Newspapers / The Wallace Enterprise (Wallace, … / Feb. 27, 1936, edition 1 / Page 7
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By ELMO SCOTT WATSON 7 NE hundred years ago this, month—on February 25, 1836, to I be exact—there was issued In Washington, D. C., a patent for an Invention which probably attracted ^lttiq attention at . ■ the tlmebut which was destined to be a maker of American history.' During the next three quarter* of a "century it ? would not only become uncommon name (analogous in usage to Pullman for a sleeping car and Ford for an automobile) but It would also be an important factor in taming the American frontier and "revoltittonlso military tactics.” That last Is a quotation from the recent biography of the man to' whom the patent was issued—“Yankee Arms Maker—the Incredible Career of Samnel Colt," written by Jack Bohan andpubllshed by Harper'and Brothers. For the which wbs patented'Jost a century ago was the revolver, the firearm of Its kind in history. with Samuel’s Colt’s revolver are two Interesting para One agjhem Is that this weapon, which would become so orach a of the "Wild West," was produced by a native of one of the oldest parts of the East The other Is that it, an Instrument In the con fa wild land, had Its teal genesis at sea.. * ' ' Colt was bom In Hartford, Conn., July 19,1814, the third son _ aer and Sarah (Caldwell) Colt. His mother was ‘a daughter John Caldwell, a veteran of the Revolution. The fact that she Eat a soldier and therefore had gainst firearms probably had1 ber son’s early Interest la gans, even Sam Colt was Indentured r Glastonbury and during his. (actors bad a decided Influence tore career. - i in this farm homp- were the ic anti a volume kho#p as the Knowledge.” Young Colt spent -rime reading the latter. In It arable scientific 'Information-^ oent of the wort.of Robert * of . the steamboat, an article tlvpnlc battery and a formula ortant, however, was the rime lis errands to the village store to his biographer, “cracker-bar eelghed the destiny of the re landing doings of the Revok ing discussed; From men who Mb their fathers when It was the recollections of old men a the ground, $am heard the looting of General Fraser, at » Murphy, and of other mar rphy had performed with his fie. Wide-eyed with Intelligent •ften listened to speculation as that might have been Inflicted had the whole Continental army been armed with like weapons. If some, nation could Invent n gun that would shoot five or six rimes without reloading, that nation would rule the world. In the opinion of the Glastonbury military observ ers. But of course the thing was impossible. -Bam, listening • mouse like as he walte^ tor the storekeeper to put up his order, missed nothing KC the discussions at his leisure, he bat Robert Fnlton and several other id accomplished things deemed tm til they' were done. He concluded il forum’s opinion on repeating fire hot, after all, be infallible. He de mid be an inventor and -create the gun.”, • rt -x the germ of the Idea planted in the Yankee hoy’s mind. It developed « little farther a year; later when he went to work In his father's textile plant at Ware, Mass. There he had ac cess to various chemicals and the opportunity to borrow tools of all kinds from the millwrights, 'Expanding upon the Idea of Tim Murphy’s dou ble rifle, be bound four barrels together and tried; to. make them revolve so that each. In tarn, would come under the lock and fire. But more ;J often than not all four fired at once so he bad to give It up as a bad job. ! Next he was apprenticed to a Captain Spanld wWch woo-oaUlng froth on a voyage to Calcutta, India. Young Wasn’t especially thrilled over life as a hot ha did enjoy watching some of the salts carve odd little knick-knacks ont of wood. While be had been employed in the tex tile factory ait Wore, he had made the acquaint-' •nee of a young mechanic named -Elisha K. Boot whir had explained to him the valne of making ^-Working drawings and then wooden modbls of some of the things he was trying to invent Watching the sauora carve, Sam remembered Boot’s advice about models and set about learn ing, fe carve. "He acquired considerable pro ficiency, but when the voyage was half over he was without any'Idea on which to contract a model," says Rohan. But one day In the Indian | ocean a real Inspiration canm to him. '■ ‘‘Stanfltugidly watching the steersman, he no ticed that, regardless of which way the wheel '.was spun, each spoke always came directly In ;line with a clutch that could be set to hold It 4He watched for a long time and finally caught PP* visioning holes In the rim—holes which ‘aacceasively came in alignment with a stationary 'spaCtafe—which the young Inventor’s Imagina tion Identified as the bore of a pistol. The re j'tfwjwr won conceived 1 Sam had found use for his lelftupfe. With the jackknife that cost leas than a doRar, ho staffed to whittle ont the foundation of a fortune which was to run Into Samuer edit .. i Texes Arm. w I The Original'*' ^ “Colt" I_ Aitachm.n* Walker Pistol mechanic, to begin making >r me revolvers. He also Interested his father In the project again and the result 'was fc trip to Europe where he secured patents on bis weapon In England, Prussia and Francd. Returning to America be borrowedgSOO ftp® fata father and went to Wash-, In'gton'where on" February 25, .0836, his historic potent was granted. Then he set about organis ing a corporation to manufacture and market his weapon and on March 5, 1836, the New Jersey legislature chartered the “Patent Arms Manu facturing company” of Paterson. Bat despite this triumphal culmination of the young Yankee's efforts to, create the 'Impossible gab,” his future path to success was a rocky one. There were quarrels with his relatives over the management of the company in which they had Invested their money,'there were «U sorts of financial troubles, struggles with competitors, lawsuits over patent infringements and other dif ficulties, for this .pioneer . Industrial, enterprise. To the student of the history of American busi ness and Industry this new biography of Samuel Colt la Intereating because It shows that he “was the first of the great American Industrialists. Colt, not the modern moto.r car manufacturer, conceived and first utilized standardized machine production, dlvl labor and the.‘assembly line.’ * “He warn one hq first, If not the first, large scale employer to assume responsibility for .the well-being of bis employees., ,00k showed the way to the modern promoters of wars . , . he was the-precursor of the modern munitions kings -ra pioneer in the Urt of ploying one nation against another to increase Ms sales.” . Equally Interesting Is the part which Mg wea pon played in the military history of this coun try and more particularly lp the history of the frontier. Unqfaje to convince “moss-backed brass hats” In the’War department that hia.revolver and his revolving rid0 were superior to the smooth-bore musket and single-shot horse pistol tov which they were devoted, he next tried to get the Navy, department to adopt them. But again be was unsuccessful. Then the panic year of 1837 almost wiped out Ms business; ' V. But so Indian war saved Mm—the War with the Semtuoles ln'Florlda. Gei£ Thomas'S. Jesup, general of the army, was lo Bpemfions against the Seminole* and In command was Col. William, 8. fine, field officer, who regarded Colt’s with great favor. Harney realised Olvera were jdst the arias needed type of war Waged by the to ol tijo Semlnoles were simple. TKe C avairg Charge v ev FREDERIC REMINGTON All pictures shown above, from Rohan’* “Yan kee Arm* Maker—the Incredible Career of Sam uel Colt,” courtesy, - Harper and Brothers, pub lishers. 3 " . ♦ cluslvely to the w4r department their value as weapons for our soldiers. Another significant event at about this time was Colt’s meeting with Capt Sam H. Walker, a famous Texas Ranger leader, who had come to Washington with a, delegation of frontiersmen to urge the admission of the new Republic of Texas as a state in the federal. Union. Up to this time Colt had been making a .34 caliber revolver but out of his conference In New York with Walker came the .44 caliber Walker Colt which soon became a favorite weapon on tbfe southwest frontier. A few years later this gun became even more significant in that part pf the country* By the time Texas was admitted to the Union In 1845 war between Mexico and the United States was Inevitable. President Polk sent a force under Gen. Zachary Taylor to the Rio Grande to “protect” the new state against Its former rulers, the Mexicans. When a detach ment of American cavalry was ambushed by a Mexican patrol, Its commander, a Captain Thorn ton, was the only man who escaped and he had shot his way to freedom with a brace of Colt revolvers. General Taylor was Impressed by this fact and asked for more information about these weapons. Capt- Sam' Walker of the Rangers;’ who was guarding Taylor's lines of communications, told the general that the only thing wrong with the revolvers was that there were not enough of them. Thereupon Taylor sent Walker to Wash ington to make known this need to the Presi dent and the result was an order on Colt for 1,000 of his revolvers, wjilch he at once supplied. More than