|
We have seen the following item in several of our
exchanges: "The McCoy Bros. of
Sistersville, have shipped this season 310 hogsheads of
tobacco." And nine-tenths of that same tobacco (and everything
else that is shipped there) was taken from or through Middlebourne
to Sistersville to be shipped; and yet a great many insist on a
railroad along the river for benefit of Tyler county.--Tyler County
Star. Wheeling Register, December 22, 1879
WANT THE COURT HOUSE MOVED.
A Combined Effort to Bring it
from Middlebourne to Sistersville.
Special
to the Register. Sistersville, W. Va., September 15.--There is
a growing sentiment in this part of Tyler county among politicians
and others, irrespective of party, that the court house at
Middlebourne is too far away from the principal city of the county
and too difficult of access. There is now on foot a concerted
movement among all classes in this end of the county to have it
moved from that place here, and at the next general election it is
possible that this matter will be a prominent issue. The court
house and county seat is now about ten miles in the interior of the
county, and in bad weather it is almost impossible to get to that
place through the mud, the roads having an unenviable
reputation for being the muddiest in the State. It is expected
this movement will meet with spirited opposition on the part of the
inland people, but it is thought there are enough persons here
vitally interested to carry the issue when it comes to a vote.
It would be much more convenient here and would be a great benefit
to the rural residents of the county, as they could come to the city
to do their business and do much better than they can now. It
would also be more convenient for the oil men here, who have the
greater part of the business of a legal nature in the county
to transact. Wheeling Register, September 16,
1895
Dastardly Work
of Bushwhackers.
SHILOH,O., June 20.--George Mitchell,
wife and sister, out riding last night, were fired on by
ambushers. Mitchell was wounded and his sister fatally
injured. Wheeling Register, June 21,
1882
MIDDLEBOURNE NEWS NOTES
Special to the Register
Middlebourne, W. Va., May 29--A.
J. Ferrell and Jason Hart were in town on business to-day.
W.
M. Staley, of Wick, called on his friends to-day and says his No. 3
well is due in the sand and John Bullamn No. 3 is close to the
sand.
Gorrell Dock, J. W. Montgomery and Wesley Waters
were here on road business.
Jackson Smith called on his
friends here to-day. He is just recovered from an attach of
typhoid fever.
Misses Daisy and Louisa Smith, of Martinsburg,
left for home to-day. They have been visiting their
grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Ambrose Smith.
B. Engle, Esq., is
in Wheeling to secure a switch board for the telephone exchange
in Middlebourne.
The Tyler County Fair Association let the
contract for a new grand station to be built on their grounds for
the sum of $575.75 to C. D. Watson. It is to be a great
improvement on the old one.
W. H. Hutle was at Paden's
Valley loading lumber.
James L. and O. P. Fox were
in town on important business.
Dr. Smith has everything ready
to raise his new house on Dodd street, and D. H. Morey is hauling
stone for the foundation for his new livery barn. The old
town would boom if we had a few more such men.
Politics are
slowly simmering. The Republicans are having trouble over
their candidates. They think they have a sure thing on the
offices and are hustling for the places.
Mr. Paul
Engle and Robert McCoy were in Sistersville yesterday evening on
pressing business. The Wheeling Register, May 30, 1895
MIDDLEBOURNE P.
O.
It is Finally Disposed of, But Oh! What a Mess It's
In,
Special Telegram to the Register
Middlebourne, July
5--G. W. Atkinson left here to-day, after having disposed of the
Middlebourne postoffice. J. W. Barnes, of the Star,
gets the appointment, and as his health is not in condition to do
any business, the attaches of the printing office are to attend to
the post-office.
It has caused considerable
dissatisfaction. Some of the disappointed applicants say that
the Star was no advantage to the party during the late
campaign, that its editorials come near stampeding the party in
Tyler, causing more kickers than was ever known before since the
organization of the State. We understand that the appointment
was made to boom the financial condition of the
Star. Old citizens who have been a mainstay of the
Republican party through thick and thin have been made to stand
aside to make room for a man that cast his first vote in West
Virginia at the last general
election.
The Wheeling Register, July 6,
1889.
MIDDLEBOURNE
Middlebourne, W.
Va., June 3--Judge D. F. Pugh, of Columbus, who spent a few days
with friends here, has returned home.
J. H. Strickling and
his wife went to Doddridge county, Saturday, where
Mrs. Strickling will visit Mr. Strickling's mother
for some weeks.
