The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-08-14
THE WORK OF THE CABLE
WONDERFUL FEATS OF MODERN
MAGIC PRRFoRMBD BY ITS AID.

hOW an AVlantlc CRple AS operated.
tCopDr0htl
New YORK, Aug. 18.-Hong Kee was a
heathen Chinee He swindled several San
Francisco merchants out Of $4,000 and
fed aboard Pacific Mail steamship. When
he was out of sight of land be said to him.
self-let US suppose he said: me allie safe
now. Mclean man no can catchee Chinee. "
And why should he not feel safel He had
two weeks the start Of anybody who might
pursue him, and once on his own shore he
could find pienty of hiding places
When Hong Kee waddIed ioyously down
the gangway at Shanghai, thinking of the
wives he could hug and the fan-tan he
could play with bis $751; 900, an officer of the
law tapped him with bamboo wand It
must have been q wand, a real old-fashioned
magical wand. How else than by magic
could anybody in Shanghai know of his
proceedings 900 miles away.
1t was magic. His victims In San Fran
cisco had only TO write a message, and In a
few moments it was In New York. There
ID took a dive into the Atlantic ocean, and
in a jiffy bodied up on the coast
Of Ireland, took a look and leaped
into the water again, scooted across to
where IL ducked under once more and was
in Alexandria before you could say Jack
Robinson. Then, as dry shod as the chill
dren OF Israel, it passed through the Red
sea, shot under the Arabian sea and came
Co the surface at Bombay. No mahatma
ever crossed India In shorter time than 1t
took this message 20 jump over TO Madras
and dart into the Bay of Bengal. Then it
rose at Singapore Just to catch breath for
IN Ano 70 hot md he Ia,
lazy law, had ample time TO dress itself In
long train of bedizzening sentences, and
primp and prlm before the ship came in.
Alas, poor Hong Struck by a streak of
lightning that the Christian magicians had
guided almost around the world
Father of these magioians was Cyrus W.
Field, who willed 100000 Ia 1880 and
died the other day owning nothing but the
house his wife bad given him. Faith was
the word he oonjured with-Datient, perse-
veriug faith. They said the broad Atlantic
would not be conquered by q copper wire
He tried and failed. They shook their
heads and squeezed their pocket books. He
tried again and failed. They tapped their
foreheads and looked sad for him. He tried
once more and sent few electric sparks
across the awful deep. But these went out
and SO again he failed, and then they jeered
at him and put their pocket books away and
said: "Three times and out Then on that
memorable day of 1886 these words came
ticking to New York:
HEARTS CONTENT, July give arrived here
at O'Clock this morning. An we'll. Thank
God. the cable is laid aud Is In perfect working
order. CYRUS W. FIELD.
That message came from Hearts Content,
indeed.
Three days later NJ. de Lesseps sent mes
sage of congratulation from Alexandria
Egypt. II left M. de Lesseps' hand at l: 80
o'clock IN the afternoon and was delivered
to Mr. Field in Newfoundland at 1880
o'clock on the morning Of the same day. II
had Travelled nearly quarter of the earth's
circumference Ia three hours less than no
time. 1t was an Irishman-at least, we
will assume 1t was an Irishman-who said
"Begorra, IL it had kept on goin' clean
around the world, it would a came back TO
ould De Lesseps the day before be stint it,
That sort of thing made eyes bulge out in
'66. But now-why. not long ago a mes
sage was sent by the Commercial Gable
Company from the stock exchange in New
York to the royal exchange In London,
and an answer received In forty-fve sec
onds. Think Of thatl To London and back
IN three-quarters of minute2 1t went from
New York to Canso, Nova Scotia, $40
miles, by short cable; from Canso to Wa
terville, Ireland, 1850 miles, by deep sea
cable; from Waterville to Bristol, England,
DTlSCOl
to London. l20 miles, by land lines, 638
miles over and 1858 miles back, 276
miles these modern magiciaus send a
thought In less time than it takes to walk a
block.
Yes, and they send another message in
the other direction over the same wire at
the same time, the witches II Is easy
enough to tell how they do it. They merely
attach a wire to rigamajiS an the table,
n mr. nm I'M ryalI nkok
it back to fixin' under the table. and carry
it over to thingabob in the corner. If you
want more scientific explanation of IT,
you can find 1t in half a dozen pages Of the
encyclopaedia, which haven't time to COPY
and which, like enough, you wouldn't un-
derstand any better than do If did copy it.
The important fact, however, is that the
electric current Is divided at each terminal
station 20 that one-half of 1t passes out into
the true cable while the other half enters a
false cable Ia system OF coils and plates
having precisely the same resistance as the
true cable. The result is that when New
York. for instance, is sending signals those
signals are not indicated on the New York
receiving instrument, but pass as It were
around it. and are indicated on the re-
oeiving instrument at the other end of the
true cable.
Another contrivance for saving time
minutes are money to a cable company is
the Wheatstone automatic trausmitter.
This, loosely described, consists of a per-
forating instrument, by means of which a
written message is translated into tele-
graphic characters dots and dashes) cut
through strip OF paper, and another in~
strument through which this perforated
strip is run in such manner that a small
metallic point closes the circuit every time
1t drops through hole, thus making either
q dot or dash, or, In other words, sending
the message automatically. The advantage
OF this Is not, as many suppose, one Of
greater accuracy, for in this respect moth
ing that has yet been invented excels
the human hand. But the automatic trans
mitter saves the time Of the cable, and that
Is the all-important consideration. II not
only sends message more rapidly, but 1t also
saves the time consumed In studying out
written messages, while the operator Is
holding the caple idle. All this decipher-
ing is done by the translator who perforates
the strip, and his work may be done at any
time without keeping the cable In idleness,
or II may be done by many persons at once,
while. OF course, but one person at a time
can work at the ordinary transmitting rev
Years ago, when the cable was a new
thing and IN itself suggestion OF uncanni-
ness, messages we're received by a man who
sat In darkeDed room and read the mean
Ing OF little flashes that hattered here and
there. Talk about your fearsome mys-
teries OF the east Here was a picture 20
make Hindoos hair stand straight on end
IL was weird enough 20 have a human