William Henry Heiss

[Laurie Verge]

Art Loux covered the Mudd/Heiss connection in an article that he did for the Surratt Courier back in 1986. In that article, he says that William Henry Heiss, Sr. became acquainted with Dr. Mudd while employed in installing telegraph cables in the Florida Keys. His job took him to Fort Jefferson on several occasions. Dr. Mudd subsequently presented Heiss with one of his canes, which Heiss used for the rest of his days. In 1981, Harold R. Heiss, a grandson, donated the cane to the Dr. Mudd House for display.

Art did wonderful work in disspelling the notion (established by our friend Eisenschiml) that all telegraph operations were shut down in Washington at the time of the assassination. Thomas Eckert, Chief of the War Department Telegraph, had testified before the House Judiciary Committee in 1867, that the military telegraph was up and running throughout the night of April 14 and that only the commercial lines were interrupted - and those for just two hours. He explained that those were interrupted by throwing a ground wire over the main line which, when removed, would restore service.

The man responsible for the commercial line's interruption was William Henry Heiss, Sr., superintendent of the People's Line of Telegraph in Washington. Heiss was so experienced in telegraphy that he had been offered, and turned down, a position as officer in charge of communications for the Confederate Army. In 1862, he had supervised the laying of an underwater cable to Fortress Monroe, which was installed just in time to transmit a description of the battle between the Monitor and Merrimac (Virginia).

On the night of the assassination, Heiss decided he should interrupt the service of the commercial telegraph in order to prevent conspirators from using his telegraph to coordinate further activities, to stop news of the assassination from spreading into the South and causing an uprising , and to stop Union soldiers in the South from seeking reprisals before the commanders might receive orders through the military telegraph lines.

Art also explained in his article how Heiss came to shut down the telegraph so quickly after the assassination. Heiss' brother, Courtland V. Hess (who dropped the "i" in the family name) was a member of the stock company at Ford's Theatre. He was not scheduled to be in the play, but was supposed to sing a patriotic song at the conclusion of the show. William Heiss had gone to the theatre to hear his brother - and Ford's was only one block from his telegraph office. Heiss was arriving just in time to see Booth cross the stage and the attending confusion. He hurried out to his office on 9th Street and shut down his system.

Courtland Hess is the one who set the record straight about someone (John Surratt?) supposedly calling out the time in front of the theater - "ten minutes past ten." Hess had been in front of the theater with Louis Carland, the costumer at Ford's. Hess asked for the time, and Carland was the one who checked the clock in the vestibule and called out the time. Hess then went back into the theater. Carland also testified that he was still in front of the theater when a man came rushing out, announced that the President had been shot, and hurried down the street. This was probably William Heiss, hurrying to his shop.

One interesting point is that Stanton had arrived at the Petersen House and had the first military telegrams going out around midnight. It took ten minutes for his couriers to get to the War Department telegraph near the White House. Heiss' telegraph service was only a block from Petersen's.

Special thanks to Art Loux for his great research and communication on the subject of Heiss and the telegraph on April 14, 1865. Hopefully, he'll read this post and offer even more information.