The Telegraph in America

Reprinted from "INSULATORS - Crown Jewels of the Wire", September 1974, page 22

The following chapter, "The New York and New England Union Tel. Co.", is reprinted from The Telegraph In America by James D. Reid, published in 1879.

This was submitted by Roy N. Licari of Washington, D.C. with exclusive rights to print granted to Crown Jewels.

We hope this chapter may be of some help to our Eastern friends in their research of old lines, with the possibility of finding a rare old insulator.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

The New York and New England Union Telegraph Company

THE New York and New England, generally known as the Merchants' Telegraph Company, owed its origin to several causes more or less active. The New York and Boston Magnetic Telegraph Association had disappointed public expectation. Yet it had done enough to prove how valuable an agency the telegraph was capable of being made to commerce and society. Men felt instinctively the possibility of a better and more liberal service, and were ready to welcome any effort for its provision. Henry O'Reilly bad meanwhile closed his western work, and though broken in purse, had come east full of thoroughly kindled hatred to the Morse patentees, had secured a patent for Alexander Bain after its rejection by the Patent office, and was eager to enter the eastern field against his old antagonist, F. O. J. Smith. To Marshall Lefferts, an active New York merchant, engaged in a traffic of which the supply of English zinc-plated wire formed a prominent feature, and who provided the first of that character for telegraphic use in America, was, however, the chief agency of its origin, due. The sale of wire had brought him into contact with the active pioneers of telegraph lines. To a man of his tastes and tendencies, it was only natural that he should take a deep interest in their work and share in their enthusiasm. Fond of mechanics, ingenious, methodical, popular, and seeing through the possession of the Bain patent a field for new telegraphic structures in which his own legitimate business would receive an incidental benefit, Gen. Lefferts gave the weight of a strong local influence in New York city, sharpened by a just personal ambition, to the organization of a Company to compete with the Morse line to Boston. This was effected early in 1849, by the formation of the " New York and New England Telegraph Company," and its incorporation under the general telegraph law of the State of New York, with a capital of $100,000, which was, under the influence of Gen. Lefferts, promptly subscribed.

The route of the line was quickly mapped out, and well and rapidly constructed. It was built along the Pawtucket pike road from Boston to Providence, R. I., then following the railroad to Olney, and southward by the New London, Middletown, Norwich and New Haven pike to Eighth avenue, New York. A single number nine galvanized wire, of fine quality, was erected, which soon required a companion, as public confidence crowded the first with business. An insulator, known as the Lefferts' block insulator, was largely employed on this line. It was a glass' cylinder with a depending iron stem and hook secured in a block of wood, saturated with gum shellac. It is not now used.

Alexander Bain, the inventor of the so-called chemical telegraph, was a native of Edinburgh, Scotland, and an electrician of high standing. He patented his chemical telegraph in England in 1846. The following is the material portion of Mr. Bain's application for a patent in the United States:

"What I claim and desire to secure by letters patent is the copying of surfaces by the electric current through a single circuit of conductors by means substantially the same as herein set forth. I claim the exclusive right to the use of Prussiate of Potass, as the most useful ingredient in relations of chemical compounds for preparing paper to receive marks formed by the action of electric currents thereon for telegraphic purposes."

The application for a patent was refused by the Commissioner of Patents as an infringement on Morse. The reason for this refusal was, that Morse had filed a caveat for the same thing in January, 1848, and had asked for a patent in July of the same year. Bain made his application May, 1848, and was allowed to go back in his proofs to December, 1846, the date of his English patent. Even with this allowance Morse proved priority. Judge Cranch, however, at the instance of Henry O'Reilly, reversed this decision and ordered a patent issued. With this decision in his hands, Mr. O'Reilly, when the Kentucky court enjoined the Columbian, put the Bain machine on the People's line, from Louisville, Ky., to New Orleans. He was now in the field for a line to Boston.

