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REV. L’ABBE GEORGES A. BELCOURT Inventor of the automobile

When Lowell Thomas, the noted commentator and author, stated in a broadcast last year that the first automobile was built forty-six years ago in Indiana, he started something. Soon a lively controversy was raging, and claims for the honor of inventing the motor car came from everywhere.

In an article appearing in the Boston Herald of March 17, 1940, it was stated that a Mr. George A. Long made an automobile in 1875 and ran it on the streets of Northfield, Mass, at one o’clock in the morning before an audience of five hundred people! A year later Mr. Long received notice from the Selectmen of his town stating that he could run his “public nuisance” no more.

But, believe it or not, in the year 1866, almost ten years before Mr. Long’s adventure, the first automobile wheezed its way over the streets of Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island! The Char- lottetown Herald described the fateful event thus:

“A single seated steam wagon passed through the city this week on its way to the owner, the Reverend Father Belcourt of Rustico. When we saw the wagon, it was drawn by horses, but it is furnished with a steam engine, et cetera, and can be propelled with steam. It is the first vehicle of its kind introduced into this Island.”

Though this historic news item does not so state, the owner of the vehicle was also its maker. Father Belcourt, the energetic, capable and be- loved Parish Priest, was a mechanical genius whose life was a series of adventures as he moved from parish to parish. Before coming to Prince

Edward Island, he was stationed in the Red River District of the West where he had baptised the leader of the half-breeds, Louis David Riel, over whom another priest prayed as the hangman’s noose bound its captive. When the House of Commons next assembled in Ottawa after Riel’s execution, a young lawyer rose, and in a speech, the eloquence of which has never been surpassed, said that if he had been a half—breed on the banks of the Saskatchewan, he, too, would have shoul- dered his rifle. His name was Wilfrid Laurier.

The exact dates during which Father Bel- court was Parish Priest of Rustico are 1859 to 1869. In the Charlottetown Examiner of July 5, 1866, there is a report of a unique tea-party held at Rustico on June 24th of that year when the first automobile model was demonstrated to the amazed delight of some nine hundred guests. “In the after- noon”, says The Examiner, “a steam carriage was put in motion and with great wonder and delight was observed steaming away for half a mile on the road and back again, at a fast speed, after which the meeting dispersed in good order, all ap- pearing well pleased with the day’s proceedings.”

Many people feel strongly that the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, whose responsibility it is to mark historic spots, should erect a cairn or plaque at Rustico in commemora- tion of this truly historic event. The authenticity of the story of the first automobile cannot be doubted. On this page there appears a picture of Father Belcourt, and also the affidavit of Mr. Jerry Peters of Howlan, Prince Edward Island, made in August, 1940, to the effect that he himself as a child actually saw Father Belcourt’s automobile in operation. Seeing is believing.

I.Jeremiah Peters, of Howlan in Prince County make oath and say :-

That I was born at Rustico Queens County Prince Edward Island on the 78"- day of WM 18 3‘5’ as I an: advised and verily believe.

That I quite distinctly remember Father George A. Belcourt, parish priest of Rustico from 1859 to 1869.

That I remember seeing the steam carriage operated by Father Belcourt. This would be about the year 1866 This carriage appeared to be an ordinary driving carriage propelled or powered with a small steam engine as a source

of motive power.

Sworn to before me at O'Leary M m

in Prince County Prince Edward

Island, this 3/“2 day (may, 1940.

J.P for Prince County.