“Many things thou askest, Jacknife-bearing stranger,
Much conjecturing mortal, pork and treacle waster
Pretermit thy whitling wheel thine earflap towards me
Thou shalt hear them answered.
“When the charge galvanic tingled through the cable
At the polar focus of the wire electric,
Suddenly appeared, a white faced man among us,
Called himself De Sauty.
“As the small opossum held in pouch maternal
Grasps the nutrient organ whence the term mammalia,
So the unknown stranger held the wire electric
Sucking in the current.
“When the current strengthened, bloomed the pale-faced stranger,
Took no food or victual, yet grew fat and rosy,
And, from time to time in sharp articulation
Said, ‘_All right_,’ De Sauty.
“From the lonely station passed the utterance spreading
Through the pines and hemlocks to the grove of steeples,
Till the land was filled with loud reverberations
Of ‘_All right_,’ De Sauty.
“When the current slackened drooped the mystic stranger,
Faded, Faded, Faded as the stream grew weaker
Wasted to a shadow with a hartshorn odor
Of disintegration.
“Drops of deliquescence glistened from his forehead
Whitened round his feet the dust of efflorescence,
Till one Monday morning when the flow suspended
There was no De Sauty.
“Nothing but a cloud of elements organic
C. O. H. N. Ferrum, Chor, Flu. Sil. Potassa
calc. Sod. Phosh mag. Sulphur Mang.? Alumin caprum
Such as man is made of.
“Born of stream galvanic with it he had perished
There is no De Sauty. Now there is no current
Give us a new cable, then again we’ll hear his cry,
‘_All right_,’ De Sauty.”
After a lapse of eight years another cable was laid in 1866 and
communication across the Atlantic permanently established, but the
mysterious De Sauty never appeared.
_Testing the Cable._
In the fall of 1856 the Montreal Telegraph Company laid a subaqueous
cable across the St. Lawrence connecting Ogdensburg, N.Y., with its
Canadian lines. Everything went well till the breaking up of the ice in
the spring, when the American end of the cable was carried away from
its moorings.
A man was sent from Montreal to effect the necessary repairs. When
he arrived, I, then being in charge of the office there, decided to
accompany him and render any assistance I could. A boat was hired
to row over to the lighthouse where the cable terminated. The craft
engaged was rather frail and shaky, with quite a heavy sea running. The
Montreal man got safely seated, clutching the side of the boat with
one hand and the testing instrument in the other. It was a cold day in
March, a stiff north-wester was blowing. When all was ready the painter
was untied, when I jumped, and in doing so lost my balance and went in
headforemost. As I bobbed up the heels of my friend were just visible
above the water. We succeeded in getting ashore safely, but the testing
instrument had gone to the bottom, which we tried to recover, but
failed, and the trip for the time was given up.
My companion in this adventure was the late Mr. Bowman, for many years
the respected storekeeper for the Montreal Telegraph Company.
In meeting we often reverted to this episode in our telegraph
experience and of our involuntary bath in the icy St. Lawrence.
_Cutting Down the Liberty Pole._
In 1857 the following amusing incident occurred and will be remembered
by some of the older inhabitants of the pretty American city on the
south bank of the St. Lawrence where I was then the agent of the
Montreal Telegraph Company.
The villagers (it was a village at that period) had made every
preparation for the due celebration of Independence Day with more
than ordinary care, and all were looking forward to the event with
eagerness, especially the more youthful element of the population.
The first ceremony observed at sunrise was to raise old glory to the
apex of the liberty pole, which stood at the corner of Ford and Water
Streets, but, to the amazement of the party to whom this duty was
assigned, there was no pole to be seen. On a close examination they
found nothing remaining but the stump of the flag-staff. The question
was: Who were the ruffians that dared to perpetuate the outrage? None
other surely that some scoundrels from the opposite side of the river.
In this surmise they were not far from the truth. After indulging in
language more forcible than elegant, like practical Americans, they set
to work, erected a temporary flag-staff and the ceremonies of the day
were carried out without further incident. It was discovered to be
a case of _lex talionis_ on the part of some young men from Prescott
who rowed across the river during the night and performed this piece
of vandalism in revenge for a foray made by some young fellows from
Ogdensburg on the previous 24th of May (the Queen’s Birthday), when
they removed the British flag flying on the old Windmill at Prescott,
and substituted the Stars and Stripes. When this fact became known the
Ogdensburg people had to acknowledge it was a case of tit for tat and
served them right.