G. G. Smith, Esq., left yesterday for Mt.
Clemens, Mich., to take the bath treatment for rheumatism, with
which he has been suffering for some time.
Miss Gertrude A.
Shaw, who has been visiting friends here for the last two weeks,
left for her home in Moundsville to-day.
Oil men in
town: J. C. McMahon, L. J. Murphy, John A. George and Roy
Murphy.
Jas. Ireland, of Joseph's Mills, was in town to-day
looking after his fences for the nomination for assessor on the
Republican ticket.
There is a fight in the Republican county
committee over the question whether the Republican nominations will
be made by a delegate convention or by primary election in this
county. The bosses favor the convention, as they can
manipulate it better for the state they have made out, while the
candidates in general and other good Republicans who are not
standing in with the bosses want a primary. It is reported
that there will be an attempt on the part of the bosses to
reorganize the county committee so as to have everything their own
way at the county convention to be held here June 11, to appoint
delegates to the Republican State and various other
conventions.
The Democrats here are divided on the money
question, with perhaps a majority for sound money. Watts
is the favorite for Governor since Judge Bennett is
considered out of the race. The Democrats of Tyler
recognize that to win a decisive victory this fall requires an
honest, fearless and aggressive leader, and such a leader they
believe Watts would be. For judge in The Fourth
Judicial district they favor J. V. Blair, of West Union, as the
Democratic candidate, and for Congress, John O. Pendleton would be
the choice. The Wheeling Register, June 4,
1896.
A PLEASANT re-union occurred at
Sistersville, Tyler county, on last Tuesday. Mrs. Sarah McCoy,
an aged lady of that place, having attained her eighty-third year,
celebrated that event by an entertainment to her children and
grandchildren. Mrs. McCoy is the daughter of one of the oldest
settlers of Brooke county, whose name was Wells. This
patriarch married the second time. His first wife bore him
ten, and his second eleven children. The twentieth offspring
of these fruitful unities was christened "Twenty" and the
twenty-first and last child, a girl, received the euphoneous, and
perhasp appropriate name of "Plenty." Nearly three-fourths of
a century ago a number of the Wells family bought lands in Tyler
county along the river, and the village of Sistersville received its
name in honor of three of the Wells sisters, one of whom is Mrs.
Sarah McCoy, The only other suvivor of this score and more of
children is Nicholas Wells, Esq., of Long Reach, who has arrived at
the ripe old age of four score and ten years. Wheeling
Daily Register - February 26, 1877.
A Badly Broken
Leg
Yesterday evening Mr. Hank Zwicker, of East
Wheeling, was brought up on the Ohio River train from a fishing camp
down about Long Beach, Tyler county, suffering from a badly
fractured leg. It seems that Mr. Zwicker was "skylarking" with
two or three friends, yesterday afternoon, at the camp, when he
fell, fracturing his leg in two or three places and making an injury
which will confine him to his home for some time to
come. The Wheeling Register, September
5, 1892.
Rabies in
Tyler
Col. Dan Johnson, President of the Local Board of
Health of Tyler county, and who was attacked by a mad dog, has
communicated with Dr. Geo. L. Garrison, member of the State
Board of Health, asking for information as to what shall be done for
the protection of the people of Tyler county. Dr. Garrison has
instructed him to call a meeting of the Board and take whatever
steps they thought necessary for their protection, under the
provision of Sec. 7, Chap. 150 of the Code of West
Virginia.
Hit By An Engine
Terrible Injuries Received by a
Sistersville Man
Special to the
Register.
Sistersville, W. Va., May 3.--About 2:30
o'clock this morning as two girls who reside on the boats just above
the town, were returning home they found the body of Thad Connolly
lying on the lower side of the Ohio River track terribly bruised and
insensible. They summoned help and carried him to one of the boats
and immediately sent for medical assistance. The well known and
popular doctors, R. A. Irwin and W. A. Kahle were soon at the boat
and rendered all possible assistance. The right side of Connolly's
head was found badly bruised, and his ear and face terribly
lacerated. His right arm was mashed to a pulp, making amputation
necessary just below the elbow. The doctors also stitched up his
scalp and sewed his ear on.
At the last account he was
resting very easy, but his recovery is very doubtful. He is eighteen
years of age and lives with his father, the ferryman, just above the
place where the accident occurred. He was under the influence of
strong drink and judging from appearances must have been sitting
along side the track in a drunken sleep.
