The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1860-08-16

n just published a work on the History, The,
:. ry and Practice of the Electric Telegraph
% It's from the pen of Geo. B. Prescott, supe
Is intendent of the Electric Telegraph Line.
,f whose experience unables him to write nte
q ligcnhy and interestingly on the subject
# From the miscellaneous parts of the book W
!. take the following ...
n BREAITY IN DISPATCHES.
n The Dispatches which pass over telt
c graz h line in the course of year, if collecte
o togetheriwould present very curious an
interesting volume of correspondence. Tn
price of the Transmission OF nessaye depen
} ding on the number Of words which it con
! taines, of course renders the construction
necessarily as brief as possible. Most dis
patches are contained in less than ten word
exclusive of addres and signature, which
are not charged for,) and it is surprising
: how much matter is often contained in TIL!
brief number. Among the best examples O
brevity which we have met with however
are the following
lady in a neighboring city, desirous o.
ascertaining when her husband would return
home, sent him a message making the nqui
ry ; to which he responded that importan;
business would detain him some days.
The lady Immediately replied by sending
another dispatch in the following laconic
manner.
AT HONE Aug. 12 1859.
To F. @. p Dispatch received. Dcutc
ronomy xxxiv. 3. (signed,) KATE.
The gentleman to whom the despatch was
addressed, upon preferring to the passage
in the Scripturs alluded to- obtained the fol-
lowing suggestive epistle:
"When a man hath taken new wife he
shall not go out to war, neither shall he Be
charged soith any business !: but he shall be
| free at home one year, and he stall cheer up
the pit6 he hath taSen'
The second example is the reply sent to a
person in Distant city, who. having com
mited some ofFense against the laws, and run
away was dcserious ofascertainng ifit would
be prudent for him to return. lie there
fore telegraphed in the following laconic
style.
NEw YoEz, July + 1859.
"70 3. G. U-Hilade1p1ja:
as every thing OK? D.T.M.
To which he obtained the following brief
reply:
PHILADELPHIA, July +, 1859.
I'D. TaH-, Neso York
proverbs, chapt. xxi. L.. n n
Ir,o, ,--a.ronco to the passage indicated,
tba innni-in . ip3tvidual obtained the follow
;nc, 's .-,tastoIc - advice, which, it is presumed,
Re followed:
"A prudent man forcseeth the evil and
hideth himself but the simple pass on and
are punished"
SEEING TIE ELEPHANT.
Some years ago there was a joke passing
around an n the different telegraph lines,
which played eff upon a good many un
suspecting individuals in the following man.
ner
BosToN April /, 1866.
"To L. E. Plant, at some hotel B8df0rd::
'In leaving this morning you left your
trunk. What shall be done with it?
ADAM GooDsEI.L."
By pronouncing the name ofthc party ad-
dressed quickly, and the signature slowly, a
solution of the "selr' is obtained, and you
get view of the elephant at the same
! time.
PRACTICAL JOKING BY TELEGRAPH.
Some ten years or more ago there was up
or the New York and Washington telegraph
line, at the Philadelphia station, an operator
named Thayer, who besides being an adept
at the business, was a gentleman of culture
and wit, and exceedingly fond of a joke, no
! matter ut whose expense. At the New York
! terminus of the line there, upon the contrary
q steady matter of-fact sort Oft man, who
was no appreciator ofjokes and never prac-
ticed them. The President of the line was
Hon. B. B. French for many years Clerk OF
the House of Representatives at Washing,
ton, a wit, poet and humorist, and of course
he appreciated hunor whenever he came
across it.
Thayer took it into his head one day &c
send dispatch to some tictitutons name in
n York for the purpose of enjoying laugh
at the expense of the operator in New York
Accordingly he composed and forwarded
the following
PurLApELPHrA, April l, 1916.
To Mr.. Jones, New York -
Send me ten dollars at once, so that can
get my clothes. ..
JULIA.
.13 words-collect q cents.
The operator at New York, not snspcctine
any joke, asks the Philadelphia operator fol
the address.
, The Philadelphia operator replied tha
"the young lady didn't leave any, an'
asks him to look in the directory for it.
) The New York operator replied that h
had already done so, but rs there were owe
, thousand Jones' in the directory. h
! was at loss to know which one to send
: TO.
"lf that is the case says Thayer, ''yo'
had better send copy to each OF them an
charge thirty -four cents apiece"
The New York operator did so, and WI
! give the result of the arrangement in tn
j words Of the President, Mr.. French, fror
= whom, a few days after this affair Mr.. Thay
er received the following letter.
New YORK, April6, 1916.
"Mr. TnAYER--S;r A few days sine
) YOU sent a despatch purporting to be fror
T one Julia addressed TO Mr.. Jones, Ne1
: York. The New York operator informe
J, you that he desired an address, as ther
= were upward of fifty Jonses in the directory
: and was at a loss TO know which one I
> them it was designed for. You replied tn;
: in that case he must send copy to ever
> , one Of them and charge upon each, and ii
}, J, New York operator. in the innocence of h
= heart, did so. Some twenty of the Jonest
J paid for their dispatches, but there was or
sent to the residence of an elderly merchal
- sc .ha p,p,a who hainr away from hon