Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 233, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 October 1911 — Morse and the Telegraph Operator. [ARTICLE]

Morse and the Telegraph Operator.

Immediately after the successful completion of the first transatlantic cable and the consequent celebrations, in which, of course, Cyrus W. Field bore a prominent part, Professor Morse had occasion to send a telegram from a small town in Ohio to his home in New York. He wrote out his message and presented it to the operator, who rapidly checked it off with his pencil and curtly demanded a dollar. “But,” said the venerable inventor, “I never pay for messages,” and. seeing an inquiring look in the operator’s eyes, added. "I am. in fact, the father of the telegraph." “Then,” said the operator, firmly convinced that he was being Imposed upon, “why don’t you sign your own name, Cyrus W. Field?” Professor Morse when telling the story used to say that he was too humiliated to answer.