Extra engine No. 13,
running light, is supposed to have been the train that hit him, but
the trainment say they know nothing of the
accident. The Wheeling Register, May 4,
1896.
A
Pleasant Surprise Party
Special Correspondence of the
Registerr
FRIENDLY, TYLER COUNTY, W. VA,
February 7.--A pleasant affair took place here
on Monday evening, at the Adams House, in the form of a surprise
party, given in honor of the fiftieth birthday anniversary of our
fellow townsman, W. N. Walton, by the citizens of Friendly and
vicinity. At about 7 o'clock the ladies and gentlemen began to
gather in to the number of seventy-five, led by the Friendly string
band. After entering the parlors, Mr. George Wells, of Ben's Run, in
behalf of the ladies, presented Mr. Walton with a handsome gold
headed silk umbrella and a heavy gold seal ring. Mr. Walton
responded, after which Mr. Porter Davenport stepped forward and
presented him with a handsome heavy gold headed ebony cane,
accompanied with a tie pin, by Mr. J. W. Williams, Jr. After
recovering from this second surprise he responded in an appropriate
manner and invited all out to supper. At 11:30 p. m., all departed
wishing Mr. Walton many happy returns of the
day.
The Wheeling Register,
February 8, 1889.
Destructive Fire
Last
week, a destructive fire occurred at Centreville district, in Tyler
county. The residence of Mr. A. L. Corbly was burned, causing a loss
from $2,500 to $3,000 with an insurance of $700. Mr. and Mrs. Corbly
were called away early in the morning, leaving their son, quite a
young boy, at home. He states that he covered the fire, swept up the
hearth and set the broom back in a corner, and went down to
Bearsville. About 10 o'clock a daughter of mr. James McCann
discovered the fire and informed her father, who with his son
immediately hurried to the scene of the conflagrtion and did all
they could to save the property, but their efforts were
unvailing. The dwelling with all its contents, and
the smoke house near by were soon a mass of ruins. It was only
by herculean efforts that they, assisted by other neighbors, saved
the granary, which stood some sixty feet from the dwelling. The
house had recently been refurnished and was of itself one of
the best farm houses in the county.
Wheeling
Register, January 24, 1884.
Murder in Tyler
County.
New Martinsville Messenger.
We are
indebted to Mr. Bert Swann, of Middlebourne, for the particulars of
a tragedy near that town, which resulted in the death of Jacob Metz,
well known to many of our readers.
It seems that Metz had been intimate with a young
lady by the name of Gorman, for some years, and that a man by the
name of Rockwell, better known ast "Cheap John," having formed her
acquaintance, bad feelings had been engendered. Metz had been over
to New Martinsville last Monday, and on his return home met the
young lady in Middlebourne and in the evening accompanied her to her
father's house, some distance from the town. Later in the evening
Rockwell came to the house and the men soon began quarreling, and
about ten o'clock P. M., began fighting in the yard. Metz, according
to the story of the girl, who was the only witness of the affair,
had Rockwell down and was pounding him with his fists, when Rockwell
managed to get his revolver from his pocket and fired, inflicting a
wound from which Metz died yesterday morning.
Rockwell had
not been arrested when our informant left Middlebourne.
We
learn from Col. D. D. Johnson that Rockwell was to have had his
preliminary trial last Saturday, but he procured the postponement
until Monday and again until yesterday, under the plea of being too
unwell to attend. The Messenger is mistaken in referring to the
woman as a "young lady," as she is a public character and well known
as such. He further says the public impression is that the murder
was a most deliberate and foul one. Wheeling Daily
Register, October 17, 1877.
The Metz Murder.
The Ritchie
Gazette in printing the particulars of the attrocious murder of
Jacob Metz by John Rockwell, in Tyler county, a couple of weeks ago
adds:
"The Wheeling Register states upon the information of Col.
Dan Johnson that the woman is one of bad character, and that the
murder was a deliberate and foul one. The reports which we have
received do not corroborate this statement. We have been informed
that Rockwell even cried for mercy, and asked Metz if he intended to
kill him. Metz replied in the affirmative, when Rockwell drew his
pistol and fired, with the result narrated above.
However,
the affray in itself was certainley a disgraceful
one."
