The Story of the Atlantic Telegraph

That the news must have come by cable, is clearly shown by an examination of dates. He died suddenly, at Burlington, Vermont, Monday, August twenty-third, 1858, at ten o'clock fifteen minutes A.M. The exact day and hour we learned from his widow, who after his death lived in Brooklyn. The news was telegraphed to New York, and from there sent to Trinity Bay, which it reached the following day, and from which it was forwarded to Valentia, and appeared in the London Times Wednesday morning. Thus not forty-eight hours elapsed after he breathed his last, before it was published in England. If any one wishes to see the despatch, he will find a file of The Times in the Astor Library. But here appears a slight discrepancy, that, however, when examined, furnishes double proof. The despatch is dated August twenty-fifth, and says Mr. Eddy died to-day, and yet it is published in the London Times of the same date! How is this? It was sent between nine and ten o'clock at night of the twenty-fourth, when the operator at Heart's Content would say this day of a piece of news just received, but in affixing the date, he was governed by Greenwich time, which made it more than three hours later. Accordingly it was published in The Times, dated August twenty-fifth, fifty-three minutes past twelve A.M.! Those who argued for the theory of collusion and deception, must have been embarrassed by this unexpected intelligence appearing in London, which could only be explained as a false report, unless (more wonderful still!) Mr. Eddy had entered into the plot, and sent the message beforehand, and then offered himself as a sacrifice, to prove it correct!