The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1899-02-18

Death has claimed the arch chsrlatan.
Sohn Ernest Worrell Keely, but what Of
t tlNs. treasure chest. stocked--again- and
again IN the last quarter of century
heely had been an artiticer in wood and
IRON and brass an Indian fighter, a head
waiter, a first violin in an orchestra q
circus performer and a professor of leg
'erdemain. He combined the skill of all
these trades and professions, invented the
Keely motor and wheedled millions from
his fellowmen. ''e" 3. s''@~ =
Here you are, ladies and gentlemen
he might have said. Here is the great
Keely motor. Now you see it move and
now you don't. VIII some one lend me
few millions Of dollars? Thanks. Oh
serve I place it in the motor. so. You'd
like 1t back? Stand right on this SPOT un-
till improve the motor 50 that it will
work and I'll declare dividend
Here is a list Of some of the investments
to be charged to the account of this char-
1atan of the nineteenth century:
Advanced by New York capitalists
Extended in nerfect,nr motto, *a0SSe
Given by Mrs. Bloomfield Moore. .:::. 1oo'coo
Sock OF the Keely Motor company. :. 5000. zoe
Not that this by any means represents
all the money which has been swallowed
up In the swiftly revolving motor 1t
may be six millions, it may be ten mil
lions; for in the twenty-five years I'm
evolved was exploited before the public
this magician of mechanics found thou
Sands who believed him and backed their
faith by greenbacks. He never lacked
for funds with which to carry on his
weird experiment, says the New York
Rvo ~ 49,
keely motor were involved in as much
secrecy as the mechanism itself Hun
dreds have invested in it and have kept
the investment secret. The exact amount
OF money sunk through Keely will never
be definitely known.
He had operated an engine by means OF
compressed air forced through thin tubes
from concealed tank. He had wonder
full invention, which, at the twang of a
violin and In response to the tossing of a
gill of water into its mechanism, set up
a terrific disturbance, provided the con-
densed air pipes were tight and no in
quisitive individual moved the machine
about the floor. a. I'll -.
One of the most remarkable things con-
corning this juggler with science was that
he did not leave more money than he did.
He bequeathed to his family 81, $685. "+fiif-
teen pieces of experimental apparatus
and a certain right Of unknown valuation
In certain uncompleted and unpatented
Inventions
"Keelyism," if I may coin the WORD.
had it's converts everywhere. Men OF
shreWd common sense went to the in
ventor in his little shop and pressed him
to take their money.
Mrs. Bloomfield Moore, brilliant wo-
man, famed for her learning and culture,
gave the man from $3.50 to $3.50 month
to aid his researches. She made codi-
Gil in her will, signed in the dingy little
erL@ t. III 1@1~ ,l,@S,1 ,l@ III
rected that part of her estate go to
a fund for perfecting the Keely motor.
When he died she survived only a few
days. Her soul seemed to be bound up in
the success of the invention.
Professors of science studied Keelys
machines and listened to bis hybrid jar
gon. Once savant gravely proposed
that Keely, who murdered our English
speech with every other breath, should
have home among the elect of the Uni
versity Of Pennsylvania. ~.
Now that the personality of Kee1y has
gone out from this world it seems one oil
the most astounding occurrences of his
tory that men should have witnessed in
sober earnest the antics of this Zany of
science. He played horse as the col
lege boys would put 1t, with scientific no.
menclature. He put up strange gods I'M
his Philadelphia laboratory which man
kind worshipped after the weird ritual
composed by the high priest Of fraud.
Wealth made sacrifices of millions, too.,
at those shrines, and men thought that
they we're ON the road to fortune on al
way made straight by the great Keely
motor.
They believed that II 1t once started
there could be no stopping the revolutions
in earthly affairs which would follow in
it's train 1t was only year or two ago
that the manager of the Manhattan Ele-
waited railroad inspected the motor and
Ill hot o~%h f,rln rriv,o
ton. Officials of the Metropolitan Trac-
,tion company made a similar examina-
ton Col. John Jacob Astor, whose at
tentiOn was attracted to the apparatus by
Keely's friend, champion and agent, Mrs.
the ;advisability Of forming a syndicate
and bringing the invention before the
world. None, of the gentlemen whom
have mentioned was finally convinced
that iKeely had discovered anything of
value. It goes to show that Kee1y had
the faculty of securing the attention OF
the keen and practical men of affairs.
Ordnance experts have sat in the Keely
laboratory in Philadelphia and watched
experiments with a wonderful cannon,
which was lin reality nothing but . big
upopen1n. .... .l....-..y : ,g3.r
Experts last week dissected the building
in which the charlatan carried on his ex-
periments. They laid bare the pipes which
conveyed the compressed air from a
buried steel tank. They found that the
strange force which came at the twang-
ing of "a fiddle bow or the dropping of =
little water was. after all. only atmos-
pheres condensed. There was nothing
new They found that the machines were
operated ON principles discovered centur-
fes ago. ,.a-.se.H
Yet the Keely motor had been de-
nounced years before that. The Herald
had nine years before shown the work
ings of Keely models and pointed out that
the force which made the motor whiri
was compressed air. For all that. Keely
was able to organize company, not an
officer of which had been taken into the
confidence OF the inventor. Not a man
knew what was supposed to make the
motor mote" Keely died without re-
his results. Even the courts could not
compel him to tell. 5s s4$ Ely Isl a. s
Keely's success lay in his faculty for
stimulating earnestness. He affected a
virtue II he had it not. He acted as one
who believed that he had made great
discovery. He was a cOnsummate actor
There was a stormy scene in his labora-
tory once when a man accused him OF
using copper pipe from the TRANSMITTED
and defied Keely to cut It Mrs Bloom
field Moore offered the inventor 81, 600
II he would cut the supposed wire and
thus fling back the aspersion OF the critic
yKeely would not listen to such thing
The spectators were hurried from the
room, and few minute later Keely
summoned tW0 Witnesses and cut the .slszs-E
I...s III
M s