The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1899-01-29
THE KELLY sWINpLE.
Millions of Dollars Wasted on the
Philadelphia Charlntan.


brass. an Indian fighter a head waiter,
first violinist in an orchestra. circus per-
former, and a professor of legerdemain.
He combined the skill of all these trades
and professions, invented the Keely motor,
and wheedled millions from his fellow
men.
Here you are ladies and gentlemen"
he might have said Here is the great
Kelly motor Now you see it move and
now you don't. viii someone lend me a
few millions of dollars? Thanks. Observe,
| place it in the motor, so. You'd like 1t
back? Stand right on this spot until
improve the motor so that it will work
and I'll declare dividend.
Here is list of some of the investments
to be charged to the account of this char
latan of the nineteenth century:
Advanced by New York capitalists
(ls1D ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. Slo'Ooo
Expended in pcrtectng motor 6),Vn
Given by Miss Bloomfield Moore ........ 10000
Stock by the Keely Motor Company .---.5,OOo,nO
Total hp'o'V
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 millions;
for in the twenty-five years in which the
new force which was to be evolved was ex-
plotted before the public this magician OF
mechanics found thousands who believed
in him and backed their faith by green
backs. He never lacked for funds with
which to carry on his weird experiments.
The financial operations Of the Keely mo-
tor were involved in as much secrecy as
the mechanism itself. Hundreds have in
vested 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 a wonder
full invention. which, at the twang Of 4 yio
lin and in response to the tossing Of n
gill of water into it's mechanism, set up
terrific disturbance. provided the condens-
ed air pipes were tight and no inquisitive
individual moved the machine about the
floor.
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 s1,536 fifteen
pieces of experimental apparatus and
certain right of unknown valuation in GER
tain uncompleted and unpatented inyen-
tons" q. 81
"Keelyism." if l may coin the word
had its converts everywhere. Men Of
shrewd common sense went to the inyen-
tor in his little shop and pressed him to
take their money.
Mrs. Bloomfield Moore. a brilliant wo-
man famed for her Tearing and culture.
gave the man from $3.50 to $3.50 a month
to aid his researches. She made codiciI
in her will signed in the dingy little shop
in Philadelphia whereby she directed that
part OF her estate go to a fund for per-
| fectlng 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 Keely's ma
chimes and listened to his hybrid jargon.
Once savant gravely proposed that Keely.
who murdered our English speech with
every other breath. should have a home
| among the elect of the University of Penn
| sylvania
Now that the personality of Kelly has
| gone out from this world it seems one OF
| the most astounding occurrences of history
| that men should have witnessed in sober
earnest the antics of this zany of science
He played horse" as the college boys
| would put it, with scientific nomenclature
/ He put up strange gods in his Philadel-
phia laboratory which mankind worshiped
after the weird ritual composed by the
high priest of fraud. Wealth made sacri-
| fees of millions, too. at those shrines. and
men thought that they were on the road to
| fortune on a way made straight by the
great keely motor.
! They believed that II it once started
there could be no stopping the revolutions
in earthly affairs which would follow in
| Its train. L was only year or two age
| that the manager of the Manhattan Ele.
waited Railroad inspected the motor and
said that it was worth careful eSamina-
| ton. Officials OF the metropolitan Trac-
ton Company made a similar examina-
| ton. Col John Jacob Astor. whose at.
| tention was attracted to the apparatus b,
hee!y's friend. champion, and agent, Mrs
! Bloomfield Moore, seriously considered
the advisability of forming syndicate to
| bring the invention before the word
None OF the gentlemen whom have men.
toned was finally convinced Kesly ha,
discovered anything OF value. 1t goes /,
show that Keely had the faculty OF Sc.
| curing the attention of the keen and prac.
teal man OF affairs.
Ordnance experts have sat in the Keely
laboratory in Philadelphia and watched
| experiments with a wonderful cannon
which was in reality nothing but bis
popgun.
Experts last week dissected the build.
| ing in which the charlatan carried on his
| experiments. They laid bare the pipe:
which conveyed the compressed air from
a buried steel tank. They found that the
strange force which came at the twanging
| of a fiddle bow or the dropping of a little
water was after all only atmospheres con.
densed. There was nothing new. They
found that the machines We're operated or
principles discovered centuries ago.
Yet the Keely motor had been deuounc.
ed years before that The Herald" had
nine years before shown the workings OF
Keely models and pointed out that the
force which made the motor whirl wa
compressed air. For all that Keely was
able TO organize company, not an officer
| of which had been taken into the conf
dence of the inventor. Not a man knew
what was supposed to make the motor
mote" Keey died without revealing
the means by which ,he attained his re.
suits. Even the courts could not compe
| him to tell.
| Keely's success lay in his faculty fol-
! Stimulating earnestness. He affected a vir-
tue if he had it not. He acted as one who
| believed that he had made great discov-
| cry. He was Consummate actor. There
was a stormy scene in his laboratory once
when man accused him of using copper
| pipe from the transmitter and defied Keely
| to cut it. Mrs. Bloomfield Moore offered
the inventor 81 900 if ne would cut the
supposed wire and thus fling back the as
| person of this critic. keely would not
| listen TO such thing. The spectators were
hurried from the room, and a few min
utes later Keely summoned two witnesses
and cut the supposed copper pipe. 1t PROV
ed TO be a wire. Now, the puzzle is to find
when the change took place. for there is
no doubt in the world that the wire was
| copper pipe not five minutes before Yet
| through all this stormy scene Kelly boiled
with righteous indignation and scorn
! Could it have been that he persuaded Kee-
| iy the inventor TO believe in Keely the
| charlatan.
Ii almost sanme incrndihln tint ON.