The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1892-07-14


gested an Atlantic telegraph line. II
was in fact suggested as soon as Profes.
sor Morse demonstrated, in 1874, that
telegraphy was q success, and 1t is an in
teresting fact that as the first message
in 1874 was, what hath God wrought"
written by Miss Annie Ellsworth, daugh.
ter of the commissioner of patents, &c
the first regular news over the latter
was that peace had been concluded be
tween Austria and Prussia. Professor
Morse insisted from the start that the
ocean would prove no obstacle, but such
ideas required time to develop into ac.
ton. Many queer schemes were sug,
gested. For time there was much
talk of line through Alaska and across
Behring straits.
Mr.. Field studied the matter carefully,
then called in consultation Messrs.
Peter Cooper, Moses Taylor, Marshall
o. Roberts and Chandler White, and
soon had them ahame equally with him.
self. They agreed to lay down $50, 600
each, and the organization was at once
formed under the title of the New York,
Newfoundland and London Telegraph
company. David Dudley Field was
made its attorney and proceeded at once
to Newfoundland, where he secured
from the provincial legislature the ex-
elusive right for fifty years to lay and
operate telegraph from the continent
! of America to Newfoundland and thence
| to England" And then-well, every
| thing seemed to come to a dead stand
| still. The matter became a huge ma
/ tional joke. All the paragraphers took
| it up, and the funny columns" of the
newspapers were spotted with little
gems like this:
Bold Cyrus Field, he says, says he,
I've got pretty notion
That can lay a telegraph
Across the Atlantic ocean.
His Efforts Crowned with Success.
1t would be wearisOme task to g
| over the details of the next four years,
Of Mr.. Fields many journeys across the
| Atlantic and his final success in getting
the needed funds. Suffice it that on the
| Goth of Jupe, 1857, the United States
steamship Niagara and the British
steamer Agamemnon took each its half
| of the cable in midocean and commenced
| laying toward its own coast. The wire
soon broke, and broke again, and yet
| again, and so that plan was a failure.
In August the Niagara started again at
Valentia bay, and had paid out 1856
| miles when the cable broke again. Then
the fun grew loud and furious. The
| illustrated press gave cartoons of the
submarine monsters playing with the
cable.
In 1853 the cable was actually laid,
| the vessels arriving at their destinations
July 20 and Aug. 6. A few messages
| passed and there was an international
hurrah. Then all communication
ceased and for seven years nothing was
done. The civil war absorbed the ener-
| gies of the people. But all that time
Mr.. Field and his subordinates were ex-
| perimenting, and at last cable was de-
vised which, in the opinion of experts,
might lie under salt water thousand
years without injury. The famous levi
athan steamer, the Great Eastern, was
then employed, and this time, in. 1865,
the cable broke.
Still the indefatigable Cyrus kept the
field. And now system Of tanks, troll
leys, drums and regulating wheels was
established on the steamer so comph-
Gated that description would fill two
columns. The effect was that no matter
| how rough the weather might be the
cable could be paid out with perfect reg
ularity and without slack or strain. The
rest is known. On the 18th of July the
| Great Eastern started from the Irish
| coast, and on the 27th grounded the
| American end of the cable at Hearts
| Content, Newfoundland. Its op GRAFTON
was perfect.
The Great Enterpriser Highly HonoreG.
Then all Europe and America broke
| forth in glad acclaim and Cyrus Field
| was overwhelmed. There were dis
| patches of congratulatiOn from Glad
| stone and from Bismarck, from IT,
| queen, the president and the French en-
| peror, and last, but most wonderful
| perhaps. one from Ferdinand de Lesseps,
at Alexandria, Egypt, which was sent at
| 80 p. m. and reached Newfoundland at
| 10 a. m. the same day.
1 For weeks thereafter Mr.. Fields life
was continuous ovation. Old readers
| recall with enthusiasm the banquets, the
songs, the professions and still more the
cartoons and the jokes. Congress voted
him a gold medal and the national
thanks. England and France followed
with votes, thanks and medals. job.
Bright in the British parliament ex-
pressed his profound regret that the
constitutions of the two nations stood
in the way of comforting on Mr.. Field
the highest honors in the power of the
queen. The subsequent life of the great
enterpriser has been one of honor and
i dignity. III loOJ ne represented Une
New York chamber of commerce at the
opening of the Suez canal In 1875 he
began his work of developing the ele
waited railway system of New York. In
1880 he started on his tour around the
world.
A very queer episode in MIR. Fields
life was his erection of monument tc
Major John Andre, which furnished
material for many good jokes to the
newspaper men and target for patriots
to practice on with missile stones. The
first monument was soon destroyed (by
Irish laborers in the vicinity. it is said)
and the second was battered to pieces
by expert stone throwers.
Mr.. Field was associated with many
enterprises, among them being the eie
waited railroads of New York City. He
accumulated big fortune, but owing tc
i series of misfortunes in recent year!
ha diad comparatively Door.
The Stark county Horticultural society