The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1894-06-13
The First Telegram.

Ia the year 1887, while Samuel +.
B. Morse, professor Of literature and
the arts Of design in the University
of the City of New York, was vainly
| endeavoring to perfect an apparatus
for recording signals at a considerable
distance by the instantaneous action
of electricity, he met by chance AL
fred Vail, a former student of the
university and man Of great me-
chanical skill as we'll AS horn scien:
tist.
The plan Of Morse, conceived but
not embodied, produced profound
impression upon the mind of Vail,
| who, after satisfying himself as to it's
feasibility and learning that the pro-
| fessor desired pecuniary assistance to
| proceed with HIS plans, offered to as
sociate himself with Morse and to
| procure the money necessary for tho
furtherance of the idea. Morse glad
ly availed himself Of this offer, and
these two became friends and part:
| ners.
Wallis FIRST step toward the mono
tary part of the contract was to endea-
vor to interest his father, Judge Ste:
] phen Vail, Of Morristpwn, n. j., In
| the enterprise. This be succeeded in
doing, for Judge Vail, a mechanic Of
no mean skill himself, and proprietor
of the Speedwell iron works, had ideas
ahead of his time as well as marked
respect for the judgment of his son in
scientific matters, and so it came to
pass that Alfred Vail received per-
mission to invite Professor Morse
to Speedwell, where he met the jud ge,
This meeting resulted in enlisting
conditionally the aid Of Judge Vail
and the two partners began work at
once upon the apparatus which
was to prove conclusively for the
first time the practicability Of the tele-
graph.
A special room in one of the shops
was set apart for their use, and there
behind locked doors the work on the
machine was prosecuted with the ut
most secrecy by Alfred Vail and a
young mechanic named William Bax-
ter, Prof. Morse in the meantime hav-
ing returned to New York to prepare
his caveat.
Although Vail and his youthful as
sistant worked day and night toward
completing the machinery, their pro-
gress, retarded by countless difficult
ties, was necessarily slow. Morse
made occasional visits to Speedwell to
observe this progress and also to OBJ
serve how Vail was improving step by
step on his own more or less impracti-
cable designs. OF all the changes
and substitutions made by Vail none
was more important and far reaching
in effect than that Of the lever. Find
ing that Morse's transverse lever
was unsatisfactory, Vail constructed
a new lever capable of a'.vertical mo-
tion, which produced dots, dashes and
spaces.
Professor Morse's idea was to re-
cord numerical instead Of alphabet
cal signs, which were to be translated
by means of a corresponding diction-
ary-a decidedly more tedious and
lengthy process than Wallis dot and
dash alphabet. which has since become
the universal telegraphic language Of
the world.
AS the time dragged on with no
signs of practical result Judge Vail
became impatient. His temper was
not improved by the sarcastic remarks
of his neighbors on 'Vails fofly,' in
fact he became SO morose and ill-tem-
pered that he refused to have any
thing more to do with the machinery
or its construction, and left the work
ers to find their own way out Of the
accumulating difficulties. This was
critical period in. the history of the
telegraph, for Morse and Vail felt that
at any minute the Judge might order
the work discontinued.
70 avoid meeting the irate old gen.
tleman, and so fastening, perhaps,
the dreaded catastrophe, the three
confined themselves to the shop,
and made every effort to complete
their work before they lost the oppor-
tunity.
Young Baxter was appointed to
watch the movements of the Judge,
| and when at noon he would report
that the enemy had left the works
for dinner, Morse and Vail would slip
out fer their hasty dinner and hurry
back to the room before the Judge re-
turned.
But at last their perseverance was
rewarded and the apparatus stood
| completed. ''William," said Vail to
Baxter, ego up to the house and
invite father to come down and
| see the telegraph machine work, " and
off dashed the boy coatless and
hatless, although it was the 9th Of
January, to carry the glad tidings to
the Judge.
he was just preparing to go out as
Baxter entered the room breathlessly,
but on learning the news he went di-
rectly to the shop.
Entering the room, he found his
son and Professor Morse awaiting him.
Around the room ran several lengths
of bonnet wire, with the two newly
| completed machines at either end.
After some explanations the two in.
| ventors each took their places at their
instruments and Alfred requested his
father to send a message.
Cautious to the last, while knowing
that there could be no collision be-
| tween the experimenters, and in any
case having perfect faith in them
both, the Judge wrote upon piece of
paper the words: ga patient waiter
| is no loser," and handing it to his
son, said: ''If you can send this and
Mr.. Morse can read it at the other
end, I shall be convinced.
Only the clicking Of the machines
now broke the silence. Finally even
that ceased, and Morse handed the
Judge slip Of paper, on which he
found the duplicate in every word Of
his own dispatch.
Then, for the first time, Judge Vail
fully realized the actual Importance of
the demonstrated success, and for an
instant he gave way, wholly overcome
by his emotions.
The telegraph had vindicated itself
just in time. Judge Vail had hardly
seen or spoken to his son in six weeks