Rensselaer Republican, Volume 22, Number 31, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 April 1890 — “TRIED THEM ON THE DOC” [ARTICLE]

“TRIED THEM ON THE DOC”

RAther Strange Use Made of Report era by the Late Edwin Cowles, of Cleveland. ■ ■ ■ “Edwin Cowles, the late owner, 'and editor of the Cleveland Leader,” ‘said a gentleman who knew him well, yesterday, “was in many respects a peculiar and eccentric man. No one ever questioned his good heart and sound sense, but he was particularly & man of fads and whims. If he was the victim of one idea more than another, it was that in him the world possessed perhaps the greatest inventor since the days of Stevenson. First and last, I suppose Mr. Cowles took out one hundred patents. There was when I worked on the Leader a green reporter who found savor in the sight of Mr. Cowles as one ever ready to risk life and limb in experiments with his chiefs machines. “I recall a time just after the Newhall fire, in Milwaukee, under the i stimulus of which Mr. C. had invented |aj wonderous fire-escape, when the young man was called to assist. Mr. Cowles brought his invention to the Leader building and, glowing with joy and satisfacation, fastened it in the fifth;story window overlooking Long street and nominated his young assistant to make the first descent to the pa.) ament below. Thefvictim proceeded to obey, as Mr. Cowles could never stand opposition, and the result was that after lowering himself a few feet tbe invention stuck fast and the reporter was suspended between heaven and earth. The thing was serious. He was too low to get back to the window and too hightogetinat the next story, and there he swung, a prey to terror and the breeze. Efforts looking to his rescue were vain, and at last the fire department found temporary and hilarious t employment in his taking down. ' 1 ■ - I--

“On still another occasion The old gentleman evolved a trycicle which wound up with a huge coil spring and would run itself like and eight-day clock. It was started by pressing a button, and, in theory, at least, was stopped by setting a small brake. Mr. Cowles brought the contrivance down town, and taking along a young reporter, determined on an experiment at the armory. The large drill-room presented the scene for action. The machine was wound to the last notch and its devoted rider placed in position and instructed. It was headed out into the room and the button touched. Away went the outfit like an arrow, and the young man, getting rattled, no brake was set, and the whole business crashed against the wall at the rate of a mile a minute. For some hours it was feared the career of the reporter was over, but a month in the hospital gave him back again. He got a release, however, tfrom futher experiments, and bids fair to live to old age. These are only two of Mr. Cowles’s numerous inventions.”