Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1896-02-27
= -sS.--.[.- !. -.
"jCA-M-N-O-0-O-O-D."


~1ly" Telegraphsr Unoonsoiously Promul-
gated His Coworksrs' Opinion Of Him.
"How lonely it must be for the
operators in these little way station
telegraph Offices at night" a news
paper man remarked the other even-
ing In the smoking room Of the
Southwestern limited as the train
flashed past the switch, semaphore
and Office lights Of one of the tiny
country stations.
well, lonely, yes, " remarked the
stranger in the corner, who had up
to this time not taken any part In
the conversation, "but they have
more fun than you'd think. I used
to be one Of them myself back in
the eighties. Twas at little ooun-
try station where about my only
business all night long was report
ing to the dispatcher the time of the
trains as they passed. with occasion
ally q train order switched in.
"Onoe in awhile we would have
message to send on the commercial
wire, and the rest Of the time hung
heavy on our hands.
Poor, i'll fated Dennie Murphy,
who was killed in the Hastings
wreck, was a student in the Office
with me, and he was wonderfully
fertile in schemes to make the time
pass pleasantly. I remember joke
We played one night on fresh
young operator up the line that I
never think of without a smile. 1t
was Dennie's idea, and it worked
like charm.
"You see, the operator in question
was one of the fly sort of young
fellows who fancy that an operator
who works in one of the country
offices must of necessity be plug,
as we used to call poor operator
in those days, and that it is at all
times advisable to sit down upon
him in every way possible when
there Is the slightest excuse for 1t
and frequently when there isn't.
This particular operator was cordial
" detested all along the line
"Well, Dennie and fixed up
fake message to send him-and, by
the way, 1t might be we'll to men,
tion that the brass FOUNDER in ques-
ton was not half so good an operat-
or as he fanoied he was-and after
we had the message prepared we
sprung it on him when business was
over.
Tho message purported to come
from Milwaukee, and we frankly
signed the call Of the repeating office
at the western end of the circuit,
first thoughtfully grounding the
wire west to avoid detection.
Even in those days Dennie was q
remarkably good sender, and the
way he pushed that message into
the unsuspioious fly man must
have kept the latter busy indeed.
Ho broke a good many times, but
finally had It all. Here Is q copy
of the message as near as I can re-
member it:
"l2 Paid Night Rate.
MILWAUKEE, Wis. 0th.
John Jones, Jonesville:
Our receipts are too slow. II any moro nice
onions, get options October delivery.
PETER PIPER.
"Now, we had purposely made
the check 12 words, while the body
of the message counted IA, and back
came the ourt response:
"'Check should be IA.
"No,' wired Donnie; '12 Is O. K
"Now, under the circumstances, 1t
Is customary for the receiving oper-
ator to letter the body of the mes
sage back to the sending operator
that is, repeat the first letter of each
word to verify the check, when usu-
ally the error can be quickly detect
ed. So Dennie wired:
"Letter it.
BACK came the letters with q
spiteful snap: 'O-R-a-t-s-I-a-m-
N.o-G-o-o-d.'
"Over and over again we made
him repeat this frank admission un-
til every operator on the line was
enjoying it. He finally tumbled and
would not respond to our demands
to letter 1t just onoe more, but it
was a long time before he heard the
last of 1t, and our connection with
the joke never leaked out. New
York Press.
Cats,