Lightning Man_ The Accursed Life of Samuel F. B. Morse - Kenneth Silverman [258]
For an excellent discussion of the Downing case see Hochfelder, “Taming the Lightning.” Having sided with/ Foggy: SFB to AK (copy), 10 Jan 1853, M16. To Morse, Smith’s/ Rascality: SFB to George Vail, 10 Mar 1852, V. Order: FOJS to AK, 9 Apr 1852, Amos Kendall Papers, Library of Congress. Morse v. Smith/ See Samuel F. B. Morse, and Alfred Vail, against Francis O. J. Smith (1852) and the judicial decision of 20 Nov 1852, M15. Morse suffered/ Crows: ELM, II, 319. In reality, Smith/ Lust: Gaffney, 428. Happiness: FOJS to “my friend Lucy,” 25 Dec 1851, S. Looking into the future/ Corpse: SFB to Daniel Lord, 5 Aug 1854, M29. Cutting: SFB to AK (draft), 4 Jan 1851, M14. Downward: SFB to George Wood, 4 Jan 1851, A. S. W. Rosenbach Foundation. Crept: SFB to RM, 1 Jul 1852, Y. Morse’s expensive/ Relentless: SFB to AK (draft), 4 Jan 1851, M14. Cheap: SFB to [unidentified], 12 Jul 1851, A. S. W. Rosenbach Foundation. Grave: SFB, draft of an article for N-YO, 7 Jan 1851, M14. Becoming one of the most/ Obscurity: SFB to J. E. Sherwood (draft), 14 Jan 1853, M16. O’Reilly was in less/ Agony: HOR to S. K. Zook, 18 Feb 1852, HORP. The Court agreed to hear the case in January 1852, but delayed until the end of the year. During the wait, a fire in a clerk’s room at the Supreme Court destroyed many of Morse’s important legal papers and evidence, including his Sully sketchbook. Fortunately he had prepared a certified copy. Pivot: George Wood to SFB, 20 Apr [1852], M15. Morse’s side tried/ Object: see Argument of George Gifford, Esq., Delivered in December, 1852, at Washington, before the Supreme Court (1853). Marking: See The Electric Telegraph. Substance of the Argument of S. P. Chase before the Supreme Court of the United States (1853). Morse considered the outcome/ SFB to Sarah Morse, 25 Dec 1852, M15. The decision would test/ First: M17, fr. 120. An editorial in/ Grant: Daily Times (later the New York Times), 14 Sep 1852. Many contemporary historians of technology have challenged the nineteenth-century myth of the lone inventor. For most of them the story of the telegraph better fits the modern model of organized industrial research. See, for instance, Social Construction and Israel, From Machine Shop. The Supreme Court spoke/ For the Court’s decision(s) see Journal of The Franklin Institute 27, 3d ser. (1854). Kendall, in Washington/ Signal: AK to SFB, 31 Jan 1854, M16. Utterly: SFB to EC (telegram), 8 Feb 1854, M16. World: SFB to Sarah Morse, 19 Feb 1854, M16. Having narrowed/ Anxieties: SFB to AK (copy), 20 Jun 1854, M29. But Morse succeeded/ See the opinion of Commissioner Charles Mason, 23 Jun 1854, M16. Reap: ELM, II, 324.
FOURTEEN: A TRUE SOCIAL FRATERNITY
The decade since/ On the effect of the telegraph on business see NY Herald, 9 Jul 1855; Du Boff; Beniger; John, “Recasting the Information.” By 1855, the telegraph/ Early duplex systems were invented by M. G. Farmer of Salem, Mass., in 1852, and by Gintl of Vienna in 1853. See Meyer, 111–12. Morse was enthusiastic for Gintl’s process, and offered to secure a patent for it in the United States. See SFB to Charles F. Loosey, 8 Oct 1855, M27. The occupation/ Babel: Russell, 54. The fifty or so/ On consolidation see especially Blondheim, News, 191–92; Nonnenmacher; Thompson. At the same time/ Prussia: See Siemens, 108–09. Sweden: See material on Tele-museum Web site,