The Wright Brother 1903 Western Union and Postal Telegraph Telegrams

Updated March 8, 2025 

There is a vast number of non-genuine Wilbur and Orville Wright signatures available for sale, as is true for all historical figures. Forging a signature onto an old envelope cover, postcard, or photograph of the time period is a common practice, and there are hundreds of examples of these sold on the market. Occasionally, a false document is created with the forged Wright's signatures, which goes a step beyond of just relieving an unsuspecting collector of his savings. It potentially can alter history if left unchallenged. This post presents the genuine telegrams sent by the Wrights in December of 1903, and then follows with historically inaccurate modern alterations.

The Wright Brother December 1903 Telegrams:

 

On December 14th, 1903, Wilbur attempted a test run with the Wright Flyer at Kitty Hawk resulting in confirmation that the machine design and construction was sufficient for an eventual successful flight. The first four successful flights occurred three days later on December 17th. Orville composed a message on the 14th to send to their father Milton Wright.

 

Initial note written by Orville, eventually delivered by Wilbur through the Kitty Hawk Weather Station to Norfolk where it was relayed to a local telegraph office for transmission to Dayton Ohio. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Wilbur took the message to the Kitty Hawk Weather Station to connect with Norfolk, where the message was relayed to the Postal Telegraph-Cable Company on the 15th, where it was transmitted by Morse code to be received in Dayton. (6) The message received in Dayton was then typed on to a Telegram form, with the original telegram now held in the Library of Congress Wright Brother archives. This December 15th telegram is pictured below:

December 15, 1903 telegram sent by Wilbur to Milton Wright. Courtesy of the Library of Congress. Wilbur's name was misspelled in the transmission. Hawthorn street historically, has been spelled with and without the e, having two variations.

Milton recorded the following in his diary for that day-

Tuesday December 15 Katharine sick; misses School the first time in about four years. Dr Spitler came. About 4:00 came the telegram "Misjudgment at start reduced flight (to) one hundred (and) twelve (feet)- power and control ample- rudder only injured- success assured keep quiet." Wilbur Wright.  It was from Kittyhawk,  North Carolina, and related to Wilbur & Orville's Flyer. (1)

Two days after receiving this telegram, Milton Wright's sons would successfully complete four flights. A telegram was sent that day to Milton announcing the accomplishment, and also resides today in the Library of Congress Archives. Again, using the Kitty Hawk Weather Station's government wire, Norfolk was contacted with this time the message sent to The Western Union company where the telegrapher when transmitting the message by morse  code misspelled Orville's name as "Orevelle", and mistakenly transmitted the length of time of the last flight as "57" in lieu of 59 seconds.

Milton recorded in his diary-

Thursday, December 17 In the afternoon about 5:30 we received the following telegram from Orvill [e], dated Kitty Hawk, N.C., Dec. 17, "Bishop M. Wright: "Success four flights Thursday morning all against twenty-one mile wind started from level with engine power alone average speed through the air thirty one miles- longest 57 seconds. XXX home Christmas. Orville Wright." (1)

 

December 17, 1903 telegram sent by Orville Wright to his father Milton Wright, "Success four flights thursday morning all against twenty one mile wind started from level with engine power alone average speed through air thirty one miles longest 57 seconds inform Press home Christmas. Orevelle (Orville) Wright. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

 
 

Robert Clowry is listed as President on the Western Union 1903 telegrams sent by the Wright Brothers, these forms were utilized from 1902 through 1910. Image courtesy of National Museum of American History, The Smithsonian.

 

The story appeared in the Dayton Daily News evening edition of December 18th, and read in part as follows: Kitty Hawk, N.C., Dec 17. "'We have made four successful flights this morning, all against a 21-mile wind. We started from the level, with engine power alone. Our average speed through the air was 31 miles. Our longest time in the air was 57 seconds.' Orville Wright. 

The above telegram was received by Bishop Wright of this city last evening from his sons Wilbur and Orville Wright, who have been for several months at Kitty Hawk on the coast of North Carolina experimenting with a flying machine, announcing the complete success of their invention which they call the 'Wright Flyer'. 

Thursday morning they made four successful flights against a wind of 21 miles an hour, starting from a level and going at the rate of 10 miles per hour, which would be equal to a rate of 31 miles per hour in a calm. No power was used in starting the flight except two aerial propellers driven by a powerful but light gasoline engine. The landings were all made easily and without injury to either the machine or operator. The Wright brothers have been carrying on experiments for the past six or seven years, and have built three previous machines for gliding by means of which they attained proficiency in the control of their apparatus. This year is the first time they have attempted to drive their machine by power. (Then details of the Wright Flyer are given, and then....)

