San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1897-12-05
MERGENTHALER DYING.
Inventor OF The Typesetting Ma
chine Wasting Away.

Otto Mergenthaler, the inventor
of the linotype, is here-passing
the winter-and, sad as the intel
ligence is, perhaps his last days.
Consumption has laid his hand
upon him, and, as l was told by
a friend of one of his physicians,
his patients end is within the ken
of mortal. Despite his menace,
that the man of medicine believes
however, he is cheerful, and does
his work each day. He is count
ling upon giving the world another
invention within year.
| / called upon him in his beauti-
full Deming home on the out.
skirts of the town. No one in
the the east would expect to find
such a house equipped with such
surroundings away out here ON
the great desert. 1t is large
square, brick structure. Through
the center is a wide hall, large
enough to accommodate a billiard
table that is much enjoyed by
the friends he has gathered
around him and the members of
his family. Wide lawns, kept
green by liberal sprinkhng, are
the Fairgrounds of his children,
From this point his eyes may
range over a magnificent vista
Looking to the south are the
lgreat Tres HarmOnas Three Sis
ters) mountains, that twenty-five
miles away stand on the border
of the sister republic, and lift
ltheir heads into the ever-blue sky
| Nearer and a little to the east
are the Florida mountains, that
lat distance reminded one of the
legends of ancient feudal castles
They are extremely precipitous
and their peaks are serrated and
fashioned to resemble those tur
rents from which the tocsin
sounded the alarms. Further
east are the Oregons, and north is
the great Cooks peak.
When Mrs. Mergenthaler show
ed me into her husbands library
the worker sat working at some
mechanical problem at his desk
He is pale and thinner than wher
the people last saw him, and bis
cOugh annOys him frequently
The linOtype-that machine that
is to newspaper making what the
| telephone and telegraph are to
commercial life-was, of course
the first topic of conversation
referring to his invention he says
he never expects to see any type
making device cheap enough to be
within reach of the smaller class
of the country papers.
| Do you expect to give the world
any new labor-saving deyice?" !
lasked.
mo" he answered slowly, mo,
mot right away, but probably
within a year."
"What will it be-"
81 cannot tell you, no one
knows what it is. The world
must wait and see. | remember
THE time" he continued reflect
lively, "when / was boy in the
old country, that / saw the need
of an improved chuck for lathes
/ worked on it diligently, and
when / thought i had it complet
ed, took it into a neighbOr ma,
chinist, and showed it to him. He
lgaye it such a careless glance that
lit injured me, and without saying
a word, reached under bench
Id showed me identically theaET
land showed me identically the
same thing. So, you see it is not
best to tell what you intend TO dc
until you have accomplished it,
Then he gave me the story OF
his life.
At the age of Is years he arriv
ed in America penniless, and with
nothing else but his brief exper
ience in mechanics. He went to
Washington, and during the sue
ceeding four years worked on the
mechanism of electric clocks and