The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1873-03-07
The True Story of the First Telegram.

Ine true STORY Oh inc rIst icicsia h'
The bill met with neither sneers nor
opposition In the Senate, but the bust
ness Of that house went on with dis
couraging slowness. At twilight ON the
last evening of the session March 3,
1S43) there were 119 bills before it. As
it seemed impossible for it to be reached
in regular course before the hour of adj
journment should arrive, the Professor,
who had anxiously watched the tardy
movements of business all day from the
gallery of the Senate Chamber, went
with sad heart TO his hotel and pre-
pared TO leave for New York Mt 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 Ellsworth,
then a young school girl-the daughter
of his intimate friend, Hon. Henry l..
Ellsworth, the first Commissioner of Pat
ents-who said, as she extended her
hand to him: 4" have come to con-
graduate you"
Upon what?" inquired the Professor.
Upon the passage of your bill, she
replied.
Impossible ! It's fate was sealed at
dusk last evening. You must be mis-
taken.
"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 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 UNI
bounded. Both Mr.. and Mrs. Ellsworth
had fully believed i'll the project, and
the former, in his confidence in it and
III 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 influence of his high
personal and political 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 message, as
her reward The matter was talked over
III the family, and Mrs Ellsworth sug-
gested message which Prof. Morse re-
ferred TO the daughter for her approval
and this was the one which was subse-
quently sent.
A little more than year after 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 III the Mount Glare depot,
when the circuit being perfect, Prof.
Morse sent to Miss Ellsworth for her
message, and it came /:
" What cod hath tCrOUght!"
1t was sent in triplicate in the dot-an1-
line language of the instrument to Balti-
more, and was the first message ever
transmitted by a recording telegraph.
The story of this first message has
been often told with many exaggera-
tons. 1t has roamed about Europe with
various romantic material attached to it,
originating mainly in the French imagi-
nation, and has started up anew from
time TO time III our own country under
fresh forms, but the above story is
simply and literally true. An inventor
in despair receives the news of his un.
expected success from his friends daugh.
ter 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 instrI-
ments of civilization for all time
ScribnCr's for March,