INVENTOR’S SACRIFICE

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20006, 3 August 1939, Page 14

INVENTOR’S SACRIFICE

LIFE AND ROMANCE DIED JJY CURD’S PHOTO When Benjamin Roos, a GermanJewish scientist, dreaming of millions he hoped to make by means of a process for turning cow’s milk into silk, died penniless and alone in his bed-sitting-room in Cornwall gardens, S.W., London, he left behind a picture of the girl he loved. Mourners who returned to his lodging from the funeral saw on the mantelshelf the photograph of a smiling, dark-haired young woman. It was a portrait of Theresa Bretz, 29 years old, who six years ago had pursued the scientist to London and begged him to marry her. But Roos demanded perfection in everything. Just as he spent his £25,000 fortune in a vain search for the perfect synthetic silk, so he turned from the happiness Theresa offered him because she admitted an iniiclelity. Would Not Marry Roos told her he would not marry her until she had proved her constancy to him. Next morning she was found dead from an overdose of sleeping draught. The scientist had fallen in love with the German girl when he lived in Berlin. When lie visited her in a sanatorium in 1933 she confessed she had been unfaithful to him. Roos came to London. Theresa discovered his address in Queen Anne’s Mansions. Westminster, within three weeks of their parting. She followed him over and begged forgiveness. Roos relented—but only for a fortnight. They went to a play which suggested some parallel with their own lives, and he told the girl he would not marry her until she had proved herself to his satisfaction. Roos told this story himself as principal witness at the inquest on Theresa: He moved from place to place after that, always carrying with him the photograph of Theresa Bretz. He tried to find consolation in his experiments; on them he staked every penny he had. Put Cows on Diet He sought to combine in his synthetic product every quality of the finest silk. He aimed at five main points—beauty of colour, strength, softness, elasticity, and non-shrink-ableness. Time and again he succeeded in combining in one piece of his silk four of these qualities—but never all five together. Then he embarked on an experiment he hoped would firing him complete success. He decided to feed the cows whose milk he used exclusively on mulberry leaves', the diet of the silkworm. He was still not satisfied with the product. All his money was gone. He pawned and he borrowed. He was harassed with unpaid bills. He used to sit for hours in his room, gazing at the photograph of Theresa Bretz. It was in front of her picture that lie was found dead, with eleven wounds on his wrist.