The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1877-11-16

that time making speeches in Yer
mont instead of Washington, the
public was not alarmed by this an
n0uncement, and it was not until the
telephone conspirators mentioned
that the uproRr ola brass band could
be transmitted to any distance
through the telephone that any gener-
al feeling Of uneasiness was develop
ed. Never theless, the vast capabili
ties for mischief of the telephone, and
the real purpose of it's .unprincipled|
cesled, and it is only by accident
that the greatness and imminence OF
the danger to which the public is ex-
posed have suddenly been revealed.
Suspicion ought to have been
awakened by tho recent publication
of the fact that if the lamp posts Of
our city were to be connected by.
wirs, every confidential remark made
toa lamp post by q belated Demo.
cratic statesman could be reproduced
by a telephone connected with anOth-
or laml,-pOst. 1t is true that this
publication was ostensibly made in
the interest of the police force, and il
was recommended that patrolmen
should use the lamp-posts us means.
of communication with police head.
quarters. 1t was evident, however,
that the result would be. to make
every lamp;Rost spy upon nislnight-
wayfarers- Men who had trusted to
friendly lamp-posts for years, ana
embraced them with tue utmost con-.
fidence jim their silence and tliscr.-
ton, would find themselves shameless
ly betrayed, and their uns,lspect.-
ing soliloquies literally reported to
their indignant families; strange to
say, this suggestive hint of the. pow
ers OF tho telephone attracted no
attention, and has ere this been in
all probability forgotten. =. ~
A series of incidents which has
lately occurred in Providence has,
however, clearly shown the frightful
capabilities of the telephone. Two
men, to whom, rs tar us is known, no
impr0pel~motive can be attributed,
were recently experimenting with a
telephone, the wire of which was
able buildings, and was estimated to
be fully four miles in length. 49, They
relate that on the first evening of
their telephone dissipation they heard
men and women singing songs and
eloquent clergymen preaching pom
derOus sermons; and that they detect
ed several persons in the act OF prAc-
ticing upon brass instruments. This
sort Of thing was repeated every
evening, while on Sunday morning
perfect deluge of partly cong}o1nerat-
ed sermons rolled in upon them.
These are the main facts mentioned
by the two men in what may be call
ed their official report of their OK
periments, but it is asserted that
they heard other things which they
Il Il 0f TIM IN nvD1x .
The remarks of thousands of mid.
night cats were borne to their listen
ing ears. The confidential conversa-
tions Of hundreds Of husbands and
wives were whispered through the
treachcrous telephone; and though
the remarks of Mr.. and Mrs. Smith
were sometimes ineXtricably entan-
gled with those of Mr.. aud Mrs.
BrOwn,and it was frequently impos-
ible to tell from what particulrr wife
came the direful threat, go! Pll just
let you know, ;" or from what strong
husband in his agony came the cry,
'sLeggO that hair - the two aston.
ished telephone eXperimenters learn.
ell enough of the secrets of the lead
ing families of Providence to render
it hazardous matter for any resi-
dent OF that city to hereafter accept
u nomination for any Office.
Now, it has been ascertained that
the wire OF this telephone was not in
contact with any other wire, and thus
the hypothesis that sounds heard by
the tive men were messages in process
OF transmission by the usual tele-
graphic wires is uitenahle. More.
over, little reflection will show that
cats do not send telegraphic mes.
sageS, and that leading citizens do