Fortunately these youthful pranks were condemned by all right thinking
people on both sides of the border and were not repeated.
_The Burns Centenary._
On the 25th day of January, 1859, the birthday centenary of Robert
Burns, the Scottish poet, was enthusiastically commemorated by his
admirers on both sides of the Atlantic, and, in fact, everywhere
throughout the Globe where Scotchmen were to the fore.
It was generally observed in the form of a banquet at which eminent
literary and public men were the speakers who paid glowing tributes to
the merits and genius of the peasant poet. Many of these addresses are
still preserved.
In the town of Brockville, where I was located, a musical and literary
entertainment was held in the Metropolitan Hall, the chairman being
the Hon. James Morris. It was well attended by the leading people
of the town. During the progress of the entertainment telegraphic
congratulatory messages were interchanged between the chairmen of the
different meetings then being held in Canada, and the United States,
generally couched in lines and phrases from the poet’s works. The
chairman gave an eloquent address; other speakers also contributed and
the musical programme was excellent, but one gentleman had prepared
with much care a paper on the Life and Character of Burns, which
was admitted to be the gem of the evening by all who heard it, but
unfortunately very few did.
The person referred to was a well-known M.D. who was afflicted with
deafness; he spoke in a very low tone of voice, like many who suffer
from a similar infirmity. The paper was long, the night was getting
late; before he was through, the audience showed signs of weariness,
which the chairman noticed, when he rose and begged the Doctor to
kindly curtail his paper as the night was advancing and he had several
other items on the programme but the chairman’s request was unheard
and unconsciously ignored. The audience had to patiently endure the
martyrdom to the end, a few meanwhile retiring in disgust.
When the end did come the people were so delighted at being relieved of
the infliction that he was generously applauded, when with an amiable
smile, and bowing right and left in acknowledgment, resumed his seat in
happy ignorance that he had been a very tiresome bore indeed.
_The Prince of Wales at Brockville._
When in August, 1860, H. R. H. The Prince of Wales (now King Edward)
and party had arranged to visit Brockville, the event was looked
forward to with every manifestation of delight, and arrangements made
to give them a hearty reception.
The route of the Royal party was from Ottawa, where a visit had been
made, and recently named the capital city of Canada by Queen Victoria;
there they embarked, sailing up the Ottawa River to Arnprior and thence
by carriages to Almonte, and there entrained for Brockville. All the
villages and hamlets passed were prettily decorated for the occasion,
here and there evergreen arches were erected where the loyal denizens
assembled and heartily cheered his Royal Highness in passing.
Brockville was reached about nine p.m. The Royal party was received by
the Mayor, Warden of Leeds and Grenville and other officials. Addresses
were presented and replied to by H.R.H. Carriages were in waiting to
convey them to the steamer at the dock, by which they were to leave at
daybreak for Kingston.
The Royal party were escorted from the railway station to the steamboat
wharf by a guard of honour, followed by a procession of firemen and
citizens carrying torches. All the buildings on the way were brightly
illuminated, the church bells merrily ringing with a fine display of
fireworks and the loud ovation of the people made it a memorable scene.
Instead of departing at daybreak, as had been arranged, it was about
three in the afternoon before the steamer left. The detention was
caused by difficulties which had arisen at Kingston. The Orange body
there had erected an arch decorated with emblems of the order and which
the Royal party would necessarily have to pass under. An address by
the Orangemen was to be presented, to which the Duke of Newcastle was
unable to assent. While the settlement of this was being arranged by
telegraph wire, the Mayor, accompanied by many prominent citizens,
waited on the Duke and invited the Royal party to a drive through
the town, which was graciously accepted, thus giving the people an
opportunity of seeing H. R. H. to better advantage. In appearance he
was of medium height, pale complexion, modest in demeanor and dignified
in manner.
He wore a tall white hat, a dark morning coat, light tweed trousers,
patent leather boots and light tan coloured gloves. He bowed in
acknowledgment to the cheers which greeted him and seemed to enjoy the
drive.
It was said the Duke remarked he was not sorry at the detention as it
had given the party the pleasure of seeing the pretty town by daylight.