The mechanism of the Bain telegraph was very simple. In its common forms it consisted of the ordinary Morse correspondent or key for transmitting, and of a simple train of clock work as in the Morse register for moving a ribbon of paper moist with the solution of Prussiate of Potass -- six parts; nitric acid -- two parts; ammonia -- two parts, on which the point of a stylus of number thirty iron wire was made to rest, for transferring the record, and of which the positive current of a main battery, at the sending station, interacting with the elements of the moist paper, was the producing or recording element.

At the terminal offices in New York and Boston, however, another form was adopted which gave a fine opportunity to exhibit the action in an elegant and somewhat showy exterior. Instead of the ribbon and roller of the way instruments, there was arranged a large brass disc, of a diameter of fifteen inches, which was made to revolve by a shaft connected with clock work in an independent frame, and on which numerous layers of the saturated paper, cut in the form of the metal disc, was laid. The metal disc was arranged to revolve on a pivot, giving the surface an angle of about twenty-five degrees, so as to present its face at right angles to the eye of the operator. Over the disc thus mounted a needle or stylus rested, and the writing was executed in gradually diverging lines, under a guide, until the surface of the paper was covered. 

The alphabet was Morse's with some unimportant changes The action of the machinery, except the mere clock movement, was noiseless. The current passing through the needle or stylus was produced by a main battery at the sending station. No battery was used at the receiving station in the act of recording. This peculiarity made it often possible, in the early condition of telegraph lines, to receive messages by the Bain method when the other systems were practically useless. There was no magnet to adjust. A very slight current sufficed. This advantage was, however, only where insulation was imperfect or the resistance of conductors great. Morse relay magnets were secretly used for calls. The labor of receiving and copying by the same person was tedious. The presence of the acids was unhealthy. The disc instrument was elegant, but destructive to vision.

In New York, Mr. Bain gave an exhibition of the great rapidity with which messages could be transmitted by the chemical process. A moist paper of suitable dimensions was placed on a large revolving drum, which was connected with machinery capable of imparting rapid motion. A strip of dry paper, half an inch in width and of any required length, was perforated with the characters to be transmitted. By placing the perforated paper on the periphery of a rapidly rotating metallic wheel connected with an earth wire, and over which a stylus connected with a battery, was made to pass, the characters were automatically recorded upon the paper on the drum. In this way it was shown to be possible to send over a short circuit, where no static charge interferes with the record, one thousand words per minute. This is the basis of the automatic method of transmission, which, however, has not been employed to any very great or useful extent on the American lines.

In 1850, Henry J. Rogers invented a system by which the surface of the brass disc took the place of the paper. He used a fountain pen supplied with salt solution. He also used the Morse relay. It was a substitute for a better thing.

When the line was reported ready for public use, Mr. O'Reilly, the builder, who knew how to touch the public pulse, advertised that on the day of opening, messages would be sent free between New York and Boston. This was a clever appeal to public favor and no doubt Mr. Smith, as he read the glowing placards signed by his western enemy, a second time wished that " the devil had the special care of Henry O'Reilly." Of course, everybody who knew anybody in either city, had a message to send. There was then as now, a fascination for a free lunch, which appealed to the average human heart. The offices were crowded and received a thorough warming. It was red-letter day in the lightning line. But somehow the fates were contrary. Most of the messages had to go by mail. It was a new proof of the total depravity of things inanimate.

In a few days, however, the line went into successful operation. The offices were neat, eligibly located, and attractive. The receivers were selected for their politeness and were well dressed and silver-tongued. A large business was offered, which was promptly and skillfully handled. The receipts for the year ending March 31, 1851, were $34,529.25. The second year the receipts were, $41,521,30

Of course, this active opposition was not productive of peace with the Morse lines. A bitter war ensued. The rates were cut down first to two cents and then to one cent a word. This greatly stimulated business and had the effect of enlarging the area of telegraphic employment. The following shows the increase of business by the New York and New England Co.: messages sent 1850, 20,000; 1851, 29,000; 1852, 42,000.

