Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-02-10
APPERSON DADDY
OF MOTOR CARS
E. Z. Cowden, Local Distribu-
tor, Gives Interesting
History

E. L. Cowden, local distributor for
the Apperson "Jackrabbit" to-day
gave to Telegraph representative
an interesting bit of automobile his
tory, concerning the advent of the au-
tomobile.
..Back in 1898 the first successful
American gasoline automobile was
completed by the Apperson Brothers,
and on July A, of that year, made q
run from Kokomo to Peru, Indiana,
a distance of about twenty miles, SAID
Mr.. Cowden. This car was purely
an experiment. There was no ae-
mand for cars at that time, the Ap-
persons carrying on the work, because
of their vital interest in it. This was
the first successful American car -
the father of American AUTOMOBILES.
.'In the year 1895 the Times
Herald" Chicago newspaper, onered
q prize for the best designed gasoIlne
engine for a motorcaf. Ihls was
won by the Apperson.
"It seems incredible when one looks
about to-day and is able to count
automobiles and automobile trucks by
the thousand in the streets OF our
cities and on the country roads, that
less than a quarter of century ago
the automobile was an unknown
quantity.
First Car Prizewinner
"Elmer and Edgar Apperson, two
young mechanical, geniuses from the
little town of KoSomo, Indiana, won
that prize! The first 'Apperson' en-
CINE was a winner! Bear that IN
mind, for 1T forms the crux of the
story of the life of the Apperson
brothers.
"These men had given to the world
an invention which was to revolu-
tionize 1ocomotion. They laid the
foundation, through the exhibition OF
that prize-winning pioneer motor, OF
an industry which has assumed the
most colossal proportions in score or
wears of any that the world has
known before or since that epoch
making date.
"In the year following Elmer APP
person drove his car as a special
attraction with the Robinson and
Franklin circus, and proved the star
attraction in the worlds Congress Oh
Wonders"
"He drove in races at Sioux City
over a one-mile track on July of
that same year - and at the Mime
apolis Bicycle Show in the Fall of
1896 hauled passengers around the big
Convention Hall at 10 cents each.
'In telling the story of these early
experiences he never fails to recount
how hard it was to get load" at
this Bicycle Show. People refused to-
risk their lives in his devil wagon
even at the bargain price of 10 cents
head.
1T was while with the circus that
Mr.. Apperson one Sunday afternoon
while in Evansville, Indiana, decided
to attend ball game which was be-
ing played in that city.
Broke Up Game
Ills arrival at the park occurred
in the middle of the third inning and
was the signal for the breaking up of
that game then and there. Players
as well as spectators gathered about
the 'Horseless Wagon and spent the
rest of the afternoon in an examina-
tion of its wonders.
What man in that crowd on that
memorable day would have dreamed
that in a few short years thousands
of automobiles, all of ther1 lineal des-
cendants of this little 'Apperson' car,
would be parked about the grounds
of every ball park in America when
there was a game on!
I'm the following year Edgar Ap-
person won the first speed contest
ever given in America, at the Charles
River Park track at Boston.
The next feat was his driving of
an Apperson automobile from Koko-
mo to New York City, 900 miles in
August, 1898, where he delivered the
car to a customer.
I'm 1901 both brothers added fresh
honors to those already gained, the
first bein ga 100-mile nonstop run in
the Long Island Automobile Club
contest, the first contest of that ma
ture. In the same year they won first
and second prizes in the first cross
country run, the course being from
New York to Buffalo.
Beginning of Rise
An important step was taken this
Apperson Brothers Automobile Com
pany, with an original capital of $23,-
900. Two years following marked the
beginning of the automobile industry
which these two men had been so
instrumental in bringing to life.
I'm the beginning they were ac-
tuated more by the enthusiasm which
grips inventors than by any thought
OF a great commercial success. There
was no market for their wares, and
it is doubtful if they ever gave much
thought to the commercial side of the
automobile.
Success" said Mr.. Cowden, has
come to Elmer and Edgar Apperson
because of their adherence to the
ideals which they have held from the
beginning. To win-not for what the
reward might be from that winning,
but rather to carry out the Apperson
idea of achievement, of work well
uCHe ana 10 LnlS lueal Iney nave neld
from the first with the result that
each succeeding .Apperson was an
improvement over its predecessor.
I'm 1909 the Apperson Jack Rab-
bit won first in the Pasadena-Alta-
dena Hill Climb, covering IA miles of
11h per cent grade from standing
start in minute 26 seconds, a sixty
-per-hour speed. This winning
car was driven by Edgar Apperson.
"a worlds record which still
stands.
THE latest and perhaps greatest
of all the Apperson creations makes
its bow to the motorists of the world
this season - in the Apperson Road
aplane.' Not in years has any auto
mobile received such enthusiastic in
dorsement from motorists as this new
car.
1T is a fitting climax to long and
honorable line of 'Apersons' and more
than ever will serve to cement the
bond which has always existed be-
tween the Appersons and the 'Apper-
son family - whose motto has al
ways been once an Apperson owner,
always an Apperson owner
1.-The men who in 1895 won the
first prize for the first successful auto