Wheeling times and advertiser. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1839-1849, 1845-06-17
FROM THE KNlCKERBoCKER LIBR.

FROM THE kNlCKERBOCKER LIBR.
ARl.-ln paddle up the Hudsoa' in 1908;
on the first steamboat that ever moved on the
waters ofany river with passengers, ire writer
encountersa slsbsided Yankee, narssed Jabez
Dooittle, who is going cup country" to sell
county rights for new rat-trap, Tor which
he had secured patent;
1T was avery curious trap, as simple as il
was insenious--as most ingenious things are,
dffcr they ARE invented II was an oblono
wire box, divided into two compartments; a
rat entered one, were the bait was hung which
he no sooner touched than the door at which
he enteredtell. His only apparent escupe was
by funnel shaped hole into tie other apart
ment, IN passing which he moved another wire
which instantly reset the trap; and thus rat
dltef rat was furnished the means offOllgwing
the footsteps OF his il,s,rio,s predecessor,
until the trap was full. Thus il was not simply
a trap to catch rat. but trap by which rats
trapped rats, I'D infnitum."
The writer finds Jabez studying the new
steam engine; and Inc tahes him aside to say,
that iii he don't make wagon 90 by steam
before Inc is two years older, he'll give up in.
ventin." This is soon forgotten, however;
until after several months, the narrator receives
a letter from Jabez, inviting him to come and
see him, nigh Wallingford, Conn.," as he has
pairs to Wallingford, and i'm an old clapboard.
ed dingy, long one story building with a win.
dow or two in the roof, the knot holes stuffed
with rags, and "No Admittance" over the doc,
he finds the inventor; land i'm the contre of ali
previous conceptions, rat-traps, churns. annie
parers, pill-rollers, cooking stoves. and sbinar
splittcrs," stands :" The First LocomotiperI
an Imprinted, unpublished, madorned, oven
shaped mass Of double riveted sheet-iron with
cranks, and pipes, and trunnel-heads and
screws, and valves, OH four strong travelling
wheels. cts a courteous crittcr to look at y
SAYS Jabez, but you'll like it better i'm motion.
He proceeds to light fire under the boiler
which soon givesevidence Of troubled waters.
when by pushing one slide and pulling anoth-
er, the whole machine, cranks and piston, is In
motion.
1T works slick, do Mt it, said Jabez.
But, replied, 1T do Mt move
You mean said he, the travelling wheel.
do mt move; well, l do mt mean they shall till
get my patent. You see,' he added, crouch
ing down, that trunnel-head, there-tha,
small cog wheel? Well, that's out of gear ius,
yet; when turn that into gear, BY this crank
IL hts, you see on the main travelling wheel
and then the hull a,rape will move, as nigh as
l can calculate, lectle slower than chain
hghtin,' and darn'd leetle too!--But il won,
&c. DO to give II try afore get the patent
There Is only one thing yet, he continued
that ha' mt contrived-but that is simple
matter-and that is, the shortest mode of stop.
pm on her. My first notion is, to see how
last can make her work, without smashing all
10 DTS and that's done by screwing down this
upper valve; and I'll show you-
And with that he clambcred up on the ton.
with turning screw in one hand, and horn
OF soap-fat IN the other and commenced screw
ing down the valves, and oiling the pston-rod
and crank joints; and the motion OF the nv.
sterfous mass increased. until all seemed !.
Bu%. 1t IL high abostpertection, Amt il? SAYS
he.
'Jabcz, said !, clevating my voice above the
buzzing noise of the machine, there is ONLY
one thing wanting.
What is tllatf says he, eagerly.
immortality, said l, and you shall have il
patent or no patent! And with that, Ypulled
the crank that twisted the connecting trunneI
head into the travelling wheels, and an am in
slant away went the machine, with Jabez on
.he top oil 1t, with the wbiz and rapiai,y Of a
flushed partridge. The side of the old bu;ld-
'"6 F'o's,'.| the res; OF NO. f.-r.-. o.
crash, and the "first locomotive" was usbercd
intotlIis breathing world. Hurried to the omen
ing, and had just time to Chamber To the tom of
a ience, To catch the last glimpse of nv fast
departing friend. True to his purpose L Say
HIM alternately screwing down the valves.
and oiling the plsion-rod and crank.joints:
evidently determined that, although he had
started offa little Unexpectedly, he would re-
deem the pledge he had given, which was that
when II did go, II would go little slower than
streak OF chain lightnin, and darn'd leetle
too
Like cloud in the dim distance fleeing,
Like an arrow, he flew away.
But moment and he was here: in a moueu,
he was there; and now Iohcreis he?-or rather
where is he not? But that, for theprcscnt, Is
neither here nor there"
The next information we have of Mr.. Dool.
titles whereabouts is given BY Mr.. Irving:
\ GU must know that j was one among the
hrst band OF trappers that crossed the Rocky
mountains. We had encsmped one night on
ridge OF the Black Hills, and were wrapped
up IN our blankets, in the midst of our first
sleep, wlfn we were reused by the man who
stood sentinel, who cried out, Wild fire by
We started on our feet, and beheld a
streak OF fire coming across the parties for all
the world like lightning or shooting star
we mad saTdiy time to guess what il might b:
when u c'me up, whizing, and cIanking and
and malaDg tremendous racket. and sa,y
something huge and black, with wheels and
traps of all kinds; and an odd.lookinp being ON
top OF u, busy as they say the devil Is in gale
OF wind.-ln fact, some Of our people Thought
D. was the old gentleman himself, taking an
airing IN one OF his Internal carriages, Others
thought IL was the opening OF one of the seals
In the Revelations. Some of the stoute., lel
lows Tell on their knees, and began to prov: a
kentuch ban pluckcd upcourage enough, to lmii
the internal coachmm as he passcd, and s.ke5
whittier he was driving; but the speed with
whien he whirled by, and the rafting of his
hAcn'ne, prevented our catching more than
eie last words; Slam bang to eternalp In
beyond the Black Hill. and we saw n, m shoo,
ing, like jack o-lantern, over the ROCKY
Mountains.
"The next day we tracked his course, he
had cut through great drove of buffalo. some
hundred or two of which lay cut up as though
the butchers had been there; we heard of him
IA kslf1 ffrars