Woodville Republican. (Woodville, Miss.) 185?-current, 1889-06-01
a TELEoRAPHEF's YAM


tionl 3okaNs
Speaking Of country town ielsgfa
pliers. said . veteran operator. Tes
minds me Of q story on myself I Was
the student at the railway station n
small Wisconsin town when an old
timer came down there TO work wira
in the division superlntsndents Office
which was just across the track n an
other building. Telegraphers arc iust
like printers for practical joking.
and the boy who IS learning tho busi-
ness comes in for all sorts Of hoaxes
/ had had my share and had taken
them good-naturedly. and iancled had
got past that part Of ny apprentice
ship.
lone day / answered call on my in-
strument and got a message from Mas
ter Mechanic McMartin. who lived
down the track sixty miles. asking me
as a personal favor to take the hand
car and 60 down the road about three
miles to the farm Of J. Bird. where I
would get five hundred strawberry
plants. He wanted me to bring them
to the station and send them down BY
the evening express. Now McMartin
was in especial favor with me. had
two brothers working under him and :
naturally thought he was great man.
So / said / would do 1t.
'I went home. got big clothes bas-
ket. rolled out the hand-car. and with
one Of the boys that always hang
around a country depot started out TO
find the farm Of J. Bird had nevor
heard Of any such person, but thought
/ might have overlooked him So !
pumped away up long grade until I
reckoned / had gone ct least three
miles. Then hailed a man in field
and asked him where J. Bird lived. He
said there wasn't any such man around
thore-might live farther west-so !
went on couple Of miles until / found
another man, and he was at least half
a mile away in a plowed field. So I
Houndered over that stretch Of broken
ground and asked him whore to and
the farm Of J. Bird. He said he had
lived in that county thirty years, and
that no such person had ever been In Il
so far as he knew-there was no such
man in that immediate section, any
way.
II went back to the hand-car in 9
quandary. would have gone farthea
west, though was already betweeu
eight and nine miles from town and my
hands from pumping the hand-car were
blistered fearfully. If 1t hadn't been fon
the old farmers positive statement thai
no such man lived anywhere around
Finally / concluded that there had been
some mistake and started back. It was
mighty hard work and my hands were
awful sore. but pumped away, and e
last l rolled up to the depot. There
was a great crowd Of young fellows
there. and when picked up the big
clothes-basket and stepped onto the
platform every body gave me great
laugh. Then the old-time operator put
his head out of the window aud sung
out:
"'Get them strawberry plantsF
''It didn't take me more n second "a
realize the whole measly trick. The
operator from the other building had
switched on his ground wire. called me
up, and sent me the message, and
signed It MeMartin. On the strength
Of that I had gone out on q hunt for q
! jay-bird and come back with two dozen
blisters While was gone he had
circulated the story and the gang had
gathered. didn't hear the last Of thai
sell for months, and was so suspicious
afterward that l wouldn't answer M
own call half the time. That's what
call q low-down trick; but I've hoaxed
young operators just as badly since I
teaches en- the business &C Chicago
Mail.