Charles G . Conn Charles Gerard Conn ( 29 January 1844 – 5 January 1931 ) was an entrepreneur , band instrument manufacturer , and U . S . Representative from Indiana . Biography . Charles Gerard Conn was born in Phelps , New York on January 29 , 1844 . In 1850 , he accompanied his family to Three Rivers , Michigan and in the following year to Elkhart , Indiana . Little is known about his early life , other than that he learned to play the cornet . With the outbreak of the American Civil War he enlisted in the United States Army on May 18 , 1861 at the age of seventeen , despite his parents ' protests . On June 14 , 1861 he became a private in Company B , 15th Regiment Indiana Infantry , and shortly afterwards was assigned to a regimental band . When his enlistment expired he returned to Elkhart , but re - enlisted on December 12 , 1863 at Niles , Michigan in Company G , 1st Michigan Sharpshooters . At the age of nineteen on August 8 , 1863 he was elevated to the rank of Captain . During the Assault on Petersburg on July 30 , 1864 , Conn was wounded and taken prisoner . In spite of two imaginative and valiant attempts to escape , he was recaptured and spent the remainder of the war in captivity . At the end of hostilities , he was released from Columbia , South Carolina prison camp , and was honorably discharged on July 28 , 1865 . After the war he engaged in the grocery and bakery business . In 1871 , while serving as a band leader in Buchanan , Michigan , Conn badly injured his hand while working at the local zinc Horse collar - pad factory . The accident forced Conn to switch from violin to cornet . In 1877 , Conn and his wife , Catherine , relocated to Elkhart , Indiana , where Conn worked various jobs for two years . During this time , Conn sold health care products under the tradename " Konn ' s Kurative Kream " , and invented parts for sewing machines . He also plated and engraved silverware , and manufactured rubber stamps . Drawing from the skills learned at his previous jobs , he invented a cornet mouthpiece with a rubber rim , which began his career in the manufacture of band instruments Conn was an important innovator in the development of modern wind instruments , and established the C . G . Conn Company , a major instrument manufacturer , in Elkhart . Charles Conn was elected Mayor of Elkhart in 1880 . In 1884 Conn organized the 1st Regiment of Artillery in the Indiana Legion and became its first Colonel , a military title which stayed with him throughout the remainder of his life . He was also the first commander of the Elkhart Commandery of the Knights Templar . Colonel Conn also served as Lieutenant Colonel of the 2nd Regiment of Uniform Rank , Knights of Pythias , and was re - elected many times as Commander of the local G . A . R . post . Conn served as mayor of Elkhart from 1880 until 1883 , and as member of the Indiana state House of Representatives in 1889 . He established the " " Elkhart Daily Truth " " in 1889 . Conn was elected as a Democrat to the Fifty - third Congress ( 4 March 1893 - 3 March 1895 ) , but he was not a candidate for renomination in 1894 . Conn bought the newly established " " Washington Times " " in 1894 , during his congressional term of which Stilson Hutchins ( 1838 - 1912 ) was later to serve as publisher ( who himself previously founded and owned " " The Washington Post " " , 1877 - 1889 , ( later one of the nation ' s most influential newspapers by the mid - 20th Century ) prior to selling " " The Times " " to the newspaper syndicate of Frank A . Munsey ( 1854 - 1925 ) who later sold it in 1917 to William Randolph Hearst ( 1863 - 1951 ) . Later purchased by Eleanor Josephine Medill Patterson " Cissy " Patterson ( 1881 - 1941 ) ( of the Medill - McCormick - Patterson families which owned the conservative Chicago Tribune and later founded the trend - setting New York Daily News and Newsday on New York ' s Long Island ) who later merged it with " The Washington Herald " " and became the " " Washington Times - Herald " " to 1954 when it was absorbed by " " The Post " " now under the Meyer - Graham family ( with the name of " " Times - Herald " " remaining on the masthead until 1973 ) . After his term in Congress , Conn resumed the manufacture of band instrument s at Elkhart , Indiana . In 1916 he retired and moved to Los Angeles , California . Conn authored books in his retirement , including The Sixth Sense , Prayer : Brain Cell Reformation ( 1916 ) , For the Good of the World . Finding the Real God ( 1919 ) , The Wonder Book : How to Achieve Success ( 1923 ) . Charles Gerard Conn died 5 January 1931 in Los Angeles , and was interred in Grace Lawn Cemetery , Elkhart , Indiana .