The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1896-04-25

SLY" Photographer Internationally Promul-
gated His Coworkers' Opinion of Him.
How lontly 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. | used
to be one of them myself back in
the eighties. / was at a little oun
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 a train order switched in.
"Once in awhile we would have a
message to send on the commercial
wire, and the rest of the time hung
heavy on our bands.
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
fo,%,1a -, coIn,,,ne tn ,OaHn thn TINA
pass pleasantly. remember Il joke
We played one night on "a fresh
young operator up the line that l
never think Of without a smile. 1t
was Dennie's idea, and it worked
like a charm.
"You see, the operator in question
was one of the fly sort of young
fellows who fancy that an operator
who works in n of the country
offices must of necessity be a plug,
as we used to call a poor operator
in those days, and that it is at all
times advisable to sit down upon
him i'll every way possible when
there is the slightest excuse for it
and frequently when there isn't.
This particular operator was cordial
ly detested all along tho line.
"Well, Dennie and | fixed up Il
fake message to send him--and, by
the way, it might be well to men
ton that tho brass poundor in ques-
ton was not half so good an oporat.
or as he fancied he was-and after
we had the message prepared we
sprung it on him when business was
over.
THE 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 Donnie vas a
remarkably good sender, and the
way he pushed that message into
the unsuspicious fly man must
have kept the latter busy indeed,
He broke a good many times, but
finally had it all. Here is a copy
VI the message as near as | can re
member it:
"l2 Paid Night Rate.
MILwAUKEE, Wis, Sth.
John Jones, Joncsville:
Our receipts are too slow. If any more nict
onions, get options October delivery.
PETER PIPER.
Now, we had purposely made
the check 10 words, while the body
of the message counted II, and haol
came the curt response:
"'Check should be IA
Ono, wired Dennie; IL so. X.
Nov, under the circumstances, j
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 eacl
word to verify the check, when usu
ally the error can be quickly detect
ed. So Donnie wired:
"'Letter it,
Back came the letters with
spiteful snap: 'O-R-a-t-s-I-a-m-
N-o-G-o-o-d.
oNoI anu oN0I uSulA W. ma,
him repeat this frank admission VI
til every operator on the line w;
enjoying it. He finally tumbled al
would not respond to u demand
to letter it just once more, but
was a long time before he heard tt
last of it, and our connection wi!
the Joke never leaked out. Ne
York Press.
Cats.
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