Daily independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 188?-1915, 1890-11-28
AN IMMENSE "scooe."

a telegraph Mcsscn.cr's Ecminisccnco
OF tho Lincoln AsJasoinatlon.
The assassination Of Lincoln" read
Henry N Garland passenger agent of
tho Wabash. as he spread out q copy of
4 newspaper dated April Is. 1865. which
contained an account of tho murder Of
the President.
Il rcncrhcr that cvcnt faost vivid
"" said Mr.. Garland. to . Chicago Jour
nal reporter. and it is imprinted on
my racnory through part played tho
next morning in connection with it.
was boy living in OswcGo. N. Y, at
that time and was r1csecngcr boy for
what was known rs the United States
Branch telegraph Company twas
Canadian line and wo wcro fighting the
Western Union for all wo were worth.
In Oswcgo tho Western Union Office and
our Office was separated only by par
tition. Tho rivalry and jealousy was
bitter. and messenger boys followed tho
example Of our supcrior3 in working up
business. Whenever wcd delivered a
message wo'd ask for an answer, and if
tho follow would say tbcro was non
we'd wait until ho road tho message and
then ask him If he was surc thcro was
nothing to go back.
ut was nv business to open tho ofIlco
in tho mornings. anG tho day after Lin.
coin was shot / was down ut tho ofico
at I 80 getting ready for tho days work.
Thcrc wcro no night Offices thcn and no
ono in Oswcgo had hoard of tho assassi-
nation. As opened tho door / heard
the instrument ticking our Office call. /
was inst learning then and know moth
ing beyond tho office call. O. $. and tho
alphabet, which l could figure out. 1
wondered why tho thing was
going So carly and let it go
for awhile. Tho call was kept
up for So long / became convinced
That it was something big lYo used
Tho Old wheels and all the paper in
those days, something like. q bucket
shop ticker. and / walked over to the
instrument two or thrco times unde-
cidcd what to do There would DO no
ono around for an hour or two and at
last ! went to tho key and broke in
with j H. the signal that all was ready
for tho message and turned on tho
wheel Tho instant did SO my hair
began to raise Us the thing went of like
an engine. as tho operator at tho end,
believing the regular man. was on. began
to send In big message. Iwas fright
cncd half to death. and hardly knew
what to do Tho blamed ticker kept a
going through. and after had pranced
around the Office awhile it began giving
the Office call again .surmised what
tho operator wanted this time and
gave him o X and signed 1his was
all hcwantcd. and hc Let me alone took
tho strip OF paper and pencil and sat
down to figure out the message II was
pretty cold but ] was wet with pprspira.
tion and SO nervous could hardly hold
the pencil in my fingers
II finally managed to find out what 1t
meant. hbe Lincoln was shot. and our
oiilcc had got IT. first. rushed out to
tho door and saw that tho Western
Union had no bulletin out and then
began to work got q biI sheet Of
paper and with plenty OF ink managed
to fix up o bulletin that drew crowd.
hhont $50 tho manager camc rushing in
and asked mo what | meant. told him
what had dono and no nearly had
fit. 1t was O great scoop on tho West.
crn Union and n big ad for our com.
pt9ny ana tho boss prodictcd that
would be the biggest operator and telo.
graph man in tho country-~but I'guoss
l lct down too soon"