Omaha daily bee., 1883-06-12
Telegraph Operators.

Cleveland Aerald.
While u Herald reporter was sitting
behind the railing of "a large telegraph
office yesterday listening TO tho cease-
less clstter Of the Instruments, no VEN
tored TO ask a youthful manipulation
of lightning II he had been long on the
line. Tne youth Strengthened up and
replied:
bout five yeara."
"Must know all the boys on the
liner
"Ycs, know 'em all over the wire, If
| don't any other way. Lots of 'em l
never saw, but when they take hold of
the key and begin to call 1 know who
'hey are"
There Is no more interesting feature
of tho telegraphic service than the
ability, acquired through practice, to
distinguish between the different oper.
ators OH d line by tho manner of their
sending. A corps of operators, each
familiar with his fellows method of
sending, would scarcely need to waste
time 10 affix their Office signature to
their calls TO the Office wanted, being
able to judge what operator was work.
Ing the key, No operators In the city
became more thoroughly acquainted
and oonv5rsant with the men on their
wire than those ut the head of The
great railroad divisions, which extend
in almoBt every direction from the city.
The of sending their different
men become az familiar to them aB
does the handwriting of his book.
keeper to the wner of q bank.
During the conversation given at
the opening, a fl sshily dressed "sub"
bent over the table and transacted
the business with an DIR Of dignity
that would have become q bank clerk.
A moment later some eff 10 on the
line began calling the main office, re.
peating the call q dozen times without
signing.
"Aaawer f-w there" said the OPP
orator to his assistant.
"But he hasn't signed yet" ven.
tured the new man, su~spiciously.
eyes, but 1 know him. explained
the operator; and just then the Utfi 20
calling ended up with a terss 'f--w."
"But can you tell all the operators
on the line by their method of making
a single letter.
mo, not always by o single letter,
bat there are very few men on my
wire that l cannot tell before they
have written q dozen words. Just as
ono learns auother's ~penmanshlp, we
learn each others manner of sending.
We have to get accustomed to all the
different styles. Some operators start
off with q hop skjp.snd-jump gait
and keep 1t up all the way through a
message of 100 words. Another will
send slowly and steadily, aud should
ne have 5000 words to transmit he
will not increase his pace. Then
there are fellows who will rush In o
message of ak or eight words, sign
and close their key before anything
short of an expert has tins to get
down the date. By that way we are
enabled to distinguish between them"
While the electricity jorker was de.
livering himself of the above Informs
ton, his car fixed keenly on the busi.
mesa Of the line. He tuned his head
toward the instrument a moment and
said: "That isn't George working at
M"
"No," said the youthful assistant,
H WAS sent down the line yes
terdsy."
A moment lator he heard another
friend In an office In which he knew
he was not working. He reached over
to the key, called up the Office, and
then spelled out:
"Ain't that you, F--W
"'Es," came back the answer,
sleepily; "been down to see my girl"
II knew II was F." said the
operator, "Sou can never be ratified
on his sending"
Operators never tire In telling the
wonderful legends of their craft and
the stories of their skill and achieve.
ments. One told yesterday is good
and worth relating. II was during
the late war, when everything was
considered suspicious. A confederate
general, accompanied by an expert In
biography, dashed open the door of a
little CHI 80 on the Mississippi river,
and, placing a revolver at the opera.
tors head, told him to ask on"
twenty miles above, If there were any
gunboats there belonging to the gov
ernment, The operator was a Union
man, He knew If he received q mega
tive response the cOnfederates would
move upon the helpless pnion town OF
"M-." Bat there was no alterna.
tive. The other operator q watch
Ing him olossly, SO he called on"
and asked previously If there
were any gunbosts In sight. There
were none Within fifty miles, bat
something 10 the operators manner OF
sending led tho receiving operator to
suspect tho truth. 50 he answered,
"YeE; there are two In the bay, and
from my wIndow l can SEQ the smoke
from two othsrs coming round the
| bend"
on" was not molested. The
operators sagaCity had saved the
town.
An interesting incident In direct
line with this subjec. occurred during
the recent telephone experiments be-
tween this city aud New York While
n of the instruments was being
tried the wire became grounded. The
Morse instrument was cut In and the
words "You are q crank" "You are a