Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1872-12-22

In the History Of the city Of Neu
! York, just published, Mr.. w. l.. Stone
dispOses pretty effectually of FultOnis
claims 10 the invention of the steamboat.
He says: Probably no person has
received so much praise, and de-
/ served 1t so little, as Robert
Fulton. A man of no practical
ingenuity-sf no power of conceiv-
ing, much less of executing, an original
mechanical idea-his friend Golden has
succeeded in persuading the public that
to HIM alone is due the successful navi-
CATION Of our rivers by steam. The
facts, however, as gathered them from
/ the late Bishop Potter, of Pennsylvania,
who in turn received them from Chan
cellor Livingston himself, are as follows:
I Thirteen years before Fitch experiment.
ed with his steamboat upon the Collect
! in New York, he had, as Is well known,
run a little steamer on the Delaware,
between Philadelphia and BordeEtown,
with great success. During that period
he had experimental with various kinds
Of prOpelling power-the screw, the side
/ wheel, and sweeps or long oars. The
most primitive thing about his vessel
was the boiler, which consisted simply
of two potash kettles riveted together.
/ Mr.. Livingston, who was greatly in
terested in the success of Fitch's ex-
peFiments, seized the opportunity when
minister to France to visit the work.
shops of Watt & Bolton, in England,
where for the first time he saw proper
ly constructed steam boiler. But how
was he to introduce it into the United
States, unless (which was then impossi-
ble) he went there himself?
q At this crisis he thought of Robert
Fulton, who, originally an artist in
Philadelphia, was then exhibiting q
panorama in Paris. His panorama,
however, falling to pay, was attached,
and himself arrested for debt and thrown
into prison. Livingston also, at this time
had in his possession the plans, models,
and drawings of what was afterward the
successful steamboat, which he obtained
from the American Consul, then resid
ing at HavTe, who, in turn, had purchas-
ed them Of Fitch, when the latter, COM
pletely discouraged, and stranger in
France, utterly destitute, had given up
IN despair Livingston falling into the
error so common TO many, of believing
that because an artist can draw cleverly
he must necessarily succeed equally
well in mechanical conception and eX-
ecution, paid off Fulton's debts, and
sent him over to New York with one
OF James Watts boilers. Fulton, how
ever, thoroughly incompetent and I'M
trustworthy, failed to rise to the oe-
casion; and when Livingston returned,
year after, he found his pet project
precisely where he had left it several
years before. He therefore, at once took
hold of it himself, and by bis energy
and perseverance finally brought his
ideas to a successful issue-Fulton,
whom he could not entirely shake off,
acting as kind of general superinten-
dent.
"These facts, moreover, are confirmed,
not only by the late President William
4. DueF, in his Ne10 Yorker Letter
seventy, but by Mr.. Ransom Cook,
now (1S71) living at Saratoga Springs,
New York Mr.. Cook informs US that in
the summer of 1887 he was in, the city of
New York, engaged upon his electro
magnetic machinery. Among his work
men were two who had been employed
by Livingston and Fulton while those
gentlemen were perfeeting their steam
boat. They surprised him greatly by
stating that Fulton was capital
draughtsman, and that was all. They
added that he was so deficient in a
knowledge of the laws of mechanics as to
furnish daily mirth for the workmen,
and that it was a long time before
Livingston could convince, him that the
starting-bar" of an engine should be
made larger at the fulcrum end than
at the handle"