The dispatch from Norfolk, Va., published in the morning dailies contains much that is inaccurate and was based on imperfect or unauthentic information. The credit for the success of the 'Wright Flyer' is totally due to both Wilbur and Orville as the invention has been the result of their joint labors." (2)

 

 

Dayton Daily News Dec 18th, 1903 page from Dayton Metro Library archives. Associated original print plate is from author's collection.

Wilbur and Orville sent a letter dated 1903 December 28 to Carl Dienstbach of the Illustrirte Aeronautische Mitteilungen, clarifying the details of the day, including the 59 second final flight, "We have given out no description or photographs of our 'flyer' and the account given in the dispatch from Dayton, that you read, probably came nearer to the truth than the other accounts. On the morning of the 17th inst. we made four flights, my brother and myself each making two. The wind at the time of the trials was blowing a little over twenty miles an hour.....The government anemometer at Kitty Hawk recorded from 24 to 27 miles an hour at the time of our trials. We started all four flights from the level, and not from the side of a hill as we had formerly done with our gliding machines. The machine was given no assistance in starting, and depended entirely upon the power of the engine and the thrust of the propellers to give its initial speed. After a run of 35 to 40 feet on the monorail, which held it only eight inches from the ground, the flyer rose gradually from the track and by the time it had gone 50 to 75 feet it would reach a height of about 10 feet from the ground....Our measured speed....was ten miles per hour, which, added to the speed of the wind, gave us a speed through the air of 31 to 35 miles per hour. We used a four cylinder engine...of the four cycle type of our own design and construction. The engine speed while in flight was about 1035 turns to the minute on account of the gears used, and was not the maximum power of the engine. We had no propellers either above or below the machine to give it lifting power, but depended entirely upon two aerocurves, superposed, for that purpose. We used two air propellers, placed at the rear....to propel the machine forward. The weight of the machine and operator was 745 pounds. The area of the main lifting surfaces was 510 square feet. Our methods of control are entirely different from those used by Lilienthal, Pilcher, or Chanute, and were found to be highly effective....Our longest flight was 59 seconds from the time of lifting from the rail to that of landing...."

 

 

Orville sent another telegram, this one to Katharine's attention, dated December 23. The Virginian-Pilot, December 23 paper had reported "In order to escape the ubiquitous news hunter, the Wrights sent two of their associates on ahead, they having decided to follow with their machine today. The two decoys went  to Elizabeth City, N.C., and from there to Norfolk by way of the Norfolk and Southern railway, going on through this city by way of Richmond to Ohio. The advance guard was besieged by newspaper men, but were as silent as the sphynx [sic]. Doubtless many alleged interviews were obtained from the decoys in question. The schooner Nancy Hall, with the flying machine on board, left Roanoke Island at 10:30 o'clock yesterday morning, bound for Elizabeth City. The machine had been taken apart and packed in big wooden boxes in sections. Both the Wright brothers are aboard the vessel closely guarding their invention...." (3)

 

 

Milton recorded in his diary-

Wednesday, December 23 I was at home. Wrote some. Bert Strang called in the interest of the Commercial Gazette. Katharine got a telegram from Orville, saying He and Wilbur would be at home to night. They came at 8:00. They had some interviewers on the way, but suppressed them." (1)

 

 

December 23, 1903 telegram sent by Orville to Katharine Wright. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

 

 

Attempts to Alter History-

The genuine Wright Brother December 1903 telegrams survive, and their content is known. Oddly, an alternative Western Union Telegram was sold recently, differing from the original in the Smithsonian Archives, dated Dec. 17, 1903, addressed to Bishop M. Wright, with a message, "Success on our flights, even though winds picked up. With the engine power, steady average speed through air were thirty one miles longest 57 seconds." The names Orville Wright and Wilbur Wright are written under the message. The message is entirely handwritten in what appears to be a poor attempt of mimicking Wilbur's handwriting, with the 57 second error included.

Offered at auction July 7, 2022, this item sold for $1500. The Auction house listed an estimated value of $25,000-$40,000, and included a letter of authentication. 

 

Western Union telegram dated Dec. 17, 1903 made to appear as a genuine document.

This telegram dated Dec. 17, 1903 is written on a Western Union form that was not in use until after April of 1914, two years after the death of Wilbur Wright. Newcomb Carlton is listed as President on this form under the word "Telegram".

 

Image courtesy of National Museum of American History, The Smithsonian.

Historical Facts-

• Newcomb Carlton was elected vice president of the Western Union Telegraph Company November 23, 1910. (4)
• Newcomb Carlton was then elected president of the Western Union Telegraph Company April of 1914. (5)
• This Western Union Telegram form dates to after April 1914. 
• Wilbur Wright died May 30, 1912, two years before this W.U. Telegram form existed. Wilbur Wright could not have written or signed this document. 
• Messages were sent through the Kitty Hawk Weather Station and relayed to Norfolk. At Norfolk, the message would have then been sent by morse code to Dayton. A handwritten message by the Wright's would not have been received at Norfolk.

