History of the American Clock Business for the Past Sixty Years, and Life of Chauncey Jerome eBook

Chauncey Jerome
This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 117 pages of information about History of the American Clock Business for the Past Sixty Years, and Life of Chauncey Jerome.

History of the American Clock Business for the Past Sixty Years, and Life of Chauncey Jerome eBook

Chauncey Jerome
This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 117 pages of information about History of the American Clock Business for the Past Sixty Years, and Life of Chauncey Jerome.
make any more clocks.  I learned this maxim long ago, that when a man injures another unreasonably, to act out human nature he has got to keep on misrepresenting and abusing him to make himself appear right in the sight of the world.  Soon after the fire in Bristol I had gained my strength sufficiently to go ahead again, and commenced to make additions to my case factory in New Haven (to make the movements,) and by the last of June was ready to commence operations on the brass movements.  I then brought my men from Bristol—­the movement makers—­and a noble set of men as ever came into New Haven at one time.  Look at John Woodruff; he was a young man then of nineteen.  When he first came to work for me at the age of fifteen, I believed that he was destined to be a leading man.  He is now in Congress (elected for the second time,) honest, kind, gentlemanly, and respected in Congress and out of Congress.  Look at him, young men, and pattern after him, you can see in his case what honesty, industry and perseverance will accomplish.

There was great competition in the business for several years after I moved to New Haven, and a great many poor clocks made.  The business of selling greatly increased in New York, and within three or four years after I introduced the one day brass clock, several companies in Bristol and Plymouth commenced making them.  Most of them manufactured an inferior article of movement, but found sale for great numbers of them to parties that were casing clocks in New York.  This way of managing proved to be a great damage to the Connecticut clock makers.  The New York men would buy the very poorest movements and put them into cheap O.G. cases and undersell us.  Merchants from the country, about this time, began to buy clocks with their other goods.  They had heard about Jerome’s clocks which had been retailed about the country, and that they were good time-keepers, and would enquire for my clocks.  These New York men would say that they were agents for Jerome and that they would have a plenty in a few days, and make a sale to these merchants of Jerome clocks.  They would then go to the Printers and have a lot of labels struck off and put into their cheap clocks, and palm them off as mine.  This fraud was carried on for several years.  I finally sued some of these blackleg parties, Samuels & Dunn, and Sperry & Shaw, and found out to my satisfaction that they had used more than two hundred thousand of my labels.  They had probably sent about one hundred thousand to Europe.  I sued Samuels & Dunn for twenty thousand dollars and when it came to trial I proved it on them clearly.  I should have got for damages fifteen thousand dollars, had it not been for one of the jury.  One was for giving me twenty thousand, another Eighteen, and the others down to seven thousand five hundred.  This one man whom I speak of, was opposed to giving me anything, but to settle it, went as high as two thousand three hundred.  The jury thought that I had a great

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History of the American Clock Business for the Past Sixty Years, and Life of Chauncey Jerome from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.