From 'Planemakers 4: Shorts.' Michael J H Taylor, Janes.
Quote:
The story of the brothers Short and their eventual part in aviation
history begins on 2 July 1872, when Emma Short presented Samuel
Short with a son. Named Horace Leonard, he was to be the main force
behind the early aeroplane constructing enterprise when in his mid-30s.
Unfortunately, at a very young age, Horace suffered an injury to his
head which brought on meningitis. Although his head became an
abnormal size, his very high intellect clearly helped him cope with this
abnormality. Indeed, while still in his teens he set out to work his way to
Australia. His adventures en route were as if taken from a story book
and included his capture and subsequent escape from cannibals. Even-
tually Horace found his way to Mexico where, as the manager of a silver
mine, he used all his cunning together with his rather alarming appear-
ance to keep local outlaws from the silver as it was being transported.
His inventive mind was also hard at work during this period and at about
this time he invented the Auxetophone, a device by which spoken or
pre-recorded sound could be amplified.
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