Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1889-04-01
THOUSANDS OF MILES.
HOW THg NEWS OF THB SAMOAN DISASTER
REACHED AMERICA.
An Interesting Story Of the Auckland Gable Tsle-
grams Which Appeared in Saturday Mornings
Register 900 Niles BY Steamer and
1900 Miles by Wire.

One of Manager @. K. Tracy's messen-
ger boys hustled into the Office of the REG
IsTER at two o'clock on Saturday morning
and tossed upon the telegraph editors
desk the last batch Of manifold Associ-
ated Press news for the night. 1t con-
tained the startling intelligence from Apia,
Samoa, Of the terrible naval disaster in
which the American and German warships
were wrecked, and which duly appeared in
Saturdays REGISTER. The details were
teleeraphed from Auckland during the
course of the day.
The disaster occurred on March Is, and
the news was carried TO the world as quick
ly as possible.
FIom Apia, Samoa to Auckland, New
Zealand. a distance Of ,, 600 miles, the dis
patches to the Associated Press were car
ried by steamer. There they we're flashed
over the cable to Sydney, Australia, aus
tance Of /, 26O miles. II you lock on the
man of the contiuent you will see that
sydney is down on the lower part OF the
east coast.
The telegraph line crosses the great
island TO the upper side The station
there is Port Darwin, 1000 miles from
SYDNEY. This territory bstween the tNo
points is not thickly populated, and some
parts are not populated a. all. There ~
small settlement halfway between Sydney
and Port Darwin, and there Is
telegraph station AZ tha. point.
They cannot send a measage down
there for distance Of 1000 miles now,
40 at this halfway station the dispatches
were taken first and thence sent On TO toil
Darwin. This, then, was the first reliy.
The second relay was between the hall way
station sud the coast, and then at Port
Darwin began thu third relay, aud the hIst
plunge OF the telegraph beneath the
Pacific Ocssp. and under it for POO miles
the electric current dotted and dashed iiH
signals to the operator at BauloewangL
This il a small town az the lowest corner
of the island Of Java, one Of the posses-
siops Of the Dutcb. While the receiving
operator was getting the message ifcm
Port Darwin, the operator took Wha' hao
been received, and as fast as 10 came IN
sent it out 20 Singapore. The canie 10
Singapore lies on the oceans bed between
the islands of Java, BorneO and Sumatf"i
and il 900 miles long Here the message
crossed the Equator, and hcEed scfoss
thoss Submerged mOuatainl, which only
little while ego were shaken IN the great
Java earthquake,
From Singapore, the town on the ex-
treme tip Of the Malay peninsula, the low
eat nroiection Of the Aeiatic continent, the
.torv tickel its way under the waves oi
the Strait OF Mslacca around the coast OIL
the Malay peninsula TO the island oi zen
ang. This is a spot Of 100 in area taa'
looks out en- the Iudisn Ocean.
The relay from Singapore 70 Penang vas
400 miles. and then the sixth stage Of the
ionrnev was begun. This was plunge OF
200 miles under the Indian Ocean from
Penang 10 Madras. This is an old
commercial port Of tine English ia
India on the shores OF the
Bay of Bengal. From Madras the
next relay was by land over that part oi
India which projects into the Indian ocean.
The distance covered by the wires Il four
hundred miles to Bombay, on the other
side OF the peninsula. From there the
message went again under the water TINS
time the Arabian Sea 10 Adeu, distance
of gl7 miles from Bombay. Alden Is q
saanort of Arabia, and il calle the Glhral-
tar of the East. The message was sent
rom there up the Red Sea for !, i6O miles.
After the message got to the end ci toe
Red Sea it was taken by the operator al
Snez. Another flashed across the deset'
10 Alexandria. This was lonely Journey
of $50 miles. and here the last connection
with the continents OF A'ia and Africa "a'
bad, and the report reached ;he European
division.
The operator at Alexaadris started the
dispstch ont into the sea and, trayereinR
the bottom amid the wrecks OF the naVieH
of the Punic wars, the news OF the Samo'
an disaster thr0bbed through the cable
from Alexandria TO Malta, 1000 miles
aVay. where the rec wing operator tuIneu
it over 10 another man ia The oilce mere
and he cent il to Gibraltar. At las' the
story written in the middle Of TIE racine
had reached the cOsst Of the Atlantc'
The relay from Malto to Gibraltar was
I. 100 miles, and then from there tue
message shipped 400 miles to Iis'
hon. then 500 miles TO P0rth Curro,
then 200 TO London and then 600 miles to
Waterville, on the coast Of Ireland. There
Jumped beneath the Atlantic, aud. darling
.. 500 miles sloDg, got TO Caneo Nova SEQ
Tia. Here tine last of the eighteen relays
was made. and, coming down the coast
600 miles, the story .ot to New York.
From Americas great metropolis the
story was pat upon the Western l. MON
wires and distributed by the Associated
Prasa over the land. The story read IN the
RFGIsTER at breakfast on Saturday morn
i1g had travelled the immense distance Of
slmost twenty.one thousand miles.