, 1885-11-24
raLzoRApaga's EXPERIENCE.
rh- first nAu 20 Head by Er-oId
signal systom%
- - a-.-

The First Mau 20 Head by ET-old
signal systomN
Nov Yo-k sa1.f
Telegraph operators have queer OK
pcriences," said a veteran in the employ
OF the Western Union company. Many
strange things and n COOL deal OF prl-
yato Information come to their knowl-
edge. | was one of the first operators
on the Morse instrument sent to Phil
adelphia when the telegraph reached
there. Tho instrument markel the
characters on a slip of paper. OF course
the instrument licked, but this was long
before there wa any thought OF taking
by oar. Among our visitors were brokers
and membors OF the exchange, and they
were much Interested in what had al
ready become very valuable to them.
One OF them, "Bull' Bridges, spent so
much timo in the o1lce that we gato
him a great deal OF information and ex-
plainod the workings of tho instru-
ments. Abont this time We began To
receive complaints that the contents OF
messages sent from New York to / hila-
delphii were known to outside persons
In tho o Ii o we began to look upon each
other with suspicion. and | finally de-
tcrmined to do some detective work. |
kept watch of our visitors and finally
discovered that complaints only reached
us concerning such telegram as were
received while oar friend Bull was in
tho o lice. | therefore determined to
have all visitors excluded and an order
posted to that @ feet. Our trouble
ceased at once, and my suspicious wore
confirmed.
II knew Bridges had not seen any
messages, and / wondered how no could
have known their contents. When /
accused him no burst out laughing and
admitted the whole thing. He had the
tick OF tho recorder down so fine that
no could take a message by Gar, and he
was the first man that ever did 1t. Not
long afterward tho sounder was intro
duced, and since then almost all tele-
graphing in this country has been taken
by ear
"Was there any system of rapid com
munication before the invention of the
electric telegraph r.
Yes. indeed, quite a number. The
system most generally used was the in
vention OF tho Chappe brothers, two
French boys, who hrst utilized 1t in
1874 at school, where they saw each
other only at q distance. They used Il
pivoted beam, which. being placed in
different positions, indicated different
characters. Afterwar the French gov
eminent adopted this system, and one
of the inventors was made Geographic
engineer and placed in charge. Lines
were established all along the coast and
from Paris to the irontler.
How were these signalsf'
"By the use of powerful glasses. The
stations we're only about ten miles
apart, and with good telescopes the
signals could readily be distinguished,
and the receiving station would then
communicate with the next station.
"Could this be done rapidlyf'
eyes. | remember a line that was
worked from the top of the old custom
house here to Sandy Hook. The oper-
ators used blocks OF wood with large
letters on them. and could telegraph at
the rate of about 100 letters in five
minutes between stations ten miles
apart"
"Beacons were first used. Long be-
fore the Christian era, Roman generals
were able to communicate with each
other by means of flames in different
positions, and of various numbers
Some OF the Indian mounds in the west
are supposed to have been constructed
for signal purposes, fire and smoke DO.
ing used. The fiery cross OF the high
land chief quickly summoned the faith
full to war. In later times drums.
trumpets and flags were used for signal
purposes. particularly by armies. Most
barbarous people have methods Of tele-
graphing. Among the negroes in the
Cameroons country, on the west coast
OF Africa, they communicate by mean
of sound, for great distances. The in
strument they use Is n sort OF drum,
and the words are represented by vari-
Gus beats upon it