And as always, there were differences. A number of wealthy stockholders from New York expressed their "considerable dissatisfaction" with the way things were going. Motions were presented and defeated, and the plan was finally adopted "after considerable argument and some bitter words." To mend things, Collier, Ackermann, who claimed to be an expert mechanical engineer, and another member of the committee who "was looked upon as an expert electrician and chemist, all cried in chorus that 'They saw enough of Keely's new etheric vibratory system... to satisfy them that it was the greatest invention on earth.'" So Keely was to be given one-half of the capital stock, one-fourth to the stockholders and one-fourth to be held by the company. Of the 50,000 shares Present, about 45,000 shares voted in favor of the new plan.52
But what about the obtaining of patents? After all, without patents on Keely's devices there would be no reorganization. When pressed for an answer, Collier stated that "he did not know, and he then explained that the question was one of 'much difficulty.'" Collier further said that, "If it were an ordinary invention, I have no doubt that suitable drawings could be prepared, and an application made for a patent in four or five days. In some respects, the machinery is simple, but as it includes the workings of electricity and chemistry the matter of preparing a lucid explanation of it is difficult. In order to get a patent it is necessary to have specifications so plain that when the patent expires anyone can construct a machine from them and the drawings. That is what the drawings and specifications are for. It is right here that the difficulty begins, and I can't say whether the patent can be secured in three weeks or in six months. In dealing with this invention, which I regard as the most important ever made, ordinary plans cannot be used. "53 It was announced that the meeting would be adjourned until June.
With matters as inconclusive as always, opinions concerning Keely once again widely varied. The press certainly grew wary, and two weeks after the meeting, one Philadelphia newspaper cynically reported that, while feeling obliged "in common with other papers" to publish the "vague items of news respecting the Keely motor," that "Much of the apparatus which he exhibits is trivial in character, developing little power, or in its present form is of no apparent mechanical value." And while it declared that "it has never joined in the ridicule to which Mr. Keely's invention or discovery has been subjected," and recognized that "there was a field for such discoveries," it now had lost its patience. "Mr. Keely can at any time, if he possesses a new force, have his discovery generally acknowledged by taking his apparatus to the Franklin Institute or the Philosophical Society and exhibiting its manifestations of power under test conditions excluding the use of known forces, and until he is ready to do this it will be a waste of time for sensible men to discuss the subject." It concluded that the world was not required to prove anything; that was Keely's business, for "he is the challenger. "54
A week later President Ackermann of the Keely Motor Company picked up the glove and stated that "The commercial engine is now practically complete, and will probably have its first public test on a street car..," and as a reaction to the negotiations with Astor et al. that had failed, he also declared that "It is true that we no longer need or desire outside capital..."55 No public test occurred in April, but the next month a new and shattering event took place. Because its real causes have never been properly examined, the event has always wrongfully been interpreted by antagonists as another indication that Keely was a fraud.56
On May 4, Bloomfield-Moore, Keely's staunch supporter, notified both Keely and the Keely Motor Company that she would no longer continue her support, and five days later she issued a statement to the press: "The announcement that the Keely Motor Company no longer needs or desires assistance has terminated the contract between Mrs. Bloomfield-Moore and Mr. John W. Keely, entered into between them verbally in 1888 and signed by them on April 5, 1890." She further stated that the Keely Motor Company would resume its responsibilities and would provide him with all the needed funds for his "costly researching instruments and for the construction of an engine which can be operated by others as well as by himself." According to her, until that happened there was no commercial value that warranted the proposed reorganization, and the putting on the market of an additional 500,000 shares of stock.57
To examine this event, we must first look into Bloomfield-Moore's private life, and discover her motivation for the support of, and then withdrawal of support of Keely. While it is already established that her motivation laid in her thinking that she would save another inventor whose invention would possibly hold great merit for mankind,58 other important reasons are to be found in her private life, which had a sad history attached to it.
To begin with, while she is always referred to as a rich woman, this was a rather exaggerated viewpoint. As she herself made plain when her husband died in 1878, he left her no money other than his life insurance. From this money she gave "every dollar" to institutions that he had "promised to endow during his life time." This was about $50,000. Her husband's estate was locked up in mills and machinery. What was worked out of this, she gave to her children and grandchildren. In January 1892, she also renounced all dividend claims of her late husband's business, the Jessup & Moore Paper Company, to her children and grandchildren. Her second daughter Lilian, suffering from a mental illness, was taken away from her. "Had she recovered, I could not have helped Mr. Keely in any way with my Puritan strictness of ideas as to doing the duty that lies nearest to me before extending the field," wrote Bloomfield-Moore.59
In 1888, her daughter was again taken from her and conveyed to Sweden. In 1874, her daughter had married the influential Baron Carl Nils Daniel de Bildt, the first Lord Chamberlain of Sweden and Swedish Minister to Italy, who was also considered "an eminent historian."
