Samuel Morse, an American painter of portraits…

Samuel Morse, an American painter of portraits and historic scenes and the developer of the concept of a single wire telegraph, had made one last trip to Washington, D.C., in December 1842, stringing wires between two committee rooms in the Capitol, and had sent messages back and forth.

A bill was finally proposed allocating thirty thousand dollars towards building an experimental line thirty eight-miles long between Washington, D.C. and ...