Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-08-10

nj IEyHTSRI y stretched IN the l nj
ATH1 fBA ted States the follow
ca AZ Ht7 hssFT ing sentence was
A#fSAE G printed in the AmerI-
fHl ~ can Magazine for
t#t 1884. Every one OF
HI US hears and reads OF
news by telegraph
from day to day with
out ever considering
much less understanding, anything OF
the principles of this mode of oommuni-
| eating intelligence. In the same arti-
Gle the telegraph is described as of ''ln-
calculabe importance to the mercantile
interests, - and is referred TO as being in
a "highly improved condition il
Boston.
Was there, then, system of practical
teegraphy in use before the invention OF
| Professor Morse?
There were many such systems. There
were even attempts at an electric tele-
graph nearly sixty years before the Bal
! timore and Washington line. Arthur
| Young, gentleman who visited France
| in 1857, tells of the experiments of one
| NJ. Lomond, who conveyed messages by
| electricity from one room TO another;
| Francis Ronalds, in 1928, passed cleo
trio sparks through eight miles of wire;
In 1887 W. +. Cooke and Professor
Wheatstone patented the "needle teIe-
! graph - In which the electric current
/ moved delicate pointer to right OF left
ut the movement of an ivory handle, and
the thirteen mile line between Padding
ton and West Drayton was several years
| in advance of Professor Morse.
But it was not to any OF these that the
| writer in the american Magazine re-
ferred.
/ The telegraph, which, he says, had
been "brought to great perfection by au
euterprising citizen of Boston, had no
wires, and was operated without spark
of electricity; yet by means of 1t mes
sages were sent lat the rate of IA miles
q minute, which is eleven times rs fast
as the swiftuess of sound, and seven
times as fast US the speed OF cannon
ball. -
The Boston telegraph of 1884 was an
elaborate system of signalling from tower
to tower by means of painted arms OF
wood, pivoted to tall upright pole and
rapidly set at different angles by means
of ropes controlled by "winches, or
"crauk handles.
A machine of this sort was called
nsemaphore, or semRphorio tele-
graph;" for the word telegraph had
been in common use since the preceding
century.
The movable arms OF the semaphore
were not used TO represent letters
of the alphabet, nor were the messages
sent by them spelled out word by word.
The different portions of the arms in
dictated only numbers, and the
numbers referred TO messages or
parts of messages which were printed
in q book. or course, both the sender
and receiver of the dispatch had copy
Of this telegrsphio dictionary, in which
the messages were arranged alphabet
cally for the convenience of the sender,
with q numerical index for the use OF
the receiver. clifford 3 Book - was the
standard IN 1884, and j. 4. Parker's
HAppendix' was also used. A copy OF
Parker's Book may be seen in the Boston
Athenaum; and doubtless in other large
public libraries both that and EEL
ford So may be found. as well as 1.-THE
Boston Harbor Book, - which supple
mented the two.
Valuable as this method of rapid COM
munication, however Its use was con-
fined almost entirely to the coast, and
limited TO reporting TO the merchants OF
Boston the news of arriving vessels.
Five watchmen were constantly on
duty from sunrise to sunset in the signal
towers, and during the ten years 1884 to
1874, the arrival of no fewer than II ,235
vessels was thus telegraphed to those
most interested.
In France the senaphoric system had
been introduced much earlier, and had
been extended overthe country in lines
that stretched away like our modern
electric lines. 1t was said 5000 messages
could be sent IN day from Paris to any
part of France.
Readers OF "Monte Cristo" do not
need to be reminded that when Napol-
con, escaping from Elba, landed on the
shores of France on the first OF March,
1915, his approach was presently an
nounoed to Louis XVIII. by his ministe
of police.
elbow many men had he with hIm?'
asked the king.
'ssre, it was impossible to learn the
dispatch simply stated the fact OF the
landing and the route taken by the
usurper. -
'And how did this dispatch reach
your" inquired the king.
The minister bowed his head, and
while q deep color oVerspread his cheeks,
he stammered out: "BY the Ielegr aph,
sire.''
1t is curious to notice that in 1874, the
very year wnen Morse's invention was
about to wrap the world in iron, and
make it thrill with electric fire, writer
in Hunts Merchants Magazine strongly
advocated the extension over the CGited
States of this same clumsy, wooden,
signaling telegraph, which was so gen.
eraI in France, and which was so useful
here for diffusing marine intelligence.
He says: "a line of telegraph COM
munications upon our railroads would
tend to prevent the frequent collisions
W hich take place, thereby saving very
great expense to the proprietors aud pre-
venting the loss of life. - 1.-The rapid
ity OF the public mall" he adds. lis
not sufficient, in many instances. 10