Although continued war might have resulted in the destruction of the opposing line, and the battle was not without zest, yet it was evident that business could only be prosecuted at a loss at the prices to which competition had driven the tariff. It became a question of length of purse and endurance. Throwing silver into the sea was alliterative, euphonious, and, perhaps, under some circumstances, heroic. But it was not profitable. There was another peril at the door. A suit against the Bain patent was in progress in Philadelphia, and the highest talent of the country was engaged to sustain the Morse patent. It was likely to end disastrously to the Bain interests, and, with this in view, the parties there were already arranging a compromise. These were strong arguments for peace. The result was that, stirred by a mutual sense of danger, an interview was simultaneously proposed to see if the game of ruin could be changed to one of mutual advantage. It led, after a courtship of more or less acrimony, to an agreement to unite the two companies in a new organization, to be entitled the " NEW YORK AND NEW ENGLAND UNION TELEGRAPH COMPANY," with a joint capital of $300,000, two-thirds to be issued to the " New York and Boston. Telegraph Association," and one-third to the " New York and New England Telegraph Company." The parties attesting this agreement were:

F. O. J. Smith, John McKinney, Peter Naylor, Thomas M. Clark, John J. Haley, Ezra Cornell, John McKesson, A. B. Sands, C. H. Seymour, A. A. Pattengill, H. M. Schieffelin.

With the accomplishment of this union, Gen. Lefferts ceased to be President. In recognition, however, of the energy, skill and executive ability displayed in the organization and management of the company, and the result of his labors in liberalizing and popularizing the telegraph, a splendid service of plate was presented to him by the stockholders and by the Associated Press of New York city, the inscription upon which was as follows:

"To MARSHALL LEFFERTS, Esq., President of the New York and New England, and New York State Telegraph Companies, from the stockholders and Associated Press of New York city, as a token of the satisfaction and confidence inspired by his efficient services in advancing the cause and credit of the telegraph system -- the noblest enterprise of this eventful age -- June 25, 1850."

The New York State Telegraph Company referred to in the inscription of the silver service, was the name of a company organized under the Bain patent to construct a line of telegraph through the State of New York, from New York to Buffalo, of which Gen. Lefferts was elected President, S. W. Jerome, Secretary and Treasurer, and John McKinney, a man of great excellence and promise, Superintendent. N. T. Curtiss, W. C. Buell and F. O. Gilbert were superintendents. B. F. Davis, a name well known on eastern lines, was Manager at Utica. It was built by Henry O'Reilly and Gen. Lefferts, and promised well. But the New York, Albany and Buffalo company was too thoroughly entrenched in the popular favor for an opposition to win, and, after a sharp and vigorous fight, the line was sold to that company, and the Morse machinery applied thereto. The Bain instrument was never used west of Buffalo, and only for about two years between Louisville, Ky., and New Orleans.

The articles of association of the New York and New England Union Telegraph Company were signed July 1, 1852. Henry M. Schieffelin was elected President; Levi L. Sadler, Treasurer, and John McKinney, Superintendent. John McKesson and Thomas M. Clark were appointed a committee in connection with the superintendent and treasurer, to manage the business. Mr. McKinney immediately thereafter sold or rather reconveyed his interest to Marshall Lefferts and resigned. Marshall Lefferts was thereupon elected a Director, and John A. Lefferts was appointed Superintendent. The salaries to office managers at way stations were, at the same time, fixed at $500 at Hartford, New Haven and Worcester; $600 at Providence; and $400 at Bridgeport, Springfield, Norwich, New London and Middletown., Thus reorganized, the Company entered into a new and healthy existence. So successful did the union of lines prove that on October 9, 1852, a dividend of two per cent was declared from the first quarter's earnings.

At this time a stroke of economy was made by Director Thomas M. Clark, who had a sharp eye for expenses and leaks generally, who moved "that all Morse operators be instructed to copy their own messages as they receive them."

This order, simple as it seems, and solely designed to reduce the office force, had an effect in a direction quite out of the mover's intention. The operator having to copy his own messages, which was a laborious, tedious, and somewhat dangerous method, learned instinctively to catch the sounds by the ear. Thus the drudgery of reading from the paper and then copying, taxing alike the eye and the memory, to say nothing of translating which, of itself, as the signs were sometimes manipulated, was no small task, soon gave place to the modern mode, which even then was more or less prevalent, of receiving messages by sound. And, although this process was long dreaded by the officers of telegraph companies, it proved a distinguished advance and success, and is now all but universal in America. The transition was easy and natural. Every office call from the time the first message was sent was received by sound. Prof. Morse and Mr. Vail early recognized its practicability, and it was made prominent in the Morse patent. Mr. Clark's motion, however, even as designed, led to a great reduction of expenses, and a number of persons employed as copyists were dismissed.

