
! pieces, which were all the rage few
! years ago. Holding the toy in his baud
| he said:
when you come to write the romance
| Of the patent Office you can make a chap
ter of what l am going to tell you. You
| remember the craze for these banks few
! years ago, and how it turned everybody
! to saving dimes until at last there was an
actual scarcity Of that coin createdl
! Well, the history of this patent is worth
while telling.
81 never advance man money on his
! patents or speculate in them. That Is
not my business, which is simply to
represent him in legal capacity before
| the Office But one day man came into
my New York office with an idea which
he wanted sto patent, and about which
he wanted to consult me. l told him that
the fees and expenses would amount to
| S135
- Mr.. Connolly he said, 4 haven't
Sl35 in the world and | never expect to
have that much at one time
Il looked at the man. and | looked a {
the model and said to him, 4 never have
taken an interest in a patent. but l will
pay all the expenses in connection with
this patent if you will give ne quarter
| interest in it,
Why? he asked
" Because you have a fortune there
told him.
However, the man said he would see
about 1t. A few days later he came back
with his brother-in-law, who had ad-
yanced the money. procured his patent
for him.
Now to go back and tell you how this
man conceived the idea for the bank. He
was in the employ of the Pennsylvania
Railroad Company at Jersey City receiv-
ing salary of Sl4 week. He was not
an uncultivated man, but had a little
knack for mechanics. He was in the
habit OF spending his Sundays with his
sister, and one day when he called there
he found his nephew, a child of about 3
years old, sitting on the floor shaking a
toy bank and trying to get the money out.
His sister explained that whenever the
youngster dropped cent into the bank
he, like most children, was wild TO get all
the money out to count, and she went on
say TO her brother: ''Why can't YOU in
vent bank which will show how much
| there is in it !" and the the brother said
that he thought he could.
That gave him the idea. After he got
his patent he had a few banks made and
on Saturday nights he used TO put them
in basket, carry them around to the
toy shops in the neighhorhood, and dis
pose of them. He found only one draw
back-he could not make them fast
| enough to supply the demand After he
had been doing business in this way few
| weeks he came to see me. He told me
| what he was doing, and went on to saw:
Mr. Connolly, do you think you could
find some one who would lend me 81, 500?
There is factory in Newark which | can
buy for that amount, and which is lust
| No ftnrp 1 F,, lit
II ! can get hold of that factory am sure
! can sell all the banks / can make
Il told him | thought ! could get him
the money, and TO come and see me in the
| course of few days. A few DAYS later
he came in and said he didn't think |
need bother about finding him that
money, as he expected to have it next
week. asked him where he was going
to get 1t from
O"You will think that am embellishfng
this story because il sounds so improba-
blei but ! am simply relating the facts
without the slightest exaggeration or or
| nament He said he had lottery ticket
and he expected it would draw a prize.
But wait; let me tell you the story OF this
lottery ticket. He and some other men
| working at Jersey City decided TO make
up pool and buy lottery ticket each
man to put in 81. When the time came
| the others backed out, and only himself
and one other, carpenter, put in their
dollars. The ticket drew s., 900
with his share he bought out the
| Newark factory, and in a short time had
! 800 men at work turning out these banks.
and even then he could not keen up with
| his orders. He was soon making a clear
profit Of 81 900 a week, then 81 900. then
almost that much day. During the time
the craze lasted, and you Rnow it was not
of short duration, he made large, for
! tune
And what became of the mani" l
asked.
90 they put him in an insane ASYLUM.
/ He couldn't stand prosperity. He lost a
great deal OF his money about as rapidly
as he1nade it, although fortunately he put
a couple of hundred thousand or so in real
estate, which his wife now has"
But that's an exceptional case. - said.
Not by any means, said another patent
attorney, who had heard the story.
Listen 30 this;
"A few years ago a New England pat
ent attorney was on his way from his
home TO Washington on legal business be-
fore the patent ONCE. En- route another
! patent attorney came into the car. and the
first one-Smith we'll call him for short
told his friend that he was going to Wash
/ ington. This was good news TO his friend
who asked him 10 execute commission
for him there. He proceeded TO explain
/ that a man I'm WASHINGTON ~ tho r. -. !, .