Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1886-03-07
EARLY TELEGRAPHY.
A CONVERSATION WITH THE LATE
GEN. ANSON STAGER.
One of the Original ''or-. Operators-
The Beginning Of Reading by
snund"-A Funny Idea-EG-
Gnyrrn"r CorneII-Edison.

In a conversation a few wears ago Gen
Stager said Il was one OF the original
Morse operators Formerly YOU NAV re-
member We had rc.,i,ters and narrow
strps of Iraucr like lanes wound around
them IS the weights pulled the raps
down pas, the. instrument the kew marx.
of the Morse alphabet would be iDdeuted
and from these indrntariuns the operators
read the messages ON the tap.
Il was The nrsr rrlcrraDb opcrator AZ
Pittsburg. II was carly in I~4, the wires
there fir-t stretched across the Alleging
nics But We didn't 10 much business in
those da,s. In fact. half the work Of the
otf, @ was showing stranger, how the in
strumcnts worked The, would come in.
gaze around cxpr,.,S their wonder and
ask the most singular questions Many
time have called on PhiIadcIphia to iel
how the weather was for the information
of visitors Thcy would 20 into raprures
at hearing that the thermometer stood so
high or So low, or il was windy. rainv or
clear
Il remember that one dav nv littl.
Office was filled with bevy of the women
led by Mrs Mckay. beautiful woman.
wife Of the leadinr bookseller of Iitts-
burg. For their gratidcarion | asked
Philadelphia the usual questions The
reply came ticking back. and wrote on
the margin of the tape beside each Morse
character the common alphabetical e Iuiva-
lent In that way. Of course. they could
spell out for themse. YES the message. and
they were greatly delighted with the per
fOrmance Mr.. Mcnay took up the
tape weighed il in her hands and said:
Now. you couldn't send anv wider or
heavier paper over the wires. could yOu'
Everybody laughed at this view of il She
had an idea the tape stretched over the
mountains from Philadelphia
81 think that | was about the first to
read messages by so md Certainly had
to read them before | knew of any ono
else doing it. frastus Brooks. Just about
that time, came to Pittsburg and brought
out The Gazette II was responsible
duty to collect the teiegraphic dispatches.
and the chief editor used 10 come himself
TO my office for that purpose The mar
kets were Sc It in cipher One dsy my
register broke down while Brooks was
waiting for the report A steamer had
Just landed in New York aud the news
was important But the register was in
such a state that pat hing wOuldu do
Books was in dies ar Now. the Office
call of IA telegraph station is easily learned
You have i e. for instance. for he
troit, Blu for Buffalo, and H for
Cleveland. the ts being taken up some
where else on the line The constant
Teiteration of De, or ku. or whatever the
office call is makes il familiar and as easily
re OgniZed as the sOu9d Of mans name
Of course in those days, Just as now. our
office calls were recognizable to the ear.
1t was with this in mind that | said TO
Brooks Wait Little and | will try
another plan. explained matters to the
operator at the other end, asked him to
go slow. and between my know d-e Of
the cipher and the good natured repetition
of each link of it by my down east friend.
| managed to get the whole of The market
report 1t came slow. but came in time.
Brooks left a delighted man. | make no
claims, but | Il tell you my own experi-
ence. 1t was alway, a question among us
whether Mr.. barnes or Governor Cornell
was the first to read and send by sound
Some say it was Brown. some Cornell
The former governor If New Ork!"
The same Governor Cornell was an
old time telegraph operator.