The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1899-02-08
KELLY AND HIS SECRET.
Inventor Admitted Use of Deli
cate Secret Tubes.
THEY GAME FROM CONNECTICUT.

Cramp where He Secured Hollow
"Wires" with which to Run His
Motor - Veteran ShipbuiIder Says
the Experiments Indicated Com
pressed Air Power.
John ". Kelly admitted to Charles
Fl. Cramp, a shipbuilder of Philadel-
phia, that hollow rods were used in the
conduct of his experiments with his
motor.
Recent exposures said Mr. Cramp
the other day, ''have demonstrated that
compressed air was probably the agent
employed, and Keely certainly had ma
chinery powerful enough to compress
air to any degree that he could possibly
have needed for anything he did The
trick Of lifting the heavy weight at the
end of q lever was never done to my
satisfaction A register recorded the
weight, and registers can be set to Go
anything.
He had a pump built at the old Nor
ris works that was, I have been told. Of
the most powerful description, and with
it and his big iron sphere he could have
collected all the energy any of his ex-
periments demanded He had only to
supply tubes enough to get his force
through and 1 am satisfied they were
there in profusion.
When some capitalists were consider
hn Il hi e
amount Of money into the motor scheme
several years ago, Mr.. Cramp was Sc
lected as a member of a committee to
visit Keely s laboratory and make an in
vestigation. After a year 5 efforts this
committee succeeded in entering the
sanctum and witnessed some of the ex-
periments.
''When our committee went to the
laboratory said the shipbuilder, eve
agreed not to ask Keely any embarrass-
ing questions. We had heard that such
a course had been pursued by others,
and every time he got angry, usually
retreating when forced into a corner
behind this sort Of statement: Gen
tlemen, you are here as my guests. |
did not bring you here to insult me.
Therefore we decided to simply lead
him along the way he wanted to 90 and
not try to corner him.
His condition during our visit was
remarkable. He was evidently expect
ing the usual cornering process, and
when it did not come he grew nervous.
Great beads Of perspiration stood out
on head, face and hands and he was
Yislbly excited. | watched the machine
closely and was impressed with the
number Of so called wires of varying
thickness that led to it. 1 picked up a
piece Of alleged wire and was struck by
its hghtness Then l made up my mind
that he was merely using some well
known force like compressed air through
tubes
Turning carelessly to Keely asked,
with no trace of special interest:
Where do you get these hollow rods? [
don't know where to get them He
answered promptly, 1 get them from
a factory in Connecticut. He mentioned
the place, but l forget where it was.
the force Of the question and answer,
and Keely saw the break he had made,
but we gave him no further shocks.
He had great collection of wires and
short pieces Of metal so arranged that
touching any of them produced a clear,
musical note. These were his collectors
Of sympathetic sound, and with his
tuning fork he would strike away and
start his various experiments.
Il saw the famous gun fired, and it
did not amount to much A good
healthy donkey could kick harder than
the projectil5 struck. l was impressed
at once with the belief that there was
no great secret about what Keely did
l ann inclined to believe that he thought
he had found something which was new
to him because he had not heard of it
before, and he had made such claims in
his new field that it was no trouble for
him to secure almost unlimited cash.
While the late Chief Engineer Whit
aker Of the United States navy was
stationed at the Cramps shipyard, -
years ago, as inspector of the Terror, he
made Mr. Keely's acquaintance, visited
him frequently, and examined his meth7
DDS In his many interviews Mr.. Whit
aker collected vocabulary of more
than one thousand words invented by
Reely These words had a scientific jim
gle, but not one of them is recognized
by any single scientific authority or
gagged by any scientific usage
keely told Mr.. Whitaker he had been
at one time connected with a circus as
slelght Of hand performer, and perform
ed the egg and lag and other tricks on
a little platform on a horse He also