MORSE, SAMUEL FINLEY BREESE, Inventor of telegraphy . Autograph letter signed ("Saml. F. B. Morse") to Interim Secretary of the Treasury McClintock Young, a retained copy, Washington, 1 June 1844. 2 pages, 8vo, integral blank leaf, short fold break affecting two words, two tiny perforations at fold , five lines crossed out with inserted corrections. A WEEK AFTER THE FIRST TELEGRAPHIC TRANSMISSION, MORSE ASKS A RAISE FOR HIS PRINCIPAL ASSOCIATE "I have the honor to state that in the original arrangement for salaries to my various assistants in the construction of the Telegraph I reported in my estimates 'Services of three Assistants at $1500.00 each per ann.' I had for some time Dr. L. D. Gale at a salary of $1500.00, Dr. James C. Fisher at $1500.00 and W. Alfred Vail at $1000.00. W. Vail has been one of my most efficient assistants from the beginning and I may say that his services are now essential to the maintenance of the Telegraphic intercourse; he alone with myself being at present able to teach the modus operandi. His salary considering he has a family to support is small, and considering also the services he has performed, and the confining duties, and responsibilities of his present situation, I would recommend for your approval that his salary be increased for the six months commencing from 10 June, 1844 and ending Dec. 10 1844 to Fifteen hundred pr. ann. after which latter time it shall be reduced to $1250.00 dollars pr. ann." Alfred Vail had been trained as a mechanic in his father's iron works, earned a degree from the University of the City of New York and begun studying for the Presbyterian ministry, when he attended an exhibit of Morse's new telegraph at the university, in September 1837. Immediately grasping the significance of the invention, he offered Morse his assistance in developing and exploiting it. A contract was drawn up three weeks later and Vail's father agreed to finance Morse's experiments, which were moved to the Speedwell Iron Works, Vail's father's plant. The mechanical perfection of the instruments used in Morse's subsequent demonstrations was largely due to Vail's skill. Five years later, in 1843, Congress voted Morse $30,000 to establish an experimental telegraph between Washington and Baltimore, and Vail returned to become Morse's chief assistant. It was Vail who on 24 May 1844 received in Baltimore the famous message "What hath God wrought!" transmitted telegraphically by Morse from the Supreme Court room in the Capitol.
MORSE, SAMUEL FINLEY BREESE, Inventor of telegraphy . Autograph letter signed ("Saml. F. B. Morse") to Interim Secretary of the Treasury McClintock Young, a retained copy, Washington, 1 June 1844. 2 pages, 8vo, integral blank leaf, short fold break affecting two words, two tiny perforations at fold , five lines crossed out with inserted corrections. A WEEK AFTER THE FIRST TELEGRAPHIC TRANSMISSION, MORSE ASKS A RAISE FOR HIS PRINCIPAL ASSOCIATE "I have the honor to state that in the original arrangement for salaries to my various assistants in the construction of the Telegraph I reported in my estimates 'Services of three Assistants at $1500.00 each per ann.' I had for some time Dr. L. D. Gale at a salary of $1500.00, Dr. James C. Fisher at $1500.00 and W. Alfred Vail at $1000.00. W. Vail has been one of my most efficient assistants from the beginning and I may say that his services are now essential to the maintenance of the Telegraphic intercourse; he alone with myself being at present able to teach the modus operandi. His salary considering he has a family to support is small, and considering also the services he has performed, and the confining duties, and responsibilities of his present situation, I would recommend for your approval that his salary be increased for the six months commencing from 10 June, 1844 and ending Dec. 10 1844 to Fifteen hundred pr. ann. after which latter time it shall be reduced to $1250.00 dollars pr. ann." Alfred Vail had been trained as a mechanic in his father's iron works, earned a degree from the University of the City of New York and begun studying for the Presbyterian ministry, when he attended an exhibit of Morse's new telegraph at the university, in September 1837. Immediately grasping the significance of the invention, he offered Morse his assistance in developing and exploiting it. A contract was drawn up three weeks later and Vail's father agreed to finance Morse's experiments, which were moved to the Speedwell Iron Works, Vail's father's plant. The mechanical perfection of the instruments used in Morse's subsequent demonstrations was largely due to Vail's skill. Five years later, in 1843, Congress voted Morse $30,000 to establish an experimental telegraph between Washington and Baltimore, and Vail returned to become Morse's chief assistant. It was Vail who on 24 May 1844 received in Baltimore the famous message "What hath God wrought!" transmitted telegraphically by Morse from the Supreme Court room in the Capitol.
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
