The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-10-15
urv WHO MANAGE THE WIRES.
.-,,srFRN UNIONS QUARTER GEN.
TURY IN SAVANNAH.

FROM Four Operators Its Force Has
c.o1vn to Elghteen-Three ThOus-
Messages Handled Daily.
cabIegrams Delivered I'm Liver
ool Two and One-half Minutes
,stor Being written in savannah.
same of the Troubles of Operat-
Men who Have Managed the
,,.o.tern Union Omce-The Present
rorce one of the Best in the Coun-
..y.
7,,sntv-six years ago, when the Western
,.-4,r telegraph Office was located where
-. park and Tree Commissions Office
IN, is in the City Exchange, the force
a,,sisted Of four operators, a manager and
.1,of orerator. Now it consists of eigh-
-, onerators not including the manager
49,, chief operator. In 1874 the company
,,,vsd TO its present quarters. Since that
...,e it has made constant Improvements,
until the Office is one of the best equipped
and hest managed telegraph offices in the
Southern states
The western Union now has sixty wires
.,,nntne in all directions from Savannah,
ocbt New York wires direct TO the New
vork Cotton Exchange, Stock Exchange,
Produce Exchange, Petroleum Exchange
snd other Offices. Six wires di-
rect TO Augusta, four direct 10
Atlanta six direct to Charleston, seven
n jacksonville, and others to Macon and
other parts of the state, connecting with
the most important towns in the interior
and adjoining states. Three thousand mes
saees are handled daily with a promptness
that is surprising. A cotton order filed at
The western Union office in the Cotton Ex-
change or at the main Office, and sent TO
New York is delivered on the floors of the
exchanges there within one minute. This is
done every day. Gable messages are also
quickly handled. A short time ago
q cabegram filed in Savannah reached Lig
erpool and was delivered in ~ minutes
after filing.
The Western Union has in its employ in
Savannah operators of years experience,
who know what to do with important bust
ness. Messages for instance reading,
"sen or buy" are sent before the
Ink dries Messages of great Importance
are what Is called 'pinked," or rushed.
Operators frequently have experiences
that cause smiles and some times sadness.
An operator is responsible for every mes
SAGE he handles no matter what the chi
Biography looks like, he is supposed to read
and transmit it correctly, otherwise he has
his troubles Should a badly written mes
sage fall into his hands, looking as IL it
read "buy apoyrupt Animation cicutrice,
IL this. ffTQ11W nh
eberration cicatice," which means buy
one hundred bales good middling at 7-16,'
the sender thus sending his message in
four cipher words, when otherwise he
would have to pay for eleven words. But
If the operator should send 1t incorrectly,
he would have trouble again.
If he gets something like this, ''Forwart
zwei keg Budweiser rnitoud fall there
is more trouble. Cipher words are
easily manufactured. If young
fellow somewhat smitten desired to tele-
graph his best girl, he could use some
thing like this "Emeline urmine, Imthine,
either way would answer either the young
mans or the young woman's purpose. A
colored woman walked up to the receiving
clerks desk a few mornings ago, and
wanted to send coop of chickens to Pool
er.
You're in the wrong place. said the
clerk.
NO. sah," she replied, dis is what dey
calls de lightning dispatch office, amt it,
boss?"
Telegraph office"
Oats it, boss; OATS It; wants ter
git UNI out OBJ town fast"
The clerk called in the porter who es-
cOrted the woman and her chickens to the
express Office
A chief operator has his troubles, trials
md fnf1,r rl,ts 4 70,
keep the bugs" off every wire and instru-
ment in the Office. Many people may think
these bugs" are insects, but they are not.
When wires get crossed with each other or
some turpentine employee or railroad Sec
ton man fells a tree on them, or some
mischievous country operator gets them
mixed in his office, the obstruction
Is what is called among the
profession a bug" These bugs are so
numerous and Of such varied sort in an
olfoe in the size of Savannah's that the
chief operators are compelled to chase
them' off every day in the week. But
with knowledge how to do it, they easily
locate them. Sometimes it is within a
nile of Office and sometimes ii is 100 miles
away. Operators have a habit of
calling each other plugs" or
hams" Such endearing names, how
over, are only used when oper-
u'OA9 dlc luIcIiOF az the OlneT euu OF lne
line, The Savannah office boasts of Meth
er, but can locate them easily In the in
terror by something like this. "Hpi6'' for
ship" or hog" for home" '73" is used
by the fraternity for my compliments"
etc, and '27'' means get yourself ad-
1usted' and various other signals.
Mr.. Henry Griffith. for years manager
81 the Western Union office here, is now
" the brokerage business in Virginia. Mr..
b. f. Dillon, now superintendent of this
company at Jacksonville, Fla, was at one
Tune chief operator and then manager
mere, and still pays his first love visit
OCCASIONALLY Under Mr.. Dillon's genial
treatment in those days, Savannah boosted
OF the finest set of operators in the bust
hess
some of the notables that have risen
rom telegraph ranks are ex-Gov. Bullock
u georgia and eX-Gov. Cornell of New
lorK' who superintendent the construction
" Frof. Morse's first telegraph line be-
ts"een Washington and New York in 1S43
tpr winch Congress appropriated $50. 900 70
G'Hiohslrate the utility of the invention.
l.ufeW Carnegie. the Pittsburg million
M, was once messenger and operator at
{. "s9Durg, Edison, the electrical wizard
a. MS younger days, was one of the fin