342 HENEY AND THE TELEGRAPH. 



the inventor in his early imperfect experiments by the Messrs. Vail, the editor con- 

 tinues: "Alfred Vail entered into these experiments with his whole soul, and to him 

 is Professor Morse indebted, quite as much as to his own wit, for his ultimate 

 triumi:)h. He It was ivJio invented the far-famed alphabet; and he too was the inventor 

 of the instrument which bears Morse's name. But whatever he did or contrived, 

 went cheerfully to the great end. Alfred felt rewarded in seeing the gradual ac- 

 comi^lishment of the dream."* 



In an interesting article entitled "The first week of the Telegraph," written in 

 1869 for a New York monthly magazine, by Dr. William P. Vail, the following sig- 

 nificant allusion to his deceased nephew, Mr. Alfred Vail, occurs: "The birth-time 

 and the liirth-place of the telegraph as a recording instrument of intelligence, . . . 

 the parties who wrought the rude original plan into working order and gave it effi- 

 ciency, the man xclio invented the 'Morse alphabet' (so called), and to whose ingenuity, 

 mechanical skill, and tireless perseverance, the clock-work of the telegraph machine 

 is largely due, ... all this is well underatood, and for the most i)art is written 

 down, and the record some day in the near future must find its i>lace in history, upon 

 the true principle of swum cuique."i 



It is noteworthy that neither the published statement made by the editor of the 

 " Sun," nor that made by Mr. Vail's uncle in the " Hours at Home," (both widely cir- 

 culated, and copied into other journals during Professor Morse's life-time,) was ever 

 called in question by the celebrated telegrapher. His iiainful silence under the cir- 

 ciunstances is not easily defensible. 



Mr. Francis O. J. Smith, one of the partners in the original telegraph patent of 

 Morse, (having had as capitalist and business manager, a one-fourth interest in the 

 enterprise,) has also stated in a published letter, dated March 30, 1872, (not long be- 

 fore Professor Morse's death,) that the modified horizontal lever adapted "to emboss 

 the aljihabetic characters," was " neither invented nor combined in the telegraph by 

 Professor Morse, but exclusively by onr associate — Mr. Alfred Vail; although for 

 reasons that will be satisfactory to most minds, they were never publicly credited to 

 him, but have been claimed exclusively by Professor Morse as his own invented com- 

 bination."t 



Dr. Gale, the only surviving member of the original partnership, states in a recent 

 letter on the subject, that he does not distinctly remember whether the changed ar- 

 rangement of the lever to a horizontal jiosition in the new model constructed by Mr. 

 Vail, was his exclusive invention or not. 



In a biographical sketch of Alfred Vail by Mr. Frederick Brent Eead, of Cincinnati, 

 published in 187.3, the writer states without qualification : " Alfred Vail first pro- 

 duced in the new instrument the first available Morse machine. He invented the first 

 combination of the horizontal lever motion to actuate a pen or pencil or style, and the 

 entirely new telegraphic alphabet of dots, spaces, and marks, which it necessitated; 

 and he did so jirior to September, 1837, the month when the old instrument passed into 

 his hands for reconstruction. . . . The new machine Avas Vail's, not Morse's. 



* New York Sun, for September 25, 18.58. Republished in the Weekly Sun, for Octo- 

 ber 2, 18.58. In a recent letter on the subject, Mr. M. S. Beach, the author of the 

 above, states : "I was then personally acquainted with the Vails, and a not unfrequeut 

 visitor at the homestead in Morristown; besides of course having a personal ac- 

 quaintance with Professor Morse, and with the telegraph managers generally. My im- 

 pression is that the article was at the time apiiroved for its exact statement — never 

 controverted." 



tScribner's Hours at Home, September, 1869, vol. ix, pp. 43,5, 436. In response to 

 an iniiuiry as to the evidence of Mr. A. Vail's invention of the "dot-and-dash" alx)ha- 

 bet, Dr. W. P. Vail, the author of the above, declares in a recent letter, "It was so 

 - understood by all who were admitted to his intimacy. In a conversation with him 

 shortly before his death, in 1859, he so assured me. I am not aware that Mr. Morse 

 ever set up an adverse claim." 



tA pamphlet entitled ^' Ilistory Geftinf/ Eight on the invention of the American 

 Electro-magnetic Telegraph," 1872, p. 21.' It does not appear that Professor Morse 

 ever did explicitlj^ claim these inventions as his own. 