Another Western Union Telegram form was sold recently, differing from the original in the Smithsonian archives, dated Dec. 15, 1903, addressed to Bishop M. Wright, with the message, "We had some issues at the beginning of flight, power was a little off at start, but gained control and was a success." Orville Wright & Wilbur Wright.  The names Orville Wright and Wilbur Wright are handwritten under the message.

 

The message was typed onto a blank Western Union Telegram of a style that was not used until after April 1914. The text line under the word "Telegram" has been removed such that the names of the vice presidents, and president Newcomb Carlton do not appear. Note, this item is identified as Form 1, which included those names, and once removed, have left a band of discoloration in their place.

Offered at auction January 19, 2022, this item sold for $4500. The auction house listed an estimated value of $8,900-$9,900, and included a letter of authentication.

Western Union telegram dated Dec. 15, 1903 made to appear as a genuine 1903 document.

  

Remnants of "Newcomb Carlton, President" remain on the Telegram, an incomplete attempt of erasure to hide the true later date of the document. A telegram form in this style without the names was never produced by Western Union. 

 

 

The WU telegram form similar to the one used in Dayton for receiving the Wright's December 17th, and 23rd messages identifying Robert Clowry as President continued to be printed through 1910.

Western Union form, Robert C. Clowry, President, as used 1902 through 1910. Examples of 1908 and 1909 dated telegrams.

 

In November of 1910, Theodore Vail, president of American Telephone and Telegraph Company, gained control of Western Union and became president of Western Union.  Forms with the new WU logo depicting the Western Union name spanning the globe appeared with Vail's name listed below.

Western Union Telegram form in use 1910 through 1914, introducing the new WU logo.

In 1914, to avoid anti-trust action, Western Union and American Telephone & Telegraph separated, and Newcomb Carlton became Western Union's president. The telegram forms printed were similar, but with Newcomb's name replacing Theo Vail's name. The Newcomb 1914 form was modified in 1915 to include Class of Service tables at upper right and left of the document. Forms similar to this design were continued to be used into the 1920's.

Western Union Newcomb Carlton 1914 telegram form on the left, and 1915 form on the right.

The history of the Wright Brothers is not the only area under attack in the fabricated telegram market. Offered at auction in 2015, a Western Union telegram was described as "Unrecorded, Newly Discovered Titanic S.O.S. Telegram". Within the description, the auction house wrote, "Since the Marconi office in Cape Race had no facilities to deliver the telegram, it was transmitted to the Western Union office in New York and delivered by messenger to Mr. Franklin at 9 Broadway. This may be the telegram that was delivered, or it may be a retained copy, as we have evidence that these telegrams were sent "2-up". While it seems certain that the telegram was delivered (or the attempt made), we cannot say for sure whether Franklin saw it in a timely manner, or testified falsely before Congress. There is no contemporary provenance that accompanies the telegram. It was given to the consignor by a cousin around 1998.......We have examined the telegram extensively and conclude that all characteristics are "right", including type of paper, method of printing, aging of the paper and look of the typed message (variation in the lightness & darkness of the inked impression, visible signs of the weave of the ribbon). In summary, we are totally satisfied that the telegram is authentic and a new discovery." Really?

"Newly Discovered Titanic S.O.S. Telegram", printed on a Western Union form that did not exist in 1912. Newcomb Carlton is listed as President, who did not obtain this office till April 15, 1914. The Titanic sunk April 14, 1912.

Earlier telegrams dating to the 1890's unrelated to the Wright Brothers have been altered to appear as if they were sent by the brothers, with one or both of their "signatures" added. Collectors are advised to to know their history prior to making a purchase for an item which appears to alter that history. The burden of proof should be on the item, not the established history.

Copyright 2025-Getting the Story Wright
 

Notes:

1. Bishop Milton Wright Diaries, 1857-1917, Wright State University Core Scholar Wright Brothers Collection (MS-1).
2. Dayton Daily News, December 18 Evening Edition, 1903, "Dayton Boys Emulate Great Santos-Dumont."
3. Virginian-Pilot Wednesday December 23, 1903 issue, "Wrights Give Talks On Airship". The article as a whole is obviously a fabrication.
4. Buffalo Courier Thursday November 24, 1910, "Newcomb Carlton Vice President Western Union". 
5. The Buffalo News, Friday, April 10, 1914, "New President of W. U. In Buffalo Many Years".
6. The National Air and Space Museum, C.D.B. Bryan, 1979, 5th printing 1984, "Milestones of Flight", "...they walked the four or so miles to the Kitty Hawk Weather Station, where they could send a telegram to their father. Since so few persons had occasion to send telegrams in this near-desolate section of North Carolina, people were permitted to use the weather station's government wire to connect with Norfolk, where the message would be relayed to one of the telegraph companies."