Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-05-01
STORY OF THE WIRES
Meeting Of the Telegraphic Historic
Society.
INTERESTING HISTORICAL DETAILS
Presence of Professor Morse's Son
With Numerous Relics.
MEMBERS BANQUET TONIGHT

There was unique and interesting gath
ering of men in the board of trade rooms
this morning, and for couple Of hours
they listened to the reading OF papers and
talked of old times, when biography had
not grown to be the great factor in civiliza-
ton that it Is today. 1t was the annual
meeting of the members of the Telegraphic
Historical Society, an organization which
was instituted in this city a year ago.
largely through the fundamentally of Mr..
George c. Maynard, himself an old manip-
ulator of the keys.
The purpose Of the society, as Its name
implies is to collect data of the early his
tory of the telegraph. to give credit where
credit is due for pioneer work in making
the idea Of telegraphy a practical system.
to clear up any clouds that may exist over
the history of the original Inventions. and,
incidentally, to promote feeling of fell
lowship among the men who handled the
keys when the science was in its infancy.
Scattered Into Other Fields.
According to the report of the secretary
read at the meeting this morning the So
ciety now has a membership of 265, scat
tered all over the United States. By no
means all of them are today connected
with the telegraph business. Many Of them
have drifted into other vocations, in which
for the most part they have achieved sue
cess, but all of them love to think ard to
talk Of the days when they had share in
the work of spreading the usefulness OF
the system for which they all delight to
honor the memory of the late Prof Morse.
AS showing how the members have scat
tered into other fields of activity, 1T is said
that the present president of the Western
Union Telegraph Company received his
first lessons in the use of the Morse alpha
bet from man who Is now prominently
connected with the newspaper business in
this city, but who was in the early days
an operator in a small town In Ohio.
The meeting Of the society lasts only
through today, and this evening the mem
bers who are here for the meeting will sit
down to an informal banquet at the Down
Town Club when. 1t is safe to say. the con-
versation and the speeches will all have for
their subject the history Of telegraphy.
Prof. MOrse's Son Present.
Among those who were present at the
meeting today were Messrs ]. B. Austin.
Washington; NJ. w. Barr. Washington:
DR.. James J. Clark. Forest Glen, Md; P.
v. DeGraw. Washington; Jules Guthridge,
Washington: Golf A. Hall. Washington;
George KEENAN,, Washington: James H.
King. Washington; Morrell Marean. Wash
ington; Henry Reed, New York: Fred.
w. Royce Washington; A. G. Stafford,
Washington; John B. Taltavell New York;
]. B. Yeakle. Baltimore; VIM. H. Young.
Washington. The president of the society
Is Mr.. Alonzo B. Cornell of Ithaca, N. Y.
He was unfortunately detained by busi-
ness engagement In New York and was
unable to be present this morning. In his
absence the meeting was called to order
by the second vice president. Mr.. VIM. B.
Wilson of Philadelphia. The youngest son
of Prof. Morse. Mr.. Edward Lind Morse.
was also present today. and took an active
part in the discussion of some of the points
connected With the early history Of tel
egraphy. He had with him a number of
from his fathers collection. which cast
some new light on several mooted ques-
tons.
Mr. John B. Wight. secretary Of the
board of trade, addressed the society briefly
this morning, welcoming them to the rooms
of the board. which were placed at the dis
posal of the society for their sessions, and
volunteering his assistance in any way that
it might be Of use.
business Meeting.
Some routine business was transacted, in
Guiding the election of officers to serve for
the ensuing year A committee on nomina-
tions was appointed. consisting of Messrs.
Reed. Marean and Maynard. AS a result
Of the election. officers were chosen as fol-
lows: President. Alonzo B. Cornell. Ithaca,
N. Y; first vice president. 8. H. Kauff-
mann. Washington, D. c.: second vice
president, VIM. B. Wilson. Philadelphia.
Pa: third vice president. Thomas d. Lock-
wood. Boston. Mass; secretary and treas
urer, Geo. c. Maynard, Washington. D. c.;
members of executive council, J. Fl. En-
erick. New York city; B. F. Dillon, jack
sonvlle, Fla; VIM. r. Plum, Chicago Ill:
J. Q. Mason. Tacoma, Washington
The presiding officer Of the meeting read
a number Of letters from officers and men,
bers of the society regretting their ina
blity to be present today. Accompanying
letter Mr.
S. H. Kaufman. was a handsomely franz
ed proof photo-lithograph of an historic
group. by Mr.. F. b. Mayer, containing the
portraits of Prof. Morse and others who
were active in the early days of telegraphy
With it was a letter from the artist, and
the picture was presented to the society by
Mr.. Kaufman as testimonial of his
interest in the work, although he himself
was compelled to be out of town during
the meeting.
The society was also made the recipient
of another handsome present, whose his
torical value will but increase as the years
pass by. 1t was framed collection of
portraits of Prof. Morse and the members
of his family. 1t was presented by the in
ventorS grandson and nameSake, Mr.. s,
F. B. Morse.
"Reminiscences of Prof. Morse,
Later the meeting became rather in
formal in its character, and a number of
those present were called upon either to
experiences in the early years of the ex-
tension Of the telegraph. The principal
paper of the morning was presented by
Mr. Henry A. Reed. on the subject, 1.-THE
Paternity of the Telegraph" Mr.. Reeds
paper was largely of reminiscent nature,
and told good deal of Prof. Morse as he
knew him.
Mr.. Reed said that when Prof Morse
first made the claim among his friends that
the time would soon come when he would
be able to transmit words at great dis
tarces by means of lectricity and the wire,
he was regarded by some as inspired and by
others as crazy, and even now there is a
revival Of the old cry of fraud.
With the coming of success the theory of
lrnacy, however, disappeared. and when it
was seen that there was profit in the in
vention lots of men were willing to claim
that they had had share in the work
from the beginning, and should have
share in the profits
In his paper Mr.. Reed sought to sustain
the theory of inspiration. Prof. Morse
never claimed to have invented the battery
or the electromagnetic but he did claim to
have practical use of these and to have in
vented the science of telegraphy. In 1882
he described to friends practically all the
details of the system, though the machine
ry that he needed was not presentable for
several years thereafter.
The VniIs md prNf Morse