The Register has since stated, however,
that Rockwell, on being arraigned before the proper tribunal for the
commission of the crime, proved that it was purely an act of self
defense, and thereupon he was acquitted. Wheeling Daily
Register, October 25, 1877.
A Sharp Crusade
Inaugurated by
Sistersville Ministers and Others
Against the Speak Easies
Which Have Flourished in that Town for Several Years--Great Popular
Excitement Over the Movement for Reform.
Special to
the Register.
Sistersville, April 7,--Like a thunderbolt from a
clear sky came the long looked for twist of the speak-easies. It was
in the air that something would drop soon, but all the same the move
of the reformers was unexpected. It is well to know that a big
effort was made to secure licenses from the County Court early in
the week. The hotel men "went it alone" and secured Capt. Dovener,
of Wheeling, to do
THE MISSIONARY WORK
at the county
seat. It was generally understood that the hotels stood a fair show.
They went before the court backed with petitions signed by nearly
all the business men in town. The other element--the separate
saloons--watched every move made by the hotel men, and thereby hangs
a tale. At the meeting of the new Council Tuesday night, the latter
appeared for permits. The former "got on" and charged
SNAP
JUDGMENT
on the part of the hotel proprietors, claiming that it
was a game of freeze-out. The upshot was that the Council granted
the permits to all applicants, ten in number. License was not
granted and the cry went up, "What next?"
The new Council
declared itself Saturday, inasmuch as the town sergeant made a tour
of the saloons for the $100 fine each, following the policy of the
old Council for the past year. While he was collecting fines Rev. O.
W. Ownby, of the M. E. Church, Rev. T. A. Anderson of the
Presbyterian Church, and Rev. J. D. Vannoy, of the Baptist Church,
appeared before 'Squire McCoy. The clergymen
SWORE OUT A
WARRANT
against Mr. and Mrs. G. B. Thompson and C. and H.
Benedict for illegal liquor selling. The former are out of town, but
the latter were arrested. They gave bonds for their appearance
before the grand jury and $500 bonds to quit selling for one year.
This caused a big sensation. It was said Saturday that
warrants were sworn out for the arrest of every speak-easy
proprietor in town. The plan of those back of the movement is to
secure conviction and then
ENJOIN THEM FROM SELLING.
They
claim that this is the best way to stop the traffic.
The move
does not meet with popular favor. The majority of our citizens are
in favor of licensing such places that are run with a show of
decency. In the meantime the speak-easy men are lying low, watching
for the next turn of the wheel.
Saturday evening it was
learned that a warrant had been issued for
EVERY SPEAK-EASY
KEEPER
in town. Two arrests were made, Frank Howe and Fred Empey.
They were taken before Judge McCoy and put under bonds for their
appearance before the grand jury and to quit selling for one
year.
The rest are keeping shady. One man, Davis, closed his
saloon voluntarily and the outlook is that the town will be "dry"
for some days to come. The Wheeling Register, April 8,
1895.
Col. Dan Johnson was in the city
yesterday, looking as merry and happy as if he expected to realize
several dollars per bushel on his wheat crop this year. He
tells us there is considerable agitation throughout his county
because of a proposed narrow gauge railway, which is to run from
Long Reach, or Sistersville through the county to Harrison. The
main object of bulding the road is to open up the interior part of
Tyler county, and bring to market the fine timber with
which Tyler abounds. Speaking of timber, it might be said just
here that Mr. Sheppard and others who are negotiating for the
shipment of West Virginia timber to foreign markets might make
a trip to Tyler county with profit. Senator Johnson would be a
proper gentleman to interview on the resources of his section. He
would not only be glad to impart such information, but his guests
would find him capable of so doing. The county is very rich in
valuable timber, and the sooner means are afforded for bringin it to
market the better. May the railroad project culminate into something
tangible is the wish of Wheeling. Wheeling Daily
Register, May 30, 1877.
Sistersville
News.
An Enjoyable Function Last Evening.
The Reception in
Honor of G. T. Braden the Biggest Event in The History of the Town -
An Approaching Wedding - Other News.
Special
Correspondence of the Register.
