This first news message was not only a very decisive one as to the fact of telegraphic communication, but one which showed the relief given by speedy knowledge in dispelling doubt and fear. Mr. William E. Dodge, of New York, says: "I was in Liverpool at the time, and expecting friends by the Europa. Any delay in the arrival of the ship would have caused great anxiety. But one morning, on going down to the Exchange, we saw posted up this despatch received the night before by the Atlantic Telegraph. All then said, if the cable never did any thing more, it had fully repaid its cost." Well may he add with devout feeling: "It seemed as if Divine Providence had permitted the event, to furnish a testimony which could not be denied, to the reality and the benefit of this new means of communication between the two continents." Passing over all the messages exchanged between the operators at the stations, the congratulations of Queen and President, and of the Mayors of New York and London, we come to another news despatch. August twenty-fifth, Newfoundland reports to Valentia: "Persia takes Europa's passengers and mails. Great rejoicing everywhere at success of cable. Bonfires, fireworks, _feux de joie_, speeches, balls, etc. _Mr. Eddy, the first and best telegrapher in the States, died to-day._ Pray give some news for New York; they are mad for news." This despatch the writer, who was then in Europe, read first in the London Times. The item which arrested his attention was the death of Mr. Eddy, as he had some acquaintance with that gentleman. That the news must have come by cable, is clearly shown by an examination of dates. He died suddenly, at Burlington, Vermont, Monday, August twenty-third, 1858, at ten o'clock fifteen minutes A.M. The exact day and hour we learned from his widow, who after his death lived in Brooklyn. The news was telegraphed to New York, and from there sent to Trinity Bay, which it reached the following day, and from which it was forwarded to Valentia, and appeared in the London Times Wednesday morning. Thus not forty-eight hours elapsed after he breathed his last, before it was published in England. If any one wishes to see the despatch, he will find a file of The Times in the Astor Library. But here appears a slight discrepancy, that, however, when examined, furnishes double proof. The despatch is dated August twenty-fifth, and says Mr. Eddy died _to-day_, and yet it is published in the London Times of the same date! How is this? It was sent between nine and ten o'clock at night of the twenty-fourth, when the operator at Heart's Content would say _this day_ of a piece of news just received, but in affixing the date, he was governed _by Greenwich time_, which made it more than three hours later. Accordingly it was published in The Times, dated August twenty-fifth, fifty-three minutes past twelve A.M.!