Background
Daniel H. Craig was born about 1814 in Rumney, New Hampshire, United States. His father fought in the War of 1812 and his grandfather was a Revolutionary soldier.
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Daniel H. Craig
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After learning the printing trade, Craig went to New York and then to Baltimore where with Arunah S. Abell of the Sun he experimented with the use of carrier pigeons to carry news. He next appeared in Boston as an independent news collector, succeeding Samuel Topliff and Harry Blake, pioneers in gathering and selling news to Boston newspapers.
He met the Cunard boats with schooners as they approached Boston, received packets of news from the incoming vessels and sent synopses of it to Boston papers by carrier pigeons released sometimes fifty miles from port. News thus forwarded arrived several hours before the boat docked and was published as an extra for the Boston Daily Mail and for Bennett's New York Herald. The extras bearing the Herald title were forwarded to New York where rivalry betwen the Herald and Sun was intense.
When the New York newspapers formed the Associated Press in 1848, Craig faced formidable competition which he met by moving his base of operations to Halifax where Liverpool steamers touched en route to United States ports. He had a synopsis of the latest news prepared in Liverpool. This was sealed in a tin can and thrown overboard at Halifax where Craig's representatives met the ships in small boats. The news was then rushed to New York and Boston by carrier pigeons and pony express. When the New York and Boston papers finally combined to charter a steamer to carry dispatches from Halifax in faster time than Craig's system made possible, Craig traveled to Halifax carrying two of his best pigeons in a basket.
He got his European news, bought passage on the special steamer, and when it was off the Massachusetts coast secretly released his carrier pigeons with the result that his news was in print before the steamer arrived in Boston.
Shortly after, about 1850, the Associated Press employed Craig as its Halifax representative.
After his retirement from journalism, he was associated with Ezra Cornell in development of telegraphic facilities. His later years were spent in quiet comfort at Asbury Park, New Jersey.
Craig's publications include four pamphlets: The American Telegraph Company and the Press. A Reply to the Falsehoods of the Executive Committee (1853), Letter to F. M. Edson (on the House Telegraph Line) (1853), Machine Telegraphy of Today (1888, 1890, 1891), Startling Facts! Practical Machine Telegraphy. One Thousand Words per Minute (no place and no date).
