The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-03-09
SECRETS OF THE TICKER,
Funny and Serious Incidents Which
We're Told by a Telegraph
Operator.
How q Husband Deceived His
Wife and His Mother
in-Law.
Playing the Races ON Stolen Tips-HiGh
Prices Which, are Paid for Re-
ceiying Blanks.

ceiying Blanks.
"'All the worlds a STAGE wrote the dra
matist long ago. Tragedy follows coined
and laughter tears upon the boards" /
was a telegraph operator whose philosoph,
resembled the great Williams, says tn
81. Philadelphia Record. He had watched tn
play for many a year, and come to the con
clusion that it is the rare privilege of hi
craft to go behind the scenes as life DRAINS
proceeds. '.Just think what secrets the
wire carries he continued, "but the tick
er sounds in a tone that we alone can un-
d~erstand." And then he began to pick
note here and there from hislog-book,a vol
ume full of his experiences as he sat at the
instrument year in and year out and lis
tened to what the ticker told him. with
his ears open for q few ''outside" facts as
we'll.
81 recall an amusing incident in which
we'll known man about town figured. HI
had promised to take his wife to the thea
tire, but meeting a party of friends he for
got all about his engagement with his bet
ter half until about 1880 O'Clock. He knew
she would be furious; her mother was visit
ing him, she STOPPED in for Dime some
weeks before. and she. too, would have .
word or two to say. He sent a telegraph
messenger to the theatre for two tickets
for the performance he had missed, and
placed them in an envelope with a note
reading:
Dear Annie: Take mother with you.
Will come in before the play is over; de-
tanned by business. AL
..He gave the boy S. and told him to tell
the lady that the note had been given him
at I O'Clock, but he had failed to deliver it,
taking excellent care to put Z O'Clock on
the messengers ticket. The boy Went to
the house n told an awful tale of woe,
pleading with the lacy not to report him
lest he lose his position. just as he reached
the climax of his story the husband APP
peared on the scene. The boy repeated his
story briefly and was promptly kicked OF
of the steps by the woman's irate husband.
who was chided for cruelty by the wife.
For this bit of engineering the operator
received Sl for cigars, the messenger s. for
one kick and the company % cents for the
boys time.
'People often wonder how messages are
delayed many hours without any apparent
cause. There are q multltudeo of ways in
which this could occur. The most out
rageous case of delay that l ever heard OF
occurred in a Western Union office in this
city one Saturday night, when about 100
ordinary messages and a dozen cablegramS
were delayed just thirty-six hours through
the ~lazinsss of an operator. The messages
were filed at an office that closed at mid
night and the operator was directed by the
chief to take them to a nearby office that
kept open until 2:30a. m. He did SO, being
very careful to tell the men in charge OF
the office that the messages were to be
forwarded at once. That man never
touched tho messages, and thirtv-six hours
later when the Office was accidentally
opened they were forwarded by an operator
who realized what had occurred. Six
months passed away before the case was in
vestigated, and to this day no one knows
why that operator was not even censured
for this bit ofindiference.
PLAYED by one individual who came to me-.
He had a message, dated a week ahead.
congratulating a couple in another city
where he resided. upon their wedding. He
explained that he wanted it delivered dur
ing the ceremony, and explained that this
the wedding and buying an expensive pres
Ont. The message cost Az cents, but
the assurance that the message would
not be sent until exactly the right time cost
just five times that amount. He was in the
city where the marriage took place while
his message WAS hurrying over the wires.
"Stolen tips are the only kind that ever
proved profitable to me in connection with
horse racing. The first time l staked money
on the races was at Lovells room at Eighth
and SAMSON streets, which was presided
over by an old operator named Wright. l
read q message addressed to a well-known
sport which contained but one word
"Smoot." I went to the room and saw that
a horse named Doctor Smoot was to run in
the next race. Without knowing how
much odds | was getting or giving l put up
IS and received a card, engraved something
like the back OF an ordinary playing card,
upon which was written with a blue pencil
"smoot 15O-5." Smoot won the race, and l
won $3.50 On another mans tip
"The next time l played the races on a
stolen tip was the day Banburg beat
Hanover. | had in the meantime, however,
lost much upon tips I paid for. This time
the tip came to the owner OF thepool room
in the old Theatre Comique. It read 'ne1-
vous Banburg sure" took all the money
! could scrape together to 'Pappy' Cox's
room. SAMSON street, and learned that he
was playing ten to one on Hanover and four
to one on Banburg. Everybody was buying
Hanover even at the stiff odds posted, and
it was with ANYTHING but a stout heart that
I posted my 1926 on hamburg. The race
started.
"Charlev McDonough cried, They're
off, Hanover leading A half minute later,
Sat the quarter, Hanover Then I heard,
It's Hanover at the half l could hear my
$25 iingling as he yelled, And Hanover
leads the t~hree-quarters,' [ had little in
terest in the race then, but frightened
when l heard, Garrison riding hard to the
stretch; Banburg coming up. In the stretch
its MISUNDERSTANDING wins Then 1
yelled. When 1 vent to get the ticket cash
ed old 'Pappy' asked me, Where dye get
the tip?'
THAT day met a thoroughbred named
Bennett who offered to put up all the money
needed to rig up a scheme to beat the races.
1t was several months before | perfected a
plan. l learned that the reports of the
winter races were sent from New Orleans to
Cincinnati and from there to Philadelphia,
necessarily delaying them from one to
three minutes. | proposed leasing a direct
wire from the race track to Ninth and
Chestnut streets each day for one week, and
to have TN operator at the track who
was to name the winning horse or
the probable winner as they passed the
three-quarter post. Thus we would have
had at least five minutes in which to post
the money Bennett was to supply. In this
way we expected to clean ny the talent as
dry as bones in the week. but Just AZ we had
our scheme mapped ont the racing at New
Orleans was stopped and all our work went
for nauRht.
Bogus kilograms come high, but people
must have them, it seems. Receiving
blanks are carefully guarded by the officials
Of the company, and few get outside of the
offices except in the legitimate way. Mes
iengers have been induced to steal them.