Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1872-04-03
DEATH OF PROF.. WORSE.


Our telegTaphic dispatches this morning
convey the sad intelligence Of the death of
Prof. Morse. For some days previous to
the sad occurrence he had been unwell, but
until Monday the symptoms of his malady
were not alarming. Tuesday he sank rap
idly and in the evening died at the ripe age
Of 81 years, full of honOrs aud regretted by
the whole civilized world ON which he had
conferred such lasting benefits.
Samuel Finley Breeze Morse was t.orn in
Charlestown, Mass, April 81, IT91. He
was the son of Jedid;4ah NOISE, D. D., the
great geoTapher, WI Aose Tame is familiar to
every American school boy. Young Morse
graduated at Ya re in 1910, and in 1911 went
to England TO- study painting under the tut
ton of Warrington Allston and Benjamin
West. While there he became quite
intims..e with G. R. Leslie. They
agreed to paint each others por-
iTsit as q first attempt in London.
Mr.. Morse made sone progress in his art,
exhibiting in 1918 at the Royal Academy
his dying Hercules This picture mer-
tied high praise. A plaster model which he
had constructed, to aid him in painting,
was also shown, and won the Adelphi
gold medal Shortly after he returned to
America. He came unto his own Of Bos-
ton and Boston knew him not. He there
foe betook himself to New Hampshire,
where he eked out a living by painting
portraits at fifteen dollars a head.
In Charleston, S. c., he reaped a more
bountiful harvest, but in 1922 he took
up his residence in New York. The cor
poration authorized him to paint the poT-
trait of Lafayette, when that General was
on a visit to this country. In 1924, he,
with some other artists, authorized a draw
ing association, which was the basis on
which the National Academy Of Design
was erected in 1926. Mr. Morse was the
first President, holding the Office for sixteen
years. In 1929 he returned TO Europe, and
remained there for three years. His return
to America in 1882 must be forever memoir
able, for in that year, while returning from
Havre in the packet ship Sully, he first
laid the foundation Of the great invention
which has immortalized bis name and
placed It beside those of Franklin and
Newton and Stevenson. On returning to
New York he followed his profession, de-
voting his leisure houre to perfecting his
invention of telegraphy. In 1886 be COM
pleted his first apparatus, and with it trans
mitted a message half mile. In 1878
he applied for aid to Congress, but was
refused it. In England he met with no
better success. In France be obtained a
brecet dinrention. On his return to Amer
lea be was indefatigabe in trying to per
suade Congress to enable him to practical
" test his invention. At last, when all
hope was abandoned, it allotted him thirty
Thousand dollars on March 4, 1843, Sat the
midnight hour Of the expiring session"
in 1914 he had constructed the line be-
tween Washington and Baltimore, and sent
over its wires the fist message, "What had
God wrought" Within sixteen years
nearly 10000 miles Of wire were
in full working order. Curiously
enough, in 1897 two other inventors
had discovered a system Of telegraphy-
Wheatstone, in England, Qventing the de-
; fleeing needle instrument, Steurbiel,
in Bavaria, constructing a recording tele-
graph, which, however, was of too COM
Plex a character to come into general use.
Honors poured in on Morse. Yale hon
ored her academic roll by enrolling lam
among her doctors of law. The Sultan of
Turkey sent him q diamond decoration.
The King Of Prussia gave him gold med
al of merit set in a massive snuf-box.
The rulers of Wurtemberg and Austria
were not behindhand. By France
he was made a chevalier Of the
Legion of Honor, and by Denmark a
Knight of the Dannebrog. In 1858 Isa-
bella she Catholic sent him the cross of the
knights commander of the order which
bears her name. In 1857 the representa-
tives of ten countries which had been ben
Gifted by his labors assembled in Paris and
voted him a grant of 100000 francs. In
London and Paris grand dinners were given
to him. The first submarine cables were
laid by Morse across New York harbor in
1912, an achievement which was rewarded
by the American Institute with its gold
medal. In 1S49 Mr.. Morse first preached
the project Of the Atlantic telegraph. His
claim to his share in the invention
of the telegraph has been bitterly contested
in and out of the public courts. His merit
appears to rest not on the discovery of the
principles of the telegraph, but on the
nAnn.ntinn Of already ascarialnad nrlnrlrle