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22 *y+ MERICA Is the birthplace of the f I telephone. Its discovery was made f— j generally known In Philadelphia V. I during June, 1876, at the Centennial JL Exposition, and the story of Its In vention Is in many respects the most marvelous and interesting part of this one of the world's wonders. Alexander Graham Bell, the genius who gave it scientific birth, was born in Edin burgh, Scotland, In 1847. His father. Alex ander Mellville Bell, was the inventor of what Is known as '-visible speech"— a sys tem of teaching deaf mutes how to speak by Indicating to them through visible characters the combinations of the vocal chords necessary to produce articulate sounds. To the life work of his father young Bell decided to devote himself. After a preparatory training he entered London University in 1567, but his health failed him and he left shortly afterward. In 1670, In company "with his parents, he went to Canada. Realizing that the United States offered a broader field for the work that he had In view, young Bell In 1872 came to the United States and settled in Boston, where he Introduced his father's system of visible speech for the education of deaf mutes. He supported himself at first with private classes. Meanwhile young Bell had commenced experiments In that branch of physics and electricity which embraces sound. The art of telegraphy afforded an alluring field for research, and about the time he came to this country he conceived the Idea that a system of multiple telegraphy might be evolved from the principle tnat the va rious chords of a musical Instrument are ■sensitive to sounds of different pitch. While In Canada he worked out a system of multiple telegraphy on this basis, and upon locating in Boston he interested Gardiner Hubbard and Thomas Sanders, two gentlemen of wealth, in his experl- They had confidence in the young man, and the three entered a partnership, it being agreed that Messrs. Hubbaxd and Sanders should defray the expenses of the experiments necessary to complete Bell's system of telegraphy, and for tak ing out necessary patents . Teaching was. absolutely Bell s onl> means of support. He spent all day in the class room, and when night cam© devoted his time to study and experiment, Borne time, in 1874 there occurred to him the idea that possibly the human voice itself might lie transmitted end reproduced by means of the electric current. His partners, Messrs. Hubbard and Sanders, preferred, however, that the young man should de vote himself to the completion of his system of multiple telegraphy, and rather discouraged his seemingly impracticable Idea for the transmission of speech by the electric current. The year of 1876 dawned dark and gloomy enough on the struggling young inventor. After he had completed his sys tem of multiple telegraphy and applied for his patent he found that his title to an original Invention was contested by the distinguished scientist, Elisha Gray of Philadelphia. He went to Washington to look after his interests, and while there called on the veteran physicist and electrician. Professor Joseph Henry, the secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. In the course of his interview with Pro fessor Henry he explained his Ideas for The Telephone MYSTERY OF FAMOUS TREASURE OF THE SAN LEON MONASTERY V T is an American who came nearest I t<"> solving the problem of the great ! treasure trove of the San Leon A Church of Mexico. He is J. F. Bell, a recently returned miner and pros pector for gold. "Tt is Bcarcely two summers ago," said Mr. Bell, that I was at the heafi of a quartz milling establishment near Guadauop<- y Calvo, in Chihuahua. There were aboul fifty swarthy and powerful peons, or semi-slave, half breeds, working under me, and I had .absolute power over them. I also had a privilege of taking on new hands. "One day a curious little Mexican ap plied for work at the mill. He seemed to >>c a man of Intelligence above the average, and had evidently traveled a great distance. He looked very diminu tive beside the six f < •< > t 'greasers,' who were able to carry 500 pounds of gold quartz on their backs, but 1 -took pity on him and hired him. • "He worked faithfully and well to the limit of his strength. IJe had nothing to do with the 'greasers' -who were about him on every Hide. "One night I heard a faint rap on my door Just as I was retiring. I askr-d the visitor in, and found It to be my curious workman. His face was the picture of misery. 'I have a great se cret to tell you,' he paid. 'I can trust no one but you and 1 cannot longer re main silent. You will never regret granting me this request. " 'Look at these, sir,' he eaid. softly, putting Into my hands some of the queerest octagon-shaped gold coins of antique design that I had ever seen. 