The morning call., 1894-09-13
HE IS ANOTHER.
Professor SIadl<y Says of
Hesse.
BUSY PREPARING CHARGES.
They Will Be Preferred at the
Regents Meeting.
USING UNIVERSITY MATERIAL.
: Interesting Revelations Promised
About the Making of Water
=. Meters and Bird Cages.
USING UNIVERSITY MATERIAL.


-: The charges brought against Superin-
:.tendent Sladky of the mechanical la bora
: tory by Professor Hesse of the State Uni
.verslty seem likely to prove boomerang.
. Although Sladky was on Tuesday found
guilty by o special committee of the Board
OF Regents, and his dismissal recommend
ed, 1t now appears that the dlsgraced man
does not propose to kiss the rod with
: which he was chastised. Like the historic
.:SamSon he pro poses not to succumb alone.
j: :. The charges brought against Sladky OF
using university material in the manufac-
:: tnre of mud-dredgers, switch boards, etc.
= he claims were inspired by desire for
revenge. The man who he asserts is thus
seeking to wreak vengeance upon him is
Professor Frederick G. Hesse, head of the
:. department of mechanical engineering at
the University of California.
= Sadky is very specific in his charges
against Professor HesSe. lie declares
that II he himself has snned Hesse is a
greater sinner still in the diversion of uni
Vers1ty time, labor and material for private
purposes.
One particular charge brought by Sladky
is TO the effect that Professor Hesse made
no less than $4,000 on q certain deal in
water matters. Hesse is known to be the
inventor of water meter, or the developer
OF the idea OF a water meter. Stadky
water-meter. but sold samples, made out
OF the university time, labor and material
= at huge profit 10 himself.
One patent Hesse meter, Sladky SAYS,
was sold to Moses Hopkins and another
TO MIR. Such of the Alameda Water Com
paDy, thereby netting, according to Sadky,
no less than S3000
Then Sladky declares that Professor
Hesse stopped TO the hirdcage business,
.sull using the university material. abor.
= etc. The Hesse patent birdcages and other
aTtlcles made IN the same way,
Sladky charges, went off likelhotcakes and
contributed materially to the Hesse bank
account.
=, All of which practices-the llegitima te
manufacture of meters, cages and the
j: lfke-Sladky afirms he knew of. and more
over that Hesse knew that he knew of
them. In fact it was this knowledge,
Sladky says, which made the professor
!: prefer the charges, in the belief that he,
: 'S1adky. knew too much for his, Hesse's,
comfort.
- When seen last night at his residence
Professor Hesse pooh-poohed the charges
= Brought by Sladky, and said they were
: made by that party and his attorney, Nap
tlaly, simply to divert public attention
from the real facts.
'.If Sladky can make it appear that his
superior officer was doing what he him.
" self had been charged with it would make
. matters lighter for him." said Professor
: Hrsse. The fact of the matter is that
inis charge about water-meters and other
charges have been brought up before the
committee investigating two weeks ago,
+ and they only laughed at them" Profess
sof Hesse said that some years ago he was
expar arimentlng with water-meters and
finally got out patent which he made of
= a wateI-meter, and for this piece of en-
:gineering skill he was highly commended.
'Enis patent he SOLD to Moses Hopkins for
SS0OO, besides getting royalty on its sale.
: When Hopkins died he ceased drawing
royalty. This $4,000 be said he USED be-
- causeit was his own. There was never
= any question about Ii. He used State ma
terial to experiment with it. This, be-
= cause of his position, he had q perfect
= right to do, and the regent told him thew
:: wished he could get out more work of the
: same kind. because the State was the
:: gamer thereby.
hydraulic step the professor said be
i: also made and patented, and this has been
: commended by the university authorities
and all engineers who have examined it
=: as being a long step in advance in the
science of hydraulics. He said his work
in his office had always been carried on in
p: the same lines as is the same department
in other great colleges of the world He
e. cOntended that the professor OF engineer
ing in the Cornell University had made
that Institution famous by his patent of a
straight-line engine, and so with other
colleges. The heads of engineering depart-
ments had always worked 10 their lines
and had unlimited latitude in the matter
of time and materials, and had given to
the world soma of the finest mechanical
8nventlons now in use in the world
In concluding his remarks Professor
Hesse said he had been in the university
engineering department for seventeen
years and he had yet to hear OF the first
breath of ceDsure from any authoritafiva
source, but on the contrary, his efforts to
aid IN developing mechanical science had
always met with approval and that he
had never in any way used one cent of
property that be was not rightly entitled
to. He characterized the charges of
Sladky as stupid and courted full investi
CATION into his every act.
Notwithstanding this denial Sladky will
prefer charges against Hesse at the next
meeting OF the regents and saws he will
show that for years past the latter has
been using the university workshop and his
own and other employees labor for outside
purposes. lie will retaliate in kind and
promises TO show that his superior was as
deep in the mud as Sladky was in the
mire.
Sladky AYERS that the material Of the
university used by him was confined to
few brass screws valued at bout so cents.
and that when he spent several months at
the Judson Iron Works putting machines
together he was obeying instructions from
Hesse, and the university paid for his
time.
II will prove" says Professor Sladky,
that the wire for birdcage twenty-fOnr
feet long and DrOportlonately high and
wide was bought from Caire's Oh Market
street for the university on instructions
given by Hesse himself. and that he ana
other employees prepared and put the
thiOg together"