The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1909-10-07
MoREY THE INVENTOR.
Charges Made that His Plans Were
Stolen for Fuiton's Steamboat.

The Boston Journal is making an
effort to prove that Robert Fulton was
not the inventor of the steamboat,
but that the honor belongs to Capt.
Samuel Morey, a plain Vermont far
mer. In the course of an article on
the subject the Journal makes the fol-
lowing quotations from the Concord,
~ H., Patriot of March 16, 1885
Evidence now in the hands of in
terested parties, shows conclusively
that the plans of Robert Fultons boat
were stolen from Mr.. Morey, and that
the boat then in use by Mr.. Morey was
scuttled and sunk in the pond at Fair
lee, VT, where it now lies, by Fulton
emissaries."
The Journal. which may have over
looked the fact that the committee in
charge Of the Hudson-Fulton celebra-
ton in New York does not claim that
Fulton was the first man to launch
steam-propelled craft, but merely that
he is the first to make it a commercial
success, says:
almost coincident with the great
Hudson river celebration in honor of
Robert Fulton, evidence tending TO
show-that he was not the real inven-
tor of the steamboat, though extrolled
as such, comes to the Journal from
those believing fully in the claims of
Capt. Samuel Morey, a plain farmer
whose home was in Fairlee, Vermont.
that his little steamboat, the Aunt
Sally. was built and put into opera
ton on the Connecticut river in l7S3
II years before Fulton's famous Cler
mont ever wet her hull in the Hudson.
That the Clermont indeed was
merely an englarged duplicate of Nor
ey's tiny craft is the contention of his
supporters, who further declare that
his plans were stolen from him after
he had gone to New York at the bid
ding of Fulton and other scientists of
the time, and shown his model
For many years has the Vermont
inventor lain almost aforementioned in
a country churchyard, but the merits
of his claims have now fresh signif-
canoe in the light of the great honor
that this and other nations have just
been paying Fulton in New York The
Clermont made its trial trip up the
Hudson in 1907, as the histories tell,
but from a number of sources facts
have been brought to light to prove
that one Sabbath day in 1793-or it
may have been 1792-Captain Mercy
was seen making his way up the Con
necticut river at point between the
little settlements of Fairlee, Vt, and
oxford, n. H., in an odd-looking steam
craft, which successfully prevailed
against the current at speed of about
four miles an hour. Gray headed Yer
monters tell today of having heard
their fathers describe the astonish-
ment and incredulity that prevailed
along the river at the sight.
Rev. Cyrus Mann, son of one of
the original settlers, writing of the in
cident some time before his death, sta
ted that in his boyhood he witnessed
this trip of the Aunt Sally, "a little
boat as he described it, just large
enough to contain its one passenger,
the rude machinery connected with
the steam boiler and handful of
wood for fire.
Satisfied as to the practicability of
his invention, Captain Morey set about
to secure patent That he went to
New York and demonstrated his mod
ell to the leading scientists there is
shown by letter written by Captain