On November 1, 1852, George B. Prescott, chief operator at Boston, resigned to become connected with the "Commercial " or House Printing Telegraph office at Springfield, Mass. He was succeeded by William Richards. Superintendent John Lefferts also resigned to prosecute a large business growing out of the demand for galvanized wire. Gustavus A. Swan, of New York, an old and well-known telegraph manager, was appointed in his place, and commenced his duties January 1, 1853.

On the first of March, 1853, the lines of the Rhode Island Magnetic Telegraph Company were purchased for $5,000. They were built by John Y. Line at $100 a mile, and were opened for business in February, 1848. The projectors of this line, which was built on the route of the Worcester Railroad from Providence to Worcester, and from Pawtucket to Taunton, and thence to New Bedford and Fall River, were James Y. Smith, Henry B. Anthony, Earl P. Mason, William M. Bailey and others. Henry C. Cranston, H. N. Williams, Superintendent of the Providence and Worcester Railroad Telegraph, W. P. Potter, manager at Fall River, B. R. Paine, manager at New Bedford, were students of Mr. Lane at Providence. The office at New Bedford was opened by Mr. William Arnoux, now of New York. At the time of the purchase of this property an order was issued by President Schieffelin discontinuing the use of the Bain machinery, and substituting the Morse. The use of the Morse alphabet throughout the lines was also ordered. The alphabet adopted on the Bain lines differed from the Morse chiefly in having no spaced letters, such as those which represent the letters C. O. R. Y. It was deemed by many easier and safer. Prof. Morse regarded the changes favorably. It was attempted on the Boston and Buffalo lines, but, through dread of error, failed of adoption. When the Board of the New York, Albany and Buffalo Company ordered its introduction, Superintendent O. E. Wood said he would resign rather than take the risk. The order was not issued. The alphabet remained unchanged. The New York and New England Union Telegraph Company leased commodious rooms in New York, for its central office, at 23 Wall street, a portion of which was sublet to the Atlantic and Ohio Telegraph Company, hostility with which hid long since ceased.

Mr. Swan did not remain long with the Company. He had become interested in a project in New York, which promised him an easier post and a larger revenue, and to which lie determined to give his whole attention. He had constructed a line in New York connecting an eligible office in the Astor House with the main offices of telegraph companies who were willing to accept public business from him on a commission. The Astor House was at that time the busy center of commercial men from other cities, and the opening of a telegraph office there was to them a great convenience, and which they freely employed. Every project of this kind educated the public into the use of the Telegraph. It was contrary to human nature to sit within hearing of a machine operated by a man seated in the same city with one's own home and business, and not have some message suggested to send thither. The proximity of such facilities of intercourse have always provoked their employment.

This project of Mr. Swan was at once successful, and ever afterward proved a source of very considerable revenue. It gave a great impulse to the opening of auxiliary offices in large cities. So much has this been cultivated, that in New York the Western Union Telegraph Company have now one hundred such offices, in Boston twenty-four, Philadelphia thirty-five, Cincinnati twenty-one, Chicago one hundred and nine, and so of numerous other places. The tendency is to their further multiplication.

In one of the last of Mr. Swan's reports to his company, he makes the somewhat surprising statement, that the company owned five wires to Boston from New York, "placed on different sets of poles following different routes." Of course, under such circumstances, communication between the two cities seldom failed. At the same time Mr. Swan confessed that the insulation was so defective that a six days' rain stopped every wire, except one, during four days.

