Telegram-herald. ([Grand Rapids, Mich.) 18??-1892, 1891-04-30
TELEGRAPHIC ERRORS.
They Have Caused Fun, Sorrow
and Loss Of Money.

Thousands Of errors have been made
IN telsxrsFAse messages. SAYS the New
York Times In fast, . day rarely
passes without . good many Of then
occurring. Some Of them have caused
tears and some have caused serious
financial less They are not always
due - inesPert operators Ii IL re-
msrksble fact that during the preva-
ienee Of bad weather. or what are
known as Electrical storms" which
are thOras Ia the side Of every chief OPP
srstor-fOr While they continue wires
become as unreliable as fekie woman
dots and d.shss have been so shifted
a 70 cause receiver 20 put down a
word totally different from the one
transmitted BY the sender. That, how
ever, does not occur often
The faulty premiership Of hurried
business men and others who use the
telegraph is also responsible for many
OF the errors. Operators are compelled
10 rigidly follow ccpy," and IL word
IS ineistanct they send whatever il seems
- them 10 look like, no matter how
blind their reading may make the con-
text. Besides soms messages pass
through a number of hands.
The telegraph companies persistensly
print at the top Of their message blanks
= warning that they are not resporsi-
BILE 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 message
should order il repeated; that is, tele-
graphed back 70 the originating Office
for comparison, NJ an additional charge
Of onc-halt the regular rate. The mo-
tice has steadily adorned the blanks in
spite of court decisions that the COM
panies are responsible for errors,
whether the messages are repeated or
not, and in spite OF the additional fact
that IL is rarely read. or. il it is, the in
terest excited u 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 10 repeat, and IL was regarded as
a great curiosity This message fell a
victim TO excessive caution 1t was
bound from New York TO San Francis
CO. It contained but one word, the lit
tie word Yes" II was religiously re-
psated 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 On 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
where an order to buy has been changed
In transmission into an order to sell.
But generally. II there is mistake. il
is in the figures To mako the lilseli-
hood Of error as slight as possible,
amounts expressed in figures by tho
original writer Of message are usually
spelled out and expressed in words by
the operators. Even this prccaution
does not always avail. however It 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 mistake OF
this character perpetrated in Washing
ton some time ago. II 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
o shipping bill which contained the in
formation that fifty barrels Of "a"
sugar had been shipped to them ''as 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. rs between the sender
in Washington and the receiver in Bal
timore-it was undoubtedly the fault Of
the latter-had not been settled, the
Washington operator, VINO was Of q
speculative disposition. requested the
manager TO delay his answer. Then he
ran around 10 find a friend who was in
the sugar business. and inquired as To
the future Of sugar prices. lie learned
that there was strong probability OF
an immediate aud material advance.
He informed the manager that he re-
called that the mistake was his. and
that he was prepared 10 pay the penalty
for II by taking the sugar. The firm
turned over the thirty-five barrels TO
tse operator. Two hours later they,
to, heard that sugar was going UP.
They sent the operator word that they
would relieve him Of his load II he
wished. He replied that he was very
much obliged TO them, but they needn't
trouble themselves. The next morn
Ing be sold his sugar at a good profit.
took the money 10 the races and lost ".
The wifely reproaches which a 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
lees operator was also responsible for
them. lie related the experience the
next day.
cit was two o'clock when I reached
home, he said. Ny wife met me AZ
The door I ssv al once that she was
very angry She handed me a telc-
gram and asked freezingly; What Ia
the meaning Of this7 said; Why.
my dear, what's wrong7 That's prob