News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1891-02-12
OLD BooY.
A Telegraph Operator Who Il known
wherever There Is n Wire.

A Telegraph Operator Who Is known
Wherever There Is Wire.
He looked like a very ordinary
man as he stood in the doorway Of
the train dispatcher's Office at the pier
Tuesday evening Io was dressed In
an ordinary suit of clothes His rather
thin face was framed in a scant reddish
beard, through which peeped a pair of
blue eyes. Taking IL all IN all. he was
a very ordinary looking man, and yet
that man was the most noted telegraph
operator in the United States and pos
sibly in the world. It was Old Bogy.
Everybody who is or pretends TO be
a telegraph operator or a train dis
patcher knows Old Bogy. Wherever
there runs a line by telegraph wire
there is known that name, and It Is
pretty safe to say that Old Bogy him
self has been pretty nearly wherever
the telegraph has gone. Old Bogy's
other name is Bcgardus
Twenty-Five years ago Old Bogy-for
Old Bogy he was even when he was a
lad-was a telegraph operator in the
employ of the United States govern
ment. Bogy was telegraph operator
in the Capitol at Washington, and he
handled all of the important messages
that came there from the front. He
was trusted, and the confidence was
not abused.
After n while he was sent TO the
front, and was in the midst OF tho
fighting with Gen. Grant, and ne played
no unimportant part in the great strife.
He was an expert OPERATOR bstter
does not exist-au1 he held many n
great secret during those troublous
times.
After the war Old Bogy began to
drift. He wandered from railroad -
railroad, and from telegraph Office to
telegraph Office, from one end of the
country to the other. and before long
the name of Old Bogy became a
proverb among telegraph men. He
had gained the bad habit of unrest
that had fastened itself upon him
during the war. and before long he be-
came the most noted tramp operator
in the United States. lie seemed to
have lost all desire or ability for steady
work, and while his ability was Of the
highest he would work n few weeks
and then suddenly leave, and do moth
ing untIl his money was exhausted.
And so he Travelled, working n little,
borrowing great deal, and often get
ting passes from point to point on rail-
road lines.
Train Dispatcher Comstoc!l, now at
Oakland pier, worked with Old Bogy
in Chattanooga some seven or eight
years ago. Bogardus had just been
sent to China to put in operation n
system of train dispatching on the first
railroad telegraph in that country. lie
was gone four years, and when he re-
turned he was given n big reception ut
Chattanooga, and that was the begin
ming of his second downfall
Five years or so ago Old Bogy drift
ed out ID San Francisco, and was en-
! ployed in tho Western Union Office in
that city. He worked there for several
weeks, and just before pay day he went
out of the Office and never returned to
get the money that was due him.
Old Bogy's uncle died in Rochester,
N. Y, not long ago, and left him S2O,-
600, but so invested that he could draw
only the income, and consequently tho
tramp operator is in better financial
condition than ever before. Heis good
natured and good hearted in the ex-
treme, and will share his last penny
with his friends, but he is an inveterate
borrower, and the boys all like him,
and he has no trouble making his way
wherever he goes. travelling mostly on
his reputation. Oakland Tribune.