Dit-dat-dat. Dit-dit-dit-dit. Dit-dat. Dat. May 24th, 1844. Samuel Finley Breese Morse is sitting in the Supreme Court chamber in the United States Capitol in Washington, DC. Dit-dit-dit-dit. Dit-Dat. Dat. Dit-dit-dit-dit. He has a message. And here it is in full-length:

Click on the image to get a closer look of the entire outgoing message. Warning: It's long.

Dat-dat-dit. Dat-dat-dat. Dat-dit-dit. Numbers XXIII, 23—a bible passage selected by Miss Annie G. Ellsworth crossed the wire from that Supreme Court chamber to the Mount Clare railroad depot in Baltimore, Maryland that day. Dit-dat-dat. Dit-dat-dit. Dat-dat-dat. Dit-dit-dat. Dat-dat-dit. Dit-dit-dit-dit. Oh, how it changed things. Dat. [American Memory via Letters of Note]