The times., 1899-08-15
THE POLLOK HEIRS PRIZE.
Arranging the Details for the In
tcrnationnI Competition.

The memorial prize of one hundred
thousand francs offered to the inventor
of the best device for saving the lives of
people who may meet with misfortune
while at sea by the two nieces and heirs
of the late Anthony Pollok, of this city,
who, with his wife was lost in the North
Atlantic about year ago. being passeng-
ers upon the French liner, LaGascogne,
which collided with an English freighter,
is attracting much attention from in
ventors and others throughout the entire
country.
Arrangements are nearing completion
for the formal announcement throughout
the world of the prize The State De-
partment will in few days send TO the
Governments of all civilized countries for
publication a statement relating the cir
cumstances under which the prize was Of
fered. and explaining the rules which will
govern the competition for 1t.
The committee which has the arrange
ments for the prize in charge is composed
OF Charles ]. Bell, President of the Ameri-
can Security and Trust Company; Philip
Mauro, former law partner of the late
Mr.. Pollok, and Alfred ]. Ostheimer, of
Philadelphia. These gentlemen have been
in correspondence with the various parties
interested, the State Department, the
French Government, the Paris Exposition,
Ferdinand w. Peck, American Commits
sioner General to the exposition, and
others. during the several months since
the offer OF the prize was made by the
Pollok heirs. Progress has beeen neces-
sarily delayed by the numerous people TO
be consulted and the distance between
them, but the committee now announces
that its preliminary work is nearly COM
pleted.
The statement to be sent out by the State
Department will embody a paper prepared
by Superintendent Kimball, of the Life
Saving Service, and General Dumont, Chief
Inspector of Steam Vessels. This paper
will give the rules of the competition, re-
latiDg to models, time of delivery. size.
character, and other relative matters. This
paper has been submitted TO all the parties
concerned and has met with approval.
The history of the Pollok memorial prize
from the beginning has been an interesting
one. The two nieces of the late Mr.. Pol
lok in Paris, who became the heirs TO the
fortune of their uncle and aunt who were
drowned in midocean, expressed the wish
that such prize be offered out of the
money coming TO them as a memorial TO
their deceased relatives. The prize is TO
be given TO the inventor OF the most eff
cient device TO protect people from drown
ing while at sea- the contest to be under
rules to be prescribed by the American
Government.
The executors of the Pollok estate i'm
mediately made known to this Government
the offer of the prize and deposited the prize
money with the American Security and
Trust Company One of the stipulations OF
the offer is that the device shall remain
the property of the successful inventor
The plan adopted provides that all models
shall be sent to the Paris Exposition of
1900, where there shall be public exhibi-
tion and test. The French Government has
consented to this plan and the governors OF
the exposition have expressed their desire
TO make the exhibition an important event
Commissioner Peck also is very much in
terested in the plan and is making arrange
ments TO facilitate il in every way
The offer of the prize is already attract
ing wide attention. Mr. Bells commit
tee has received hundreds of letters from
| inventors and its mail is growing every
day