There was a large entourage of pressmen reporting the Royal progress;
one American correspondent when writing up his report asked me among
other questions how many people were in the torchlight procession. I
told him 500, that being the number of torches purchased by the town
council. Oh! he said, I’ll make it 5,000, and sure enough he did and I
sent this over the wire.
The whole population, men, women and children, at that period was a
trifle over 4,000. This man afterwards became a famous correspondent
during the American Civil War.
The fearful and wonderful reports received from the seat of war as to
the extraordinary numbers of killed, wounded and captured, especially
during the early stages of the trouble were something incredible; the
experience narrated showed the need of a large discount being made.
The carriage the Prince of Wales drove through Brockville, and owned by
a private gentlemen until his death, is now, or was until lately, doing
duty as a public conveyance.
Should this meet the eye of some wealthy American, it might be a good
thing for the cabby.
_The Trent Affair._
It was on November 8, 1861, that Admiral Wilkes, in command of the
United States frigate _San Jacinto_ intercepted the British R. M.
Steamer _Trent_ on her way from the West Indies to England and forcibly
removed therefrom the two confederate States Commissioners Mason and
Slidell. When the outrage became known there was a universal burst of
indignation felt at the affront in Great Britain and all the British
possessions. Every one believed that unless the men were given up and
the act disavowed war between the two countries was inevitable. A
large military contingent was despatched from England on the Steamship
_Persia_ which arrived at Rimouski on Christmas day, Dec. 25, 1861. A
Queen’s messenger was sent to Washington bearing an ultimatum from the
British Government demanding that the men be at once released.
The American Government were in a dilemma. Several members of the
Cabinet were in favor of resisting this demand, but President Lincoln,
with his characteristic common sense said “One war at a time,
gentlemen, one war at a time,” and the commissioners were surrendered
and transferred to a British man-of-war at New York on January 1st,
1862, and _amende honorable_ made.
While the negotiations between the American and British Governments
were in progress, the government and people of Canada were watching the
trend of events with the keenest interest, and preparations were made
for possible eventualities, flank companies at the respective military
districts were ordered to prepare for active service.
When this order came by telegraph to the colonel of Brockville
District, I delivered it personally and took occasion to inform him
that if he would give me a commission in the company going on active
service I was prepared to join at a moment’s notice. This request
pleased the veteran (he was out in the rebellion) giving me a hearty
grip. “You’re the right sort. I accept your services and shall have a
commission for you within a week.”
A few days after I was much gratified when I received a large envelope
containing my promised commission, the same being initialled by the
Hon. James Morris, the speaker of the Legislative Council and resident
of Brockville; a short time thereafter while visiting his home he
entered the telegraph office to send a message. I took this opportunity
of thanking him for the commission he sent me. He glared at me for
a second or two and said, “The commission is not for you; it is for
John Murray the butcher.” “Oh! indeed, I beg pardon. I was under the
impression it was for J. M.---- gentleman.” I did not get this off in a
resentful mood; it was merely repeating the language of the document.
Of course I handed it over to my namesake, the rightful owner, a very
respectable man of the town, when my military ambitions came to an end.
The services of the flank companies were not required after the _causes
belle_ had been removed and Canada once more resumed her usual peace
footing.
_The Old Soldier and the Parson._
About forty odd years ago when I was acting in the capacity of
telegraph, express and steamship agent at Brockville, the following
incident happened, which may be worth recalling: One day an old
gentleman entered the office and desired me to furnish a steamship
ticket to Liverpool. He informed me he was on his way to revisit his
native land which he had not seen for many years. He was in the army
previous to settling in one of the back townships. Although well on in
years he looked hale and hearty, straight as an arrow and a remarkably
handsome old fellow.
After completing his purchase and about to depart, he observed a pair
of Fairbanks scales and requested me to weigh him, as he would like to
see whether he lost or gained on the voyage. Whilst occupied in this,
another old gentleman walked in attentively watching the operation;
he also requested me to do a similar favor for him. He proved very
much lighter and somewhat disappointed, and remarked: “Well, you are
heavier than I, but I think I can beat you in length of years.” “How
old are you?” brusquely querried the old soldier. “I am 84,” looking
triumphantly at his questioner. “My young friend I am 85. I am heavier
than you, older than you and (whispering in his ear) can look at the
girls yet!”
