Show I THE IiliELYFASCINATION How Conservative Business Men Were Induced to Invest Philadelphia Times More than three yers ago a futile effort was made to lure John Jacob Astor into I the Keely scheme A public announce I mont of that fact brought an approving smile from a wellknown newspaper publisher pub-lisher who wa then admired for his foresight fore-sight and excelienPjUdgment In financial matters Elghte years ago he said to the narrator at that time I was invited In-vited to attend an exhibition of Keelys marvelous force > ith a view of inducing me to make an Investment of money In the enterprIse I took with mo fwo well known experts In physics one of whom was the gIfted Professor George Barker of the University of PennsylvanIa Ve saw what many others have seen since A pint of water poured Into a cylinder aPlleared to work iticredlble wonders the gauge showing a pressure of 56000 pounds to the square inch Great ropes were torn deuf igrgi scl apart iron bars were broken and bullets were discharged hrough twelve inches of I planking by a force that was invisible and which the exp rt scientists with ml tested In order to discover whether it possibly could have been produced ry compressed air electricity steam or gaseS of any kind Upon that occasion r well remember that Keely said that within avery a-very short time with one quart of water he would be able to send a train of cars from Philadelphia to San Francisco and back and that with one gallon of the same fluid he would drive u steamship from New York to Liverpool and return After the exhibition I asked my two frIends the experts whether or not the force demonstrated had been produced by any of the four causes I have mentioned men-tioned They said it had not I asked them what was the power They saia they could not tell The next uay our friend the publisher walked into the oflice of the secretary o t the Keely Motor company on Walnut street and handed him a check for ZQ0 with a request for ten shares of the stock of the corporation 4 look disappoint mont croSsed the otncials face and he remarked that he thought the subscription subscrip-tion Vlould be larger One hour later in hIs office the pUblisher was visited by two of the most Intiuentlal members of the board of directors who said to him Were you not satisfied with last nights demonstration Delighted was the reply Well we surely counted upon your subscribing for at least 25000 worth of the stock said the visitors No said the newspaper man If an that Keely says Is true the 500 Ive invested in-vested will In a few years be worth many milliOns and that will amply satisfy me for the Investment If Keely has what lie claims every newspaper press every stationary sta-tionary engine every street car every locomotive everything that is now provided pro-vided wIth steam power will be given force by the use of only a pint of ordinary wattr and untold millions Will accrue to thoso who have put their money into the Invention That was twenty years ago and steam and electricity have not yet been supplanted planted as motive powers Shortly after this occurrence a relative marriage of the publisher called upon him and begged him to arrange for an inspection in-spection or the mysterious motor To this the relative said Dont go If you do you v 1 be fascinflted You will invest your mt y perhaps to a reckless extent aud yet there is nothing there to warrant any senfible business man buYing the stock The relative coaxed promising that he would not put any of his money into the scheme explaining his curiosity by the fact that he was interested In all mechanical devIces He was n man of I keen shrewd judgment He saw the motor It was not supposed afterwards that he had spent a penny upon It Not long ago he died and rin examination of his personal estate disclosed the fact that the day after he had visited Keelys workshop work-shop In thIs city he had landed the secretary sec-retary of the company his check for 5000 One more Incident Shortly after the newspaper publisher referred to had made his investment in Keely stock he was vIsiting New York taing at the Fifth Avenue hotel His name had been runored about as a believer be-liever r the motor One morning he re eled a card of a nephew of George F Peabody The visitor explained that he had noticed the arrJval of the Phiiadel phlan in one of the morning newspapers that he was going over to the Quaker City to examine the great mystery and that he wanted the newspaper mans opinion opIn-Ion of It The reply received was Dont go It is certaIn to Impress you as a marvel Unless you are abler than most mQn you will believe in it and you wm wasto your money I do not say that it Is a fraud but I do say that Keely makes extravagant promIses none of which are ever fplfluled The visitor declared that he was possessed of sufficient firmness of will not to he led Into anything that cool judment did not approve of Now for the sequel Ten yearsagQor more there wan a row between the PhIladelphia and New York stockholders as to who should control the Keely Motor company and at that time the Quaker City publisher made inquiry as to how much money if any his visitor it the FIfth Avenue hotel of years before had invested in the stock of the corporation rhq answer lie received re-ceived was Mr Peabolly has altogether purchased soo of Keely motor stock Q |