Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1891-01-02
SPIRIT FINGERS AT THE KEY.
An Operator Bothered by Persistent Conn
munlostions from the Other World.

round-faced good-natured young fell
low. and a great favorite with all who
knew him, very neat in his personal
appearance. being always dressed in
the latest and best that fashion dictat-
ed. He was without bad habits. aud
correct and business-like in all his
dealings.
The other day a journal reporter
was stopped by the extended hand Of
q dilapidated specimen OF humanity,
who. with strange quaver in his voice.
asked if the reporter did not recognize
him. Without waiting for the reply in
the negative which he saw in the I'M
responsive glance of the reporter he
introduced himself as the dapper little
telegrapher OF other days. Suspect
ing this as preface to demand for n
cash contribution. the newspaper man
was putting his hand into his pocket.
when the seedy man interposed n ges-
ture of dissent. Il am not asking for
a cent; the boys have staked me, and L
have a railroad ticket that takes me to
the old home in western New York. 1
| Just stopped over few hours to see
two or three of the people who knew
me in 1881 and 1882. leave tonight"
Tho reporter could not restrain an
impulse to ask what had brought about
SO great a change in the appearance Of
his whilom acquaintance. We'll" he
replied. with some hesitation, lit wasn't
spirits, at least not ardent spirits. for
never INDUCED to any extent in liquor.
1t was spirits of II very different Kind.
i don't know that they ever meant me
any harm, but they have about ruined
me as n telegrapher. There's one now.
Don't you hear the sounder1 II. c.
p. G.'-'P. G.,' that's my call. I'll just
answer '25'-that means busy
Perhaps they'll let me alone until tell
my story.
Il never knew anything about spir-
tualism, never cared anything about it,
and all at once, six years ago, without
any asking or desire on my part, |
found myself to be possessed of the
strangest and most distressing medium
istic powers. had friend of about
my own age; we bad learned telegraphy
together in Cleveland and had always
been very intimate. About the time l
went to Omaha he went 10 Cheyenne
We kept up correspondence by letter
and wire, but after while he got in
the habit of taking an occasional spree.
lie was delicate, sensitive fellow, and
on SOLDERING up would be the most
melancholy chap imaginable. His
sprees become more and more frequent.
his tits of depression deeper. One day,
following prolonged debauch. he dis
appeared from Cheyenne. One of the
boys knowing our Intimacy. tclegraphed
me to know if he had come TO Omaha.
1t was exactly 1920 ut night as l was
| taking the message of the wires when
l heard the sounder on an old and dis
! connected instrument. one that the
boys about the Office had played with,
| humping away. p. G.-'P. G.'-'P.
G. / answered '1S' mechanically on
my own What's the mat
terp"-and the sounder thumped out
the information that he (my friend)
had passed over only minute or two
before, and that l would find out all
about it three or four days later in the
Sab Francisco papers. 1t was all
strange 10 me, inc0mprchensible. At
first thought that Billy was playing
some sort of Il trick on me. but there
was the old disconnected Instrument,
aud no chance of any hocls-pocus of
that kind. On the firth day thereafter
| got hold OF Il Frisco paper, in WHICH
was the notice of the death of an un-
known man. supposed to be about "a
years old, at the third-ratc hotel. aud
the coroner's verdict, death from ex-
cessive use of alcoholic drinks and eX-
posure. AS / was reading this the
sounder started mp again. You got the
papers, it ratified away. The coroner
was right. Great roundup for young
man. wasn't it?'
81 didn't like the carelessness of this
remark" continued the operator. "aud
said as much, when the old soundeI
took it up and continued with even
greater recklessness. Billy had al.
ways been, even ut his worst, consider
ate of the feelings of others. He had
the instincts of a gentleman, but APP
parently after he passed over he be-
came lost to all decency and all regard
for tho feelings and welfare of him
who had been his best friend while
here in the flesh. He kept up such n
racket ia the Omaha Office that he in
terfered with my business. and there
was no shutting him off. After "A time
he began TO bring in other operators
who had passed over and then you'd
better believe | had time OF it. Some
of these were disrepntable fellows.
and most of them we're of Il class that
no self-respecting operator on earth
would care to associate with. l tried
to keep straight quit drink entirely.
but they brought bad atmosphere
about me aud my acquaintances began
to cut me. My work mt the office be-
came mixed in spite of all that could
do, for the spirits soon got tired of the
old sounder and came over to the live
! line.
The consequence was that / was
! discharged. l didn't feel very sorry
about it at first. l had saved up a
hundred dollars or so and made up NV
mind TO keep away from the click Of
the instrument entirely for "A month or
so and give tho spirits chance to
/ fasten on some other poor operator. /
| lodged them for about week. and
was beginning TO feel like my old self
again. when one night was wakened
from sweet sleep by signals on my
( head-board. p. G.'--'P. G. answer
ed '25 Chat is 'busy) and turning
over tried to so to sleep again. No