Evening star., 1927-05-07
HUDSON MAXIM, INVENTOR. DIES
AT "a AFTER NOTABLE CAREER
Hopeful to End of Continuing
Experiments and Writing
Pamphlet on Relatively.
Lifelong Halter of War Gave
SmokeIess Powder and
Torpedoes to World.

By the Associated Press.
LAKE HOPATCONG, N. j.. May Z.
Hudson Maxim, inventor of smoke"
less powder and deadly explosives, is
dead at the age of "A.
The end came last night after he
had been in q coma for almost "a
hours and after an illness from which
he suffered intermittent attacks for
more than year and that kept him
bedridden for three months.
lie was not told that he had cancer
and he remained hopeful almost to
the end. Of resuming his experiments
TO replace superheated steam with
nitroglycerin as q motive force for
naval torpedoee and completing
pamphlet he 10 writing on the
theory of rela y. He told friends
that he, and Einstein, was the
discoverer of that theory.
Lifelong Halter OF War.
Mr.. Maxim, inventor Of more "con.
centrated destruction" in the form or
high explosives, smokeless powder
and automobile torpedoes than any
other man in the United States, was
nevertheless, q lifelong hater OF war,
q stanch advote of peaceful arbi-
tration, q champion Of all mankind
in trouble, and the self-appolnted
guardian of a thousand little birds
that nested in the great trees Of his
palatial estate in New Jersey.
Two of Maxims discoveries in his
experiments with high explosives may
be said in a large measure to nave
revolutionized modern warfare. They
were the first smokeless powder made
IN America and the first to be adopted
by the United States Government
and "naximite' the first high eXplo-
sive bursting charge ever successfully
employed in armor-piercing projec-
dies. In addition to these he also in
vented a steam propelled torpedo and
perfected a high'velocity rifle shell
with a speed of mile second.
Hudson Maxim as a boy received
practically no education. He was .
years old before he learned the alpha
bet. and despite the violent Winters
of his native Maine, he was is before
he owned his first pair of shoes and
his first hat.
Against odds which to many would
have been insurmountable, Hudson
Maxim struggled to obtain an educa-
ton Choosing the most difficult
courses offered at Kent's Hill, Me-,
he completed his academic studies at
the age of 25, and was graduated with
a wide knowledge of chemistry, en-
gineering and the natural sciences.
Hardly was he out of school when he
had formulated the hypothesis of the
compound nature of so-called atoms,
which has become a generally accept
ed theory only within the past few
years.
Once Published Newspaper.
AS a young man he first decided
upon the printing and publishing busi-
ness as career, and spent five years
in this work at Pittsfield. Mass. Even
at this time his inventive mind was
working, with the result that he orig
mated a process for color printing
which was tried out on the Evening
Journal Of Pittsfield, said to have
been the first daily newspaper issued
in colors in the United States.
His love of chemistry. however, was
not finding sufficient expression in the
printing business, and in 1888 he sold
out and began experimenting with ex-
plosives and ordnance. In 1890 he built
a dynamite factory and smokeless
powder mill at Maxim, N. j., placed
named for him, and in cooperation
with DIR. Robert G. Schupphaus per-
fected the powder later adopted by
the United States Government.
1t was in connection with this in
vention that the strife between Hud-
son Maxim and his brother, Sir Hiram
Stevens Maxim. first came to light. 1t
seems that Hudson Maxim. whose bap-
tismal name was Isaac, had dropped
this name early In life and assumed
that of Hudson Maxim. Sir Hiram, in
nF Fa%a
cused his younger brother of attempt
ing to set up a company in New York
by misrepresenting himself as H.
Maxim inventor of the gun. The
controversy continued for number of
years, Whereupon Hudson Maxim is
sued a statement to the effect that he
never had invented a gun and never
intended to. The brothers were unable
to reconcile their differences, however,
and remained enemies for more than
20 years.
Born i'm Maine Village.
Hudson Maxim was born at Orne-
vile, Piscataquis County, Me-, Feb
ruary 3, 1853. Reared in the open,
knowing the hardest kind of work and
forced to fight for everything they
had. the entire family were naturally
possessed Of great physical strength.
When Hudson was boy Of Is he had
won considerable fame as a wrestler,
having thrown all comers at several
country fairs. Yet he never was able
to beat his sister Lucy, four years his
senior, who could throw him in less
than a minute. He attracted so much
attention as a wrestler that a New
York promoter induced him to engage
i'll several professional bouts at
Houston street, New York, resort, in
which he threw several we'll known
wrestlers, including Matt Grace, then
collar'andelbow champion Of the
United States.
The man who was to become known
as a dignifed, intellectual scientist
few years later could have been q pro-
fessional wrestler from that moment
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