Rumor had it that her daughter was taken away to secure control of her money in Sweden, although Bloomfield-Moore denied this.60 The reason that her daughter was removed for the second time, as she wrote to a friend several years later, "was because of my having employed Dr. Hartmann who was the first to tell me of the curative powers of light in mental disorders."61
Possibly those that decided that her daughter should move to Sweden were abhorred by Hartmann's reputation, who met with Keely on two occasions and whose character was steeped in occultism, esoteric societies, neo-templarism and theosophy.62 He had studied medicine in Munich, but in 1865, without having qualified, sailed to the U.S. as a ship's doctor. There he would obtain "some sort of medical qualification" in St. Louis, probably at the Eclectic Medical College, an institution that was "notorious for its low standards." Hartmann practiced medicine in several different states.63
In Sweden, Bloomfield-Moore's daughter "fell back into a state worse than the first." Bloomfield-Moore was summoned at "the Police Direction" in Vienna to answer questions about Keely, it having been stated that she was under "a delusion in furnishing with money a man known to be a fraud. "64
We will not digress here any further in the tragic family affairs of a woman who by every contemporary source is being pictured as intelligent, unselfish and working for the benefit of mankind. What it illustrates, however, is the entangled and confused state of Keely's beneficiary, and it provides the background of Clarence B. Moore's statement made the year before that his mother was "insane." In fact, there seems to have been a bitter struggle between son and mother over the will of her late husband, as illustrated in a letter of Bloomfield-Moore: "If my eldest daughter is the next victim of my children's rebellion against their father's will, my son will be solely responsible for it..." Elsewhere she writes that "...futile would be his efforts against the invincible armor which I wear."65
We need not speculate over this point here, for a confirmation is to be found elsewhere: "By 1888, however, the courts again threatened, and this time Mrs. Bloomfield-Moore's son was able to deprive his mother of all legal and material rights, thus stopping the flow of his 'inheritance' toward Keely's endeavors."66 And about this, Bloomfield-Moore hersel
f wrote that "In 1889 efforts were made to prove that I was incompetent to take charge of the estate and of my invalid daughter."67
Bloomfield-Moore's letters on this sad affair that have survived reflect her anguish and kindness to all those concerned to a great degree, but also the concern of others who knew of her pains. Strangely, in one of her letters, written in 1895, she writes of having received a letter "from an Englishman who thinks that my son may be as well as I the victim of a conspiracy...,"68 a topic that she only mentioned in her letter, but upon which she digressed no further.
Suffice to say that, aside from the earlier mentioned reason of her wanting to help a struggling inventor and through him, hoping to do something for mankind, she may have wanted to find some consolation for her own much-troubled soul: "Had it not been for the new interest in Keely's life which his discoveries brought to me at a time when the ploughers ploughed upon my heart and made long furrows, I should have been, years ago, in my grave or the inmate of a madhouse," she wrote.69 Furthermore she also wrote that she could help Keely only because she could not properly extend her help to her children and grandchildren: "I would have prayed that the work might be given to another; feeling that I could best serve my Creator in serving those whom he had given to me to lead in the ways of righteousness.... I now have seven grandchildren, who are as children to me; two of whom are married. As each one marries I wish in consideration of the uncertainty of all kinds of security in America as is thought in Sweden, to have his or her share invested in their own country, and this desire has led me into some injustice to myself; having advanced to them all of my income for this year and, my agent writes, well into the next year."70
That was the reason that she could not provide Keely with any more funding. Since they both agreed that her funding would stop as soon as he reached a commercially exploitable stage, and Keely had proclaimed this, all came together. She wanted to mend things between her and her family members, and it relieved her of the responsibilities of which she had written some six years before that she "so long carried...at the cost of placing a barrier between myself and all those members of my family, who do not approve my course in assuming obligations which belong to the company to fulfill under its contract with Keely."71
Naturally the Keely Motor Company protested and "made overtures to Mrs. Moore with a view to her continued support," but to no effect.72 Keely's reactions are not known, but he seems to have held no objection to her stopping her funding, as the terms of settlement offered by the company were unsatisfactory not only to Bloomfield-Moore, but also to Keely.73
On June 4, a meeting of the company stockholders was held, but nothing of any substance was reached, since no quorum was present. Schuellerman stated inter alia that the plan, adopted on April 2, was not "in accordance with the by-laws," since no quorum was present when the plan was adopted. Since now, too, no quorum was present, the meeting was again adjourned, but without setting a date. A special meeting would be held to consider the plan.74 The annual meeting on December 10 also showed the same total lack of interest; only five stockholders were present and so the meeting was again adjourned, but no date set. Collier remarked that he was "about to draw up the patent specifications covering Keely's inventions, but that it would take considerable time for him to study the apparatus and comprehend the essential features sufficiently to draw up the specifications." It furthermore was remarked that, "Until they have been filed and the claims are allowed the company has no tangible property."775
The year 1897 came, and after a quarter of a century, still no patents based on Keely's discoveries existed. In January, newspapers in America and England told of a scientist who had witnessed a test-run of the Keely motor and was greatly impressed with what he saw. The unnamed scientist declared that Keely "had certainly discovered a new force, which ought eventually be of inestimable value." Several other scientists who were present also found no evidence of the working of any power known to them and they felt "in the presence of something wonderful and beyond their comprehension." But it was also noted that Keely's explanations did nothing to help matters, as these were "couched in hopelessly obscure language." The most that the visiting scientist could make out was that the wheel was kept in motion "by some occult sympathy, allied in a certain way to the elements of music."76
Keely must have felt quite lonely at times; after all, Bloomfield-Moore had been much more than a funder. Her directions had helped steer his research, and the books she gave him provided him with a theoretical foundation. Perhaps she was one of those rare persons who understood his explanations, or at least grasped the new horizons that lay concealed in his dense prose.
