Telegram-herald., 1890-10-09

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The assaSss rlon 81 LSucSia.~ reze
henry \. Gsriand passe2gsf Asent -
tie WaA@sA. 2s be sEresa est eoPy y
. n~wspsp<r 2ased April =. t>so ~nsch
eont4ined al 4ceSant q the mercer -
tie Presl6snE
Il reueea b~r tAat ssent a'est siNiG-
y. said Mr. Garland = : Chic4gS 3ozr-
"a reporter. '1nd Is : inprioted ca
ny Ue4ory thro1ga part ! played ths
next morninz Ia ooEnsetlou With L.
~zs Toy hsinx IN osNesos \. \. ~
thas tiuae zhi - rnessenxef boy Tor
wat szs kn0sa as the .Intseo StStes
BrznSh Telegraph Company II ~ss .
Czn41i4n line and we Nere Sighting tie
Western uRion soF all Ne we're worth.
Ia Os~ego the Western Union once and
our ortlce was separated only b par
tition. TIE rivalry and jealousy MAS
bitter, and messenger boys followed the
exsmple Of our sapefiors in working up
business. Whenever we'd delivered
uessage we'd ask for az answer. and II
the fellow would say there Was mons
we'd xait until DO read the message and
then ask aim II 40 wss sure there Was
nothing 70 90 back.
''It was Hy business 70 open the oface
in the mornings, and tue day after Lin
coin was shot was down AZ the oroo
at T.s0 getting ready FOR the days work.
There were no night Offices then and no
one In Oswego had heard Of the sssassi-
nation. AS opened the door ! heard
the instrument ticking our Office call. /
was Just learning then and knew moth
ing beyond the onice call. o. s, and the
alphabet which l could figure out /
wondered why tho thing was
going so early and let IL SO
for awhile. The call was kept
up for SO long / became convinced
that il was something big. We used
the old wheels and all the paper in
those days, something Ike bucket
shop ticker. and ! walked over 70 tho
cided what 70 do. There would be no
one around for an hour or two and at
last | went 70 the key and broke in
with i t. the signal that all was ready
for the message and turned on the
wheel. The instant / did so my hair
began 10 raise as the thing went Of like
an engine, "a the operator at the end,
believing the regular man was on, began
TO send in big message. was fright
ened half 10 death, and hardly knew
what TO do. The blamed ticker kept a
going through, and after had pranced
around the Office awhile ii began giving
the Office call again. ! surmised what
the operator wanted this time and
gave him %. K and signed. This was
all he wanted, and he let me alone. took
the strip of paper and pencil and sat
down 10 figure out the message. Ii was
pretty cold, but I was wet with perspira
tion and so nervous | could hardly hold
the pencil in my fingers.
- finally managed to find out what II
meant. Abe Lincoln was shot, and oui
Office had got IL first. / rushed out to
the door and saw that the Westerr
Union had no bulletin out and then
began 10 work. / got big sheet o1
paper and with plenty of ink managed
to fix up bulletin that drew crowd
About $50 the manager came rushing In
and asked nae what i meant. ! told him
what had done and he nearly had &
fit. 1t was great scoop on the West
ern Union and big 'ad' for oup com
pany and the boss predicted that
would be the biggest operator and tele
graph man in the conntry-but / guess
I let down too soon"