encounter began. came to a sudden and most unexpected ending. The lawyer-in-chief of Company had secured two eminent lawyers and were ready to give battle. a humble and submissive frame of mind. Every morning the Western Union the mighty Western Union itself, which had been so arrogant when the A committee of three from each side was appointed, and after months of attorney of his day. He was versed in patent lore from Alpha to Omega; valid. He notified the Western Union confidentially, of course, that its looked to see the white flag flying over the Bell headquarters. But fighters, who were huddled together in a tiny, two-room office, but by The case began in the Autumn of 1878 and lasted for a year. Then it As we have seen in the previous chapter, there now came a period and as the trial proceeded, he became convinced that the Bell patent was competition with Bell's. the Bell Company for infringement of the Gray patent. This high-handed claims and make a settlement. This wise advice was accepted, and the the telephone." The best policy, he suggested, was to withdraw their of violent competition which is remembered as the Dark Ages of the of the telephone, and ordered its lawyers to take action at once against the Western Union was George Gifford, who was perhaps the ablest patent case could not be proven, and that "Bell was the original inventor of telephone business. The Western Union bought out several of the Bell exchanges and opened up a lively war on the others. As befitting its next day the white flag was hauled up, not by the little group of Bell action, it hoped, would most quickly bring the little Bell group into size, it claimed everything. It introduced Gray as the original inventor no white flag appeared. On the contrary, the news came that the Bell