Evening journal., 1912-12-07
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NEW NEWS w TESIEkDAT
The Capitalists Who SuS-
peCted a Humbue

In The latter part Of 1891 7 accom-
panied o party OF men OF prominence
ia science. and especially in tho dc
yelopment Of electricity as an Indus
trial energy. to Niagara Falls for the
purpose Of inspecting tho beginning
Of the establishment Of tho first great
electrical plant ON the banks OF tho
Niagara river Some Of these men
Of science, especially George West
inghouse predicted at that time
thing which has como to pass that
electricity would be generated IN auf-
hciont energy al Niagara TO operate
all tho street cars of Buffalo, ~ miles
away Tho possibility Of such utili-
zation Of electricity generated at Ma
CARA was earnestly discussed in the
evening at the hotel In the course
of the conversation one member OF the
party HRid:N
~ wonder what John H. lille
would say If he knew that we were
talking today about utilizing electric
NY generated at Niagara for the haul
ing Of street cars in Buffalo,
No one I'm that company seemed to
recognize the name of John II. Lille
except the man who had introduced
II, He was asked for an explanation
I'VE really ought To set up "a me-
mortal tablet To John n. Lille he
said. Forty years ago Lille actu-
ally built i2-milo railroad which
he operated by means of electric en-
ergy. n &c had not been for a most
unfortunate Incident very likely Mr.
Lille would have been the first man
TO show how street cars could be
operated to commercial profit by the
use Of electric energy
"Lillie lived in Joliet, H., between
1916 and 1866 He was a self-taught
electrician, but man of very great
ability. He had studied the electric
telegraph from the time Professor
Morse set up the first telegraph line
between Baltimore and Washington.
lie became absolutely absorbed in an
idea that he could make us Of cleo
tricity in such way as to haul a rail-
way car.
81 have heard that i'm order to get
the necessary money with which 10
make Il demonstration, Lille deliv-
cred lectures I'm many parts of the
West He certainly got money
enough to build a narrow track belt
line railroad encirclng his town and
about twelve miles in length. He in
stalled his electric engine with one
car upon this roalroad. He secured
patents for his apparatus, His mod
els greatly Interested Joseph Henry,
at that time a member of the Smith
sonian Institute and the foremost
man Of science in the United States.
lille found. howecer that while
his apparatus worked all right, his
method of generating electricity was
altogether too expensive for CONNER
cial use He therefore built a little
model OF his engine and cars and a
small track and then went to New
York city to see II he could not get
capital sufficient to enable him to per-
feet plans which he had for general
ing electricity at a very much lower
cost than his original plans did.
~In searching for capitalists ne
made fatal mistake He called upon
p. r. BarDum, whose museum was
then at the flood tide Of its success
"'l viii give you three hundred
b. and fifty dollars cash for the privi-
ioge OF exhibiting the model for your
electric railroad I'm my museum, Mr.
Barnum said Then you can bring
the capitalists in to the museum and
show them how your electric train
runs. That viii help you, and ! am
sure the railroad viii prove a great
curiosity
The offer was accepted. Lille es-
tablished his little model In Barnum' Is
museum The nhe invited capitalists
to look at It, He did get quite a number
Of capitalists TO look az the appara-
tus. but he could not persuade a sin
gle one of them TO let him have any
money At last he asked one OF them
who pcremptorially declined to lend
any money why # was that he showed
such interest in the working of the
little model and yet would not invest
"A cent In tho enterprise.
Why. said the capitalist dom
YOU know II is a ?/Barnun
wouldn't have a here If II wasn't hun
bug. Everything he has in the mus
cum rs "A humbug. That is the rea
son why you won't be able TO ge
any money in New York 10 carry on
your plan We may not know wher'
tho humbug is but We know that d
is there
After that Lille did not try TO in
duce any capitalist TO make a ven
ture with his invention
Copyright. 1912. by 10. j. Edwards
n l