Sistersville, W. Va., July 10 -
The reception and dance given last night by the employees of
the Eureka and Buckeye pipe line companies, in honor of the
retiring general superintendent, Mr. G. T. Braden, was the swellest
society event in the history of the place. The boys spared no
expense whatever in the preparations for the event, and as a
consequence everything was done in first class order. The reception
and dance was held in the large and commodious hall above the
Boyer's store, and the banquet was held at the Hotel
Whittlesey. The large hall presented a very pretty appearance with
the beautiful decorations. All around the hall were flowers and
plants, and overhead, suspended from the chandeliers, were evergreen
and amilax. The reception commenced at 8 o'clock and continued until
9, at which time the dancing commenced. The Bellaire orchestra
furnished the music for the occasion. Dancing was continued until
midnight, at which time the guests all repaired to the Hotel
Whittlesey, where they discussed a most sumptuous repast.
The
menu follows:
SOUP.
En Bullon a la Marietta.
Division.
FISH
Fillet of River Clamps.
MEATS
Loin of
six-inch line with Corning gravey
Boiled Bungs with swedged
nipples.
FOWLS.
Spring Pumps with Flanged Unions.
Middle
Island Punch
SALADS.
Shrimp a la Russe Sistersvilled
Field.
Sio Semper Tyrannis with Cross Tree
Lettuce Flange
the Line.
ENTREES.
Coquettes of Thistle Station
Buckworth
Checks with Mushrooms
Potatoes a la Pit
Hole
RELISHES.
Olives with New Castle Oil
German Slaw with
long handled shovels
Saratoga Chips with tooth picks
Ice Cream
with assorted Cakes, Fruits, etc.
CHAMPAGNE-WINES,
Etc.
Clarkes' Extra Dry
Bella of Sweeneyville
Piper
Heidsick with three bars of Old Kentucky Home
Catawba-Port and
Mosles Delight
Blue Ribbon-Pabst-Columbus
Mr. Braden, in
whose honor the reception was given, has been in charge of the
pipe lines since 1876, and in that time has been deservedly popular
with every employee under him. A short time ago he was transferred
from the transportation department to the producing department,
and his fellow employees have taken this opportunity of showing
their esteem for him. There were about fifty couple present, and one
of the most pleasant times imaginable was spent. Among
those from out of the city who attended were: H. L. Scrafford,
E. G. Wright, J. G. Splain, all district superintendents of
Pittsburg; N. Moore, Marietta, C. S. Colt, Marietta, R. Shannon,
Burning Springs, George Galmich, Braden's Station. Besides the above
parties, who are all pipe line officials, there were a large number
of people present from other places, a special train having
been run over the Ohio River road to bring the guests from
Parkersburg and Marietta. The affair was all that could
be desired, and those who had it in charge may well feel
proud.
[Wheeling Register, July 11, 1895]
The article published in the Register yesterday morning in
regard to the license question created a decided sensation, as the
affair had been kept very quiet. The exclusive report that the
hotels were working to have the license granted to no one but them
stirred the people up considerably and during the day a
petition on which were the names of the Mayor and some of the
councilmen appeared, was circulated and freely signed. The petition
was to the County Court asking it not to discriminate, but if
it granted license at all, to grant it to all that applied. Some of
the hotel men were very indignant at the article published in the
Register this morning and emphatically denied that there was a
scheme on foot to freeze the other applicants out, but the article
was true nevertheless. The majority of those who attended the court
yesterday returned last night and did not go out to-day. In speaking
of the matter yesterday one of the applicants said that he did not
think, now, that the court would grant any of them license. The
attorney for the applicants and also for the persons who
conducted the "crusade" of some time ago, are both out at
Middlebourne, and will remain until the session convenes. A report
was current to-day to the effect that if the County Court
granted licenses to the hotels only, the City Council would not
ratify them, and in such a case the saloons will be run as they have
heretofore.
[Wheeling Register, July 11, 1895]
The old frame building on Main street, below Pike, belonging to
Mrs. Wells will be torn down in the near future, and on the ground
it now occupies. Dr. C. P. Sellers will erect a handsome frame
office.
[Wheeling Register, July 11, 1895]
The cards were sent out yesterday announcing the coming nuptials of
Mr. George E. Work, the genial and popular proprietor of the
Hotel Whittlesey, to Miss Anna M. Johnson, of Bellaire. The ceremony
will be performed at the home of the bride's parents in Bellaire at
nine o'clock on the evening of the 17th inst. and will be largely
attended. The ceremony will be performed by Rev. H. S. Boyd, pastor
of the M. E. Church in Bellaire, assisted by Rev. A. W. Ownby,
pastor of the M. E. Church here. The bride is the charming and
accomplished daughter of Mr. R. Johnson, proprietor of the Merchants
Hotel in Bellaire, while the groom is one of the most popular young
business men of this place. He was formerly in business in Wheeling,
and both of the young people enjoy a wide circle of friends who will
be pleased to hear of their marriage.
