Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1920-04-17
THEODORE N. VAIL,
PHONE GENIUS, DIES
Head of American Telephone
and Telegraph Company
Succumbs in Baltimore.
GIRDED GLOBE WITH WIRES
Lived to Talk Without Wires
Across Continent and
the Ocean.
GIRDED GLOBE WITH WIRES

BALTIMORE. April l6-Thcodore
y Nai'. chairman of the board Of
! directors OF the American Tclephone
and Telegraph Company. died at Johne
Hopkins Hospital this morning Of a
complication Of cardiac and kidney
troubles.
MIR. Vail was brought, here from
Jckyl Island. Georgia. last Sunday in
ms private car. A; tho hospital It
was stated that he was in a serious
condition and his death was not un-
expected 10 the physicians
MIR. Vail retired as president of the
American Telephone and Telegraph
Company last June and became chair
man.
His Faith In "BeII'. Toy,
AZ head Of the American Telephone
and Telegraph Company. Theodore
Newton Naii was the head OF the
lai eest telephone system in the world.
re vas from the first the genius
'hat promoted the popular use OF the
telephone. the first man to establish,
!anE distance communication by tele-
phone, and. when past seventy years
OF age. he waa SIM the initiative head
OF system that numbered 5000 :
600 telephone subscribers and rep
resented an Investment OF "A billion
and half dollars.
Mr.. Vail was 81 years old when
Alexander Graham Bell invented the
telephone. and. Notwithstanding his
aSe. lie was filing the responsible
post OF general superintendent OF the
railway mail service. SIN earlier,
however. he had been u telegraph op-
orator. and, interested in the possi-
hiiities OF electrical communication.
he had visions thaC Bells toy
would some day be great factor in
American life. --.. J 49,.
Bell and his associates had equal
faith in Mr.. Wallis organizing genius.
Tor lie had already made a name for
himself as an organizer in the pro-
! motion of the railway mail service.
. and he was readily Induced to resign
fis government post to become the
general manager. in 1878, of the first
American Bell Telephone Company.
Long Distance Triumph..
Even the most optimistic hackers
OF the telephone then thought that
the invention would serve only for
local communication. but Mr.. Vail
had vision" Of its long distance use.
IL was he who inaugurated success
sive steps of !ner-city communica-
ton. The first l.ne from Bostou 10
Providence was r;diculed as "Vail'.
side-show." but s,r,c OF the persons
VINO indulScd in the ridicule at that
tiine lived to see Mr.. Vail telephone.
not only from Boston 10 Providence.
but from New York to San Francisco.
IN 1915. thirty-iive years later.
further. in October in that year, they
found that il was possibi. TO send
the human voice more tl,un half way
around the world. as was lone by
wireless telephone from the govern
ment station at .irlinStcn, Va, In.
words being recorded Simultaneous :,
ct Honolulu. in the midi Pacific and
the Eiffcl Tower. in Paris.
Mr.. Vail was born in Carroll Cou,-
ty. Ohio. July l6. 1S45. OF Quaker
ancestry. His father. Davis Vail, re-
moved from Ohio to Morristown. n.
j., when the son was four years old
and became associated with a broth
er. stephen Vail. who had founded
the Speedwcll Iron Works. near Nor
riStown. where they built much ot
the machinery for the first trans.
atlantic steamship. Alfred Vail, an
other brother. WAS one of those asso-
ctated with Samuel Morse In the in
vention and promotion OF the tele-
graph.
Theodore Vail was educated at the
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