The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-12-19
AN OPERATORS TALE.
How the "GsnR" Played n Cruel Joke ON
One OF Their FeiIow-Telegraphers.

How the Gang Played n Cruel Joke ON
One OF Their Feiiow-TeIegraphers.
Some of the telegraph operators Of
the Standards telegraph room were
sitting around the fire the other night
while there was an interruption In the
working Of the wires. one STORY led
to another. Each membe of the party
beng odd i'm the business" of course
had an inexhauetible reservoir Of an
ecdotes and curious experiences which
had come under his observation. Fin
ally. one of the boys. when IL cdme
his turn To say something. told the fol-
lowing story of a proposal Of marriage
by wire:
About five years ago there Mas en-
ployed by the Union Consolidated rail-
way as operator at X a beautiful
young lady. Her duties consisted Of
'os'g' trains. hat is. reporting the pas
sage of trains to the dispatcher at
ca and talking to the other operators
along the line. She was d great favor
lite with the boys. and a good many Of
us set n caps for her. Among others
among us was "A dispatcher at a. "A
station east of 'caa' who mad met the
young lady. whom. for convenience
sake. we VIII call M N had COM
pletely succumbed to her blandish-
rent.
Before going any farther. 1t might
be well to explain that the wires cut
at Ca that place being midway be-
tween X and T. and m this fact
hangs the tale.
This particular dispatcher. whom
we will call j. seems to nav succeed
ed in winning Ms consent Il a cor
r~espondence by NAL. but a pleas
ant pastime evidently became common
place after a while. or M a not re-
~ciprocated the deep sentiment shown
In his letters. for N evening. about
II o'clock he called up Ca and asked
IL the manager, who was a mutual
friend, was In. Now, there happened
to be in the Office at Ca five or SIX
of the operators and one of them sug-
gested to the manage that If J.
wanted the wire put through to have
"A chat with NJ hat wen jolly that
guy by telling him 1t was 'thro' and
the gang should tax turns at imp.s-
sonating M Perhaps n spice of jeal-
ousy prompted this proposal; however,
Il was a good thing and after some
little preliminary by-play. j. was told
to go ahead. the wire was through.
"He called Il few times and Jerry -
answered her call.
GOOD evening; Is that you. M"
Good evening-yes: who are your
This Is y" at p" How are you
feeling to-night?'
" 'oh. I'm o K-rather chilly this eve.
isn't itg
You bet
":where are you going to spend
Christmas?'
Am thinking OF going down to
'ca'' to visit mother (this was an ill.,
vention OF Jerry's).
lis that So? ] a V been thinking
Of going To Ca" m~yself-believe I will.
/ Hope to meet you-didn't know your
mother was There, however
I'm So glad. DO come. Won't II
be lovely? Want you to meet mother
What could the poor man do when
he listened to those sweet words OF
his charmer from the lips Of the tick
er? He held the key open a few sec
onds. long enough for one Of the gang
at Ca to remark. You're "A warm
baby. Jerry; he's got to tip his hand
now
sure enough. u came back with:
Did you get my letter to-day
Yes
What do you think? What is the
answer
We'll. really. u
Here some Office down the line
broke i'm for an order and Jerry Jump
ed up and remarked, I've got "A pro-
posal on my hands. Now ia hate To
see that little girl marry that st.n,
but how are we to get out Of the
ness
1T was finally agreed that the best
plan would be to get hold Of M i'm
~personatc - repeat the conversation
as far as IL had gone and then put
the wire through and let the good
work go on. This was done and j.
and M were struggling over the let
ter episode when some fellow who had
been asleep on duty. broke In with
Jar loose. why don't you two dam
phools arrange a meeting and settle
this matter. 1t gives me a grippe and
all was quiet.
she didn't marry j. but she after
ward did marry another operator, and
their courtship was conducted by wire
In much the same manner RS the ore
that didn't pan out. she had never
seen the man whom she afterwlrd
married until her wedding day. They
are as happy as happy can he. though
Doctor. Is gas safe for extracting
teeth? DIR. Rinehart. dentist.
When In Butte lunch at Sherman's.