Evening star., 1932-04-22
NOCTURNAL INTRUDER EvADES
Star Staff Photos.

Star Staff Photos
/ - ECRET inventions which the late
Carroll Livingston Riker, Falls
| Church scientist, guarded jeal-
~ ously IN life. have become the
prey of a mysterious midnight
visitor, who has broken into the sealed
laboratory-home of the inventor and
disturbed strange models, intricate
drawings and various patent papers.
Police of the nearby Virginia town
laid a trap for the nocturnal intruder
during the past week. but he failed to
appear. That he managed to slip into
| the boarded-up, cobwebby, unfinished
house between visits Of an officer was
| indicated, however by the fact that
submarine model had changed position
| in the interim.
A much larger model Of a mine
layinR submarine, on which Riker was
working at the time OF his death a
year ago appears to have been the
center of the prowler's attention. Ihe
model, constructed carefully OF Wood.
is 8 feet long. Although other articles
| in the house were covered with oust;
the large model had been brushed
clean.
"Tree House" Invaded.
Riker's quaint tree house" one
room dwelling atop the trunk OF
| tree, where the inventor lived IN Sc
/ clusion while building the main house;
also had been invaded. Shelves and
drawers had been rifled and papers
were Scattered about the floor.
Riker was internationally known as
an inventor and engineer and was "a a.
miliar figure at the Capitol, where ne
sought congressional approval for nu-
merous inventions and projects. he
| took a prominent part IN engineering
! controversies over Mississippi flood con
troll and exhibited in the basement OF
the Capitol a 500 model of his hood
| control plan, showing the MISSISSIPPI
Valley in miniature with flood water
| flowing through spillways. His plan was
rejected by the late Maj. Gen. Edgar
! Jadwin. chief of engineers, but re-
ceived Endorsement OF legislators ana
others.
| Sealed by Executors
Riker's partly completed house and
the peculiar tree dwelling in the rear
we're sealed by executors OF the estate
last year. Doors were locked and nailed
| and windows were boarded up.
| Recently a neighbor reported to Town
| Sergt. Paul Herman OF Falls Church
! that weirdly Pickering lights had peen
seen on the second floor OF the house
at midnight on several occasions 1t was
| on this floor that the models were Kept
Herman found aboundant evidence
of unauthorized entry. Climbing lad
der which substituted for stairs, the
officer picked his way across loosely
| laid banking on the second floor JolSts
and discovered the duSt-free models, an
ANTIQUE cupboard from which drawers
| had been removed, scattered documents
and drawings and many burnt matches.
| An old electric range was still hot,
although the current had been turned
off when the place was sealed. 1nves-
tigation revealed that some one had
climbed a pole in front Of the house
and turned on switch.
Drawers had been pulled out and
papers disturbed in thtrd-hoor room,
also.
when Herman first visited the house
the small submarine model rested on a
shelf just below the large model. When
he returned later the small boat had
been placed on the floor.
Police set up a watch at the house
during the past week, but the intruder
failed to resume his visits. A thorough
investigation is being made.
Among the papers scattered in Riker S
house are drafts and copies of patents
| of a wide variety Of his inventions,
ranging from mobile guns, torpedo-im
mune transports and freighters, subma-
rines and dredges, to improved house
hold plumbing fixtures. AS far back as
| 1870 Riker was part owner of the
steamboat Huguenot, engaged in a
Government contract to carry stone to
the Block Island Breakwater. The
| he daciOnaA tho hIIll nf tho
steamboat Castleton, for more than 80
years the fastest boat of her size in
New York Bay. In 1886 he designed,
built and in company with Joseph
Cumming owned the Riker dredging
pump, which filled in the Potomac flats,
now known as the Speedway, at so per
cent of the cost estimated by Army
engineers.
Twice Called to Panama.
While consulting engineer for the
Morris g. Cumming Dredging Co. Riker
dredged the approaches to st. Peters
burg, Russia, and worked in the River
Seine, France and ports along the
Eastern United States seaboard. Twice
he was called by Goethals to Panama
to aid in engineering problems at Gatun
Dam. He designed jetties in the NADIA
lima River, Colombia, Which saved from
destruction the buildings Of the Bolivar
Ice g. Lumber Co. He was an authority
on ocean currents, from studies carried
on in the Mediterranean, Atlantic and
Pacific Oceans. All this information
was printed in the Congressional Record
at the request of Senator Frazier, who
on February II, 1881, introduced reso-
luton to establish a Senate Mississippi
Engineering Advisory Board to study
his plans for flood control. Riker him.
self estimated that he had spent $l0,-
600 in construction Of the model ex-
hibited under running water in the
basement Of the Senate ONCE Building.
Had Traffic Relief Plan
Among his papers was found his de-
tailed plans for great steel viaduct to
relieve traffic congestion in Washing
ton, which he claimed had been ap-
proved by the Fine Arts Commission
This viaduct was to be suspended not
less than % feet above some of the
present streets from great arches
spanning the street at intervals of 100
feet. The first floor of this viaduct was
designed for local traffic, the next two
floors for automobile parking and the
top floor for a speedway. These plans
) were prepared some years ago, before
the death Of Gen. Goethals and before
, adoption Of the present Federal buildins