[Wheeling Register, July 11,
1895]
MORSEL FOR MORSE.
A Live Physician After The Dead
Professor's Laurels.
A West Virginian Disputes Professor
Morse's Claim to Having Developed Into Practical Use The Electric
Telegraph-Affidavits and Certificates Supporting His Claim-On Whose
Head Shall the Honor Fall?
It is generally conceded by all that
Professor Morse is the inventor of the present system of telegraphy,
or at least the first to develop it into practical use.
But
this claim is disputed by a well-known West Virginia physician, Dr.
J. Thompson Nicklin, a resident of Middlebourne, Tyler county, West
Virginia, who is now in his 81st year, and who claims to have first
conceived the idea and experimented with such success as to
render practical the project of transmitting messaged from one
portion of the globe to the other through telegraph
wires.
THE FIRST EXPERIMENT
in
telegraphy, according to Zell's Encyclopedia, was made by M. Lesage,
at Geneva, in the year 1782, he having twenty-four wires, insulated
from each other, and communicated with pith ball electrometers,
marked with the letters of the alphabet, but his efforts to use it
in a practical manner were futile. Afterwards, Lamond, Reizen,
Sommering, Ronalds, Ampere, Baron Von Schilling, Gause, Weber, and
Steinheil experimented, but were unable to discover any method
whereby they could utilize electricity and adapt a system of
telegraphy. All efforts in this directory were vain until May 27,
1844, when Prof. S. F. B. Morse succeeded in demonstrating its
practicability over wires between Baltimore and Washington. Dr. I.
T. Nicklin, however, claims that
THE FIRST DISCOVERY
OF THE SCIENCE OF TELEGRAPHY
was made by himself, and
being in the city yesterday, was interviewed by a Register reporter.
In answer to the suggestion of the reporter that he give the facts
to the public through the press, by which he supported his claim,
Dr. Nicklin stated that after having made the discovery he failed to
secure any pecuniary benefit from a too long delay to apply for and
obtain a patent for the right of discovery; that he had not intended
to have it published, and now felt but little inducement to do so,
laboring under a sense of his great loss, but yielded to the
reporter and gave the following
STATEMENT OF HIS
DISCOVERY:
About the third day of March, 1838, just
after the close of the medical department of the Cincinnati College,
the doctor states that he was experimenting with a small galvanic
battery, on a table, on which a short bar or bolt of iron was
horizontally attached to a frame. Holding the bolt up against the
under side of the bar, in the mercury attached to the battery he
dipped the end of the wrapped wire and withdrew it alternately in
quick succession, a rapid clicking of the bolt against the bar
resulting, as the circle was formed and broken. Then holding the
wire in the mercury, raising the bolt up, under and touching the
bar, and pulling it down gently so as to overcome the attraction, it
again raised the bolt near the bar, and the attraction drew it up
and held it until the wire was withdrawn. Then carefully holding the
bolt to prevent it from slipping from his hand and falling, to the
injury of the table, it occurred to the doctor that if two bolds
were used and placed a foot apart, they would fall simultaneously to
the table when the wire was withdrawn. The doctor says that at that
instant it was certain that they would fall from a bar or connected
bars, if a yard, a rod, or a thousand miles apart, very nearly at
the same time, as Sir Humphrey Davy had decided it from his
experiment with the velocity of electricity.
