The New York Times, December 3, 1851, p.4:

Great Telegraphic Feat.

    A note from the telegraph agent of the Associated Press informs us that Mr. Bulkley, the Superintendent of the New-Orleans Telegraph line, has invented a "Connector" by means of which, placed at each station on the line, the operators are enabled to "turn the current of electricity from their offices, and thus connect the most extreme points."

    The "Connectors" by some ingenious mechanism--only fully understood by the intelligent and practical inventor--have the effect to renew the magnetic force wherever applied, by which means the great difficulty of "writing in long circuits" is wholly overcome. This invention, therefore, would seem destined to become one of the most important aids in the "annihilation of space."

    We understand that the New-Orleans line under Mr. B's superintendence has been supplied with these "Connectors," and their practical utility for the purposes desired were very satisfactorily tested to-day, by enabling Mr. Long and his accomplished assistants in the office in this City--to hold a direct and instantaneous chit chat with their fellow operators in the office at New-Orleans--a distance by the wires of 2,300 miles. Business messages were also sent with the same rapidity.


The New York Times, August 8, 1856, p.1:

Western Union Telegraph Company.

    The three of four rival Telegraph Companies west of Buffalo and the Ohio have recently disposed of their dilapidated lines and other telegraphic interests to the Western Union Telegraph Company, a new concern, which numbers among its members some of the most respectable, wealthy, and influential gentlemen of this and the Northwestern States.

    H. Sibley, Esq., of Rochester, has been elected President of the new Company, and his well-known energy and practical experience in telegraphic matters eminently fit him for his present position.

    Under the direction of the new Company, the lines are being rapidly resuscitated, and bid fair at an early day to be among the best managed and reliable in the country.