Year: 1877

the secret and deprive me of its fruit
The secret was discovered by the merest
Ichance while l was working in the


foundries of Wasseralfngen. After all
you will find my demands reasonable.


That L am not selfish will be seen from
the fact that / have fully described my
discovery and deposited it in safe
place"


After a lengthy consultation it wa:
4 tagreed on to form a select committee


which should give the matter further


consideration and intermediate between


Herr B and the unknown, who still per


sisted in refusing to divulge his name


Thus far we have been able to relate


this story without reservations. Now


however, asolemn promise constrains us


to omit certain particulars Suffice it to


say three other conferences were held


and that several persons high in author


lty attended them. Though the price
asked for the secret was not thought too


high, it seems there were some eontin-
l.gencaes attached 10 its. payment. On
the 9TH of December, 1875, another and


final conference was to have taken place


but this time the unknown did not ap-
pear. The blame for this untoward IL
male of the whole negotiation rests on the
shoulders of an individual whose name
We are loath to reveal on account of his
other great services, though they are not
so great as to outweigh the injury which
the world may sustain by the loss of the
secret


For all that the writer of these lines
has related thus far, he is indebted to the
confidential communications of the dis
tinguished member of the Imperial Diet
who participated in the bove-described
conference, and who now considers him
self released from his pledge of preserv-
ing an inyiolate silence by the expiration
of the eighteen months. There may,
moreover, be shortly expected further
explanations from one or more of the
other gentlemen who attended these
memorable conferences.


But this is by no means the end of the
matter. We cannot conclude our story
with the plausible assumption of the
disappearance of the unknown without
leaving trace. There is still a hope that
the great secret mag be kno,on, and it is
our most fervent desire that these pages
may contribute toward the realization of
this hope.


Embittered and disappointed by the
difficulties which he encountered in his
own country, it is surmised that the un
known concluded to turn his back upon
it, and to take his secret abroad-wheth-
er to England or the United States must
be uncertain-and to dispose of it there.
His fate overlook him, however, on the
way. Among the passengers who lost
their lives in the terrible explosion of
Thomas internal machine on board of
the Mosel, a steamer of the North Ger
man Lloyd, Dec II, 1875, in Bremerha-
ven, there appeared ON the ships list the
name of Johann Wegele, a South Ger
man-undoubtedly our discoverer. No
relatives have ever applied for the few
articles which are still waiting to be
claimed at Bremerhaven. His memo
randum book contains, however, a few
addresses in England and America, o few
letters signed "Warie,r and a dOcu-
ment on the following import:


"As am about to undertake longer
journey, and something human may cas-
lily happen TO me, l have on this day
(Dec Z, 1879 deposited in the bank of


"a sealed package, in which are fully
described the particulars of my great
discovery, the suspension of the law of
gravitation. In the event of my death,
or if / am not heard from within three
years, the officers of the bank are author
lied to open the package-therefore, at
the farthest, on Dec 9, 187S,-and to re-
veal the secret"


The name of the bank was left blank,
perhaps to be filled out later. The sig.
nature is also lacking, and it may be
doubted whether the name Johann
Wegele, which stands on the passenger
list of the North German Lloyd, is the
true one.


We are done. With so many witness
es no doubt can be entertained of the
truth of the discovery, and it is only
necessary to await the 9th of December,
1873, when the world is to be startled by
the revelation of the secret-Translated
from The Daheim for the Chicago Trib-