One night, after having worked on his idea for years,
he invited a few friends to the University building, which overlooked
Washington Square, and showed them the result of his labors. It was the
first telegraph in the world. This was a crude affair, but Professor
Morse proved that he could send a message over a wire. In the year 1845
he had advanced so far that a telegraph line was built between New York
City and Philadelphia. Then all the world recognized the genius of
Morse. The people of New York especially honored him, and even in his
lifetime they erected a statue of him which you can see to-day in
Central Park.
By this time the city had crept up to both Greenwich Village and Bowery
Village, and had engulfed them. On every side were houses, some of them
five and six stories high, where before they had been but two stories.
An open space nearby Bowery Village was called Astor Place. This was the
scene in 1849 of a famous riot, which came about in this wise: Edwin
Forrest, an American actor, and William Charles Macready, an English
actor, had quarrelled about some fancied slight. So when Macready came
to the city to play at the Astor Place Opera House, some friends of
Forrest's gathered and sought to prevent his acting by shouting their
disapproval.
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