Heroes of the Telegraph
John Munro52'Professor, I have come to congratulate you.' 'Congratulate me!' replied Morse; 'on what?' 'Why,' she exclaimed,' on the passage of your Bill by the Senate!' It had been voted without debate at the very close of the session. Years afterwards Morse declared that this was the turning-point in the history of the telegraph. 'My personal funds,' he wrote,' were reduced to the fraction of a dollar; and had the passage of the Bill failed from any cause, there would have been little prospect of another attempt on my part to introduce to the world my new invention.' Grateful to Miss Ellsworth for bringing the good news, he declared that when the Washington to Baltimore line was complete hers should be the first despatch.