Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-02-16


thefts Of news in the future by wire tapping,
and Senator Chambers bill is the result.
It was quite a different matter to steal
stock quotations and racing returns from
the Western Union Telegraph Company,
than to arouse the wire of the big news as
ISOLATION, and when the latter was made
to feel the full effects of this evil they i'm
mediately set to work to stop 1t.
When the telegraph companies tried to
prosecute wire tapperS under the treSpass
law, the latter would generally take refuge
behind the plea that the racing news was
aiding gambling scheme and IN the
hands Of a shrewd lawyer their case gen.
orally triumphed. In the case of the pres
ent BILL the full penalty will keep a trans
gressor in Jail for about five years, unless
he has the $1,000 to pay the fine, state OF
things not at all likely, as the guilty one
generally goes into the scheme owing to
the lack of funds.
Takes an Expert.
A large proportion of those who attempt
to tap wires make miserable failures. And
1t is because of their gross ignorance. Six
ty per cent Of the operators in all large
offices cannot set up and work a common
set Of Geographic instruments, taking the
wires from the time they come into the
office until they take battery or go out
again.
Yet with a great part OF this class the
idea of wire tapping emanates They think
they know all about it, ana when some Of
them unfold their schemes an electrician
has to smile at their simplicity. They do
not recognize the difference between an in
strument Of four ohms and one of 100 ohms,
and upon the subject OF galvanometers and
Wheatstone bridges they are completely
lost. This class of telegraphers may have
been successful fifteen or twenty years
back. but with the improved apparatus
they are never successful.
The old-fashioned, original wire Taper
selected as his scene of operations pole
set back far possible from the high
way or railroad, over which the line-re-
pairers passed when looking for wire
trouble. If the pole was partially hidden by
trees the Taper was correspondingly graf
flied, as it leSsened the chances of discov-
cry Waiting until night he strapped on
his climbers, threw his tool sack over his
as fly goes up window pane. Reaching
the crosSarm he produced his strap and
vise which, as it's name denotes. Is small
but powerful wise, with serrated teeth. at
long. Getting a good hold with his wise on
the wire which he wished to tap, he
buckled his strap around the crossarm and
pulled in the slack of the wire until he had
six inches or a foot to spare. Then with
his plyers or nippers he cut the wire short
off between the wise and the tnsulator. The
wire did not fal. because the strap and
wise had firm grip on 1T.
An InlprOvised Office.
The Taper next let In a section Of nom
conductor. such as piece of gum-covered
wire, making the splice outside Of the COW
ering, so that no connection was made be-
tween the line wire and the newly set in
piece. If the covered wire was not at hand
he used scrap of rope or clothesline, any
thing, In fact. that gave the wire look Of
continuity without being a conductor Of
ela scientific
If he was in a hurry or short of material
he simply took a hitch around the glass
insulator by the tie wire. There was, how
ever no connection between the two ends.
The wire was, in telegraphio phraseolosy,
open in either case.
OF course the Taper did not allow the
wire to remain open long. That would have
excited suspicion. He made what Is known
as a half connection to keep the wire
closed while he continued his operations.
He had in his tool sack coil of fine cop
per wire covered with dark SILK SO that 1t
was invisible more than a few feet away.
One end of this coil he attached to the
line wire on one side of the piece of nom
conductor he had set in; the other end he
beyond the non-conductor Then he knock
ed off his half-connection, for the circuit
was completed through the coil of copper
wire.
Inserting the non-conductor, he is all ready
to descend. The coil of copper wire, which
may be a mile in length, but very light
and small in compass. he threw to the
ground and rapidly followed it himself.
All he had to do then was to walk off. car
rying his coil of fine wire and paying 1t
out as he moved until he reached the spot
where he had established his telegraph
office. Sometimes it was deserted shanty
in the woods, occasionally 1t was under a
culvert beneath the railroad tracks, or it
might be only relay box instrument in a
fence corner behind clump of bushes
Wherever it was he could hear everything
that went over the wire; could ground it
in either direction. and could, by using
proper precautfon, transmit kilograms as
if coming from any point along the line.
to suit his purpose.
What Worries the Tappers.
The new-fashioned wire Taper, to be
successful, must be thorough electrician,
beside a Morse operator Of the very first
class A poor sender would be picked out
upon his trying to transmit
a message, and receiver of the same sort
could not interpret the dots and dashes as
they fly from the key Of an expert.
There are several ways q wire can DO
TAPPED, all depending upon how it is work.
ed. whether single. duplex or quad. There
NEST any electric pilferer, however, and
that is the Wheatstone automatic. But as
this system Is almost entirely used In the
far west mere mention will suffice. Under
sent, and, Of course. human ability cannot
cope with that record.
The single wire is, Of course, the simplest |
way Of telegraphing in use. consequently |
the easiest to interfere with. being only |
common, old-style instruments. Then there |
are the duplex systems Of different pat
terms, all requiring sets Of like nature |
to make them work, such as the Stevens,
"Polar," Dlnrreville, and others. Next |
comes the quadruplex, which means four
men at each end Of a wire, all working |
at the same time. But the latter system, |
a complicated one. can be tapped |
under certain circumstances.
The knowledge necessary would be to |
know the mileage resistance OF that par |
ticular wire, the exact mileage where the |
Taper wishes to operate, an accurate |
amount of resistance to be used on each |
side Of the intruding set, a corresponding |
amount of battery necessary to have the |
same strength, and most essentially a |
complete set of quadruplex instruments |
for the work, together with eight compe- |