Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1890-03-06
SWIFT TELEeRAPhERs.
Some Of the Men Who Have Made Repu-
tations for Rapid Work at the Key.

Some Of the Men Who Have Made Repu-
tations for Rapid Work at the Key.
Among telegraphers who have repu-
tations for speed are A. s. Ayres Patsy
and w. L. Waugh, of the United Press;
]. w. Robson, of the Postal Telegraph
company; Frank ]. Kiln, of The Brook
lyn Eagle; William Gibson, of The Even
ing Sun, and NJ. II. Toomey, of the
Western Union Telegraph company.
Every one Of these men is capable Of
great speed, and, collectively speaking,
they have probably caused more cases
of curvature of the spine among the
unlucky receivers than any half dozen
men in the telegraph service. Passing
years have told somewhat upon the
faces of one or two of them, but their
fingers are still as nimble as the flying
shuttles of weavei's loom.
In the old timers class Bob Martin, of
the United Press, will probably prove
quite as young as he looks. Everybody
in the telegraph business knows Bob.
He is rather apochryphal sometimes in
his anecdotes, and many of them need
substantiation, but the fact remains that
in the old war times there were very few
men in the country who could equal Bob
in singing dots and dashes ov.v" tele-
graph wire. Although he has been -rac-
tically out of the business for some dime,
he is still q hummer" So is Ayres.
Patsy can take two columns Of nonpa-
reil, light his perfecto, strike forty -four
word per minute gait, and keep it up to
the end. When Waugh settles down to
business he looks as though he had fallen
asleep. 1t may be remarked, however,
that the man at the other end of thewire
does not think 80. His pen flies over the
sheet for dear life, and the buzz of the
busy instrument is like the shrill stridu-
lation of dozen katydids.
Mr.. Fred Catlin is rafting sender,
although he is veteran. He claims to
have several "dark horses" in the West
ern Union Office whom he says will make
records for themselves. There is prob
ably no man in the country who has the
records of fast operators down SO pat as
Mr.. Walter P. Phillips, the general man.
ager of the United Press Mr.. Phillips
was formerly star of the first magni-
tude in the telegraphic armament, and
has the records of the old time cham
pions, many of whom are now dead, at
his finger ends.
"The fastest sender l ever heard, said
Mr.. Phillips during conversation, twas
a man named Fisher, who used to work
in the south along about 1858. do not
think the operator ever lived who could
beat him; at least, his record has never
been equaled. Along in the late fifties
he sent an article from Harper's Ferry
at the rate of fifty-five words minute
for twenty minutes. This is almost equal
to word every second.
SIN 1867, in contest between Billy
Kettles and Patsy Burns for gold key,
Kettles was victorious, averaging As
words minute or $50 words of printed
matter. On this occasion Burns claimed
that he was out of condition. They met
again the following year and Burns
squared up matters by easily defeating
Kettles.
I'm 1868 Il. VI. Shape, OF milwaukee,
sent 1851 words in one hour. The re-
ceiver was E. Curry, of st. Paul. About
ten days subsequent to this Patsy Burns
started out to beat Shapes record. Twas
selected as the target upon which Burns
was to train his long range of artillery
fire. My fingers were great deal more
nimble in those days than they are now.
At the end of the hour Burns had sent
2,731 words, beating Shapes record by
just 100 words. This record yet stands
at the top" For the part he took in this
feat Mr.. Phillips was presented with
beautiful gold pen by Professor Morse.
The record for half hours fast work
was made by Dick Hutchinson, of this
city, who sent 1900 words to Nick Sny-
der, of Philadelphia. There were more
fast senders twenty years ago than there
are at present. The necessity for them
has virtually died away with the quad
rupled facilities, and at present the tele-
graph companies put premium upon
men who put speed in the background
and bring care and caution to the front.
New York Press.