Evening journal., 1914-12-03
New News Of Yesterday
--=
An Early Ancestor of the
Automobile
BY HOIlaaa.

was chatting with the late DR..
Beverly Mead while we both stood
looking at the work of destruction of
the house long occupied as the coun-
try home. in Greenwich, Conn, of VIII
liam Rockefeller. It stood upon a
piece of land which was separated
from the country home of William M.
Tweed by narrow street and a
slightly broader lot. The home of
Tweed had been torn down earlier. so
that upon its site could be construct
ed dwelling modelled after the so
called Elizabethan architecture Mr..
Rockefeller's former home was taken
down so that upon its site a dwelling
of modern architecture could be built.
While we were chatting there appear
ed in the driveway an automobile
driven by steam power as the vapor
that came from the exhaust clearly
indicated. DR.. Mead's mind was di-
verted by the appearance of this car
from the destruction of the Rockefel-
Ter home to a recollection of an in,
cident which came within his knowl4
edge forty years earlier.
He said. II never see one Of the.
autos of which steam power is the
driving energy without recalling an
incident In the career of a friend Of
my early manhood named Ingersoll
whose name, although it does not ap-
pear in the many biographies, is
known the world over because of his
invention of the apparatus which
made 1t possible to dispense with
hand labor in rock drilling and to
substitute steam power for it.
"lngersoll was born in a house
which is still standing, and is only
mile or so on the Connecticut side
of the boundary line between New
York and Connecticut The house
was a famous one in the early days
because it was built of rough brown
stone, whereas almost all the other
farmhouses in that vicinity were
built of wood. My own home and the
farm upon which / passed my child
hood and early manhood were within
pistol shot of Ingersoll's home.
THE neighborly relation created a
sort of intimacy between Ingersoll
and myself, although | was a younger
Man than he. / learned, however,
that he belonged to the prevailing
! type of American inventors who were
distinguished generally for the lack
of money sense. His inventions have
enriched the world by millions upon
millions, but he never had much
money and died poor.
1T was about the time of our civil
war that l saw Mr.. Ingersoll riding
along the highway in go-cart Of ex-
traordinary appearance. It went
along all right. although neither horse
nor mule was attached to it, and IL
made such noise that It frightened
horses, and besides, the horses were
scared when they saw wagon going
along without any horse.
"Ingersoll said that he had made an
engine which would drive a wagon by
steam power. He told me that he
would have to give up using 1t be-
cause the farmers protested against
1t. He said, however, that the time
would come when a self-propelled
wagon driven by steam power would
be in common use. The principal
difficulty to overcome was to secure
a sufficient supply Of fuel to drive the
machine fer any distance without
making too heavy a load for the car.
He also told me that he was certain
/ that some day a substitute for steam
energy would be, discovered, and