The Press., 1888-07-05
THE FIRST NEWS MESSAGE BY TELEGRAPH

WnfR convention OrBautIeu lu DAibinofsf and working connection was established for the first time by telegraph between Washington and Annapolis Junction, Pro- lessor Morse being at the former and Mir. Vail at the latter place. Morse sat that afternoon in the room at Washington, waiting for the signal from Mir. Vail, when suddenly there came an animated clicking at the instrument. He bent forward, in his eagerness almost devouring the little strip of paper that crept only too slowly from between the rollers of the register, until, the message completed, he rose, and said to the friends who were present "Gentlemen, the convention has adjourn ed. The train for Washington from Balti. more, bearing that information, has just left Annapolis Junction, and Mr. Vail has telegraphed me the ticket nominated, and it is"-he hesitated, holding in his hand the final proof of the victory of science over space-'it is-it is Clay and Freling- huysen p
 "You are quizzing us, was the quiet retort "Its easy enough for you to guess that Clay is at the head of the ticket; but Frelinghuysen-who the devil is Freling- huysen2"
 q only know" was the dignified an- swer, "that is the name MT. Vail has sent me from Annapolis Junction, where he had the news five minutes ago, from the train that is bound this way, bringing the delegates"
 In those days the twenty two miles from the Junction to Washington required an hour and a quarter in making, even for the exceptionally fast trains, such as that which was taking the delegates to Wash. ington.
 Long before the journey was over, the wspapers-enterprising even in those days-had "extras" upon the streets, and the newsboys were Justify crying the news the telegraph had brought flashing thro t,oenty- tt0o miles of space. A great crowd of people was at the station. The extras, with their cabalistic heading, By Tele. graph, had whetted public curiosity to the keenest edge. Out of the train came the delegates, each one anxious to be fore most in sending abroad the inspiriting news that fortune was with Harry of the vest" But consternation struck them dumb when, upon alighting, they found in type, before their eyes, the very story they had believed exclusively their own, but which had preceded them By Tele- graph" as they read in the headlines of the journals. They had seen the wires stretching along the side of the track all the way from Annapolis Junction into Washington, and they had ioked about if glibly.
 Hon. Ralph Plumb, a member of tho present congress from Illinois, was one of the delegates from Ohio to that Clay con vention, and was on the train which bore the first news of the nominations, as was supposed, to Washington, and in a com munication to the writer, under date of Washington, February IS, 1888, he writes ''It scenes like real romance to me to think that Q son of the then young man who was sending what may fairly be said to have been the first important nlcssaqC by telegraph hat a0ds eUcr trdn8n3jttcd, is asking of one get dLiUe respecting what happened on that occasion. During these forty-four years, see what has been accom- plished, as a result of this first successful effort What civilized country is there now that has not the telegraph, and how many of them are covered by telegraph lines as by a network r
 In referring to the journey from Balti- more to Washington of the delegates to the convention at Baltimore, he saysi "I remember the little shed at the Junction where we stopped on our way, and saw the man (Mr. VaiD in 1t, who was ticking away upon little brass machine. saw him, and talked with him, for wanted to know what strange thing he was doing and he answered that he was telegraph ing to Morse in Washington about our convention, '-and he pointed towards the wire overhead, running in the direction of that city,-'over the first wire ever erected or used for public telegraphing, and the message have just sent is the first news ever transmitted for the public benefit. In common with all the rest of the real S0tse ones of the day, I hailed the affair as huge joke until we landed at the station in Washington, when, sure enough, Morse had received the news an hour or more be. fore, and the whole city was informed of the fact that we had put Q dark horse on the ticket with our hero, Clay. The evi. dence could not be disputed, of course. The most prejudiced of us could not pre-. sume to suggest that Morses work was guessing; for no man alive would have imagined that Frelinghuysen could be made the nominee for vice.president."
 MT. Vail preserved with much care the recording register used by him at Wash ington and Annapolis Junction, and later at Baltimore, as a priceless memento of the days of which we have written, and at his death bequeathed it to his eldest son, Stephen Vail, by whom it was loaned, some years since, to the National Museum at Washington, where it has attracted much attention. Professor Morse, some years before his death, certified to it's identity, and to the fact that the similar one used by him at his end of the line had not been preserved, and that he did not know what had become of it.