Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1898-07-25
A DASH FOR NEWS.


l was the only American operator in
eastern Cuba in February and March,
1898, which were very busy mon*ils in
the cable Office at Santiago, where had
been for four years. In the early part of
1895 we seldom handled more than 80
messages day, but after the insurrec-
ton began the number rose to 80 and
100 daily, increasing a little every
month.
The cable from Santiago to Spain
goes under sea first to Kingston, ia
maica, tEsence to Porto Rico, thence to
St Croix, and from there to Paramaribo
and Pernam buco in Brazil. Cables from
Pernambuco cross the south Atlantic
TO st. Vincent, Cape Verde islands, and
from st. Vincent other cables extend to
Madeira, thence to Lisbon, and overland
to Madrid. There is also a less direct
cable from Pernambuco to ST. Louis, in
Senegal, Africa, and thence to the Ca
nary islands and Cadiz.
Beside myself there was but one other
operator in the Santiago office, Laurin
Merode. young Spaniard, who had
learned cable work at Lisbon. We
thought that 100 messages daily made
work enough, but over 800 passed the
day after the Maine was blown up in
Havana harbor. Four more operators
were needed, and we called to Havana
for help but no notice was taken Of
our appeal, and rather than desert our
posts and leave the company's business
undone we shaved night and day, al
ways hoping the pressure would moder-
ate
NJ One day we sent IS, 742 words in over
H /, 100 dispatches, yet we were two hours
IL back at midnight, with Havana fun
ling at US over the land wire, and still
hurrying messages through the Cienfue-
H gos cable. There were Spanish govern
#ment cipher messages from Sagasta to
HBlanco, and Blanco cipher to Sagasta;
reams of bombast from the Cuban CORE
B spondents Of the Impartial and Correo
for Madrid, followed by more cipher to
NJ Weyler at Barcelona fgom his brother
Nofficers at Havana, and then the bank
ers and merchants quoting, selling and
BORDERING!
To add to our veXatiOns the ''mOuse
MILL of the siphon recorder gave trou-
NJ BILE constantly, and the clOckwork that
carries the record tape broke down every
N day or two. Now, a Spaniard is utterly
without native ingenuity. Merode was
tolerably good operator, but when it
came to rectifying faults of the instru-
ment he was an infant, and all such
tasks fell on me.
Anything like clockwork can ''tink-
er, - but the mouse mill that works the
Slphon pen is very delicate bit of
mechanism, which assists the faint cleo
trio impulses that come great distances
through the gable to move the ink point
of the recorder to and fro on the tape.
suppose had taken the record tape
cIockwork and mouse mill apart 20 diff
ferent times, and on the evening of the
Cd of April, after Merode relieved me,
I SET to work to wi1sd a new motor coil
for the mouse mill, which had worked
so very badly all day that rather than
struggle with it longer had determined
to sit up all night and build new
mill
The cable house at Santiago is most
lonesome place, particularly at night,
but Spanish sentinel was supposed to
pass the door every three minutes
These poor fellows were rarely paid,
and often looked i'll at the door to beg q
cigarette. So when the outside door
opened behind Us that evening [ sup
posed the incomer was the sentinel, and
I did not even look around till an
amused voice exclaimed, AHA, senors,
buenos nochesi''
a Spanish sentinel begging a cigarette
,1roc NOT c5leak in that tone So MorOda
and l faced round with jump. There
stood a rather tall, good looking young
fellow, in white duck suit and white
cap, regarding US keenly,, and a step be-
hind him was typical Cuban rebel
sombrero, hong mustachios, broad belt,
long boots revolver and machete.
In an instant Merode was on his feet
and shouted, ''Sentinelal' at which
our unexpected visitors laughed good
humoredly, and the Cuban said, Il
must beg the senior telegrafero not to
distress himself concerning the worthy
sentinel. for that watchful soldier is
now lying comfortably ON his back out
side. with a gag in his mouth. and his
hands are tied to his feet. y
"Well, who are you and what do you
want here?" exclaimed in Spanish.
1.-The young man in white duck
laughed. You are an American; any
body could tell that by your Spanish.
oh. / know about you. Speak English. !"
'tCertainly, I replied. "What dc
you want here:"
1.-THE news.
..What news?"
..Are the Spanish warships, Vizcaya