The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1917-08-14
Purchased by
The Government
BY ETHEL HOLMES

abti W AIMS was IN ~
made several very valuable inventions
but, not having the capital TO put then
on the market, he was obliged TO con
: hde his secfet to capitalists. As sooT
as the capitalists got the secret they
; found a pretext to use the invention
without paying royalty to the In
ventor. Finally Hawkins determined
that IL he made another invention he
would keep his secret until he had Sc.
cured a legal contract for the manu-
facture Of the article in question.
The next thing he invented was a
powerful explosive. He offered 1t to
the United States government and was
referred to several ordnance officers
who would witness a demonstra ton.
Hawkins made some of the explosive,
fired 1t from q 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 In emer-
gencies The president called the
soldier the nations handy man, mean
ing, for instance, that II q food
came and destroyed a town the sol
dier could put up tents and otherwise
provide for the sufferers. As to fight
sr, he was not 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 80,
1914, the day the European war broke
out. Had he been alive to tntrust his
secret to any one II 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 eI- |
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 glance that
she would not be able to translate 1t.
There was a chance that a chemist
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 he would steal the secret.
She had her fathers want OF conf
dence In his fellow beings.
Besides, she saw no probability 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
1t 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 q
ships. and Uncle Sam began to grow t
wrathy. Oliver Steadman advocated a
trying to do something with the inven- I
ton, but since the United States was a
not at war he received no encourage d
ment, even II the cipher could be inter- a
preted. 1t eeemed hard that so valu- a
able a process should not be utilized, +
,ut there was no help for 1t. a
Then came the breaking of relations t
With Germany, followed by declara- t
ion OF war on the part Of the United
states.
One day a message came to her moth
n In an envelope bearing the stamp OF
he postoffice OF Hongkong, China. 1t
vas from the postmaster of that city,
rho wrote that there was letter In
is office held for postage and had been
hus held for long while. The letter
ad been mailed at San Francisco, adj
ressed to Mrs. Abel Hawkins, New 800
FORK city, via Tokyo, Japan, Hong
ong. Alden, Port Said, Gibraltar. II
be would send the necessary stamps 4
e would forward the letter.
None of the parties concerned could
Ne why any such letter should have
cen sent in this round about manner. "
Iowever, the expense Of getting 1t be-
liz small 1t was decided to send the
oney to secure 1t.
Meanwhile the government Of the IL
nited States was getting ready to RI
III as mhus lcutons ne poroiuiC anu
as looking for an explosive that NE
ould carry a shell further than any Al
assessed by their enemies. Some one
the war department ran upon re-
,rt of the test made Of Abel Haw- Nc,
MS explosive and sent him a formal NJ
quest to come to Washington. Haw- Rs
ms, not having lived long enough for =,
e United States to need his invention, ~
uld not respond, but his daughter
emit In his stead. She received an Of
r of million dollars from the gov sor
nment for the cipher formula and ac-
pied 1t at once. But no one was
und to interpret 1t, and the govern
ent was out a million.
Not long after this the letter from
,ng Kong was received. and 1t con-
med the key to the cipher in ques 3
N. Hawkins had chosen this original
.thod TO lock up his secret for a
lgth OF time.
rhe government offered Ethel Haw-
Is another million for the key and
= was tempted to teach a lesson, but
nesty prevailed, and she turned over
, key gratis.
'ome months after this some one In f.
lshington stumbled on the report OF
test made Of Hawkins invention
q. not knowing that S1,0o0.ooo had
eady been paid for the secret, offer