n the effort to prove that to one or
all of them more credit was due than to Morse.

Now, after the lapse of nearly three quarters of a century, the verdict
has been given in favor of Morse, his name alone is accepted as that of
the Inventor of the Telegraph, and in this work it is my aim to prove
that the judgment of posterity has not erred, but also to give full
credit to those who aided him when he was most in need of assistance. My
task in some instances will be a delicate one; I shall have to prick some
bubbles, for the friends of some of these men have claimed too much for
them, and, on that account, have been bitter in their accusations against
Morse. I shall also have to acknowledge some errors of judgment on the
part of Morse, for the malice of others fomented a dispute between him
and one of these three men, which caused a permanent estrangement and was
greatly to be regretted.

The first of the three to enter into the history of the telegraph was
Leonard D. Gale, who, in 1836, was a professor in the University of the
City of New York, and he has given his recollections of those early days.
Avoiding a repetition of facts already recorded I shall quote some
sentences from Professor Gale's statement. After describing the first
instrument, which he saw in January of 1836, he continues:--

"During the years 1836 and beginning of 1837 the studies of Professor
Morse on his telegraph I found much interrupted by his attention to his
professional duties. I understood that want of pecuniary means prevented
him from procuring to be made such mechanical improvements, and such
substantial workmanship, as would make the operation of his invention
more exact.

"In the months of March and April, 1837, the announcement of an
extraordinary telegraph on the visual plan (as it afterwards proved to
be), the invention of two French gentlemen of the names of Gonon and
Servell, was going the rounds of the papers. The thought occurred to me,
as well as to Professor Morse and some others of his friends, that the
invention of his electro-magnetic telegraph had somehow become known, and
was the origin of the new telegraph thus conspicuously announced. This
announcement at once aroused Professor Morse to renewed exertions to
bring the new invention creditably before the public, and to consent to a
public announcement of the existence of his invention. From April to
September, 1837, Professor Morse and myself were engaged together in th