The state rights democrat. [volume] (Albany, Linn County, Oregon) 1865-1900, 1879-11-07
MORSE THE INVENTOR.
EsIs Belief Ia his Projects what IL Cost %
DeFend Sis Patent.

dotes OF banuel FIHIey Breese MorBe,
the inventor Of the telegraph, and to
record them. Such incidents, trifing
though they may be, allow us TO form
some slight estimate of this remarkable
man. Perhaps the most salient point
that Morse had was the positive belief
in the necessity Of bis invention. There
was no halEhearteduess about him.
Such men as Bernard do Palissy are
few in this world. The French potter
was willing to burn his baby's cradle,
providing it would furnish fuel for heat
ing his kiln. Putting aside rs much ~
we may the differences Of age end time,
Paliasy seeking to perfect his dish, or
Morse TO develop his telegraph, tho
divergence between the two il wide.
The former was cropping for perfection
in q physical thing. Men bad eaten
from earthenware, had slaked their
thirst from pdterr, ever since the world
WAS known. It behoovcd Palissy, per
haps, 10 invent new glszes, new forms,
new ornaments. But with Morse ii
was to convince the world of a new
method Of imparting information, to
project something which was in cer-
tain measure ahead of them. 1t was a
novel mental process, which was TO be
driven through peoples heads. If TAX
ing 10 as the sum total of the difficult
ties in the way Of the introduction of
the telegraph, the Morse instrument,
the system Of wires, these can hardly
ha aat1 10 bava ssK,,,aaa1f.I mora tba.,
quarter Of the trouble. OF course
all this has been written and rewritten,
but this element of far sightedness must
place Morsesn higherplane than that
accorded to nero inventors. It was
some time in lS43, while the first work
was being prosecuted, that some labor
ers near Baltimore were digging a
trench, in which the lead pipe was to
be- placed, which incased the wires.
A heavy thunderstorm came up. Pro-
fessor Morse was watching the men. 1t
rained 10 hard that Morse and son of
his sought refuge in a neighboring shed.
&" The time will come" said Morse,
"when we will have to hang these wires
on poles" Nowadays wires in the air
have accumulated 80 fast that we are
devisingmethods of burying them again.
Il has been declared that Morse felt
elated when Congress had granted him
the desired pecuniary aid, some $780,
600. As far as can be- learned-for
Professor Morse was God fearing man
the sentiment Of gratitude only was
prominent, but as to that wild exulta-
ton, which would carry away weaker
men, the great electrician felt none of
it. At that very time he was so poor
that ON his return from Washington,
where be had gone 80 as to understand
more thoroughly ssme of the clauses
governing the money appropriation,
having been met by young lad, one of
his family, the boy said jocosely to his
father, Nov, father, you ought to treat
on that" $50 ! would," was the reply,
'but this is all the money have in the
world" and a silver quarter of dollar
was produced. 1t was much earlier
than this that Morse, when with a
friend in Wall street. some time before
lS40, when in addition to the news
brought by steamers, bulletin boards
had posted on them the prices of stocks,
that the professor said to an astonished
friend, " You sec those prices of stocks
quotedf Well, before many years you
will have the price of telegraph stock
put on that board" OF course, as was
perfectly natural, the Professors friend
looked at him with amazement. The
devising Of his telegraphic machinery
80 fully absorbed his mind that the
neighborhood in which he lived, good,
straightforward people, could hardly
understand him. A son mentions the
fact that, as he was playing as child
in public square, some compassionate
friend of the family, looking at him,
Raid poor child, it would be hun.
dred times better if your father would
pay more attention to you, instead oi
working over his old wires, which never
can come to anything" When Morse
was taking daguerrotypes on top of the
building at the corner of Nassau and
Beekman streets, Samuel Colt, the in
ventor of the revolver, was friend oi
the electrician. Colt had his mind full
of torpedo for the defense of the coast
which was to be exploded by an electric
circuit. AS Morse had the wires anC
battery, the dabbler in torpedoes founC
the necessary machinery ready at hand
On one occasion, when Morse was ab
sent, an experiment was to be tried oI
the roof of the house, with a Sigh
charge of powder, which was to be con
fined under drum of fgs. The gen
tleman who tells this story was then
mere lad, light of weight and was eS
actly the convenient resisting medium
which Colt wanted. 1t was agree
that the boy should stand on the bo
while the powder was fired. Just a
all preparations were completed, an
the lad stood on the box, Professo
Morse appeared, who took in the situs
i. ton at a glance. "Stop," he criet
: "Colt, bid that boy get down. If yo
l want to try the experiment, jump u
in his place" '"There is not the eight
0 of pound of powder there, said Coll
l. "but I am agreed. l will get up in th
: boys place. Professor, do you touc
9 the key" Touch the key Morse dit
+ An explosion followed, and it was a
h Colt could do,. who was man of lare
: build, to prevent himself being hurle
d over into the street below. If the be
l. had stood there he would have bee
;, certainly lifted into the air. 1t WI
!, evident that then Professor Morse kne
Il that explosions were intensified in a
cordance with the means employed