there was much strife. Gov. George Clinton in his day ruled in the midst of much tumult and turbulence; but he held the reins with vigour, in spite of kidnappers or critics. When the British burned King- ston he prorogued the Legislature to Poughkeepsie, which still served as a "safe harbour." As the Revolution progressed, the Tory faction was weakened, either by suppression or surrender. It was in the Poughkeepsie Court House that, by one vote, after a Homeric battle, the colony of New York consented to become a part of the American Republic, which consent was practically necessary to its existence. . . . Poughkeepsie honoured, in May, 1824, the arrival of Lafayette. . . . Daniel Webster has spoken in her Court House; and Henry Clay, in 1844, when a presidential candidate, stopped for a reception. And it is said that, by a mere accident, she just missed contributing a name to the list of Presidents of the United States. The omitted candidate was Nathaniel P. Tal- madge. He could have had the Vice-Presidency, so the story goes, in 1840; but would not take it. If he had accepted it he would have gone into history, not merely as United States Sena- tor from New York and afterwards Governor of Wisconsin Terri- tory, but as President in John Tyler's place. In 1844, the New York State fair was held here, somewhere east of what is now Hooker Avenue. It was an occasion thought important enough then to be pictured and reported in the London Illustrated News. Two years after, the telegraph wires were put up in this city, before they had yet reached the city of New York. Considering the fact that Professor S. F. B. Morse, the telegraph inventor, had his residence here, this inci- dent was not wholly inappropriate. Professor Morse's home was called Locust Grove, and lay a couple of miles to the south of the city. It Digitized by Microsoft® 428 The Hudson River should not be forgotten that before he had made his great reputation as an inventor he was widely known as an artist. To him the American Academy of De- sign owed its first impulse. It is said that his summer home at Locust Grove was connected by telegraphic wires with all prominent points upon the American continent. Not far below Locust Grove is the famous ferry where for many years the Milton horse-boat plied to and fro across the river. At the eastern end of the ferry, in the old war times, dwelt the blacksmith and jack-of-all-trades, Theophilus Anthony. There, at his forge, he worked over the mammoth chain that was used to obstruct the river at Fort Montgomery. He gave what assistance he could to the patriot army, and it may well be believed that a strong and willing arm and a good forge found plenty of occupation; but retribution came when Vaughan's ships passed up the river with the torch. The smithy and mill were among the first places to be laid in ashes, and the smith him- self was carried a captive to the most detestable prison- ship that history has made a record of — the filthy and disease-saturated Jersey. Past the middle of the nine- teenth century the horse-boats at Milton and Coxsac- kie ran, the only survivors of an obsolete class. North of Poughkeepsie the river is spanned by the fragile-looking cantilever bridge, that was commenced in 1873, but abandoned and the work not again re- sumed till 1886. Three years later it was completed Digitized by Microsoft® Fishkill to Poughkeepsie 429 by the Union Bridge Company. The bridge is over twelve thousand feet long — about two and a half miles — and at the centre is one hundred and sixty-five feet clear above the river. Its cost was over three million dollars. The purpose for which the Poughkeepsie Bridge was built, it was understood, was to place Penn- sylvania coal in New England by a direct route, and it was owned and controlled by the Philadelphia & Read- ing Railroad. This arrangement, it was thought, would preclude the possibility of dictation of prices by any intermediate company. But the original purpose was defeated, if not lost sight of, when the ownership of the bridge was acquired by another company. For seven years past the river at Poughkeepsie has been the scene of one of the gayest and most popular of all the great annual features of college athletics. There the regatta of the Intercollegiate Rowing Asso- ciation is held every June, and over one of the finest straightaway courses in the world the eager crews from six great universities contend for the champion- ship. The crowds of spectators generally cross the river to Highland Station, where observation trains on the West Shore