Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1891-01-10
A GREAT SCOOP.
A Telegraph Messenger Boys Rsminis
cence OF the Lincoln dissemination.


The assassination Of Lincoln" read
Henry n. Garland, passenger agent of
the Wabash. as he spread out a copy
! OF a newspaper dated April -, 1865.
and which contained an account OF the
murder Of the president
II remember that event most vivid
ly." said Mr.. Garland "and it is i'm
printed on my memory through part
| played the next morning 10 connee-
ton with it. | was boy living ia
Osw ego, n. T., at that time and was a
messenger boy for what was known as
the United States Branch Telegraph
Company. Ii was Canadian line
and we were fighting the Western
Union for all we were worth In
Oswego the Western Union Office and
our office was separated caly by par
tition. The rivalry and jealousy was
bitter, and messenger boys followed
tie example Of our superIors IN work
ing up business. Whcncyer we'd de-
iifered message we'd ask for an au-
swer, ID if the fellow would say there
was noue we'd wait until he read the
message and then ask him ii he was
sure there was nothing t. go back.
1T was my business t1 open the
office in the mornings and the day
after Lincoln was slot | was down 1T
the Office al 1880 getting ready for the
DAVIS work. There were no night
Offices then and no one IN Oswego had
heard Of the assassination. AS ! OPEN
ed the door | heard the instrument
| ticking our Office call. / was just
| learning then and knew nothing be-
| yond the Office call .. s., and the
alphabet which | could figure out.
wondered why the thing was going so
early and let it 20 for a while. The
call was kept up for SO long ! became
| convinced that il was something biz.
| We used the old wheels and all the
| paper ia those days, something like a
| bucket shop tickle, and | walked over
! to the instrument two or three times.
undecided what to do. There would
| be 40 one around for au hour or two
and at last | went to the key and broke
| in With j j, the signal that all was
| ready for the message and turned on
| the wheel. The instant / did so my
| hair began to raise rs the thing went
| of like an engine, as the operator at
| the end. believing the regular man
| was on began to send in biz mes
sage. | was frightened half to death
and hardly knew what to do. The
blamed ticker kept a going though,
and after | bad pranced around the
Office awhile, it began giving the office
call again. | surmised what the OPP
orator wanted this time aud | gave
| him O, X and signed, This was all
| be wanted aud he let me alone. took
the strip of paper and pencil aud sat
| down to figure out the message. 1t
was pretty cold, but | was wet with
perspiration and SO nervous | could
hardly hold the pencil in my fingers.
Il finally managed to find out what
| 1t meant, Abe Lincoln was shot aud
our Office had got it tros rushed
out to the door aud saw that the West
] ern Union had no bulletin out and
! then | began to work. got II big
sheet of paper aud with plenty of ink
| managed to Xix up bulletin that drew
a crowd. About $50 the manager
came rushing in ard asked me what
meant. | told him what | had done
aud he nearly had lit. 1t was great
scoop on the Western Union aud big
adj for our company aid the boss pre-
/ dicted that | would be the biggest OPP
orator aud telegraph man ia the cuun-
| try-but | guess | let down too soon.'