The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1877-03-17
Anecdotes and Curiosities of the Wire.

Blundcrs occasionally take place from
the imperfect writing of the receiving
clerks. We have kilograms delivered
to us utterly unintclligiblc. 4 cclcbra-
tel doctor was once sent on iiIlitlcs~
Journey by receiving telegram wordcd
Don't come too late" As originally
handed IN TO the telegraph office. the
message ran: "Don't come, too late:"
but III the transmission, the figure de-
noting the comma was omitted: and
hence the incOnsiderable Inconvenience
10 which the recipient was put. This
instance shows, however, what care tel
cgraph scndcrs should exercise TO avoid
the least ambiguity, since the mere re-
vcrsing of the phrase thus: "Too late.
don't come would in the ease in poinl
have diSpcllcd all doubt as TO the mean
ing which was to be conveyed. Al the
same time. of course, il also shows that
the tclcgraphiSt in receiving and trans
miiiing kilograms, cannot give too much
attention to apparently the most trivial
matters. Another instance is taken from
Scudalnore's lengthy report OF 1871 on
the "Ielcgiaphs.' A London firm tel
cgraphs to country agent: "Scnd rails
ten foot lengths The letters So and
sc" are in the Morse code represented
by Il dash = and dot respectively but
in transmitting the message, the instru-
ment .in recording the word "tcn" sip-
nailed two dots instead of the dash and
dot. and the word was thereby converted
into ''in. the message reading: "Send
rails in foot lengths Mr.. Scudanorc
adds, however, that ''if the sendcrs had
been less chary of their words. and had
written: 'Scnd rails in ten foot lengths. :
which would have cost no more, the
blundcr would never have occurred -
In somewhat the same manner in a mes
sage where the sender asked for n
"hack, TO be waiting for him at the sta
ton, the letter "h' which is signalcd on
the Morse instrument by four dots, was
converted into ''s," the signal for as"
being three dots; the wayward instru-
mcnt having failed in one dot. the con-
sequence was the traveller found II
'.sack awaiting his arrival. AT one of
the gatherings held periodically at Brac-
mar. some years ago, 4 certain earl tclc-
graphcd to Edinburgh for a 'corked
hat TO he sent to him at once. In trans
miltlng the message the article men
toned as wanted was converted into
cooked ham," which was actually for
wardcd forthwith, greatly to the sur
prise and Indignation of the nobleman.
n telegram was once received as fol-
lows: 'Please send your PIC to meet
me at the station" OF course it should
have been gig" the instrument having
made what. in telcgraphic phraseologv
is called Il false dot. by recording =.
| Q) instead of -. go. In fact, it is
60 t..tf 4 D..
of the telegraph. that the trcachery COM
planned of is, after all, not intentional,
but arises mainly from difficulty it ap-
pears to have in distinguishing the diff
ference between certain letters. This
is plainly so in the letters and Y. which
the electric wire is constantly confound-
ing, one with the other. Over and over
again, jaded railway officials have been
caused truitless searches after missing
"black boy" through this want OH the
part of the telegraph. to discriminate
between y and y. The stories current
on this point are numerous, but the best
l have yet heard is the following: Some
time ago a stalion-master received tel
gram from q lady. stating, that She bad
left III MS slailOn 1.-TWO black boys" in
tho waiting room, she believed, and tied
together with red tape; would he please
forward them at once. The astonished
official caused search to be made; but
instead Of boys he found two boxes in
the waiting room, as described, which
were duly forwarded From a similar
cause on the part of the electric fluid. a
lady received from her son-in-law tel
cgram which aSton,hcd her not little
IL stated that his wife had presented