'Po you know what they are? Well, I -will tell you. They are part of the hid den treasures of Kan Leon.' "My veins tingled at the sound. I knew the history of th<> country well enough to know that In 1856, duri-ng a temporary disturbance of a revolution ary nature, so frequent in < >!d Mexico, the rich treasures of the San Leon church, amounting to some $8,000,000 in gold, together with valuable relics and altar pieces, were stolen and car ried into the mountains, no one knew whither. "I turned the coins over in my hand, feeling a queer sense of stepping upon perilous but fascinating ground. 'And do you know where this treasure Is? 1 I asked. The little Mexican placed his hand on his heart as he Raid, 'Before God, I swear it!' Then after a pause, 'Listen, senor. while I tell you a little of my history. "'My people* are from Toluca, near the City of M< Kico. I was an only son. A little peon devil, With Home of my father's blood in his vein's, was brought up with me. He was of the lower order and wan thrifty, content with little. When he became old enough to shift for himself ho bought a H t tie herd of goats and tended them himself. One day ap he was gathering them together to drive them down the canyon out of reach of the mountain lions he missed one. He the construction of the telephone. He then wrote to his father and mother In Canada, telling- them of his talk with Pro fesser Henry. "I felt," said he. "so much encouraged from his (Professor Henry's) interest, that I determined to ask his advice about The apparatus I have designed for the trans mission of the human voice by telegraph. I explained the idea, and said: " 'What would you advise me to do publish it and let others work it out, or attempt to solve the problem myself?" "He said he thought it was the germ of a great invention, and advised me to work 1 It out myself instead of publishing. "I Bald i recognized that there were mechanical difficulties In the way tiiat rendered the plan impracticable at the present time. I added that T felt that I ha.i not the electrical knowledge neces sary to overcome the difficulties. His laconic answer was: •' 'Gel It.' " The letter written after Bell's return to Boston, and he started In on his experi mental work with renewed energy. Tie taxed his resources, financial and physi cal, to the limit, and then he resolved on a bold step. On March IS he wrote to his father and mother: "' have put off my pupils and all my classes until the first of April. ■ .-Flesh and blood could not stand much longer the strain I have had upon me. Professional work is all In confusion, and the only way is to cut the Gordian knot and throw up ■ everything 1 until the end is achieved." X.l] worked on now day and night. studying and experimenting. Meanwhile the situation had become complicated. •In the course of his association with his partner, Mr. Hubbard, he had met the charming young daughter of that distin guished philanthropist, then Miss Mabel [übbard. They had fallen in love with one another. The pride of the Scotch gentleman of small means, which has been so charmingly characterized in the novels of Sir "Walter Scott, was exag gerated in young Bell. The expense of his actual experiments •In multiple tele graphy had been defrayed by his part ners in the enterprise. But that or the telephone experiments fell entirely on him, and his slender. purse was taxed to the utmost to meet the calls upon it. He was unwilling to go to the father of his fiancee and ask a loan to help him defray his living expenses, and those incident to the purchase and construction 01 expen sive apparatus. Neither was he willing to turn to his parents for aid; and with his sole source of revenue cut off by the dismissal of his classes, he found himself reduced to the verge of actual want. At this iuuctnre a friend came forward and loaned him a small sum of money on the security of his prospective earnings from teaching during the coming winter. With this he struggled on. The date of the real discovery of the telephone might be said to be June 2, 1575. On that day Bell was standing by one of his harmonic instruments, when his assistant accident ally tapped the connecting instrument ■with his hand. The slight noise proceed ing from the nearby receiver would have escaped the attention of a less skilled ob server than Bell. To him it sounded as distinct as the crack of a pistol. Again and again the excited young scientist made his assistant repeat the lapping with his finger on the connected har monic Instrument, while he stood with his ear to. the receiving instrument, list ening delightedly to the sounds that is sued from it. Within the hour he gave orders for the construction of exactly such a telephone as in the preceding fall he had described to Dr. Blake. The elec tric speaking telephone was then a prac tical certainty. ;V- _ . One hour after the application was filed started back, calling for the missing goat. " 'He heard faint cries afar, but only after great difficulty and in the closing h'iur of day did he find the beast, which had wandered in "nehind a ledge of rock and could not retreat. As the herder advanced the goat pushed forward till