The morning times., 1895-07-28

Every time a call is made on the tele-
phone il does not happen that a mere COM
monplace message is sent over the wire.
OF course We seldom hear the speeches
between those talking, but not infrequent-
ly 1t is impossible TO miss catching word
that indicates that the message is q pa
thetic, a startling, or a thrilling one. and
often filled with words OF momentous inter
est to the hearer"
The speaker was one OF those fair young
ladies who sit away up high somewhere
most people have only a vague idea OF
the place-but ia this instance it is the
sixth story Of the building occupied by the
Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Com
pany at the corner Of Fourteenth and G
streets-and who are known TO the world
generally by the simple name Of Central 4"
Then. too" the young woman continued,
there are bits OF humor that stray across
the room here from one wires end TO an
other that are calculated TO make you turn
aside from the cares OF life for an instant
and laugh.
HER ARCH CONFESSION.
I'VE girls are like other people; we make
mistakes sometimes. I think it proper 10
say, however, that the errors are as often
due TO other peoples indistinct speaking as
10 our hearing / remember an occurrence
OF one rainy night when / was on night
duty. That was before they employed men
20 answer the post-twilight calls.
some gentleman from out on Vermont
avenue rang for, as / understood him,
Chambcrlin'sf y and that was the phone
] gave him. About an hour later I heard
from him. Ii developed that he had called
for Chambers, the liyeryman, while / un-
~. Fs Il fTfsH-4r h..
was talking 10 the Iiverystable people, he
said:
send Immediately two cabs to No. -
Vermont avenue
The hotel clerk. OF course, not suspecting
any mistake, quite naturally understood
the man 10 say two crabs and despite
the rather unusual distance in which the
order was 10 be filled, sent a pair OF the
animals over steaming hot, while the gen
tleman and a party OF friends were anX-
iously waiting 10 get to the theater in
carriages" !"
The person, too. at the central end
OF the telephone is taken by a great many
people to be veritable speaking encyclo-
pedia and up-to-date news source. When
ever there is a fire The first thing one thinks
of is TO run 10 the phone and inquire
Of central where il is The telephone
companies, too, make IL a duty 10 call
subscribers when the fire is at or near
their places OF business.
DURING THE HOUR OF PERIL.
At The time OF the Ford Theater build
ing disaster the local telephone company
detailed one operator to call up every
physician who had a telephone and sum
mon hum TO The scene Of the accident or to
the hospitals. The remaining operators
were kept busily engaged in responding
20 the calls OF distressed relatives and
friends who were inquiring after those
in the ruins. In many instances these
calls had a tinge Of The ludicrous in them
even in the distressing circumstances
Many times in the wful hour after the
catastrophe the half frantic Inquirer would
insist on Central herself running over To
zee if such and such one was among the
dead or injured The story is told of one
old gentleman employed in the building
and who was fortunately taking day OFF
at the time, who held the phone fully two
minutes endeavOringto get" Central To send
out a messenger for his overcoat and lunch
basket that had been left in the Inflated
building the day before.
People familiar with urban life how
ever, ognizepolice headquarters
as the source through which To seek as
sstance when il is wanted in a hurry The
call is No. 259 on the system now In use in
the city, and there are three gentlemen
who serve as operators in the chair that
is never vacant a minute in the whole
twenty-four hours. The gentlemen are
Nessrs MattoN, Morehead and Austin
TALK TO THE POLICEMEN
Whoever intimates that these operators
have nothing to do is very wrong. The
police headquarters operator begins his
daily labors by telephoning To each of the
nine precincts in the city any message that