The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1891-03-27
TELEGRAPHIC ERRORS.
They Have Caused Fun, Sorrow
and Loss of Money.

much amusement, some have caused
tears and some have caused serious
financial loss They are not always
due to ineXpcrt operators. 1t is 4 re-
markable fact that during the preva-
lence of bad weather, or what are
known as electrical storms" which
are thorns in the side OF every chief op-
erator-for while they continue wires
become as unreliable as tickle woman
dots and dashes have been so shifted
as to cause 4 receiver to put down a
word totally different from the one
transmitted by the sender. That, how
ever, does not occur often.
The faulty pcnmansllip of hurried
business men and others who use the
telegraph is also responsible for many
OF the errors. Operators are compelled
to rigidly follow copy" and il a word
is indistinct they send whatever 1t seems
to them to look like, no matter how
blind their reading may make the con-
text. Besides. some messages pass
through 4 number OF hands
The telegraph companies persistcntly
print at the top of their message blanks
q warning that they are not RESPONSE
bic for mistakes in transmission, and
they also proffer, in very small type,
the advice that to guard against mis-
takes or delays the sender Of Z message
should order II repeated: that is, tele-
Cra pllcd back 70 the originating once
for comparison, at an additional charge
OF cnc-halG the regular rate. the no.
ticc has steadily adorned the blanks in
spite of court decisions that the com
panies are responsible Tor errors,
whether the messages are repeated or
not. and in spite of the additional fact
that it is rarely read, CT, Il it i, the in
terest excited Is only casual Nobody
ever seems to accept the advice regard
ing repetition. An operator, speaking
of the old notice recently. said that IN
an experience OF fifteen years he had
never seen out one message. Bearing the
order 10 repeat, and IT was rcz,ardcG as
E. Great curiosity. This message fell a
victim to excessive caution. 1t was
co. 1t contained but one word, the lit
tie word Yes" 1t was religiously re-
peated back from every relay station
between the Atlantic and Pacific, but
bv some misfortune, due TO 4 second of
abstraction on the part of an operator
or TO a timely but unfortunate flip of
to No" \ big row ensued and an op-
orator in New York nearly lost his po-
sitiOn.
The financial losses that have been
caused by telegraph bluuders have been
due mostly u the changing around Of
amounts. There have been instance
where an order - buy has been changed
in transmission into an order TO sell
But generally. If there is n mistake. it
j. III the figures. To make the Iil-eli-
hood Of error as slight Is possible
amounts expressed in figures bv the
original writer OF message are usually
spelled out and expressed ia words by
the operators. Even this prccaution
does not always avail, however. II is
comparatively easy for poor handwrit-
ing and careless transmission 70 change
fifteen to fifty. or twenty TO thirty, or
fiftv TO sixty. There was 4 mistake Of
this character perpetrated in Washing
ton some time ago 1t caused no loss,
but that was because of good luck. 4
grocery firm in the capital city sent an
order to = wholesale house IN Baltimore
for fifteen barrels OF "a" sugar. The
next morning the grocery firm received
a shipping bill Which co7t.i iucd the in
formation that f-ty barr,'s of a.
sugar had been =hipped to tnrln las per
order"
AS the s11.-ar was bv that time in
WashingtC- the firm, having investi-
gated and 8. covered that :he mistake
was not ti.'rS, notified the manager OF
the telezsr--,s o1Iicc that the company
must take ;i.e extra thirtT-five barrels
off their hands. The manager told the
operator WAC sent the message about
the notice. ~ nile the responsibility
for the blunder, as between the sender
in Washington and the receiver in Bal
timore-it was undou btedly the fault Of
the latter-had not been settled, the
Washington operator, who was of 4
speculative disposition, requested the
lanager to delay his answer. Then he
m around to find friend who was in
-se sugar business, and inquired as TO
future Of sugar prices. he learned
IT there was a strong probability Of
a immediate and material advance.
..c informed the manager that he re-
rliled that the mistake was his, and
that he was prepared to pay the penalty
for it by taking the sugar. The firm
turned over the thirty-five barrels TO
the operator. Two hours later they,
too, heard that sugar was going up
They sent the operator word that they
would relieve him of his load if he
wished. He replied that he was very
much Obliged to them, but they needn' I
trouble themselves. The next morn
ing he sold his sugar at & good profit,
took the money to the races and lost it.
The wifely reproaches which gay
t-c,,po NarU Nnrl- la
on reaching his home late one night
were undoubtedly due in the main to
his own poor handwriting, but n care
less operator was a,so r~sponsi bic Tor
them. lie related the experience the
next day.
1T was two o'clock when I reached
home" he said. My wife met me al
the door. / saw at once that she was
very angry. She handed me a tele-
gram and asked freezingly: What is
the meaning of this?' i said: Why,
my dear, what's wrong? That's prob
ably the message j sent you in the af-
ternoon-' 1T is she answered. please
read it and explain L read it To
my astonishment it read: Shall dine
with Kitty Smith, an old gal of mine,
who has just returned from Europe.
VIII be late. Don't wall for me-
~ wouldn't wall for the best man
that ever lived said my wife, and she
began to cry.
Il realized at once what had hap
Pened, and began to laugh. i couldn
help IL Why / said, this message
has been botched. wrote no sucb
staH as that What did you write,
then?' she demanded. Then / told her
that what | had really written was:
shall dine with Billy Smith, an old
pal OF mine, who has just returned
from Europe. Win be late. Dom,
wait for me- Those internal operators
had butchered it. I've got The original