Mexicun Peon Carrying five n ur >dred Pounds of Ore on rjls Bac^. THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL., SUNDAY, JTCTL.Y 9, 1899. both stood in a dark and weird cave. Then the man struck a match to find his goat, when he saw a gleaming cru cifix In the darkness beyond. " 'Along on the ledges about him hung what were once leather pouches, but the weight of their load had long burst them, and the floor of the cave was a vast heap of dust-covered gold coin. Crazed with amazement and ter ror. Paolo seized a handful of thes,? coins and dashed out of the cave and thence on down the mountain side as if pursued by demons. " 'He kept his secret well for five days; then he came to me, his one friend and confidant. When I saw the coins I was crazy. We planned to go up to the mountain canyon the next day, and we did bo. I saw that the man spoke the truth. I drove my hand into the heaps Of gold, senor, up to the shoulder. It wan the lust treasure of San Leon without the slightest doubt. 1 have a pistol — here it is, senor — you see, the hammer will not stay cocked. Well. In handling the piece there the pistol went off and shot poor Paolo through the heart. Dumb with terror, I seized hat and staff and dashed from the cave, hurrying below. " 'For five days there was no search for poor Paolo. Then my aunt came to me and said, "Francesco, you have on Paolo's hat. You must have seen him last. Where is he?" I was Bpeechless with fright. •'Moreover," sh>- contin ued, "Here are some strange coins I founded hidden in his blankets. Whose are they?" I confess that 1 could have snatched them from her hand, but I restrained myself. Two o£ the coins were sent to. the City of .Mexico, and Immediately Government officials were out there with the news that these coins were part of the lost treasure of San Leon. " 'The country was in an uproar over the discovery. It was thought that Paolo was at the head of a band, and that they were somewhere in the moun tains still with the great treasure. A hundred of the civil military were or dered to patrol all the mountain passes of the district. In terror of apprehen sion, senor, I fled, and here I am.' "The man's story was so straightfor ward that I never questioned it. nor do I to this day. When he proposed that we return for the treasure, for he vow ed that he would never dare to do so unless I went ahead of him and turned poor Paolo's open eyes to the wall while we gathered up the golden store, I was with him. The gamble and danger of the game fascinated me. I took $300. intrusted it to him, gave him a Tiew suit of clothes and a rifle and. equipped with a camping outfit, started by rail to the south. Near our destination we left the railroad and proceeded on horseback, securing good animals from the ranchers. "We had not penetrated the moun tain district far — our very promised 'and — when we happened upon three of the patrolling soldiers. They halted us and demanded to know our mission. Paolo told them that I was from the States and seeking a purchase of a ranch, that I- could not speak a word of Spanish and that he was my valet and interpreter. We exchanged com pliments and passed on. But only a few miles further they came after us pellmell and plied us with more ques tions, leaving us a second time. When this was repeated a third time Fran cesco whispered. "Senor, you down the fat one ahead and I will kill the other two. I am a dead shot. We cannot be stopped here on the very threshold of success.' "But I demurred. There was to be no killing for me. I knew the conse quences, and preferred that the gold MOST FIENDISH EXECUTIONER LIVING AT THE PRESENT DAY A MAN whose boast is that he ha^taken one hun dred and sixty-two lives and whose proud delight is to enlarge upon the several and original meth ods employed in this cold-blqoded butchery can hardly be believed possible In this civilized close of the nineteenth century. In the olden days of French revolution, the Spanish Inquisition and the gory red ax of robber German barons, suoh characters cut out many a cruel page of bloody history, but for such a monster to ex ist in th^se days of mercy and to have ruled at the very door of our own free country seems almost incredible. Yet such a one does live and, until quite recently, held full and brutal sway as "professional executioner" for Maceo in Santiago de Cuba. This brute, for he Is little else. Is named "Tien Con." ' He is a burly negro, coal black, with beetling brows and sunken, beady eyes of snakelike brilliancy, cruel, cold and seldom blinking. His large mouth, massive chin and strong white dog teeth give but a hint of his marvel ous physical strength. His muscles stand out on arms and shoulders like great ripe cocoanuts. Never has "Tren Con" been known to miss or take two blows with his keen ma cheta on a quivering, helpless victim. Maceo made this black fiend his official executioner with full discretionary power, and the dark tales of devilish tortures as well as the negro's own boast