Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1873-02-27
THE TRUE STORY OF THE
FIRST TELEGRAM.

The bill met with neither sneers nor
opposition in the Senate, but the busi-
ness OF that House went on with dis
couragiRg slowness. AT twilight on
the last evening Of the session March
8, 1919 there were II9 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 anXiously watched
the tardy movements of business all
day from the gallery of the Senate
chamber, went with a sad heart to his
hotel and prepared to leave for
New York at an early hour the
next morning. While at breakfast, a
servant informed him that young
lady desired to see him in the parlor.
There he met Miss Annie Ellsworth,
then young school girl-the daughter
OF his Intimate friend, Hon. Henry l..
Ellsworth, the first Commissioner OF
Patents-who said, as she extended
her hand to him: 81 have come to con-
graduate YOU"
"Upon what ?' inquired the Profes-
sor.
Upon the passage oy your bill, !"
she replied.
impossible! Its fate was sealed at
dusk last evening. You must be mis-
taken."
mot at all,' she responded. "Fath-
er sent me to tell you that your bill
was passed. lie remained until the
session closed, and yours was the last
bill but one acted upon, and it was
passed just five minutes before the adj
journment; and l 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 was readily 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 he could TO help
the bill along, and giving it all the in
fiuence Of his high personal and official
position.
Grasping the hand of his young
friend, the Professor thanked her
again and again for bearing him such
pleasant tidings, and assured her that
she should send over the wires the
first MESA. c, as her reward. The
matter was talked over in the family,
and Mrs. Ellsworth suggested a mes
sage which Prof. Moise referred TO the
daughter, for her approval; and this
was the one which was subsequently,
sent.
4 little more than year alter that
time, the line between Washington
and Baltimore was completed. Prof.
Morse was in the former city, and Mr..
Alfred Vail, his assistant, in the latter;
the first in the chamber of the Supreme
Court, the last in the Mount Clare de-
pot, when the circuit being perfect,
Prof. Morse sent to Miss Ellsworth for
her message, and it came
"WHAT HATH GOD wRoHGHT!"
1t was sent in triplicaee in the dot
and-line language of the instrument to
Baltimore, and was the first message
cCer transmitted dy q recording teLe-
graph. a fac-simile of that first mes
sage, with Professor Morse's indorse-
ment, 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 attach
ed to it, originating mainly in the
French imagination, and has started
UP anew from time to time in our own