The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1873-03-19
The True story of the FIRST Telegram.

ne Dill met with neither SleerS
nor opposition in the Senate, but the
business of that House went On with
discOuraging slOwness. At twilight
on the last evening Of the session
March 3, 1913, there were l19 bills
before it. As it seemed impossible
for it to be reached in regular course
before the hour of adjournment should
arrive, the Professor, who had anx-
iOusly watched the tardy movements
of business all day from the gallery
of the Senate chamber, went with
sad heart to his hotel and prepared to
leave for New York at an early hour
the next morning While at break
fast, a servant informed him that a
young lady desired to see him in the
parlOr.
There he met Miss Annie Els
worth, then young school girl-the
daughter of his intimate friend, Hon.
Henry l.. Ellsworth, the first Com
missioner of Patents-who said, as
she extended her hand to him: Il
have come TO congratulate yOu.1
Upon what ?'' inquired the Pro-
fessor.
Upon the passage of your bill, =
she replied
impossible Its fate was sealed
at dusk last evening. You must be
mistaken"
Not at ALL she responded
Father sent me to tell YOU that your
bill was passed He remained until
the session closed, and yours was the
last bill but one acted upon, and it
was passed just five minutes before
the adjournment: and | am so glad to
be the first one to tell you. Mother
says, too, that you must come home
with me to breakfast"
The invitation wasreadily accepted.
and the joy in the household was un-
bounded Both Mr.. and Mrs. Els
worth had fully believed in the pro-
ject, and the former, in his confidence
in it and in his warm friendship for
Prof Morse, had spent all the closing
hours of the session in the Senate
chamber, doing what be could to help
the bill along, and giving it all the in
huence of his high personal and Off
cial position.
Grasping the hand of his young
friend, the Professor thanked him
again and again for bearing him such
pleasant tidings, and assured her that
she should send over the wires the
first message, as her reward. The
matter was talked over in the family.
and Mrs. Ellsworth suggested mess
age which Prof. Morse referred to the
daughter, for her approval and this
was the one which was subsequently
sent.
a little more than a year after that
time. the line between Washington
and Baltimore was completed. Prof
Morse was in the former city, and Mr..
Alfred Vail, bis assistant, in the
latter the first in the chamber of the
Supreme Court, the last in the Mount
Clare depot, when the circuit being
perfect, Prof Morse sent to Miss
Ellsworth for her message and it came.
WHAT HATH GoD WROUGHT y
1t was sent in triplicate in the dot
and-line language of the instrument
to Baltimore, and was the frSt mess
age that ras erer Transmitted by a re-
eording telegraph. A fac-simile of
that first message, With Professor
Morse's Endorsement, is here given.
The story of this first message has
been often told with many exaggera-
tions. 1t has roamed about Europe
with various romantic material at
tached to it, originating mainly in the
French Imagination, and has started
up anew from time to time in our
own country under fresh forms, but
the above story is simply and
literally true. An inventor in despair
receives the news Of his unexpected
success from his friends daughter,
and he makes her promise which he
keeps, and thus links her name with
his own. and with an invention which
becomes one of the controlling instru-
ments Of civilization for all time =
Scribner's for March