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Show -TIC OAr-flhiTVti't- Toot raTan cooaara birth On April 4. 17H. l'eter Cooper, deeigner and builder nf the flrat Amerhan locomotive, was bora In New lork Clly. At th sga of II, Cooper, poor and uneducated, showed hla In vootlvo ganlua by drvlalng a machine ma-chine tor tha shearing of cloth, which was uaed In the war of lilt. Hut rather than pur.ua hla Inventive bent, young Loo per turned., to manufacturing, a, field In which a waa la amass hug fortunes. lie started with a aTlua snd lalnglaaa factory on Long laland and then ostshllshed Iron work, and wire factories In Hajtlmora, New York and In 1'enn.vlvania. In US ha cahlblted bla locomotive. "Th Tom Thumb." for th flrat tlm aa th .lialtlmur ah Ohio railroad. A fw days after Its debut It raced a horse-drawn car with It paaSongers over IS miles of tho railroad, but toat whan a belt slipped. After his locomotlv Idea developed. de-veloped. Cooper next became In terealed la th Atlantlo cable, die naa on of tho earliest to urge auch a communication between thla country and Kumpa. Cooper held many puhllr offices In New York and In 117 received tha In dependent nomination, fur prtsi . , |