Lawrence democrat. (Lawrenceburg, Tenn.) 1884-1925, 1896-05-15
THE TELEeRApHlc EAR.
There IL Individuality In the Touch nj
she Operator.


sue Operator.
A night telegrapher will lay his heat
within two inches of a working ihstru
ment, and sleep as soundly as if he wer;
in bed; but il his own Office call i,
sounded by the instrument, he viii
waken on the instant. So says an ole
telegrapher. BY long practice the te
legrapher's ear becomes so acute thai
the slightest variation in the working
of the instrument is immediately de-
tected and the receiving operator rec
ognizes the voice" so to speak, of the
sender, If the sender happens to be any
one with whom he has been accus'
toned to work.
While in Newark, N. j., a year or two
ago, was called to the Western Union
office by telephone. When ] arrived
there the manager said: There is n
man in Philadelphia who wants to talk
to YOU" pointing out the instrument
which was to use. opened the key
and called Philadelphia. The operator
answered, and made myself known.
"How are things, my boy" came back
an answer, with no name attached.
"Joe Gettler," said and so it was.
heard from my friend Gettler for three
years, and had not heard him send a
word by telegraph during that time.
| He and | worked on the same line for
year or more, and his sending was as
familiar to me as is your voice. l rec
ognized his touch, and yet supposed
he was at that time in a Chicago office.
Yes, there is as much difference be-
tween the sound of different telegra-
pliers sending as there is between the
handwriting of any two men in the
same line of business.
1t is said that during the war of the
rebellion, Jim Waite, an old-time New
York operator, was sent to the front by
the government to work important
wires, He one day got on to wire over
which important secret messages were
being sent by the confederates, and the
result would have been funny had il
not been so serious.
1t was in Tennessee or Kentucky,
forget which. Waite, with his pocket
instrument, got inside the confederate
lines, and having learned that mes
sages were being sent over certain
wire from Richmond, he tapped the
wire and copied several valuable mes
sages
This was nothing new, for operators
on both sides did the same thing time
and again. But Waite was overanXious
There was an interruption in the mid
die of the dispatch, and Jim was eager
to get the remainder. To urge thu
sender he opened his key and simpl,
said: "G. A. Commissary." The sc
A" meaRt "go ahead" and "commis
sary" was the last word that had beer
sent.
What was Waite's surprise to hea
instead of continuance of the mes
sage: "Jim Waite, what are you doing
on this line? Get out, or there will b.
trouble" Jim didn't wait even to dis
cover who the man was. He said after
ward that the sender had a familia
sound, but he couldn't for the life o
him tell who the operator was.
Jim found out four or five year
later. He was still telegraphing ant
was employed in the old Broadway OF
flee of the Western Union Telegraph
company, New York. One day youn'
man walked into the office and aske,
for Jim Waite.
The two men looked at each other
but there was no recognition of the Wis
itor by Waite. In fact, they locke
upon each others faces for the frs
time.
$50 you're Jim Waite" said the call
, err. "Well, I'm glad Sc meet you. M
name is Mosely, Charles Mosely, and
, used to sign C. r. in Charleston"
Waite remembered him in an instant
The two men for long time ha
worked different ends of north an
, south wire before the outbreak of tn
war, and had become fast friends with
+, out ever having met. Still, Jim didn'
know Mosely was the man who ha
told him to get off the wire inside tn
. confederate lines.
"Where did you go after stealth
i those dispatches was sending durin
, the WARP" asked Mosely; and the
, Waite understood it ll.-Philadelphi
: Times.