Show PAY HONOR TO BOAT INVENTOR John Fitch Who Vho Died In ln 1798 Is Given Monument BARDSTOWN Ky J. J I AprIl 2 By By The Associated Press Press Press- John Itch Filch disputed inventor of oC the steamboat t. has been honored h nort l After Arter resting for more than t century In the tho obscurity of th the theold old Bardstown cemetery his bod hod has ho been transferred to tho the court square and above It erected an aa tut hn posing monument Fitch born at nt East Bast Windsor Conn January 21 21 Is la said Mold to have ha committed suicide here July 2 There was much slon In the th early part of tho the nine nineteenth tee nth century as to whether he was waa the original Inventor of the steamboat but In a commit commit- commUteD committee too tee of ot the tho New York legislature declared Robert Fulton's steam steam- steamboat steamboat boat was WILI in substance the th Invention Invention tion lion patented by John Fitch 1 In 1791 1701 Congress also has hata given Fitch recognition as the tho Inventor ant and made the appropriation with which to erect the monument At A t the tho ago age of ot 17 Fitch went to sea Later he turned to 10 working as na a and then became becam a n silversmith suring I the revo revo- revolutionary revolutionary revolutionary war ar he ho served as n ft gun gun- gunsmith gunsmith gunsmith smith in the American army Ills ll first model steamboat was W completed at Warminster To Pa In 1785 Faced l with discouragement and neglect ho labored on ou and In 1787 his first steamboat made a successful trip at Philadelphia on tho the Delaware Dela arc Deserted by friends friend and hackers backers Fitch went to France l FranceIn In 1793 to build a a. steamboat but the Revolution Hc Interfered and h h. had to work his passage back to tel America |