that he put over as clever a publicity campaign as any modern press agent qver thought of doing. “|t was not the sales of his revolvers to the army that made Sam Colt,” says Rohan. “It was the manner In which he capitalized the vic tories of the Americans over numerlcally-supe rior forces. The revolvers In use at Resaca de la Palma, Monterey and Buena Vista were few end far between. But those few, when Sam Colt got to spreading the story around the world, ac counted for the defeat of the Mexicans. And the latter, glad of any excuse for their humilia tion, cheerfully corroborated his claim!” If the Mexican war gave Sam Colt his first real start, tbe War between the States sent his enterprise booming toward the pinnacle of suc cess. The extent of that conflict soon called for production of the new weapon on a bigger scale than ever before: In 1881 the Colt factories turned out nearly 70,000 revolvers. The next year production Jumped to more than 110,000. But the inventor did not live to see the amazing success of the thing which he had whittled out of wood on the brig “Cqrso* He died January 10,1862, but others carried on his work. „ When the war, .ended and Americans set about to conquer the last frontier, Colt’s invention be came Increasingly Important In that conquest It hung at the hip of virtually every horseman of tbe plains, whether Texas Ranger, trooper in the United States army, cowboy, frontier marshal or outlaw. It barked In cavalry charges against the wild tribesmen of the Comanche, the Sioux and the Cheyenne; Its roar was beard In many a frontier dance hall and saloon. In the cow towns on the Texas cattle trails. It became not only a synonym for a certain type of firearm and a common name,-but It also became a symbol of the reign of law la w lawless land. “Judge Colt'*- was Judge, jury and executioner and A man’s life depended upon the quickness of the ' - Sweet Sixteen By MICHAEL SAUNDERS «9 McClure Newspaper gyndicate. wmi Service. Robert fraser, .tr., sat down abruptly. He coaid feel the symptoms coming on again. Spots before Ms eyes. His heart beating like a trip-hammer. He had to do something quickly or else suffer the consequences. He reached for pen and paper and wrote rapidly: Dear Cora: •I love you In spite of everything. Bob. Then came the long wait. On the first day, he whistled. On the sec ond day, he sang. On the third, he whistled and sang. On the fourth, he was off key whether he whistled or sang. Onjthe fifth, he was off— to Inquire at the dead-letter office. On the sixth, It came. A purple en velope with a heavenly lavender scent. He almost swooned when he read lb Dear Bob: Tour handwriting was so atro-. clous that I could not read a word Of your letter. Won’t you come over and say In words what you have written? I live only one block away, you know. Cora. To go or not to go, that was the question. The last time he bad vis ited Cora, he had offered to fix the radio for her father. Mr. Conway was one of those rado fanatics who far, far into the night keep their ears glued to the speaker as they dial for distant stations. It had taken one hour of perspiration be fore Bob had stepped back and de clared the set as good as new, tf not better. Mr. Conway then had turned on the switch and given the dial just one twist Plop 1 And all. the radio tubes had exploded. So had Mr. Conway. It had not been the well-placed kick that Bob had been Indignant about; it had been the Injury to his pride. What to do? The situation ob viously called for some master stroke, some coup d’etat. It was then his eyes lighted on his father’s typewriter. Again he composed a letter; this time typewritten In bold, clear, unmistakable words.. Dear Cora: i love you. boo. Two weeks passed before anoth er lavender letter was placed under his door. He locked himself In his room before he dared open the let ter. It was well he did. It read: Dear Mr. Fraser, Jr.: “Your sentiments of the 27th re ceived and read. We are sorry to state that we are not In the market for such goods. However, we sug gest you try your wares elsewhere. We are sure there must be a mar ket for them. Sincerely, v ' Miss Conway. P..S.: How could you! P. P. S.: I never want to see yon again. All right! That was okay with him. From now on, no more wom i en. He would go Into the worid and : make himself famous. Then the whole world would grovel at his feet Even Cora. But Bob soon discovered it was a very lonely task. And besides, be ing offlce.boy in his father’s office was not hls Idea of setting the world on fire. Three weeks passed, and be was beginning to feel a little discour aged about the. whole affair. Per haps