Perth Amboy evening news., 1904-10-05
EDISON SAVES SON
Thomas A. Edison, Jr., Chem
ical Company Accused.
POSTMASTER ISSUED FRAUD Order
MagnO Electric vitalizer Made BY
Company as "a Curative Power Is
Said to BE NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
Name Improperly Used.


WASHINGTON, Oct. 5.-Acting Post
master General II. ]. Wynne has is
sued a fraud order against the Thomas
A. Edison, Jr., Chemical company, its
officers ard agents as such and Thorn
as A. Edison, Jr. The company has of
fees in New York, and it is charged
with obtaining money through the
mails by false and fraudulent pre-.
lenses.
THE magno-electric vitalizer," an al
reged invention of Thomas A. Edison
,Jr., is the article the company is ell.
gagged in exploiting.
Assistant Attorney General Goodwin
in the opinion recommending the fraud
order says: ut appears that the article
which the company is e~ndeavoring to
sell to the public is imperative, that
all matters of opinion relative to its
curative power for diseases and othel
matters of opinion are made dishonest
ly and with intent to deceive and that
false and fraudulent representations
are made regarding foreign patents,
the inventive genius CT Edison. Jr.; his
~inventing this vitaliZer, the personal
attention alleged to be given to. the
treatment by Edison, Jr.; the labora-
tory of Edison, Jr., and his motives in
Offering this article for sale"
Another feature in the case was the
fac-simile of the signature of Thomas
Alva Edison, ST., used by the company
for a considerable time, but afterward
discontinued. 1t appears from the evil
denee that the company initiated the
signature of Edison, Sr. In his opinion
Assistant Attorney General Goodwin
says: ''The company throughout its lit
erature expressly and implicitly seeks
to convey to the public the impression
that Edison, Jr., is a man of inventive
genius as great as that of his father.
For instance, the following was writ
ten by Manager Sparks:
"Never has the truth of the law of
heredity been so well illustrated as 1t
has in the Edisons, father and son II
has been disclosed that II. A. Edison,
.Jr., is not the inventor; that under the
agreement he had with the company
he never received over $35 Il week,
while the company sold thousands of
the ~vitalizers at So per set Mt a large
profit"
The company was cited to show
| cause why a fraud order should moi
| issue Sept. 8. Sept. Is was set for the
!, hearing. Mr.. Sparks, manager of the
| company, and Charles w. Gearing,
attorney for the company, appeared to
make answer. Frank II. Dyer and
Church & Church, attorneys of Thomas
| A. Edison, were at the hearing. At the
request of the attorney for the com
| pany the decision was postponed to
| permit affidavitS TO be fled.
From the evidence before the depart
| ment it appeared the vitalizer was
/ never patented.
Thomas A. Edison, the veteran and
| brilliant inventor, after bearing for al
most two years a heavy weight of sor'
| row because his son and namesake fol
n paltry weekly stipend plunged the
| family name into disreputable associa'
| ton. put all the energy of his declining
| years into the fight which came to q
successful termination yesterday.
The son. %repentant and broken il
| health, is, ever now with the battle
won. under the watchful eye of a nurse
ut Greenwood Lake lest in his present
| nervous condition he might unwilling
ly yield to the persuasion OF othel
! smooth tongued men.
A New York dispatch says that New
ton Remington, one of the directors
and the principal stakeholder of TIN
Il. A. Edison, Jr., Chemical company
when interviewed there said:
mir. Edison, the elder, accomplished
at Washington what he could not &C
complish in the courts. This SAM
case was thrashed out in the courts o
Delaware some time ago, and Justic
Bradford decided against the Edisoi
people at every point.
I'VE never used the name of Thoma
A. Edison, ST., and his son never pat
ented the article. we are selling an
for which l have now thousands o
testimonials.
1.-THE statement that Mr.. Edison'S so
only received $50 a week is untrue. III
was paid $T5 a week. The order mus
have been secured on the iamboyan
signature of Thomas A. Edison, Jr
such as is used on all proprietary med
~icines."