Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1877-11-14
AN OPERATORS JOKE.
The Sum ii Cost Him to Send Cable.
gram to Napoleon.
Louisville News.

gram to Napoleon.
Louisville News,
Shortly after the Atlantic cable was
pronounced a success, and cablegrams
flying across the waters, telcgraphic
operator mt Denver, Colorado, one NOR
ming concluded to perpetrate Joke ON
/ the operators ut Omaha, the point where
all kilograms from east 60 west report
ed, TWAS the time of the war between
] Italy and France, and the young man
prepared the following telegram, and
sent it in the usual manner to the Oma-
ha office:
TO the Emperor Napoleon, Garden
of the Tuileries, Paris, France Gov
emor Gilpin wilNnot accede to the ces-
sion of Italy to France. Please let Bo-
hemia alone
(Signedl GOVERNOR GuPIN,
COR Any Other Man
( He thought, of course, that the opcr-
ator ut Omaha would understand that
it was u Joke, would receive and read it,
then tear ii up. But it didn't turn out
in that way. The Omaha Office was II
very busy one, and the operator had
gram which passed through his hands
was intended rs Il joke or not and
the .nan receiving 1t placed it on the
Chicago book, and in due time it was
1 forwarded to Chicago, thence to New
I York, and from there by cable TO the
French Emperor. Cablegrams are
cheaper 10y far now than they were in
| those days. The cost of ten words
! from Denver TO Paris was SlS1 so in
gold
Nothing more was heard from the
message until the end of the month,
the time for squarins accounts, when
Billy Woodward, the manager of the
1 Denver Office, received the following
telegram from the treasurer ut New
! York
Come down with the dust"
For the life of him he did not know
what it meant, and telegraphed back to
New York asking for information He
received the following reply:
| Your cable Of the --- inst. to En-
poror Napoleon Paris, France, signed
Gov. Gilpin, or any other man amount
1 due S1S7 so. p"
! This was sumner, and Bill scratched
/ his head again and again, tyingto think
what it all meant He knew very well
he had never received any such amount
| for the message, nor was there any
| record of lis having been sent. He
/ questioned the operators about it, when
one Of them remarked, :" II i wonder
/ if it is that fool thing | sent to Omaha ??
! Inquiry developed the fact that that was
! the identical hair-pin which had caused
! the row, and the young mans face was
a study for an artist when informed
that he would have to pay the modest
little sum of $1S7 80 for the enjoyment
he derived from his little practical
Joke. No doubt he considered it cx-
tremely practical. An effort was made
to have the cable company remit the
amount, but it did not succeed, and the
result was that the young operator had
to come down with the dust himself
I He paid it, and ever aiterward when he
! sent'a cablegram TO Omaha he would
inform the receiving operator that it
was not a Joke.
The whole telegraph correspondence,
and that which passed through the mails
concerning the matter, was framed, and
can be seen in the Omaha Office at the
present day. Just what remark the
emperor Of France made when he re-
ceived the message has not been re-
corded in history, but we have no doubt
that it was more forciblc than compli-
mentary to the Colorado governor