William Cantelo

William Cantello was a highly respected man in Southampton; he was the landlord of the Old Tower Inn. Underneath the inn was his workshop where he invented things and worked specifically on an early machine gun project with his sons. When he completed the project, he told his family he had to go on a holiday for three months, but then he’d return. He never returned. Strangely enough, most of his money was transferred. When his family hired private investigators, they discovered he had traveled to America but after that, the trail went cold. Years later, Cantello’s sons heard of an inventor in America who created the machine gun. When they saw a picture of this man, they immediately believed it was their father. Except, this man went by the name of “Hiram Maxim.” When Cantello’s sons approached Maxim while he was on a trip in England, Maxim wanted nothing to do with them. The Cantello family said they also believed it was William because he loved maxims and kept a book of them with him at all times. However, it was never proven Cantello and Maxim were one in the same. The mystery of Cantello’s disappearance remains a mystery.