of 162 heads indi cate that h- carried out the duties of his horrible office well and to the full limit of authority. "Tren Con" is now in the hands of the American soldiers at Morro to be tried for murder, and will doubtless soon be a thing of the past. He was .captured with thirty other robbers, members of a band under his own leadership, who had been the terror of the country people until the boys in blue "rounded up" the bandits, capturing the thirty aforementioned besides killing thirteen. Since his lmprisomnenl he has neve* uttered a single word of regret for the many lives that are written against his- name In the book of Judgment; but on the contrary has taken espe cial delight In- regaling bia guards with sickening accounts of Ingenious methods for extracting information from political prisoners and the .proper etiquette governing the office of oub lic "executions. He seems to fear nothing in the realization of the fact that he must Boon pay the penalty of his crimes by himself suffering the death penalty, and in discussing the mat ter merely says that he could perform the job better than any bungling American executioner. He is closely watched lest he should increase his horrible record of 162 lives to 183— with him self in the double role of slayer and victim. % should be untarnished with blood. The soldiers demanded that we go clown to the city and $et permission of the gov ernment to pass into the mountains. This I knew was impossible to do just then, and we went down in the direction thirty miles utterly disconso late, my companion continually calling to me to wheel round and do the trick that would liberate us. "Not da-ring to enter the city, we ramped outside for flve days, unde cided. For three days we argued; then th^i« came a woman on the scene. She was a very beautiful creature, evident ly Francesco's former sweetheart. She was the only one in the country who had recognized him as a new personal ity. For a day or two they mooned about the place, and then the girl dis with the Commissioner of Patents Elisha Gray of Philadelphia also filed a caveat warning Inventors against any attempt to patent an instrument such as the tele phone, as he was doing some work looking to the transmission of speech by the elec tric current. Had this been filed before Bell's application, there is a possibility that he would not have been granted a patent. Patent No. 174.465, perhaps the most im portant ever allowed by the United States Patent Office, was issued on March 7. IS7G. to Graham Bell for his original invention of an electric speaking telephone. Meanwhile Bell sent the rude instru ments which constituted his first tele phone on to the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. They were placed in an ob scure corner of the Massachusetts ex hibit, and attracted little or no attention. Gardiner Hubbard was attending the Exposition during the latter part of June. He learned that on Sunday, June 28, the board of judges of the exposition, includ ing Professor Henry and Sir William Thomson, since Lord Kelvin, would. In company with the Emperor of Brazil, in spect some of the inventions in harmonics of the distinguished scientist, Elisha Gray. As a special favor Mr. Hubbard obtained from them a promise to allow young Bell to show his telephone contriv ance to the party. He then telegraphed Bell to come to Philadelphia. Class work at this time was pressing, and Bell had about made up his mind to let the night train for New York and Philadelphia leave without him when some one announced that Miss Hubbard was awaiting him in her carriage. "Why. aren't you ready to go to Philadelphia?" was the question which greeted him. The young man began to explain about duties which would deter him from tak ing the trip. "Well, come take a drive with me." said his fiancee. He got In the carriage Immediately and was driven to the tta tion. There Miss Hubbard descended. Mr. Bell did likewise. The New York train was already wait- Ing on the track, with steam up, ready to pull out. "Mr. Bell, you are going to Philadelphia to exhibit your invention," was the de cided order that the young man received. And go to Philadelphia he did. The next mortilng Bell arrived In Phil adelphia and prepared to exhibit his tele phone. Sir William Thomson Professor Henry and the Emperor of Brazil had taJten a long time in examining the really remarkable invention of El!sh,a Gray and must have felt considerably bored when young Bell finally gained their attention. But he had not proceeded far before they became intensely interested. After ex plaining the theory of the telephone, Bell placed Sir William Thomson at one of his instruments, and stationing another mem ber of the party at the other, he told them to go ahead and talk to one another. "To be, or not to be, that is the ques tion?" began Sir "William. "Do you hear me?" The answer came back, "Yes, quite plainly." The memberg of the party were simply astounded. The Emperor of Brazil was then stationed