The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-11-21
KEELYS SECRET.
Open Question as to Whether or
Not 1t Died With Him.

PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 20.-It is still
an open question whether or not any
secret which he may have possessed
died with inventor Keely. When the
news reached the members of the COM
pany which was interested in his in
ventions it caused general consterna-
ton. Had the precious secret which
the old man had always guarded with
such jealous care died with him? Had
the hundreds Of thousands Of dollars
which have been given to him to aid
Gus motor been expended in vain? Was
there any one who could essay the
task of finishing the work Keely had
begun? These were questions more
easily asked than answered.
Charles B. Collier, who until the day
of Mr.. Keely's death had been his le-
gal adviser for many years, said to-
day that he was not prepared to say
anything regarding the selection of
any one to continue Mr.. Keely's ex-
periments. He stated, however, that
Immediately before Mr.. Keely was
taken Ill arrangements had been COM
pleted for taking out patents on the
motor. All the necessary information
is available, and he said the patents
will probably be applied for in the
course Of the next few months.
L d.
however, whose views respecting Keely
and his inventions possess especial in
tereSt because of his association with
KeeIy at the time he discovered what
he was pleased to call new force"
This man is Bennett G. Wilson, who
was not only KeeIy's employer at the
time that the famous discovery was
announced, but was also his first finan-
cbal hacker, a distinction that cost him
$4,000 to attain.
When Mr.. Wilson was asked whether
he believed that Keely's discovery was
all that the inventor claimed it to be,
he said:
I'm one respect it is all that Keely
believed it to be. He did really discover
a new and wonderful natural force.
But that is all. He was absolutely in
capable of developing it in a manner
that would give it practical utility. In
his hands it was nothing more than q
mere plaything, an object for show
purposes.
Convinced that he could not prop
erly develop it himself, he would not
share his secret with others so long
as he was able to make it yield him
a livelihood.
Several years ago I witnessed one
of his exhibitions of the motor at his
laboratory. The machine he showed
was similar to the one he had in 1873.
He had made no advance on his early
development of the original idea. His
pretended theory that musical vfora-
ton is a factor in the development of
the mysterious force is utterly absurd,
and most of the appliances which had
a place in his laboratory were only de-
signed for thep urpose of mystifying
persons who, like myself, placed their
fortunes at his disposal.
Il believe, however, that if he had
confided his ideas to some man like
Edison, who was capable of developing
them in a practical manner, the world
would be the better for the action and
men would not today be lamenting the
loss to science of a valuable secret that
was too carefully kept"
These views are shared by Clarence
B. Moore, 1921 Locust street, who sew
eral years ago had recourse to litiga-
ton in order to restrain Mrs. Bloom
field Moore, a relative, from continuing
to advance sums to Mr.. Keely to aid
him in his experiments.