New York Times, November 19th, 1898
        Obituary - Keely


  PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 18 - John Ernest Worrell Keely, the
inventor of the Keely motor, died to-day at his home in this
city from pneumonia.  He was taken ill on Saturday last, and
continued to grow steadily worse until his death.  Mr. Keely
was sixty-one years of age, and leaves a widow.

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  More than thirty years ago John Ernest Worrell Keely first
announced that he had discovered a mysterious power of immense
capabilities of industrial application, and ever since that
time he has been more or less prominent in the public eye.
Diffident at first with regard to this illimitable force he
professed to have revealed, of late years he has claimed to
possess the mastery over it.  For over a generation scientific
men, engineers, and the lany (? blurred) heard at repeated
intervals of the wonders of the discovery, but Keely died
before he had given satisfactory demonstrations that his idea
could be successfully adapted to commercial use.
  He was born in the old town of Chester, Penn., and for some
time was a member of a theatrical orchestra, and later a
decorative painter.  The news that this previously unknwon
man had invented a motor of tremendous power that was evolved
from less than a quart of water was first made knwon in
Philadelphia, and at first received with ridicule, though the
cleverness of the supposed discover gained a degree of
credence.  It may be honestly said of Keely's devices that
hundreds of theoretical scientists, as well as practical
mechanical experts, attended exhibitions of the wonderful
power, and no matter how sceptical regarding the motive power
of what was seen were able to claim that Mr. Keely's
assertations were fraudulent.  That he did exhibit a machine
that ran was beyond dispute.
  Considerable capital was soon found to invest in the new
invention, and a company was incorporated.  The stock was
eagerly sought in this country, and much of it was taken
abroad.  But Mr. Keely successively claimed he saw
possibilities of far better results in improved devices for
applying the mysterious force, and began dilatory tactics that
disgusted the stockholders, until they were glad to dispose of
their stock if a buyer so adventurous as to take it was
found.  For twenty-five years Keely was at work upon his
improved apparatus, and during that time the stock of the
company fluctuated from $500 to 10 cents a share.
  It was not until about 1896 that it was decided Keely should
construct the engine to demonstrate his theories.  This step
was not even then taken until after a careful consideration
by the principals, and upon the advice of distinguished
foreign mechanical experts.  Within a year the completed an
engine, or motor, and exhibited it in Philadelphia.
  The motor was inspected by W. J. Frangioli, the General
Manager of the Manhatten Elevated Railway, Chief Electrical
Engineer Brown of the Western Union Telegraph Company, and
Mechanical Engineer Sterrett of the Metropolitan Street
Railway Company.  They were much impressed and declared that
the force was a new one.  Keely's apparent inability to apply
his power to existing machinery, however, always was the
stumbling block.
  A description of one of the Keely exhibitions that was
recognized as characteristic of nearly all was written some
months ago by Julian Hawthorne, who was a professional
engineer before he became a novelist.  "Movements took place
for which there were no visible or hitherto recgonized means
of accounting," he said.  "A heavy metallic sphere revolved at
great speed.  An isolated compass did the same.  Weights
immersed in a tall glass jar filled with water rose upward or
sank again or remained midway.  All that Mr. Keely did was to
tinker with a stringed muscial machine fitted with singular
appliances and to blow upon a small mouth organ at intervals.
The assumption appeared to be that musical notes produced
vibrations which affected the 'chords of mass' of the things
operated upon, and the 'polar currents' were in some manner
induced to participate in the strange results."
  Keely was remarkable in that he never cared to display any
manifestations of his discovery except to men of mechanical
and scientific attainments.  In the early days most of his
stockholders were of that class, but they soon lost patience
and complained that Keely seemed incompetent to understand or
develop a nower hitherto unknown upon which he had probably
stumbled.