Keely and His Discoveries: Aerial NavigationMoore, Bloomfield H., Mrs.
Religion
Keely and His Discoveries: Aerial Navigation
Moore, Bloomfield H., Mrs.
Keely motor; Keely, John Ernest Worrell, 1827-1898
It is not necessary to pursue this summary farther, as the manner in
which Mr. Lorimer has set down the facts already given, makes clear the
nature of the conflicting interests that brought about the antagonism
which he attempted to subdue, bringing such a spirit of fairness and
justice into his efforts as must have crowned them with success,
supported as he was by Mr. Keely, had it not been that those who
advocated following a policy which, at best, aimed no farther than
at the recouping of losses to themselves, were in the majority. It
was at this time that Mr. Keely manifested his willingness to assume,
on the one hand, all the responsibility of the proper development of
his discovery; or, on the other hand, all the disgrace accompanying
failure by his offer to purchase a controlling interest in the stock,
fifty-one thousand shares of which, in order to prevent speculation,
he agreed to lock up for five years, and to give the company a bond
restraining him from negotiating or parting with a single share of it
in that time, the stock to be paid for as soon as certain deferred
payments had been made to him. This proposition of Mr. Keely to the
Board of Directors, October 25th, 1881 (and laid upon the table by a
large majority as unworthy of consideration), was made from his earnest
desire to control the presentation of his life's work to the world
in a just and honourable way; having recognized, with Mr. Lorimer,
the utter impossibility of reconciling the numerous interests created
by mistakes of himself and the mismanagement of the Board, unless he
could thus obtain the power to deliver an unencumbered enterprise to
the world. In the opinion of Mr. Lorimer, during the negotiations which
he conducted between the management and Mr. Keely, the latter was the
only one who had manifested any consistency or strength of purpose,
so far as the facts gave evidence, which were brought before him, of
the history of the company. When the validity of the contracts made
with Mr. Keely while he was president, or director of the company, were
disputed, he was called upon to resign, which he did; and yet no steps
were taken to ascertain the value of the existing contracts, which
had all been made with him while he was both president and director,
and which were therefore illegal. Proceedings in equity were commenced
against Mr. Keely, by the Committee of the Board of Directors having
the matter in charge, late in the year 1881, while Mr. Lorimer's report
was still in the hands of the printer. "The spectacle of a Board of
thirteen Directors, composed of business men," writes Mr. Lorimer,
"claiming that they have been foiled in their business calculations
by a man whose mind has been so thoroughly absorbed in researching
the problems presented by his wonderful discoveries that he could
not possibly compare with any of them in business tact, is truly
a phenomenon which is not easy of explanation on any hypothesis,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account