The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1917-08-11
Purchased by
The Government
BY ETHEL HOLMES

uhut stNtiui very Nhluuplt iuNtuilohn
but. not having the capital TO put then
on the market he was obliged 10 con
fide his secret 10 capitalists. AS soon
as the capitalists got the secret they
found pretext TO use the invention
without paying a royalty to the In
ventor. Finally Hawkins determined
that II he made another invention he
would keep his secret until he had Sc
cured legal contract for the manu-
facture Of the article in question
The next thing he invented was a
powerful explosive He offered It to
the United States government and was
referred to several ordnance officers
who would witness a demonstration.
Hawkins made some OF the explosive,
fired 1t from cannon and sent hun
dred pound shot farther than one had
ever been sent before. So pleased
were the officers with the test that
they recommended the purchase Of the
inventors secret at once.
At that time, July /, 1914, the gov
eminent was troubled to find work for
the few soldiers it had. They were
called upon to do civil work I'm emer-
gencies. The president called the
soldier the nations handy man, mean
ing, for instance, that II flood
came and destroyed town the sol
der could put up tents and otherwise
provide for the sufferers. As TO fight
or. he was nos expected to hurt any
one; his duty was only to succor. The
consequence was that Abel Hawkins
invention was pigeonholed In the war
department, there being no use for 1t.
Hawkins died suddenly on July &c.
1914, the day the European war broke
out Had he been alive to intrust his
secret to any one It would have sud
denly become very valuable He had |
written his secret in cipher, but had |
left no key to the cipher.
He left a widow and a daughter, |
Ethel, seventeen years old. Ethel ex-
plored a tin box In which her father
had kept what few valuable papers he
possessed and there found the cipher
1t wac a string Of words without any
meaning. Ethel saw at a glance that
she would not be able to translate 1t.
L
might do so, for there were in 1t a
large number of chemical terms. But
Ethel did not dare show 1t to chem
list for fear ne would steal the secret
She had her fathers want of conf
dence in his fellow beings.
Besides, she saw no probabi of
selling the invention to any but for
eign government, and she had no
means to go abroad and reach any of
the powers at war Therefore she put
the cipher back in the tin box and took 4
it out only once In the next two years
to show to Oliver Steadman, a young
man to whom she was engaged.
Meanwhile Germany began TO sink 4
ships, and Uncle Sam began 70 grow =
wrathy. Oliver Steadman advocated
trying to do something with the inven :
ton, but since the United States was
not at war he received no encourage
ment, even If the cipher could be inter 4
preted. 1t Ceemed hard that SO valu- F
able a process should not be utilized,
but there was no help for 1t. B
Then came the breaking of relations !
with Germany, followed by a declara-
tion of war on the part Of the United :"
States.
One day messag &c came to her moth 3
er In an envelope bearing the stamp OF
the postoff1ce OF Hongkong, China. 1t Fl
was from the postmaster Of that city,
who wrote that there was a letter in "
his Office held for postage and had been II
.hus held for long while. The letter B,
lad been mailed at San Francisco, adj s.
dressed to Mrs. Abel Hawkins, New
York city, via Tokyo, Japan. Hong Sc
Kong, Alden, PORT Said, Gibraltar. If A,
The would send the necessary stamps n,
le would forward the letter. ~
None of the parties concerned could
lee why any such letter should have
'een sent In this round about manner. HI
However, the expense Of getting 1t be- IF
ng small Il was decided to send the WY
money to secure 1t. An
Meanwhile the government of the A.
United States was getting ready to Wi
Ill as many Teutons as possible and 70
7as looking for an explosive that An
yould carry a she'll further than any Lis
assessed by their enemies. Some one Wi
4 the war department ran upon a re-
ort of the test made OF Abel Haw- a" A.,
ms explosive and sent him formal TIT
quest to come to Washington. Haw- Ina
ins, not having lived long enough for An
lie United States to need his invention, ! s.
,uld not respond, but his daughter / r
ent in his stead. She received an Of
n of a million dollars from the gov No,
-nment for the cipher formula and ac- No
,pted IL at once. But no one was re
'und to interpret 1t, and the govern All.
ent was out a million. ina
Not long after this the letter from And
ong Kong was received, and il con- I'll
ined the key to the cipher in ques- -
On. Hawkins had chosen this original =.
ethod TO lock up his secret for a IL
myth Of time.
The government offered Ethel Haw- !
rs another million for the key and
e was tempted to teach lesson, but acf
nesty prevailed, and she turned over mar
soms months o,tsr ,,,s com. ona g. dro
ashington stumbled on the report OF ser
: test made Of Hawkins invention XIII
d, not knowing that S1,OO0,OO0 had
'eady been paid for the secret, offer anu
another s1.OOO.000 for IL. Ethel 4