LIKE A
FLASH THE THOUGHT OF AN ELECTRICIAN TELEGRAPH
seized
him, and the doctor conceived the idea that with a battery at each
end of the wires, speedy intelligence could be sent many miles each
way. While he was thus experimenting, Dr. Rogers, professor of
chemistry, was in the room with him, as were all of several others,
and he thought of using Dr. Rogers' battery, but concluded to get
some zinc and copper, preparatory to purchasing another battery and
testing the merits of his scheme. He left the room to go to the
drugstore, and while there made an alphabet of dots and marks,
dropping the letter C to reduce the number of characthers. He then
returned to Dr. Rogers, and proposed purchasing his battery, but the
doctor refused to dispose of it, and as a last resort Dr. Nicklin
resolved to return home and make a trough battery himself. During
his trip home
HE THOUGHT OF NOTHING
ELSE
but the telegraph, which constantly occupied his
mind, and he finally informed a friend, Dr. Wm. Swan, that he had
made an important discovery; that with a galvanic battery he could
sell intelligence speedily to distant points, and explained to him
the secret. Afterwards the doctor employed Mr. Arthur Ankrom to make
him a number of zinc plates, to be used in experimenting whom he
also informed of his discovery. But the doctor states that, having
no thought of any other person making the discovery, fear of losing
what he considered the one great triumph of his life caused him to
delay applying for a patent, and making known his discovery, until
Morse, some years later, stepped in and carried off the honors. In
order to more fully substantiate his claim, Dr. Nicklin gave us the
following:
CERTIFICATE AND
AFFIDAVITS,
which certainly go to show that he had been
at work in the matter, and that he has some grounds for making the
claim he does:
MIDDLEBOURNE, Aug. 28,
1876.
Early in 1838, Dr. I. T. Nicklin came to
Middlebourne from Cincinnati. Some time March or April of that year
he came to me with some zinc, asked me to melt it and form it into
plates, which I did. He said he had been trying to get some copper
also to form into plates. He told me that he had made a discovery by
which intelligence could be sent rapidly a great distance. This is
the substance of what he said as near as I can recollect.
ARTHUR
ANKROM
Mr. Ankrom is reliable, and the above statement is no
doubt entirely correct.
L. L.
STEALY.
MIDDLEBOURNE, Aug. 24, 1876.
Some
time in March, 1838, Dr. I. T. Nicklin came home from Cincinnati and
came to my house and told me he had made a great discovery; that
with a galvanic battery he could converse from one room to another,
or to any distance. Dr. Nicklin is a man well known in the country
for truth and character. I believe he was the first discoverer of
the galvanic telegraph.
WM. SWAN.
The above was subscribed
and sworn to before D. F. Pugh, notary public in Tyler county, on
the 80th of August, 1876.
MIDDLEBOURNE, Aug. 18,
1876.
Some time in March, 1838, a short time after Dr.
I. T. Nicklin came home from Cincinnati, I was in father's store,
and Dr. Nicklin was telling father that whatever he done in one room
could be done in another room, and that it would make no difference
about the distance; and that he could make things known or convey
information any distance.
B. R. Swan.
The above was
subscribed and sworn to before D. Hickman, notary public in Tyler
county, on the 5th of September, 1876.
Further information in
regard to the matter can perhaps be obtained from Gen. Thomas M.
Harris, pension agent in this city, or Dr. Reeves, both of whom are
well acquainted with Dr. Nicklin.
[Source: Wheeling Register,
November 23, 1877]
The following is an
extract of a letter from a gentleman on the spot, to a member of the
Legislature of Virginia, politely furnished for publication
:
Wheeling, 14th Feb.,
1832.
Dear Sir:—I now take the Iiberty to
inform you of the melancholy situation of the people on the Ohio
river, occasioned by the high waters. The very high rise of the
river commenced on the 9th inst.; the 10th, 11th and 12th it
was at the highest—and the river is yet out of its banks. To give
you some idea of the awful situation of those on the river, I am
told that a steam-boat passed through and on the back siile of part
of the town of Sistersville,* the river swept from hill to hill on
each side, except the high banks or bottoms. All stacks of hay,
grain, and much of the corn is swept away; and it is calculated that
as many as 100 houses have been taken from this part of the river,
and of course, all the fences, bridges, and every thing of the kind
is gone—and goods, household furniture, and property of every kind
destroyed. I am not able at present to give you an accurate account
of the damage. The visitation to the Valley of the Ohio, is the most
disastrous, destructive and awful, that I have ever seen, and I have been well acquainted with
this river for upwards of 50 years. The cry of people in one of the
houses going down was heard, but no relief could be given.
Would it not be proper to request
the Legislature to appropriate some of the taxes of the counties
bordering on the Ohio, toward building bridges, and to assist those
of the inhabitants who have lost their all. The roads will be
entirely ruined, and cannot be travelled. The people must first
build their fences and houses; so tbat it will be impracticable to
repair the roads. As early as can, I will advise you
more of the particular situation of the people.
*Sistersville is situate in Tyler
county, 50 miles below Wheeling
[Source: Richmond Enquirer, February 21,
1832]
Transcribed by C. Anthony
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