TLS, one page, 8.5 x 11, personal letterhead, May 22, 1916. Letter to the editor of the Brooklyn Eagle. In full: “Various sentiments have been going the rounds of the newspapers that Hudson Maxim, head of the Maxim Munitions Corporation, after having carefully examined the Enricht method of making a substitute for gasoline, had pronounced it a success and purchased it for a million dollars. Please allow me to correct any erroneous impression regarding this matter. I am not the head of the Maxim Munitions Corporation, and the Corporation has not yet purchased the Enricht method, but has secured an option for its purchase, provided Enricht shall be able to make good his claims. As Consulting Engineer of the Corporation and as an inventor, I have done, and am doing, and shall continue to do, with both my services and inventions, everything in my power, in such capacity, for the benefit and prosperity of the corporation, and if I am asked to do so I shall very gladly examine into the Enricht method, but up to the present time I have not examined the method and am unable to make the pronouncements regarding it that have been attributed to me.” In good condition, with intersecting folds, heavy creasing, scattered soiling and fingerprints, uniform shade of toning, small tears and paper loss, and various pencil notations and corrections throughout the text of the letter. In 1916, Louis Enricht claimed he had created a cheap substitute for gasoline, and received many offers from affluent investors for the purchase of his mystery invention. Maxim’s brother, Hiram Maxim, paid Enricht $100,000 for the rights to the formula, with the promise of more once the ingredients were disclosed. Hudson openly expressed doubts towards the invention, alluding to merely obtaining “an option for its purchase, provided Enricht shall be able to make good his claims.” This letter provides an incredibly unique and telling message to the media on behalf of the man behind smokeless gunpowder and other explosive innovations. RRAuction COA.
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