The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1879-09-24
REHINIsCENCEs OF HORSE.
Some Anecdotes Of the Great Inventor
How He Differed From Other
Inventors.
His Belief IN His Projects-Buryfng the
Wires-His Return From Washing
tsn-What It Cost to De-
fend His Patent
His Charity.
New York Timea.l

S6muel lnloy 6reesc mOrSes the iuSonsof
OF the telegraph, and to record them. Such
incidents, trifling though they may be, al
low US to form some slight estimate Of this
remarkable man. Perhaps the most salient
trait that Morse had was the positive be-
lief in the necessity Q his invention.
There was no half heartedness about him.
Such men as Bernard De Palissy, are it is
true few in this world. The French potter
was willing to burn his baby's cradle pro-
viding 1T would furnish fuel for heating his
kiln. Putting aside, as much as we may,
differences of age and time, Palissy seeking
to perfect his dish, or Morse to develop his
telegraph, the divergence between the two is
wide. The former was grouping for perfec
ton in physical thing. Men had eaten
from earthen-ware, had slaked their thirst
from pater@, ever since the world was
known. 1t behooved Palsy, perhaps, to
invent new glazes, new forms,
new ornaments. But with Morse
it was to convince the world of new
method of impartlng Information, to pro-
ject something which was in q certain
measure ahead of them. 1t was novel
mental process, which was to be driven
through the the peoples heads. If taking 10
as the sum total of the difficulties in the
way of the Introduction of the telegraph. the
Morse instrument, the system OF wirss, these
can hardly be said to have represented more
than quarter of the trouble. OF course, all
of this has been written and rewritten, but
this element of far-sightedness must place
Morse on higher plane than that accorded
1S43 while the first work was being prose
cuted, that some laborers near Baltimore
were digging q trench in which the lead
pipe was to be placed which encased the
wires. A heavy thunder storm came up.
Professor Morse was watching the workmen.
Tk sd Lar9 l,nkh of l..
sought refuge in 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
50 fast that we are devising means OF burying
them again. 1t has been declared that Morse
felt elated after Congress had granted him
the desired pecuniary aid, some $4,000 AS
far as can be learned, for Professor Morse
was a God-fearing man, the sentiment of
gratitude only was prominent, but as to that
wild exultation 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 he
had gone so as to understand more thor
oughly some of the clauses governing the
money appropriation, having been met by
young lad one Of his eis, family, the boy said,
you ought to treat on that $50 1
would, my son." was the grsve reply;
"but this is ali the money 1 have in the
world, and silver quarter of a dollar was
produced. 1t was much earlier than this
that Morse, when with friend in Wall
street some time before 1910, when In ad
dition to the news brought by steamer, bull
letln boards had pasted on them the prices
of stocks, that the professor said to an aston
ished friend: You see thoss prices of stocks
quoted? Well, before many years you will
board" OF course, as was perfectly natural
the professors friend looked at him with
amazement. The devising of his Geographic
machinery 60 fully absorbed his miod that
the neighborhood in which he hved-good,
straightforward people-could hardly un-
that as he was playing as a child in public
square some compassionate friend of the
family. looking at him, said: Poor child, it
would be hundred times better If your
father would pay more attention to you, in
stead of working over his old rusty wires
which never can come to anything" When
Morse was taking daguerreotypes on top of
the building at the corner of Nassau and
Beekman Streets Samuel Colt, the inventor
of the revolver, was friend of the electri-
clan. Colt had his mind full of torpedo
tor the defense of the coast, which was to
Morse had the wires and battery, the dabbler
in torpedoes found his necsss
sary machinery ready at hand.
On one occasion, when Morse was absent,
an EXPERIMENT. was 10 De trleQ on the TOOL
| of the house, with a slight charge of powder.
| which was TO be confined under q Drum OF
| figs. The gentleman who tells this story was
then mere lad, light of weight, and wa:
exactly the convenient resisting medium
which Colt wanted. 1t was agreed that The
boy should stand on the box while the pow.
der was fired. Just as all preparations were
completed, and the lad stood on the box
| Professor Morse appeared, who took in the
situation at a glance. "Stopi" he cried
Colt, bid that boy get down. II you wan
to try the experiment, jump upin his place y
said Colt, "but am agreed. / will get up in
the boys place. Professor, do you touch
the key" Touch the key did Morse. Al
explosion followed. and it was all Colt coulc
do, who was a man of large build. to pre-
vent himself being hurled over into thu
street below. If the boy had stood there b,
would have been certainly lifted into the
| air. 1t was evident that then Professo
Morse knew that explosions were intensified
| in accordance with the means employed Il
fire peculiar substances, and must hav,
had an inkling of the effects of what is nov
substances. ''Once. says an informant, "iI
Professor Morse's later life, he wanted
package of papers, which he told me wert
on his table. secured vOluminous bun
die of documents, and having brOugh
them down presented them to the professor
You have made a mistake; these are not tn
papers wanted. Still. though they are o
no moment now, at one time they causet
me a certain amount of disturbance. The,
represent the vouchers paid by me for law
yers, costs and expenses In defending my
telegraph. / once took the trouble 10 I'd,
up the figures. I can't give it exactly now
but the aggregate ought to sum up some
thing very close to $500 OO0.'" Profeeso
Morse's charities were endless All the i'm
pecunious of the United States made hiI
their milch COW. He gave, il not wisely, q
least well, and must have, during the last 2
years of his life, dispensed fortune i
small sums.
Old 81 Reads the Riot Act.
Atlanta constitutional