The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-01-03
Economy by Code.

When the passengers on the tender came
off the landing stage they entered
large, barnlike place and stood in impa-
tent groups while the baggage was 5eing
transferred, says the Chicago Record The
railway company had several young men
on hand to provide tickets 10 London, and
there was another young man who receiv
ed kilograms and cablegrams. We had
with US IN American who had prepared
wonderful code with which to keep up a
cable communication with his wife He
worked on a cablegram all the way from
the Isle of Wight up to the customs
house, and when ne delivered it this is the
joyful message that went back 10 his fam
lily:
'Lizcam. New York; Hobgoblin. buck
wheat explosion agriculture cranberry
suspicious" James"
He showed this cablegram and seemed to
be very proud of il.
That's what you save by having a
what viii Lzcam think when he re-
ceives that?"
He? That's my wife's registered cable
address. Liz for Lizzie and cam for
Campbell. Her maiden name was Lizzie
Campbell"
well, what does that mean by a buck
wheat hobgoblin having suspicious ex-
plosion?"
"Oh, those words are selected arbitra-
rily 10 represent full sentences in the
code. When my wife gets the cable she
viii hunt up those words one after the
other and elaborate the message so that
il VIII read like this:
He showed us the following;
Mrs. Chauncey Curple, Mountjoy Ho-
tel New York.
Dear Wife: Well, here we are at South
things considered. We had only two days
of inclement weather and l was not sea-
sick at any time. We saw a great many
porpoises, but no whales The third day
out l won the pool on the run. Formed
the acquaintance of several pleasant peo-
pie. James"
ITS just as good as a letter." said the
man from Buffalo.
Yes, and saved fifty-eight words"
said Cuppe Il wouldn't travel without
a code"
"Why don't you tack on another word
and let her know how many knots we
made each day?" asked the Buffalo man,
hut his sarcasm was wasted.
A month later l met MIR. Cupple in
Rome, and he said that his Southampton
oablegram had given his wife nervous
prostration.
Mr.. Cupple is not careful penman, and
the CaDI6 operator ndQ I6aQ the last WOIu
of the message as "auspicious," instead
of Suspicious" A reference to the code
showed that the mistake changed the
sense of the message.
"Suspicious-Forme the acquaintance of
several pleasant people"
"Auspicious-After a futile effort to
work the pumps the captain gave orders
10 lower the boats. The passengers were
in a panic, but the captain cody restrain
ed them and gave orders that the women
and children should be sent away first"
The message as altered in transmission,
caused Mrs. Cupple some uneasiness, and
also il puzzled her. 1t was gratifying TO
know that her husband had enjoyed the
voyage and escaped seasickness, but she
did not like to leave him on the deck of
a sinking ship with lot of presumptuous
women and children stepping up TO take
the best places in the boats. Yet she
could not believe that he had been lost
otherwise how could he have filed ca
blegram at Southampton?
She wanted further particulars, but she
could not find in the code any word mean
ing. Are you drowned?'
So she sent a forty-word inquiry to Lon
don, and when Mr.. Cupple counted the
cost of it he cabled back:
"An right Ignore CODE