New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-10-02

No LIGHT THROWN ON THE MYSTERY OF
THEIR ORIGIN-AN EXPLANATION OF
HOW THEY COULD HAVE BEEN
SECURED BY BIRDING
AN OPERATOR.


AN OPERATOR.
Many persons called yesterday at the main
offices Of the Western Union Telegraph Com
many I'm this city to learn If there were any ue-
velopments which would throw light on the al
lo~ed conspiracy 10 swindle the cotton IN
changes of this country by tampering with the
quotations. Each person was told that the OH
Gals Of the company. who are the Only persons
who can speak authoritativelv about the Ina''er'
would no, be at their Offices until to-day 40
official statement has Vet been furnished by me
cononanv so far as can be learned, and, as was
reported in The Tribune yesterday. 1t IS asserted
that the statement which was made public over
the name Of Gardiner Irving was not written by
him.
\ person who is thoroughly acquainted Win
the routine business Of the various ofhoes "hlon
handle ca bic messages from Liverpool salo
Yesterday afternoon TO a Tribune reporter thai
the work Of ascertaining whether or not the DIS
watches sent 20 the New Orleans Cotton TX
change on Friday were correct could be QUICKLY
ACCOMPLISHED He then gave an explanation OF
the method by which errors were discoVereo' -
follows:
In the first place. YOU must understand thal
tbo MESSAGE IS transmitted by two keys he
dash. on narrow piece Of paper called tape
such as many people have seen on stock ucKe'S
The position of the dot or dash above or below
the centre line Of the tape indicates its meaning
The impression is made by small glass tube
called q svphon through which the Ink passes
If the operator who is sending the message
forms dot with his key a dot appears on the
tame which passes through the receiver. If the
transmitter forms a dash, the same character Is
made by the receiver The receiving operator
cannot change IL on the tape. There is no way In
which be could falsfy message or the tape.
How many Offices does message pass
through from the time 1t leaves Liverpool until
il is received in New-York?" was asked.
A message which comes into the Liverpool
Office" he said is first sent to Penzance. There
# IS relayed and It passes next to Canso. y. ;,
from which point 1t is again relayed TO New
York"
How many men are engaged in handling such
a message"
six. First. the sending operator in Liverpool.
the second man who handles it is the receiving
operator al Penzance, then it goes 10 the send
ing operator in the same office. who transmits
il TO Canso. Here two men are again involved
from whom it goes finally to the receiving oper-
ator in Ncw-Y York"
IF these men to 'juggle' the figures before ne
sent II 10 the next man.
Nothing would be easier. I'm fact. mistakes
sometimes happen without desire on the part
of The operator 70 change anything. For this
reason we have in the offices what is known as
the service man. If a broker receives a quota
ton that seems Incorrect and makes an inquiry
q bout IL. the service man investigates. say. Joy
instance. that a message is received from I>N-
erpOo quoting cotton middlng b8s- II any
doubt exists as 10 the correctness Of the figures.
the service man sends back message on =
blank which reads thus Service. Liverpool.
No name Repeat quotation. Now. as
soon as this reaches the service man at Canso
he looks Al the tape on which the message vas
received i'm his office. II he finds that the ig-
ures are the same as quoted in the inquir. he
duplicates the above message to the Penzancr
Office There II the figures are again fouhd
correct the inquiry is transmitted on to Liver
pool r. however. an error is found IN either
Of these Offices the service man IN NeW-fork
IS at once informed
Now then. is 1t not reasonable 10 suppose
that the operator who sent the first quotation
viii he the very one % whom the service man
viii intrust the transmitting OF the message.
saving whether the report is correct or not
Could not one man be briped and would 1t not
be possible for him 10 keep up the deception
long enough 10 do the damage
Certainly Suppose the man at Canso had
received The quotation as q, but the operator
was Interested and sent q out as b'S men IN"
service man in his Office gets an inquiry II the
quotation is correct he looks up the tape ana
ands that If was received as 6. but that the
orerat0r had sent il out G@s tie al once
prepares message 20 the Newly urk service
man stating that the figures were incorrect ana
rer.ating the quotation. Il is probable mat uhs
message viii be handed for transmission 10 the
same man who sent the previous one. IT "o"n
thus be an easy matter then for him 70 say
correct instead Of incorrect and - senA the
faslfed quotation again.
'Such a thing. however. can he easily traced
inst as the original mistake has been traced
for the tape is kept and shows the exact me-
s.o4 If there has been any crooked Work ON
tbo mart Of any one of the operators, II VIII ne
easily discerned by the method l have indlcal ea.
Or course If several men were impncaleu' IL
would have 20 be investigated further
..Tbon there is the possibility that the wires
wore tanned between here and NeW-Oreais
THAT ming is done frequently in the attempt 10
get news Of the races. ,s 81.
There is no way by which cable could he
tanned and the only means Of sending our raise
c1,ofations would be as l have suggested.
,Th4 man who gave this information If an eN-
,ert and IS thoroughly posted on the suplec'
WI he said indicates clearly that by SIMPLY
,rit,rq ono man 4 sang Of svindlers could Worb
e,,oc.esfullv II would also seem to sLo" Una,
,be officials of the Western Union COMPANY
could readily ascertain II there was any crooked
,corl on the part Of the operators ana JUST WHO
was guilty -, --.,r,,ra ra-
rorter made similar statement 70 me l"re-
Xone Of the officials Of the Western Union
-roreerarh company could be seen yesterday.
CHESTS or THE GOTERNOR.