The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1922-03-22

Do you remember when Hiram 1 Maxim made his first repeating gun
 and practicing firing it off in the yard | of the Osborn and Griffith carriage | factory. about back of where the Lyric | theater is situated now? If you dc | fc roar it made, and how the Tighten 1 ed residents of the locality bolted l doors and windows and fled below
 stairs to escape the Bedlam.
 1 But MT. Maxim discovered, as did l Lewis afterward. that this govern | ment had no use for domestic 1nVen- tions, and that was why both mer l took their guns, repeating and ma 1 chine, respectively, to France. MT l Maxim's gun was used in the Eranco- Prussian war of 1870. Since then. he | has given to the world many 1nVen- l tions, most noted of which is the l ''Silencer." And his contributions to | the progress of the world have made him many times a millionaire.
 The reluctance of the United States government to recognize the inven- tions of its natives has also been ex- perienced by Simon Lake, with his wonderful submarine, and Hotchkiss Brothers, with their rified cannon: | These are the cruelty sweet echoes" l that remembrance brings
 There. are others, too. like Fund w." promoted by Hanford Hayes; the l Housatonic Rolling Stock venture, | ]AA~~s l wonderful silk worm debacle which depleted the purses of many of Bridgeport's wealthy citizens.
 This latter is a butterfly story to be were American, French and Spanish, all masters of their several languages; suave, courteous and skilled in the art of manufacturing speech as well as silk. A plot of land was secured on the bank of Yellow Mill pond. close to the New York and New Ha- ven railroad tracks, where today are the buildings Of the American and
 British Manufacturing company. While under construction, the build ing was called "The Silk Factory" and during that period the promoters were not idle, explaining speciously
 and volubly to potential stockholders that the enormous profit to be req lized would make uillionaireS of each one.
 And the process was so simple. Just
 as soon as the roof was on the build
 ing, thousands of busy little silk worms, specie Attacus Ricini. would arrive from Spain and Japan These would be matched out in a large steam heat ed room. where they would feed
 upon the sucoulent mulberry leaves
 brought from the Sunny South espec- ially for these willing little workers. After these creeping, crawling cree
 turs'' had been well fed up. they would begin to spin silk, and all the
 
 this silk into beatuifuI ribbons and
 1ustrous gowns for feminine adorn- ment.
 The male population who could af- ford it bought blocks of stock. Then they went home and told their wives
 that all the household-even to the maids in the kitchen-would soon be
 clothed entirely in silk
 Anticipation was delicious1v sweet. The would-be Croesuses could hardly
 wait for the little worms to begin their eight-hour shifts. In the mean time, however. the promoters were
 more like the bees that are never known to loaf. The F,renchInan was exqutsttely patronizing; the Spantard was ready to light @ bull if a person
 desiring stock was in doubt of the +prowess of the redoubtalble silk worm; the American. true to type. was as slick as his silk.
 After @ time, great branches of
 mulberry trees began to appear. to- gether with barrels of InuNb erry leaves. These were distributed about
 the factory and were exhibited as
 the natural food of the somewhat eptcurean worms. which, however.
 were soon to arrive. Interest was
 again stimulated by the arrival Of
 barrels from France and Spain said
 to contain silk moth eggs of the
 Bornbyx nori. which were labelled
 Japan.
 But alas and a1ackaday! Whenthe