If he left borne and started life over again far from home, he would become successful. With this thought In hls mind he reached home one night to find a letter awaiting him. One look at the en velope and he went cold all over, and hls worst fears were confirmed. It was from Cora’s father. His hands trembled as he tore open the envelope. Dear Bob: Ever since you left, my daughter has taken to moping around the honse. That was perfectly satisfac tory to me. But lately she has taken to listening to the radio as surcease from her sorrow over some nincompoop. She listens to It night and day—the Blighted Romance hour, the Lovelorn program, Bing Crosby, and the Voice of Experi ence. Now, If this nincompoop doesn't come over to tear Cora away from this radio so that I can use it once In a while, I’ll pay him a visit and whip the everlasting daylights out of him. Thomas Conway. The nincompoop, went - over. Ancient New* Service On November 6, 1834, the United States Gazette, of Philadelphia, re printed election returns from New York morning papers of the same day—“the most extraordinary des patch ever forwarded In this or any other country, for so great a dis tance, save'by telegraphic signals.” The papers were carried to Amboy, N. J„ by steamboat In two hours and twenty - five minutes. Prom there, the Gazette explained, a loco motive of the partially completed .Camden and Amboy railway “pro ceded- to. Hie present termination of the road, 88- miles. In 2 hours and 15 minutes, and with a horse and sulky the remaining five miles were performed In 28 minutes” — total running time, fire hours and five minutes. . ] Something: About A New Broom—and a New House Dress! PATTERN No. 1T8T-B /7<S7-5 A house dress, after all, Is a house dress—yet It needn't be “Just anoth er house dress," as convincingly dem onstrated In this unusually trim and clever design. The V neck front and back Is made In a contrasting mate rial and emphasized by the effective use of bright buttons. The short and comfortable set-in sleeves are fin ished! with pointed cuffs, also In con trast and button trimmed. The blouse is gathered to the skirt un der a-self-fabric belt, and the skirt features a full-length front panel with novel pockets achieved by the distinctive cut of the side pieces. These pieces, pointed and button trimmed, harmonize with the motif used In the collar and cuffs, and there are kick pleats in the front necessary for active household duties! Choose your favorite cottOn—per cale, gingham, chambray, or pique-—. In your most becoming color and make it up In an hour or two. Barbara Bell Pattern No. 1787-B Is available In sizes 14, 18, 18, 20, 40 42 and 44. Corresponding bust meas urements 32, 34, 36, 38, 40, 42 and 44. Size 16 (34) requires 3% yards of 35 Inch material, and % yard contrast ing. Every Barbara Bell Pattern in cludes nn Illustrated Instruction guide which is easy to understand. Barbara Bell Pattern No. 1787-B can be procured for fifteen cents. The Barbara Bell Pattern Book fea turing winter designs is ready. Send fifteen cents today for your copy. Send your order to The Sewing Circle Pattern Dept., 247 W. Forty third St, New York, N. Y. 6 Bel! Syndicate.—WNU Service. Throw Me a Cable, Captain, and I’ll Give You a Tow! A man In search of a quiet holiday set out in a small sailing boat, his only equipment consisting of pro visions and a wireless set. He sailed serenely for several days, 1 un til at last he sighted one of those liners which resemble small towns rather than ships, says the London Observer. The appearance of the little boat created excitement on board the liner, which slowed down. The captain was wondering wheth er it was a matter of going to the rescue when the holiday maker moved to his transmitter and tapped out the message: “Is there any thing I can do for you?” — Comoro Learned Gentle Art of Dying Old at Age of 40 History’s outstanding example of the value of hyglenle living is Luigi Cornaro, whose serious sickness when he was forty years of age di rected his attention to regulating his habits of life. Instead of dying be fore fifty, as a result of what was considered starvation diet, he lived to be one hundred. In his eighty-fourth year he wrote his celebrated' bq&k showing how he had achieved'iwsdth, high spirits and an unfailing Interest In the life of h(s age. I'AaO proved, r gained weigni uaa iut unw stomach distress.” _ ' Buy DOW I New alxe, tab*. 'i$fc ISMMl $1.00 k $1.35. At aU drag aaaMfe.'vSgj
The Wallace Enterprise (Wallace, N.C.)
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Feb. 27, 1936, edition 1
7
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