Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-11-06
A CHAPTER OF ERRoRs

odd saunders Made by Intelligent To-.
graph Operators. ee'
1t seems, indeed, as IL the +r.u
sion of messages was superintenas,
by some Geographic Puck, Who
special delight is to commit ma1ic;os5
perverslties in the sense of mess,ros
for no other purpose, apparently. 6nt-
to crafty his predictions for practicat
joking. To some his pl~easantries NOV
cause amusement, but they are more,
frequently productive of cmbarrassN
ment. Hcw friendly between
families have been altered. what drcod.
full suspense and alarm has been cansoa
among households and perturb,tion
among business men through the h a.
den telegraphie imp. none but thoSa
who have been victmiIcd can fully an
prostate Or understand. A gentlem3,
once %telegraphed asking that a hosso
might be sent to the railway station ~
meet him and was surprised to find =
hearsc instead. A prominent states
man was accused of delaying leg;sla-
tive work through an ''unfortHnat,,
AoISllSSo, WITH VIC uOlOliUlC CcNffo.
mans 'illness'' was the cause Oh
the delay. From being bad"
a man was male dead" and
that was mo worse became INC
more" through tclegraphic agency,
Messages arc sometimes made to read
precisely opposite to what is meant hv
the sender, and trouble and disap.
point1nent is frequently causcdby these
perverted communicati ons. Send
check this afternoon" has become.
send chase this afternoons" ..Your
Bacon has been transmitted into
your banker;'' "Linseed oila ha,
been converted into %'linsecd mcal;n
Fifteen wagons" into Fifteen tons: ;"
CLOTHES have been made ..soles:' ,.
Sold made ''unsold." and the an
nouncemcnt salmon received" haa
been changed into ''balloon received.M
When meetings are arranged THROUGH
the mediumo of thetelegraph, it occasion.
ally happens that the tine and place
of meeting is altered. Sunday has 3
decided tendency to become Monday
Tuesday is liable to be made Thursday.
and the first train has been altered ill.,.
to the last train, while places of meet
ing have been changed or converted
into something that was painfully per.
picking to the recipients. CONSTANTS.
nople among the grocers'' wasa rather
unintell,giblc announcement, aud tho.
changing of the request 'send no
more into ''send on more'' was cal
culated to produce annoyance. Here
is a curious piece of composition which
a telegraph clerk turned out: .Speak-
er urged a compliment concerning the
~desirability OF Their cause and the
hounds OF the execution" This being
interpreted meancth: The speaker
urged a complaint concerning the de-
scrtion of their cause at the bands of
the executive" st. Vitus' dance
seems to have puzzled an operator, TOR
he rendered it Vile dance.' a defni-
ton which the unfortunate sufferer
might not have disputed. The phrase,
antiquities of the church," once got o.
telegraphist into trouble. for he had
the audacity to write ''iniquit:es OF the
church," which must have shocked the,
"unco guild" A paper had to apollo
gize for having-through a telegraphic
error-in the report Of an u~nsavory
lawsuit referred to a religious in
stead of a 81 gous" family. There
can be no question but the clerk who
wrote "subterranean taverns," when
''caverns'' was intended. must have
been suffer .ng from the effects OF a re-.
cent visit TO some underground liquo.
shop.-London STANDARD.