The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-05-29
WIZARDS OF THE WIRE.
Remarkable Feats of Telegraph
Operators.

The expert telegTapher is as far removed
from the ordinary operator as is the ora
tor from the stammering schoolboy. IN
sending his dispatches all the mechanical
size OF his craft seems to be eliminated;
he loses all consciousness Of the key and
the succession of clicks lie talks 10 his
machine as he would tax to a friend never
thinking how he forms his words or let
ters. Some OF these wonders can even send
upon one key and receive from another
simultaneously 1t is the same In the mat
ter Of receiving In reading page of print
the reader never stops to separate the SEN
fences into words and The words into let
ters. He does not spell The shape of the
word is enough. Il is so with expert oper-
ators. The general sound of the clicks is
all that is necessary. The writer remem-
bers once talking with a telegrapher at a
time when his whole attention was abb
sorbed by what I was saying. For over
j ten minutes an instrument had been click
ing away near at hand Suddenly my
! friend wheeled Sharply about and went 20
| the key. He had heard his name in the
| clicks of the instrument. To him t could
not have been palmer than If some one
| had shouted Il In his ear.
A'dt Nl4S SApflls VI even NAl0 dNNl dnc Ch-
orator is not confined to his key in the
| matter of sending messages. Two opera
| tors can talk to each other by the mere
touch of their fingers in the dark, or. if
| needs be- can communicate to each other
| in crowd, unnoticed by the same meth
| cd. There is a story of Edlson-the wizard
that IS well worth repeating here. Edison
| was a marvellous operator in his younger
| days and at one time managed to transmit
his messages even when his wires had
| been broken. He was the agent in a rail-
way station located upon one side OF the
| Ohio, the next station was the other
| bank of the river and also in a railway
| office. On the day that the wires parte11
| all communication was cut off until Edison
got aboard a switch engine that was
standing at the depot and - gan to call up
the other side by means of the engines
whistle. The other operator understood
at length and during almost the entire
day the two engines were hoarsely whis-
Ting messages al each other.
The expert telegraphers great chance
comes at the time of national conventions
| and presidential elections. Speed like
lightning variety is then a requisite of his
every movement. During the last Repub-
llcan convention Frank ]. kim, press
| operator of the Brooklyn Eagle staff, COW
cred himself and his paper with glory.
| and established a speed record which will
long remain unbrOken. Kihm had plan
| ned for this feat for weeks ahead by
| learning to operate a typesetttng machine.
| At the time Of the nomination Klhm plac-
| ed himself at the linotype, his sounder al
! his elbow. As the sounder began to click
the news from Chicago Kihm received"
the message and ran it off on the linotype.
The first part of the speech was in the
| newspaper forms ready for printing before
the speech itself was ended and the pa
| per, with a verbatim report of the speech,
| was being sold upon the streets of Brook
| lyp hpfnra audience in the convention
| hall at Chicago had finished its applause.
| A good story of telegraphing done under
perilous conditions is told by Mr.. P. j.
Tierney OF the New York cable office, as
| follows: Il was once working a line
which had hero at the other end of it.
| I was reminded of the story the other day,
| when it was intimated in the newspapers
| that our cables would be cut in case OF
| war with Spain. Well, they were not cut
| during the last revolution in Brazil they
| were not cut when the former Gillian
| government was oVerthroWn by the lead
ers of the Gillian navy, and they were
not cut I'm several other places where the
| conditions were about the same as now
| exist between here and Cuba. But to go
| on with my story. 1t was during one OF
those South American revolutions. l viii
not say where for various reasons The
| city in which this telegraph operator sat
was being bombarded. Every report which
went out Of the place had to be exam
| Ine0 Dy a censor, ana no News Ol luc DOtIi-
bardment was supposed to leave the place.
| Yet ] knew of the bombardment while it
was going on. The affair was of the most
absorbing interest, inasmuch as the oper-
| ator was sitting in the most unprotected
| part of the town, and shells were drop
ping thick and fast around him. In be-
| tween the ordinary business he would in
| tersperse calculations which, perhaps,
were as much the result of his nervous
| ness as anything else. For instance, af-
| ter a regular message would come the
| words: MY that was big fellow!
Then, again That shell killed fourr
Again, There goes that old house down
the street Again, Hear that one scream
ing; wonder where it will strike And so
on, until he practically sent through
| complete report of the bombardment.
suppose the receivers at our end of the
line were the only ones who knew of the
battle until long after it had taken place,
for, of course. these scraps of news We're
not in a line of regular messages. and
were not to be divulged. l have always
thought however, that that man, sitting
in the midst of the falling shells was en-
titled 10 more than TIE ordinary praise
which every brave man merits
Mr. Charles A. Tinker. now superinten-
dent of the Eastern division of the West
ern Union, is a veteran who tells many a
tale of the ticker during our civi war
Mr.. Tinker was the operator for the war
department during that war. He knew
| President Lincoln well, ana sent many
message which he dictated. Ha was the
first man TO explain to Lincoln the work
ings of the telegraph. This was long be-
fore Lincoln was President of the United
States. He was sending dispatches from a
hotel in Pekn. H., when Lincoln walked
into the office and said: MIR. Operator l
have always had a curiosity to see the
telegraph work You don't seem to be
very busy, and as l have an hour or to
wait for dinner, 1 wonder if you would
not explain il to me?' Mr.. Tinker was
only too happy to explain the battery and
the workings of the instruments Mr..
Lincoln seemed to comprehend it very
readily, and when the lesson was over, re-
marked How simple it is when you
know ii ALL" Later on, when Mr.. Tink-
er was appointed for service in the war
department, he saw Lincoln almost every
| day, and many Illustrations of his
kindness of heart. When some particular
I ly annoying message was received by the
President, it was often his first impulse
10 reply in kind. Mr. Tinker has in his
I'll.