| Show became wealthy in in old A age ae remarkable career of capt cap t ford the pioneer plate glass man manufacturer business success achieved Achieve after dAfter mans allotted span ol of life this city la Is the cradle of the plate glass industry in of the united states says an albany ind special to the indianapolis sentinel the first pol dished plate glass manufactured in the country Is still in use in the front window of a new albany clothing store there are two plates each about capt john B ford who erected here the first factory in the united states for the manufacture of polished plate glass and whose name Is a household word throughout southern indiana Is still living at bi 91 years of age at tarentum Taren tum turn pa he came originally from kentucky and located at greenville near here he was a natural born inventor and invented and manufactured a machine for chopping straw he soon moved to new albany where lie he built steamboats his attention was attracted by a little factory at lenox mass which was manufacturing a crude form of rough plate glass for skylights ho he set his wits to work and designed the first machinery for the manufacture of polished plate glass this machinery was made at new albany foundries he interested ills his cousin washington 0 do de pauw a man of large means and they operated the first plate glass manufactory which was a huge success but they could not agree as to business policy and ford sold his interest ad to de pauw ford then established establish bd factories fd C tortes at louisville and jeffersonville Jeffer sonville which failed capt fords history from this time furnishes the most remarkable instance on record of a man building up an immense fortune fp in his old ago age he was 78 years old when he started for now new york but was smooth shaved and looked much younger he did not havo have money enough to buy his rail road ticket he arrived in now york penniless but his wonderful genius for organization enabled him to interest big now new york capitalists who furnished the money with which he built and put in operation two immense plate glass fac factories one at taren turn and the other at creighton pa later he founded ford city sixty miles cast of pittsburg establishing there a factory employing and introducing all modern accessories about four years ago lie he sold his factories which were all in his own name to the plate glass glas trust for and lie he has been living in retirement since i he was the first man in the united states to discover that natural gas could be used as fuel for manufacturing purposes he built his factory at tarentum Taren tum turn alongside a coal bed ex pecking to use it for fuel his work men in making soundings discovered gas and he was not long in harnessing the now new fuel and malting making it do his work in his long career of largo large manufacturing endeavors he never had a strike because he always paid the highest wages that could be paid in the business it is difficult for new albany people to realize that the old man who left here without a penny borrowing money to buy his railroad ticket is now a multimillionaire multi millionaire ho he Is afflicted with cancer which will soon end his career ile he has built at greenville ind hip hi old home one of 0 the finest methodist churches in the state and his other bequests within alky the last two iwo years amounted to at least |