At the meeting at which this report of Mr. Swan's was presented, Mr. F. O. J. Smith presented the case of a complaint of error in a message, for which the parties claimed damages. In a letter to the parties, the language of which is peculiarly suave and placative, Mr. Smith takes the same ground with Judge Caton, in claiming the telegraph to be entitled to consideration in the case of error, by reason of its general advantage. He says:

"We regret the occurrence very much, and hope it may not again rise. And that, ever in view of it, you can, in looking back, discover how much, and how often the telegraph has done for you good service, and that if it be sometimes the occasion of a disappointment, it is much oftener the source of advantage, as to entitle it to a small margin of forgiveness."

Whether forgiveness, and the retrospection to which it so benignantly invited the complainants, followed this bland letter, does not appear. It certainly merited their gentle consideration, from the dove-like humility of its close.

On September 1, 1853, Mr. Swan resigned after a most energetic, faithful and laborious superintendence, which was acknowledged by the company in the passage of resolutions of unusual warmth, and tendering to him their united desire for his future prosperity. At the same time on motion of Director Thomas M. Clark, Mr. Charles F. Wood, so well known in all telegraph circles, was unanimously elected superintendent, and at once entered with characteristic vigor upon its duties.

Mr. Wood made his first report November 12, 1853. It had the ring of the man, full of good hard sense fervidly uttered. He says

" The best report you require, and the one I wish to exhibit, is a good and reliable line. Therefore, I wish the lines themselves to be my report when I shall have put them in such condition as to render them useful at all times. Upon this issue depends your welfare and prosperity. Because it rains it is no reason why we should be compelled to stop operations, or be reduced to one or two wires. As much business, is offered on rainy, as on clear days. The secret of success lies in keeping the lines, at all times, in working order, doing business expeditiously, serving the public faithfully, and in giving them what they have ever wanted, and what they are ever willing to pay for - RELIABILITY.''

Such language was significant of the quality of the man. It is scarcely necessary to add that what he so clearly saw to be required he did not fail to successfully secure.

Mr. Wood continued to superintend the lines of the company during its existence, and by an energetic and prudent administration, greatly raised the telegraph in the estimation of the public. The amount of discretion called for, may be comprehended, when it is stated that these lines extended over the routes of not less than twelve distinct railroads and occupied nearly 300 miles of turnpike road. Mr. Wood's success was manifested every year, not only by the treasurer's reports, but by a general friendliness and co-operation throughout the line, such as Mr. Wood, with his frank and sunny nature, never fails to inspire. The officers of the railroads gave him every facility he required. In all his work, also, Mr. Wood was fortunate in having an able and noble aid in President H. M. Schieffelin, who cordially and enthusiastically sustained him, and who himself greatly aided to secure to the company the reputation and success it so rapidly acquired. In 1856 the Board, comprehending this devotion of their worthy president, tendered to Mr. Schieffelin a massive service of silver, as a token of their appreciation of his services, and in other ways also expressed their confidence and respect for their genial superintendent.

In 1860 the American Telegraph Company, having purchased all of Mr. F. O. J. Smith's telegraph stocks and proprietorship in the Morse patents, acquired thereby a maximum ownership of the stock of the New York and New England Union Telegraph Company. A lease was soon after executed by which the entire property came under its jurisdiction, and was rapidly merged with its own. Mr. Wood, whose merits as an executive officer were well known beyond the circle of his own company, of course retained his position under the new proprietorship, and when, after a few years, the American Telegraph Company became, in its turn, merged with the Western Union, Mr. Wood not only retained his post, but might have had higher honors had he chosen to accept them. He is now the Assistant General Superintendent of the vast field occupied by the Eastern Division of the Western Union Company's lines, and enjoys, as of yore, his accustomed popularity, and the confidence and esteem of all who know him.

Mr. Wood entered the service at an early period. After some experience in a subordinate capacity he became Manager of the New York office of the Magnetic Telegraph Company in 1851, and afterward was appointed its General Superintendent. In this capacity he became widely known and popular. His mind is practical, cheerful, conservative, and alert. His popularity is based on a quick perception of public taste and necessities, and a bonhomie which, with occasional moodiness and a little "Boston," is always radiant and attractive. Mr. Wood is still in the prime of life, and has apparently before him many years of useful and effective service.