Now he worked solely for the Keely Motor Company. He was becoming an old man suffering from Bright's disease. From photographs taken at that time, his eyes burned defiantly from an emaciated face. There is no way that we may establish with any certainty what he was thinking of the years that lay behind him with his grandiose plans of unlimited free-energy and a sky filled with immense airships propelled by his aerial propeller that lay still and quiet in a corner of his workshop. Keely stayed in contact with Bloomfield-Moore though, a contact that must have given him great comfort and consolation at times.
There were the occasional rumors in the press; in May, W.K. Fransioli, general manager of the Manhattan Elevated Railroad — who went to Keely's workshop to see the legendary engine on the invitation of the Keely Motor Company — gave rise to the story that the New York Railroad Company would try his engine. This was denied. The man went to the workshop because he was "always interested in anything appertaining to motive power," although he did admit that he went to Philadelphia "entirely unbiased and I returned impressed."
Fransioli had been accompanied by M. McNally, the master mechanic of the railroad company. They not only saw the motor work, but Keely also took the motor apart for them. They saw all its parts, but Fransioli would not say what he saw in the dismantled motor, as he did not think that "would be just for Mr. Keely."
When pressed for more details, Fransioli described the motor as being a "round covering, as big as the diameter of a stove pipe hat. An ordinary non-insulated wire was run from the motor to an engine that was run with high speed." Fransioli was certain that no electric current was used. The wire was removed with bare hands and no shock was felt. The engine stopped immediately. A member of the Keely Motor Company declared that, in his opinion, "John Keely has.. .found the foundation source of electricity. He has the aurora borealis chained down, sir."77
Bloomfield-Moore was informed in writing of the visit, and from it we learn of another, underlying motive of the visit that was not mentioned in the press. She wrote to the correspondent: "I should be, as you write, 'gratified with the renewed attention paid to Mr. Keely by the New York railroad people,' were it not that, in my opinion, this is another attempt to 'boom' the stock of the old Keely Motor Company, before the time is ripe for science to announce the discovery by Keely of an unknown force in nature. Not until this announcement is made, and the exact position of Keely's present mechanical progress is given to the public, will speculation become legitimate.... Until this has been accomplished these efforts of stock-jobbers do more harm to the cause than good; although personally I am benefited by their premature announcements."
She also announced her plans to visit Keely's workshop with Professor G.F. Fitzgerald. She told Fitzgerald that "the days of experiment and investigation are ended. He does not wish to investigate, but will go to Philadelphia for the purpose of meeting Mr. Keely and to witness the operation of the Vibrodyne." Professor Fitzgerald writes: "I look forward to the time when Mr. Keely will be able to describe his methods that his experiments may be repeated by every scientific man who desires to do so, and be then satisfied by his own observation of how they are produced." Fitgerald, a member of the British Association, would then travel to Toronto. "It was with this hope in view," continued Bloomfield-Moore, "(of having the announcement made in Toronto) that I was working wh
en the action of those commercially interested brought Mr. Franzioli (sic) into premature communication with Mr. Keely. But this time they have rendered me a positive service personally, and should this 'renewed interest' in Keely's work last, what I most desire may yet be accomplished in Toronto; viz., that science shall hold the helm, instead of commerce, until the mechanical combination is as obedient to the law of nature, which governs all planetary masses throughout the universe."78
In June, Keely gave another demonstration, and "As usual in the Keely seances, the spectators were much impressed with the queer looking engine moving in repines to musical vibrations." One of the reporters remarked that, "It did not revolve rapidly, for the reason that the inventor has just begun work on it, more to determine its strength than anything else. Next week he will give an exhibition of its power, and later of its velocity." A newspaper scathingly remarked that "this is the true Keely mark, next week and next year... Mr. Keely is now an old man, and has devoted his working years to a motor that nobody can understand after it is explained, and nobody can say whether it is deception, delusion, or an elusive idea founded on something real."
The press and the public were growing weary of an inventor who, as a newspaper wrote, "for thirty-five years, at intervals... has been calling in a select company to witness the first practical operation of his etheric engine. To a certain extent it moves, but something in the machinery is found to be not quite right, and a few more weeks for rectification are necessary. Perhaps a year or two elapses, and the performance is then repeated. A generation has passed since the inventor announced that he had discovered and applied a new force in nature. He has never had much trouble in making converts.... Yet it is always next month or next year that the final practical results are to be attained and the mechanical world revolutionized. The request for a little more delay wound up last week's exhibition, as usual."79
Free Energy Pioneer- John Worrell Keely Page 14
