The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-03-28
LIGHTNING AND LOVE.
Romances Begun in a Telegraph OPP
orators Room.


Talk about your romanceS i'll station
houses" said an old operator, you haven't
an idea of the extent of romance in the life
of an average telegraph operator. Here we
are surrounded by network of wires, with
the clicking of instruments ON every side,
and far from the madding crowd, yet we
are in direct communication with the pulse
of the world, and every throb is distinctly
audible. The ordinary man would not i'm
agine there was much romance in the work
of anoperator, but there is, and | will prove
it to you.
See that old fellow over there! Well, he
came as near to being married some years
ago as man could without having the knot
tied. He years ago formed the acquaintance
over the wire of female operator located
not many miles from Philadelphia. This
acquaintance ripened into love, and during
moments of leisure each took the oppor-
tunity of sending words of endearment and
affection to the other At length he deter
mined to visit the fair one and his journey
resulted in a painful discovery. His pic
tured fair one dissolved into airy nothing
ness when he saw before him an ungainly
woman of uncertain age and nearly seven
feet tall. The worst of the whole thing
was she was dead stuck and wanted him to
marry her whether or no. But his illusions
had vanished, and he returned home a sad
der and a wiser man. He has never mar
ried, and whenever the subject of women
comes up he always skips away.
WHERE ALL ENDED WE'LL.
''Now | will give you the very reverse of
the above. 1t is a true story, and the hero
is resident of Baltimore and is we'll
known. Three years ago Charley as the
boys Familiarity called him, was single, and
according to his own words he had never
l, -
not woman-hater, but had been around so
much that he had formed a very poor opin-
ion of the average woman. AS | said be-
fore, three years ago Charley was detailed
from the office to go to little town in
Western Maryland and take charge of the
office there for several weeks. He went
there and had plenty of opportunities to
hold communication with the operators in
that section of the State. Some twenty
miles above him was a female operator and
he passed many a spare moment in talking
to her. She was lively and spirited in her
talk, and Charley took great pleasure in
the Irritation.
KNOCKED OUT BY AN OPERATOR.
Eventually he was ordered to return,
and the night before leaving told his mash
he had to bid her good-by. She expressed
much sorrow and finally asked him why he
did not run up to see her in real life He
accepted the suggestion, did so the next
morning and found the girl to be fine-look-
ing and interesting. He fell in love with
her personal self as he had done in the
abstract, and before he left they were en-
gagged. 1t was done almost as quick as we
send message-short, sharp and decisive.
They are married, and to all appearances
are happy couple, with a little one to
comfort and cheer their union.
Ibid you ever hear the story of how a
Baltimore gambler was knocked out by an
operator? No. Well, | will tell you the
circumstances, but cannot mention names
A night operator in railroad office was and
is yet an inveterate poker fiend. He carried
his love for draw to such an extent that
one night he invited the gambler up in the
office to have game. The latter saw soft
snap and consented. No one else was pres
emit except a brother of the operator, who
volunteered to look after the others duties
For the first time in his life the gamblers
luck did not come to his aid, for his oppo-
nent won on nearly every hand, or else laid
down when the gambler had good cards.
Finally the latter, having four kings. made
small bet, but the operator calmly laid
down, refusing to call. This sort of thing
had become SO monotOnous that the gambler
reached over and looked at the
others cards. To his surprise it was
a full-three queens and a pair of tens.
"'What n did you lay that hand
down on a 81 pet forY he exclaimed, adding,
4 guess I've got enough
"This closed the game, but the secret of
the operators luck was that the othag oper-
ator, sitting where he could see I've gam
bler's cards. had telegraphed each card as
it was picked up, thus enabling his friend
to know when to raise, call or lay down.
1t was pretty smooth, wasn't it?
ONE OF THE OPERATORS OWN.
81 myself had a romantic adventure
some time ago. | was young in the business
at the time, and was very nervous and
fearful of making mistakes At the time
was night operator at a little side station,
and my duties consisted principally, and in
fact almost entirely, of keeping informed
on the time of the few trains passing along.
There was no regular stoppage of any, and
as consequence there was but little excite
ment and time was dull on my hands.
1T was about 2 o'clock in the morning
not soul around, and half asleep In a
few minutes l was sound-'locked in the
arms of Old Morphy,' as old Bill Doyle used
to say. woke with start through the ex-
ertiOns of a fine-looking man, who was
energetically humping me- He was a
handsome fellow, above the medium height,
with black curly hair and fine features. |
at length was sufficiently awake to attend
to my duties and hear his business. He
handed me a S. note and at the same time
told me to telegraph TO Westminster to a
well-known gentleman to meet him with a
minister at X, place about midway. The
orders were to take the first train leaving
Westminster in the morning. | sent the
telegram and when through went outside,
whittier the man had gone, and there saw
him talking with a lady on horseback, who
held the reins Of the steed belonging to him.
las soon as ] reported that the message
had been sent he mounted and the pair gal
loped away They were, thought at the
time, rather Hurried, but | re-entered the
office and resumed my semi somnolent con-
dition. Not twenty minutes later | was
again interrupted, this time by an old man
who had ridden some distance, Judging
from the dust-stained appearance of his
clothing and the fleck -foamed condition of
the animal. He was choking with rage or
emotion, or something and could not articu-
late sufficiently clear to enable me to grasp
the sense of his mutterings.
AT length | caught on to what he want
ed, and it was to ask if any message had
been sent by we to Westminster during the
past two hours ] declined TO answer such
leading question, but told him it was pos
slble | had done so. He attempted to bride
me to give him definite Information, and at
length explained that his daughter had dis
appeared from his house and her bed had
not been occupied. He suspected an elope-
ment, and was convinced when investiga-
uon disclosed ladder reclining against her