Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 39, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 February 1912 — THE FIRST MOTORIST. [ARTICLE]

THE FIRST MOTORIST.

Nicolas Joseph Cugnot, a French military engineer, who, many years before Stephenson Introduced his locomotive, had built one for his government, is supposed to be the first motorist,” said C. F. Splltdorf of the Splltdorf laboratories. Cugnot died in 1808. Napoleon obtained him a pension of one thousand francs —forty pounds—a year. Cugnot’s carriage was built to transport arms, and he also designed a service gun.