Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1877-03-22
Tasting the Lightning.
now suEEwp OPERATOR uEIrED A
RAILROAD TRAIN


General Arson Stager. vicc-prcsdrut
and Western manager OF a telegraph COM
pauy. used Ia be a New York state printer
boy, and abost the time the telegraph got
iuto luuntu. order he turned his atteptiun
10 trle@raphY and soon became nu expert
at the business. About twenty-five years
ago he wl- sti.l aH operator, and the pos.
>ihiti,ir, Of the telegraph were set Ia
lArG" measure IN embryo. At this time
fltt,buI- Wa, the general, headquarters
One bitter cold night he found hltn>rlt on
the cars on the Ptt>burg and Fort Wayne
railroad All OF a sudden the train cam,
- a halt. Fine passed and still there was
no forward uoyemcut Finally, after half
an hour had gone our operator made bold
tu inquire what the matter was, and wa,
informed that the locomotive had gone
back on them aud that they would be com
peeled 10 wI.t at least TOUR huttr> fur re-
lIst
How arr We ID be rc!ieved:' inquired
Mr. ~tarrr
'The.cuuductor j. hoohng il to the next
station. nine miles away was the answer.
WHY dida't you call me: inquired our
operator
call you?' What could YOU have dunc:'
i would have tclcgraphcd.
Are you an OPERATOR
y Is sir
Have YOU an instrument
NO.
Then what good would it have done to
have called yuu-you can't telegraph With
out an H. ,trument?
y e.. can >aid the ambitious Au-on :;
and it the officers OF the road are willing
I'll make the attempt
II should be- remarked here that tie ri.
r,ctnl's car, Vel ililcI with dinuitnfic~ oi
Tho road. va> attached 10 the train. These
wrrr exceedingly anxiou, ID reach Pats
burph 10 altcLd an important meeting. aud
tu,. delay wa, exceedingly annoy iu- tu
thrtn. Although incr.U.4rus To tie a-i
degree. they gave the word to go ahead.
and all oil them stood round in the bitter
cold 10 witness the experiment
Driachiug several cars lengths OF the
conductors bellrope our operator threw it
over the telegram wire and broke il a>
near Is possible in the middle between
two poles. Haying succeeded Ia this cu-
rerprist. he IA, not a little chagrined to
to lind that the wire was not charged. -
Nothing daunted the >angulne Anson
tackled another wire, and the only other
one there was This proved 10 be well
CHARGED aud prepared to act responsive
10 his desires H.. prepared to make both
end, meet in. more than a metaphorica Al
sense. Securing all the slack he could. he
pshotl. ht the twor ends together, and by ex-
'pert touches. succeeded in calling the
nearest office. He then sent brief mes
sage calling . fresh locomotive to their
aid. The operator felt considerable CON
tidrnce that his message had been pro
perlv transmitted and received, but he
wanted TO be fully satisfied. and how to
receive a message in return was the pro-
blem.
The sense of hearin. on which the op
orator had been accustomed to reply, fail
Ing him for want OF an instrument. it was
necessary 10 cali some other sense of tacul-
ty into reauisitiou. aud hence he decided
on that OF feeling or touch. and conclnd-
ing that the tongue wa-the most sensitive
to electricity OF all the parts of the human
body. he accordingly apuljtd Inc wir,
thereto. But this wa, not enough. Ground
connection had to be established. How
ever, even this want was overcome. The
railroad track was made to do duty, and