The Idaho recorder., 1921-11-25
TERENCE O'BRIEN
MULTI-MILLIONAIRE

lSPEEDOMETER INVENTOR, THE
FATHER OF MRS. HONEYMAN,
Jr., GOT START AS HORSE
CLIPPER.
Terence O'Brien was the good Irish |
name of lad who was born forty
seven years ago in hamlet In the |
hills of Vermont, that are as green
as the hills of Erin.
Terence O'Brien he was when he
went West to seek his fortune and
could at first get no nearer to it than
a job clipping horses; and Terence
O'Brien he still was when he fell in
with two other lads with an Irish
name, Arthur and Michael Conlon,
as the Three Musketeers and made
laws of Western State that they
should ali share in whatever fortune
any one of them should win.
Terence was an ingenious boy, and
when the horse clipping began to
grow tiresome he invented flexible
shaft for his clippers to make it cas-
ier. Housekeeping, however, seemed
a slow road to fortune, so he tried
gold mining, with the usual results.
Changed Fortune, Changed Name.
Back clipping horses again, he
found that his little horse-clipping
machine was doing for him what gold
mining had not done. 1t made money;
and the principle of the flexible shaft,
applied to other inventions, made still
more money for him.
1t was about this time that Terence
O'Brien changed his name. Also, he
met little school teacher and mar
ried her. He was now fast catching
up with fortune, and when he put his
flexible shaft idea into a speedometer
and organized company to nianufac-
ture and handle it, he had her in his
grasp.
This shaft was patented for O'Brien
by a lawyer named Stewart and soon
it began to pay large profits. 1t was
improved and placed on the market
as the John X. Stewart speedometer,
the name of the lawyer furnishing
the part of the title and that of a
race hore, John X, furnishing the re-
mainder.
, The device continued to bring in
immense profits, finally running into
millions. O'Brien then decided to
ADOPT IL DIS HIS own Tile nStifiC Vi hio
device, and from that time on was
: known as John X. Stewart.
With the acquisition of his great
fortune O'Brien, as Stewart, moved
7 to Chicago, where the principal plants
of his concern were.
5 Five years ago Terence died worth
i S7,000,000. And yesterday when Mrs.
5 Robert f. Honeyman, Jr., daughter of
1n% T4I IL af
: Stewart Warner Speedometer corpor-
alton, millionaire manufacturer, with
= country place on Long Island and a
| position in New York and Chicago So
S ciety, charged in surrogate's court
5 that the managers of her fathers es-
r tate have been mismanaging it, it was
r learned thai john x. 81 ,wart was
Terence O'Brien, the farmers LAD
from Vermont.
"Musketeers" Collect Shares.
: When Stewart died the other two
5 thirds of the Three Musketeers, one
e of whom had changed his name too
f somewhere along the line and was
f now Michael Clark, appeared to claim
o their share under the old agreement
of the days when the three were seek
t ing fortune together Their claim was
e considered valid enough to entitle
Arthur F. Conlon to $4,000 under
f Suffolk county, l.. l., and Michael
S Clark to $250,000 under order of a
y Chicago court.
e Supreme Court Justice Selah 3.
Strong, who was Surrogate of Suffolk
: county at the time Conlon and Clark
n made their claims, yesterday verified
S the story.
}. "It is substantially correct he
: said, "from my memory of the case
f as it appeared before me-"
:. Robert B. Honeyman, Sr., Mrs
: Honeyman's father-in-law, who is
: acting as her attorney in seeking to
: have denied the request of Martin
f Taylor Of New York and Leander H.
t. Lachance of Chicago to be appointed
S administrators of the $2,000,000 es-
: tate of Miss Jean Stewart, Mrs. Hon
: ieyman's younger sister, who died last
: month. refused last night to make any
statement as to the story of Stewart
# life except to say that it is "far from
d correct" He would not correct il
y however. " have nothing to say
it except that Marian Stewart's name
2, now is Marian Honeyman," he declar
# ed. :
t Administrators Deny Charges.
Leander II. Lachance, administra
b tor of the estate of Mr.. Stewart anC
N joint guardian with Mr.. Taylor Of the
n two girls, last night made the follow
le ing statement in Chicago:
II fatty and catgorically deny ev
cry accusation in the statement made
1t by Mrs. Honeyman alleging imprope
y handling of her affairs, and at thu
S. proper time will produce satisfactor!
D proof of this
~ An apologist for the failure Of thi
~ school board to publish the annual re
"a port excuses it on the ground Of say
ing expense. At the same time tn
r. Ina-r1f