The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-08-20
BowsER, HE 1NvENTs.
Enemies of the United SCtates Are
Warned in Advance.

Did you think the house was
on hre or some one dead?' asked Mrs.
Bowser as Mr.. Bowser came rushing
home the other evening as if the sher-
tff was after him.
SIS dinner ready?" he gasped.
"All ready"
have it out of the way. 1 want half
an hour by myself in the library, and
then I'll astound you, Mrs. Bowser.
I've got the biggest scheme on earth"
1.-THE North Pole?'
TT may come to that
1.-THE South Pole?"
And it may come to that, too"
"You-you are not going to raising
hogs in the back yard, are you?"
stop right there, woman-stop
right there!" he replied. as he drum
med on the table with the handle of
his knife. ''If you can't take this
thing seriously we'll not say another
word about it."
well, I'll be serious. 1 was read
ing of man who made $4,000 raising
hogs on city lot, and I thought you
might have come across the same
thing. Just what is the scheme?"
mot a word for an hour or two. I
don't want to get my ideas mixed up.
It's immense. It's revolutionary. The
whole world will stand aghast. For
heavens sake don't talk to me and
mix me up. 1 almost lost the idea
when a fellow on the street car tried
to pick a fight with me. In an hour
I'll tell you ALL
Fifteen minutes sufficed him for din
ner. Then he rushed up to the library
and locked himself in. The cook came
in from the kitchen with pale face
and shaking hands and asked OF Mrs.
Bowser in a whisper:
ais it dynamite this time, ma'am 2"
Don't be foolish, Bridget"
But If the roof is to be blown off,
ma'am, you'll give body chance tot
get out first? L want to live to see the
Panama canal completed"
There is no cause to worry"
She went upstairs and listened at
the library door. She could hear Mr..
Bowser saying 'Uml uni" to himself,
but no more. She sat down with
evening paper, and it was full hour
per in his hand, and his face was alight
with satisfaction.
''Well?" she asked.
Mrs. Bowser," he said as he, sat
down beside her, "this is to be the talk
of our lives. 1t is to be heart to heart.
You are to use no sarcasm. If you
can't encourage me in this thing we
had better not say word. 1t is the
greatest ever. hold the world In the
hollow of my hand"
''Well, I'll encourage you all 1 can"
The Importance of the enterprise
on hand seemed to overpower Mr..
Bowser for a moment, but he got his
breath and asked:
"You know Mr.. Curtiss. the aviator,
few from Albany to New York;"
"Oh, yes
After waiting a week for a calm
day, and then making two landings
to replenish his oil?"
yes"
And he talks about the flying
machine in war-how it is going to
scoot around and drop dynamite and
pour picric acid on the heads of the
enemy. He has got to wait for a calm
day or night to do it, hasn't he? Does
war wait week on anybody? And
the enemy won't sit still and let dyna-
he? Won't he be searching the sky
and shooting the stuff1ng out of flying
machines ?"
''It looks that way to me, Mr.. Bow
SER
"And the aviator who takes up dyna-
mite and acid is in more danger than
the enemy. A squall-a change of
wind-and down he goes. His ma
chinery gets out of killer while he is
scooting, and what is the result? A
gust blows him back, and he souses
his own friends with the picric. Do
you follow"
ct think so.''
'My scheme is Bowser's balloon. 1t
can be sent up from any side of a city
or army. 1t is attached to a donkey
engine by a wire cable. 1t rises and
floats over the enemy-over a city
over a fortress. 1t is loaded with dy-
bottles. Strings lead from them to
me on the ground. 1 wish to destroy
a regiment of the enemy on the march.
I pull string No. 1, and the vitriol
rains down on their devoted heads.
/ wish to destroy a brigade. String
No. leads to 100 pounds of dynamite.
/ Jerk it, and that brigade is wiped off
the face of the earth. See?"
ct see.'
''The enemy has a fortress like Port
Arthur The BoWser balloon is drift
ed over and then held stationary. A
barrel of blue vitriol is first let loose
to wet up things, and then follows a
thousand pounds of dynamite. Pouf!
Bang! No more Port Arthur. The
donkey engine winds the Bowser bal
loon down, and we proceed to the sea-
shore. A fleet of hostile men-of-war
IS gathered there. More vitriol and
dynamite, and after one awful screech
the waves close over them forever.
Mrs. Bowser, you are no warrior, but
can't you see things?"
''Why, yes" she answered. Let me
ask. however, If the enemy won't play
his searchlights on your balloon and
then shoot it to pieces?"
"Ha! hal 1 was waiting for that
question. The Bowser balloon is ar
NOR plated and cannot be pierced. She
stays right there until her mission is
accomplished. Projectiles fired at her
only rebound and kill the enemy. In
fact. he is killed from so many sides
and so often that he raises the white
flag and surrenders. There's the
scheme, and don't you agree with me
that it's Observation-Disclosures
tionary?"
yes. it seems to be all that, but
YOU will have to wait for war before
1t will be of any value"
"Ha! 1 also expected you would say
that. No waiting, my dear Let ii
be known to other nations that this