The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1896-06-17
Bridge TendcrWhOWOrked
Half a Century.
How He Was Cleared From
UndeSeryed Suspicion.
The Cryptogram and How it Has
Been Used in fines Gone BY.

A few days ago the Gossiper referred to
the case of Engineer Moriarity who ran
the Shore inc express for ~ years with
out mishap, and was finally permanently
incapscjtated by an accident to bis
engine, in which he was badly hurt. Now
there is railroad employe who passed
away who has a somewhat interesting
history. His name was William Hartford
and for more than 80 years he was the
draw bridge tender for the New York,
New Haven a. Hartford Railroad at South
Norwalk. He was man well-knoWn to
Providence travellers who had occasion to
pass that way frequently. and was re-
gRrued as model in faithfulncss, efijcl-
ency and reliability. When he died
short time ago at the age Of 7S years a
good many people regretted the taking
OF OF the veteran bridge tender.
There was one incident In his career
that he always spoke OF with regret, not
that the terrible happening was in any
way due to his neglect, bur because he
was under suspicion for time OF having
failed in the performance of his duty,
thus making possible very serio1s acci-
dent. He was In charge OF the bridge in
1858, when what has gone down in his
tory as the South Norwalls disaster oc-
Cured. During the first excitement fol-
lowing the accident the blame was laid
upon the bridge tender, ana ii did look
rather dark for him for some time. hut
his reputation for efficiency and careful
hess was vindicated later, and 1t was
shown that in no way could any respon-
sibility for the catastrophe be laid at his
door. The late Senator Ferry was the
one who saved .Mr. Hartford in this case
and cleared away the unjust and undo-
x.4~ al. I.I 81
upon him. IL appears that at the time
the accident happened Senator Ferry was
talking with Mr.. Hartford and noticed
that all the signals were properly set.
This was the vital point. Had the bridge
tender not been able To esta blish thie fact
he would have been held responsible, and
would not have been permitted to round
out 43 more years of service for the rail-
road company, IL indeed he was not pun
ished under the law.
Cryptograms have their use, but not
fnfrequently they get the users into seri-
Gus trouble. The most recent instance
OF this Is furnished by the cases of the
Johannesburg reform committee, the
members of which have just been releas-
ed on payment of fine OF S125. 000 The
cryptogram is not by any means modern
invention. One OF the earliest methods
Of the messenger and write the message
on the scalp. After the hair had grown
the messenger-was sent to bis destination
where the hair was again removed and
the message brought to light. The Spar
tans wound strip of paper around a
STAFF, wrote lengthwise the staff, and when
removed the message on the paper could
not be read until II was wound on an
o her stan the same shap, and size as the
first one. Charles was Deheaded through
the evidence afforded by cryptograms
that were too simple. Sympathetic ink
has been much used, but it has always
been dangerous. Ii Is claimed that the
only thoroughly undocipherable cryptic
gram Is the simplest. To use II the two
persons must have books exactly alike.
Any book will do. In writing the mes
sage the first letter on the first page is a,
the first on the second page is b, and so
on. The second messagejwill begin where
the frat leaves of in the book,