The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-03-15
KELLY, THE MOTOR MAN.
once More He Is Upon the Very
Brink of Success.
From the Philadelphia Times.

from tHe Philadelphia Times
keely is at It again. Again he is on the
brink of success. Again the guilible are
asked to bite at his bait. Perhaps he has
won; perhaps he hasn't 1t will be well and
wise TO wait
The first time the narrator met John
Keely--that was score of years ago-he
was strongly impressed with three things:
Ihe swarthiness of his complexion: the
tact that he wore very large and brilliant
diamonds Ia very, very dirty shirt front
ana the enormous size and malformations
OF MS knuckles. He was playing checkers
az MS workshop where his myslerious ma
chine lay silent and grim The checker
BOARD was grimy, the draughts were grjny
ana his fingers were griny. Trivial things
70 notice in the presence of a great discov-
cry ana a great discoverer, and yet for
some unaccountable reason those were the
things that impressed the narrator most
ana to this day he never thinks of Kealy
hnt, what there comes before the minds
Vlslon the spectacle of a man handling
dirty checkers with still d:rtier fingers. HIS
knuckles, as has been said were enor
hously large. A well-kuown man. with
some pretensions 10 scientific attainments
ana VINO professed 70 be well acquainted
with Keely's early life and the character
or MS scheme, was asked. upon one occa-
sion, by the narrator, What is the cause
OF the strange enlargement of Keelv,s
knuckles?"
Don't you know" he said with a pitv-
ing smile, as though the ignorance dis
played was most lamentable. "Keeiv in
Garner NE was cannon ball tosser and
went around the country with a n;ro,,s
throwing cannon balls Ia the air ard
catching them with his hands. That SORT
OF unnatural exercise spread his knuckIes
out IN the way you noticed Now can ven
understand he added, chow he is able
70 deiude the public? You see he is not
only Juggler by nature, but a tugyIar
py education, and he Is up to all manner
OF tricks" That story has since been de-
MED. ~ '
OF Keely's early life but little is NH
tieiy known. He was born In this dear
oid town of ours, and when 10 years cf
age was thrust out in the word to battle
alone. He had two hobbies. music nj
mechanics, and their value to him has
been best evidenced by the fact thai with
out either of them he would never ba1a
accomplished what he has His knowledra
OF mechanics taught him how to constr,Ict
his mysterious machine; his knowledge Of
music led him 10 the discovery of what he
terms the Migratory theory He was a cab
met maker and musician by turns. The
shop in which he worked at the former
some say, was on Market street while
others claim 1t was on Jayne street. IT
was ABOUT twenty-five years ago when ne
came toethe belief that he had discovered
a new and powerful sort of engine. He
then lived on Ogden street in
thls city, and the new con-
'rlyanee was placed in a bath tub and
run by a stream of water that passed
through goose quill He called it
ic-pulsating-vacuo engine
ora
he called generator" and which the
world named the Kelly motor and in
which power was produced from the vi
oratory qualities of water and air. The
new discovery was called to the attention
OF a few capitalists, and these requested
Charles B. Collier. a weR-known patent
attorney of this this to look into the mat
ter Mr.. Collier had never met Kelly He
requested an exhibition of the new motor
1t took place Nov. 10, 1874. Before that
time the public had heard nothing of the
discovery. Mr. Collier and l think ten
Others witnessed the FIRST public exhibition
of his generator. At it's conclusion he
wrote out an official report for the bene-
NJ Of the few gentlemen who had requested
h'm TO make the examination. They were
all New Workers, and included John ]
Cisco the well-known banker and former
United States sub-treasurer in New York
Charles G.. Franklin of the Cunard Line
OF steamships: Charles III. Haswell, the au-
thor of Haswelrs Tables. the leading au-
thorSy among mechanicians Henry c.
Sergeant. president of the Ingersol Rock
Drill Company; w. d. Hatch and Enos T.
Throop of the Hatch Lithographic Com
pany; John S. Smith of Baker, Smith &
Co. the large manufacturers of steam
heating apparatus, and William b. Meek
err, the banker
These gentlemen met in the Fifth Ave-
nue. Hotel, in New York, with Sidney Dill
Ion in the chair, and listened to Mr., Col
writing. The next day they gave the
Philadelphia attorney their check for
$1,000 in purchase of stock of the Kelly
Motor Company, which sum was intended
90 pay the Indebtedness Keely had incur
red in the construction of his machine.
Within two hours after the inventor had
received this sum he had expended every
penny of 1t for the purpose for which il
was intended. The New York capitalists
We're also given an option for $4,000 worth
more of the stock, the option to be kept
open until an opportunity was given TO
receive further confirmation OF Mr.. Col
lier's report. Meanwhile that gentleman
had negotiated sale of the rights for
the New England states for an option of
$4,000, the purchasers to Invest half of
one million dollars to introduce the in
Vention and 70 then pay over another half
Of one million dollars. For the benefit of
both bodies OF investors a great puhlir
exhibition was given in this city that
was attended by three hundred persons,
including the most eminent engineers