Singular enough, the name of the latter was Mr. Young, the former the
Rev. Wm. Smart, a well-known and respected clergyman, whose chief
weakness was a certain vanity in his length of years, coupled with
activity and good health on which he greatly prided himself. He was
therefore, considerably humiliated at being thus so badly taken down
and his dignity ruffled by the above remark.
_The Fenian Scare._
When in the summer of 1866 the Fenians invaded Canada and encountered
the Canadian militia at Ridgeway, considerable alarm was felt all
along the frontier. Cornwall, Prescott, Brockville and Kingston were
strengthened with bodies of militia as being probable points of
invasion.
For a time the Government took possession of the telegraph lines until
all danger had passed.
Telegraph offices were kept open day and night by orders from Ottawa;
this continued in force for several weeks. I was then at Brockville and
found the long hours very irksome. No one believed in the likelihood
of an attack here, but one night this belief was rather disturbed when
a communication was received by the officer in command warning him to
be on the alert as a body of Fenians had seized a steamer at Clayton,
on the American side of the river, with the probability of attacking
Brockville or Prescott.
Very soon the sound of the bugle was heard and the men formed in
readiness to meet the enemy. They had been drilling for several weeks
and were in splendid fighting trim, and under the command of an
experienced officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Atcherley, D.A.G., who had
seen service in the Crimea and India, in whom officers and men had
the utmost confidence. A home guard was hastily organized to watch the
river front and give timely notice should any suspicious craft appear.
During the prevailing excitement some one rang the town alarm bell,
when the citizens were aroused from their beds, and the streets were
soon crowded with men, women and children eager to learn what was the
cause of the alarm. Many amusing scenes were witnessed. A few timid
souls procured teams, loaded them with household effects, and with
their families started for safer quarters in the back country. Many
old veterans of the Canadian rebellion were seen carrying weapons of
defense, but appeared more likely to be offensive only to themselves.
One aged gentleman carried a sword with a rope in lieu of belt
and minus the scabbard; he refused to waste time looking for such
appendages at such a time; the naked sword was good enough for him.
The night was dark and ominous; every one awaited coming events with
anxiety and more or less nervousness, and dawn began to appear, but no
signs of the enemy. Meanwhile some of the home guard got tired waiting
for the Fenians, who declined to come, and they one by one segregated
to enjoy the comforts of their own firesides or seek repose on their
downy beds at home. In this action the officer commanding the home
guard preceded his men and was the first to retire, but one of their
number a sturdy Scot, having been placed on an eminence favorable to
scan the movements of the craft on the river, he held on to his post,
however. His family hunted him up and had much difficulty on prevailing
upon him to come home.
The only fatality that occurred was the death of an old lady, who,
nearing the end, collapsed suddenly when hearing the alarm bell and
told the reason for its being rung.
Shortly after the Fenian fiasco became a thing of the past.
_Professor Morse’s Valedictory Message._
In 1870, when Mr. Morse had entered his eightieth year, it was felt by
many telegraph men that some fitting recognition should be paid to the
illustrious inventor before the close of his valuable life, which was
now nearing the end.
In accordance with this general feeling action was taken and a
committee formed, when after much thought had been given to the
subject, it was at last decided the most appropriate memorial in its
opinion would be to erect a statue and place it in Central Park,
New York. This suggestion had the general approval of the telegraph
fraternity. To carry this out subscriptions were invited; one of the
first to contribute to the fund was Mr. John Horn, of Montreal, then in
New York, and to complete the sum required Sir Hugh Allan was appealed
to and promptly sent the desired amount.
The ceremony of unveiling the statue took place on June 10, 1871.
Representative telegraph men from every State and territory, as well as
the Dominion of Canada, were present, including many civic and State
officials, and addresses were delivered by Governor Hoffman, Mayor
Hall, the venerable poet, William Cullen Bryant and others.
In the evening a public reception of the delegates was held at the
Academy of Music, which was filled to overflowing, the Hon. William
Orton, President of the Western Union, presiding, by whom the delegates
were cordially welcomed. On the platform was a table and a set of
telegraph instruments connected with the main office of the Western
Union Company. Punctually at 9 p.m., as previously arranged, Professor
Morse, who was present, indited the following valedictory:
“Greeting and thanks to the telegraph fraternity throughout the
world. Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace and good-will
to men.”