at one of the instruments and carried on an animated conversation with Elisha Gray, who stated his wonder at the marvelous in vention of Bell. For a week Sir William, Professor Henry and others experimented with and examined the telephone instruments. When they had satisfied themselves as to the great scientific and practical value of the invention, no words of praise from them for Bell and his telephone could prove too strong. "Tren Con," N\aceo's Official Executioner. appeared. "Francesco was like one insane after that. What tidings the girl brought or whether he told her his secret or not, I never discovered. Once more and for the last time Francesco asked me if I would go on up the mountains, killing everything in our way to success. Still I stood my ground, and the next morn ing at daybreak I awoke and "there by my side stood my Francesco's rille and belt, all the money, with a strict memo randum of accounts, and the clothing I had given him even to the last stitch. When I hunted about camp for the m^n he was gone. "I tracked him toward the railroad and followed on blindly over the ties. A mile beyond the curve I saw a wo man on the railroad bridge, bent down mmmMß afterward announced the marriage < v Mils Mabel Hubbard to Alexander Gra ballc principles a the inst rumen > s wfccn now transmit messages^ amounting -im«i the Ullions annually are Ide ««caiiy mo same as those first applied by Bell, me remainder has been a matte,r of evolution and of adaptation Of late the F-lnclpal movements have been effected a!on« mo line of long distance telephony untl con versatlona can now be carried on betweui stations 2000 miles apart. ., rm . r . Bell himself 'discovered that a armor convenient form of receiver than the piece of iron attached to a membrane was one which substituted a circular iron dibK tirmlv clasped in front of a magnet. This was found to vibrate in much beuar unison with the transmitter into which words were spoken at the other end or the circuit. •,-.-:.• "* ' ,_,,. Although a precisely similar contriv ance to the Bell receiver, as it Is now generally called, will serve as a trans mitter as well, an improved form or transmitter, known as the Blake carbon transmitter! has now been generally adopted. This form of transmitter sub stitutes for the magnet behind the iron diaphragm a number of small pieces or loose carbon placed between a carbon dia phragm and a solid support. Carbon was found to be preferable to metal on ac count of its peculiar properties for trans mitting sound. So delicate and suscepti ble to sound is the carbon transmitter that the footfalls of a fly crossing the carbon disk produce a perceptible sound in the telephone. _ The carbon transmitter substitutes ror. the impulses of electricity, which were induced in the original form of transmit ter by the action of the iron diaphragm on the magnet, an electric current which passes directly through the carbon dia phragm and the loose carbon behind it. In this case, the vibrations of the voice falling on the carbon disk affect the cur rent directly. The electrical impulses are accentuated by the motion transmitted through the disk to the loose carbon. In this shape they are transmitted to the wire, ana a series of impulses corresponding ex actly. in rapidity and shape or quality to those sent out are then reconverted Into facsimile pounds at the receiving Instru ment. , .. The method described Is known as the battery system, and is in general use at present on all lines of any great length. In the most improved instruments th« Blake carbon transmitter is used In con nection with the Bell receiver. Specially contrived batteries are now used for reinforcing the current on long distance lines, and magnetic coils ar» used to convert the electric vibrations caused by the voice into suitable form for long distance transmission. A thou sand improvements in call bells for at tracting the attention of the central sta tion in the arrangement and construction of the transmitting and receiving instru ments themselves, in the system of switch boards and switches employed at the cen tral stations, and in methods of making connections, have been added since the telephone was first put into practical operation by Graham Bell and his asso ciates. as if weeping. I came upon her. It was the beautiful, creature I had seen about camp. I asked her what was the matter. She only pointed into the river far below. There I discerned the still form of Francesco floating face up in the Hjnpid waters. He was a suicide "The reason? I never discovered whether it was love •or madness. I think, however, that in his cupidity he really killed his half-brother Paolo was insane with remorse, and the love affair aggravated him to desperation Of that I do not know, but one thine I am certain, Francesco had the secret of the great San Leon treasure which I came within an ace of sharing with him, but which will now remain a so cret probably for another hundred yea. it may be a thousand years." '