The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1873-10-24
The Carrier Piget rs Beating the lei
egraph In the Tran mission Of News
from Fersai les t. Paris.


YerzailIis Correspondence New York Times
Perhaps it is worth while noting here
one novelty in the way of transmitting
news. The Paris journals are not great
ly noted for enterprise, and all Of them
appear to think that, for anything which
tranFpires beyond the French frontier,
a few days more or less in the transmits
sion Of news can make very little differ
ence. But it is very different matter
with news from Versailles. The small
est journals have two or more men con
stantIy there, at salaries Of eight hun
dred or one thousand francs per month,
aided by messengers, and authorized TO
use cab whenever necessary. In the
stable adjoining mine, 4 Gaulois repor-
ter keeps his horse at the expense Of the
journal, and drives to Versailles every
morning before 9 O'Clock, coming back
in the evening. Those who reproach the
French press for want of enterprise little
know their liberality in getting news
from Versailles. But the heaviest ex-
pense falls upon the evening journals.
They 80 to press at $3.50, and hence
must have the news sent by express, by
special courier, or BY telegraph. As a
general thing the latter mode is found
too slow, owing To the regulations of the
service. "a piece Of news which does
not please the eye of the operator has TO
be submittrd TO his chief, who may, per
haps, demand the signature of the Min
lister of the Interior before ne could
send it. As this would require two or
three hours, and perhaps an entire day,
the telegraph is not exactly trustworthy
for the trAn-,liszion Of political news,
where one is pressed for time. In con
sequence the telegraph has been given
up to the official and semi-ofiicial press.
In the present case the Liberte has sur
mounted the difficulty by employing
carrier-pigeons. A cage of birds is taken
to Versailles by train every morning.
The reporter writes in very fine charae-
iers upon tissue paper, and every half
hour sends his notes out to an assistant
in the yard of the Trianon, who attaches
once. The trustiest dispatch agents are
kept for the last. The birds rises
straight into the air for about hundred
feet, remains poised there a moment
while getting his bearings, then shoots
away with remarkable rapidity, and in
direct line for his familiar cote. He
dashes in without delay, rushes to his
master, who is waiting for him with his
dinner, and offers no resistance while
the manuscript is being detached. 4
messenger takes it at once to the prin-
tiers. The birds take from fifteen TO
twenty minutes to make the trip, ust
about the time it would take messen-
ger boy to stroll form the telegraph Of
flee TO the bureau of the journal, and he
brings each time the matter for eight or
ten ordinary telegraphic dispatches. But
care mnst be taken in writing, so that
the words can be read by a magnifying
glass The last bird is dispatched about
ten minutes after o'clock, and being
an old and experienced carrier, he is
generally on hand at $50 with the every
latest news" Yesterday the birds were
on time, while the telegraphie dispatch
es sent eff at the same moment were on
ly published in the edition of 7 O'Clock
in the evening, having arrived hall
hour too late for first edition. / am
told that the forms are kept open foI
four or five minutes when 4 bird is ex-
pectcd, but never delayed an instant for
the telegraph. All this is not very
crediiable to the telegraph men who
have invented the means for sending foul
messages by the same wire at the same
instant, two in each direction, neverthe-
less a curious commentary upon the
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