Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1896-03-18
The TELEGRAPHER'S EAR.
Does What Seems Marvellous to Ordina,
LiSteuer6.

Does What Seems Marvellous to Ordinary
Listeners.
It is wonderful how the ear may be
educated. An old-time telegraph ope.
rator last night related some of his ex'
periences with sound telegraphy, says
the Philadelphia Times. There is nc
reason to doubt his stories, and they
are worthy of being repeated in his
own language. Said he:
"The ear becomes to an experienced
telegrapher so acute that the slightest
variation in time or sound is as plain
to him as dropped note is to must.
clan. Any good operator is able to
distinguish the difference between the
sending of operators, and can tell
by the sound of the instrument any
man with whom he has worked for
any length of time. You know am
out of the business now, and have been
for number of years. Still / occa-
sional!y drop into telegraph offices,
and like nothing better than to get on
a busy wire and be roasted by q fast
man for an hour.
1t keeps my hand in, which needs al
most constant practice in order that it
may not lose its nimbleness when work
ing the key. The ear, however, never
loses its sensitiveness. While in New
ark, N. j., year or two ago, I was
called to the Western Union Office by
telephone. When I arrived there the
manager said, There is man in Phil
adelphia who wants to talk to YOU
pointing out the instrument which I
was to use. I opened the key and call
ed Philadelphia. The operator answer
ed, and I made myself known. 'How
are things, my boys?' came back an
answer with no name attached. Joe
Gettler, by gum I said, and so it was.
"Now, mark you, I had not seen
nor heard from my friend Gettler for
three years, and had not heard him
send a word by telegraph during that
period of time. He and I had worked
on the same line for a year or more,
and his sending was as familiar to me
as is your voice. recognized bis
touch and yet I supposed he was at
that time in Chicago telegraph office.
Yes, there is clearly as much differ
ence between the sound of different
telegrapher's sending as there is be-.
tween the handwriting of any two
men in the same line of business. In
fact there is much clearer distinction
between the sound of the instrument
when different hands are working the
key than there is between the pen
manship of two telegraphers, because
there is marked resemblance in all
good operators copy.
sit is stated, and have no reason
to disbelieve the story, that during the
Civil war, Jim Waite, an old-time,
New York operator, was sent to the
front by the government to work on
important wires. He one day got on
to wire over which very important
secret messages were being sent by
Confederates, and the result would
have been funny had it not been such
a serious matter. It was in Tennessee
or Kentucky, I forget which. Waite
with his pocket instrument got inside
the Confederate lines, and having
learned that messages were being sent
over a certain wire from Richmond to
the general in command at that point,
he tapped the wire and copied several
valuable messages. This was nothing
new, for operators on both sides did
the same thing time and time again.
"But Waite was overanxious. There
was an interruption in the middle of a
dispatch, and Jim was anxious to get
the remainder. To urge the sender
on, he opened his key, and simply
said, g. A. Commissary.' The g. A.
meant go ahead, and 'commissary'
was the last word that had been sent.
What was Waite's surprise to hear,
instead of continuance of the mes
sage: Jim Waite, what are you doing
on this line? Get out, or there will
be trouble Jim didn't even wait to
find out who the man was. He said
afterward that the sender had very
familiar sound, but he couldn't for the
life of him tell who the operator
was.
"Jim found out four or FIVE years
later. He was still telegraphing, and
was employed in the old Broadway
Office of the Western Union Telegraph
company, New York. One day q
young man walked into the office and
asked for Jim Waite. The men met
and looked at each other, but there
was no recognition of the visitor by
Waite. In fact, they looked upon
each others faces for the first time.
so you're Jim Waite, said the caller.
well, I'm glad to meet you. My
name is Mosely, Charles Mosely, and l
used to sign &C. r. in Charleston
"Waite remembered him in an in
slant. The two men for long time
had worked different ends of North
and South wire before the outbreak of
the war, and had become fast friends
without ever having met. Still, Jim