Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1891-03-12
TELEGRAPHIC ERRORS.
They Have Caused Fun, Sorrow
and Loss Of Money.

and LOSS OF money.
Thousands of errors have been made
in telegraphic messages, says the New
York Times. In fact, a day rarely
passes without good many of them
occurring. Some of them have caused
much amusement, some have caused
tears and some have caused serious
financial loss. They are not always
due TO inexpert operators 1t is a 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 OPP
erator-for while they continue wires
become as unreliable as tickle woman
dots and dashes have been so shifted
as to cause a receiver to put down a
word totally different from the one
transmitted by the sender. That, how
ever, does not occur often.
The faulty penmanship 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 if word
is indistinct they send whateverit seems
to them to look like, no matter how
blind their reading may make the con-
text. Besides, some messages pass
through a number of hands.
The telegraph companies persistentIy
print at the top of their message blanks
a warning that they are not response
bic for mistakes in transmission. and
they also proffer, in very small type,
the advice that ito guard against mis-
takes or delays the sender of message
should order it repeated; that is, tele-
graphed back to the originating Office
for comparison, at an additional charge
of one-half the regular rate. The no
tice has steadily adorned the blanks in
spite of court decisions that the com
panies are responsible for errors,
whetherthe messages are repeated or
not, and in spite of the additional fact
that it is rarely read, or, if it is, 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 but one message, bearing the
order to repeat, and it was regarded as
a great curiosity. This message fell
victim to excessive caution. 1t was
bound from New York to San Francis
co. 1t contained but one word, the lit
tie word Eyes" 1t was religiously re-
peated back from every relay station
between the Atlantic and Pacific, but
by some misfortune, due to a second of
abstraction on the part of an operator
or to timely but unfortunate flip" of
the instrument, the word was changed
to mo" A big row ensued and an OPP
orator in New York nearly lost his po-
sition.
The financial losses that have been
caused by telegraph blunders have been
due mostly to the changing around of
amounts There have been instances
where an order to buy has been changed
in transmission into an order to sell.
But generally, if there is mistake, it
is in the figures. To make the ikeli-
hood of error as slight as possible,
amounts expressed in figures by the
original writer of message are usually
spelled out and expressed in words by
the operators. Even this precaution
does not always avail, however. 1t is
comparatively easy for poor handwrit-
ing and careless transmission to change
fifteen to fifty, or twenty to thirty, or
fifty to sixty. There was a mistake of
this character perpetrated in Washing
ton some time ago. 1t caused no loss,
but that was because of good luck. A
grocery firm in the capital city sent an
order to a wholesale house in Baltimore
for fifteen barrels of "a" sugar The
next morning the grocery firm received
a shipping bill which contained the in
formation that fifty barrels of "a"
sugar had been shipped to them las per
order"
As the sugar was by that time in
Washington, the firm, having investi- |
gated and discovered that the mistake
was not theirs, notified the manager Of |
the telegraph Office that the company |
must take the extra thirty-five barrels |
off their hands. The manager told the |
operator who sent the message about |
the notice. While the responsibility |
for the blunder, as between the sender
In Washington and the receiver in Bal
was undoubtedly the fault of |
the latter-had not been settled, the |
Washington operator, who was of a |
speculative disposition, requested the |
manager to delay his answer. Then he
ran around to find friend who was in |
the sugar business, and inquired as to |
the future of sugar prices. He learned |
that there was a strong probability Of |
IL
He informed the manager that he re-
called 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't
trouble themselves. The next morn |
ing he sold his sugar at a good profit,
took the money to the races and lost it.
The wifely reproaches which gay
young New York lawyer encountered
On reaching his home late one night
were undoubtedly due in the main to
his own poor handwriting, but care
less operator was also responsible for
them. He related the experience the
next day.
ut was two o'clock when reached
home" he said. my wife met me at
the door. I saw at once that she was
very angry. She handed me tele-
gram and asked freezingly: What Is