Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1839-05-09
M G X.
From the knickefbocker Of April.
THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVE.
BY ONE WHO SAW 1T.


In the year 1908, | enjoyed the ever
to-. be- forgotten qualification OF a paddle
up the Hudson, on board the first steam
boat that ever moved on the waters OF any
river, with passengers. Among the voy-
ayers, was a man | had known for many
years previous, by the name of Jabez
Doolittle. He was an industrious and
ingenious worker in sheet.iron, tin, and
wire but bis great success lay in wire
work, especially in making rat.traps !"
and for this his last and best inventlon IN
that line, he had just secured a patent I;
and with a specimen of his work, he was
then on a journey through the State OF
New York, for the purpose of dlsposin2
of what he called country rights" or,
in other words, to sell the privilege OF
catching rats, according to his patent
trap. Ii was a very curious trap, as
simple as it was ingenious as most inge-
Nous things are, after they are invented.
|, was an oblong wire box, divided into
two compartments a rat entered one'
where the bait was hung, which he no
sooner touched than the door at which he
entered, fell. His only apparent escape
was by a funnel. shaped hole into the a.
partment, in passing which, he moved a.
mother wire, which instantly reset the
trap and thus rat after rat was furnished
the means of " following In the footsteps
of his illustrious predecessor" until the
trap was full. Thus it was not simply a
trap to catch a rat, but a trap by which
rats trapped rats, ad lnfinitum.
This trap, a, the time to which allude,
absolutely divided the attention O. the pas.
nger and for my part, 1t interested
me quite as much as did the steam.en-
CINE !; because. perhaps, could more ca
silly comprehend its mystery. To me-,
the steam engine was Greek; the trap
was plain English. Not SO, however, to
Jabez Doolittle. found him studying
the engine with great avidl,y and perse-
verance, insomuch that the engineer evil
IDENTIFY became alarmed, and declined an
swering any more questions.
"Why, you needn't snap off so tarnal
Short" said Jabez +; a body would thlnk
you hadn't got a patent for your machine.
i'll can't NEEDLE with you on the water,
as nigh as | can calculate, III be up to
you on land, one of these days"
These OMNIBUS words fell on my ear,
as | saw Jabez issue from the engine room,
followed by the engineer, who seemed
evidently to have got his steam up.
"Well," said l, "Jabez, what do you
think of this mighty machine" "Why,"
he replied, "if that critter hadn't got H.
led up SO soon, a body could tell more "a
bout il; but | reckon rve got a lee,le no.
ton ~on't;" and then taking me aslde'
and looking carefully around, lest some
one should overhear him, he then n
there" assured me in confidence, in pro-
found secrecy, fine didn't make a wag-
on 90 by steam, before he was two years
older, then he'd give up invention. at
first ridiculed the idea but when 1
thought Of that rat.trap, and saw before
me a man with sharp twinkllng grey eyes,
a pointed nose, and every line of his Wis.
age a channel of investigation and lnven-
ton, | could DOT resist the conclusion,
that if he ever did attempt to>meddle with
hot water, we should hear more OF 1t.
Time went on. Steamboats, multi
piled but none dreamed, or il they did,
they never told their dreams, OF a steam
wagon for even the name OF "locomo-
tiye' was then as unknown as "loco-io-
CO." When about a year after the dec
~lara,ion of the last war with England,
land may it be the last , | got a letter
from Jabez, marked "~private," telling
me that he wanted to see me " most des-
peratelv," and that | must make him a
visit at his place "nigh Wallingiord. -
On reaching his residence, imagine my
surprise, when he told me, he believed ne
chad got the notion"
Motion what notion?" l enqul-
red.
"Why," says he, tina. steam-wagon,
I tell'd you about, a spell ago; but"
added he, it has pretty nigh starved me
out :" and sure enough, he did look as II
he had been on "the anxious seat" as he
used to say, when things puzzled him.
81 have used up," said he, Plaguey
nigh all the sheet-iron, and stoye-pIPes'
and mill wheels, and trunnel heads IN
these parts but Eve succeeded and Tor
fear that some of these cute folks about
here may have got a peep through the
key.hole, and will trouble me when
come to get a patent, r've sent for you to
oe a witness for you was the first n
only man | ever binted the notion to- IN
fact" continued he, 81 think the most
curious part of this invention 49, that as
vet | don't know any n about here
who has been able TO guess what I'm a.
bout. They all know 1t is an INVENTION
ofsome kind, for that's my business, you
know but some say il is a thrashlng-
machine, some a distillery, and OF late
they begin to think it's a shIngle-sphl,er J
~ ttaan Whnn thHV