Stockholders' Meeting; Mr. Keely's Report
KEELEY STILL PROMISING
CONSOLING HIS VICTIMS WITH EMPTY WORDS.
HE ADMITS THAT HIS “GRADUATING” WORK IS SADLY BEHIND, BUT CLAIMS ULTIMATE SUCCESS FOR HIS “MOTOR.”
PHILADELPHIA, Dec, 17.—There was a meeting this afternoon at Sheare’s Club Hall, Eighth and Walnut streets, of the stockholders of the Keeley Motor Company. The meeting was called to order by Secretary Schellerman, who read the by-law governing the company’s meetings, and stated that 35,079 shares of the stock were represented in person or by proxy.
Mr. Harrison Snyder was nominated for Chairman on motion of Charles C. Collier, and then Gen. Ballinger at once proceeded to get in some very vigorous kicks, claiming that the meeting was illegal, as half the stockholders were not represented and protesting against any action being taken. Secretary Schellerman put the motion, which was carried, and Mr. Snyder took the Chair. He made a few remarks, when he was interrupted by Gen. Ballinger, who asked for an interpretation of the by-law fixing the office of the company as the place of meeting. ‘This is not the office of the company, and the rules say that the meeting shall be held at the office of the company,” said Gen. Ballinger. Secretary Schellerman and J. Joseph Murphy at length succeeded in convincing the stockholders present that the meeting was perfectly legal, and the business proceeded. The report of the Board of Directors was called for, but there appeared to be no one ready to present it, and many present wondered if there was one to present. Secretary Schnellerman then read a lengthy report from Mr. Keely, which began by giving a brief history of the litigation between himself and Bennett C. Wilson. Referring to the action of the court in imprisoning him for contempt, Mr. Keely, in his report, said:
“This is not the time or occasion, nor perhaps am I the proper person, to review the litigation or present it in its proper light before you and the public. It is sufficient to say now that when the facts attending such litigation are properly presented to the public, as they certainty will be, it will stand out in bold relief as the most flagrant travesty on justice in the history of our time, and my committal to prison was as cruel an act as could be perpetrated in the name of justice.”
Mr. Keely then entered into a long discussion of the difficulties in which he had been involved with the Board of Directors during the year 1888 and passed on to the condition of his work at the present time. He said that while the work of graduating or “adjusting” his provisional engine had not progressed so rapidly as he had expected, yet no serious obstacles had presented themselves, and there were none affecting the principle or “essence” of his work.
“The Board of Directors of the company,” continued Mr. Keely, “has witnessed the operation of my provisional engine, while I have been engaged in its graduation, and many of its number have no doubts as to the success of the engine. While I cannot name a time within which the graduation of my provisional engine will be completed. I can say that it cannot be a protracted period, and when such graduation is finished, an engine, one or more, of the special size or form best adapted for commercial purposes, will at once be ordered, and the building of them will be merely a matter of mechanical skill.”
At the conclusion of the reading of Mr. Keely’s report a Board of Directors was nominated in accordance with Dr. Keely’s recommendation, three being New-York gentlemen and the other four residents of this State, as follows: Henry C. Howells, Joseph Annin, and A. R. Eddy of New-York; Harrison Snyder, Lancaster; Thomas Edward, H. Graham, and Richard M. Popham.
Published: December 18, 1889
Copyright © The New York Times
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