The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1899-01-08

r F there be a single person who doubts
- that sending a message over the lines
of the Pacific Telephone and Tele
graph Company and its companion in
- iniquity, the Sunset Telephone and
Telegraph Company, is equivalent 10
shouting the contents of that supposedly
private message from the housetops, let
him visit the city of San Rafael and listen
to what is almost the sole topic of CONVEX
sation on the streets.
In order to strengthen its claim that no
matter how sacred the message sent be-
tween relatives or friends might be, or
how keenly they might desire to keep 9TH
ers from learning the subject of converse
ten. the public would soon know all about
1T The Call had its correspondent at San
Rafael send q decOy dispatch, which was
never intended for publication, over the
wire last Thursday evening, the results
realized more than justifying the charges
of this paper
Not only did the decoy news leak out
in this city, through the Telephone Com
pany, but before the dawn of the next
day the whole of Marin County was in a
state Of the utmost excitement. As vic
Tins of the leaking Telephone Company
women were frantic with anxiety, rela-
. tives Of persons believed to have shutf1ed
off the mortal coil were flying to San
Rafael from the surrounding towns, a
lynching party was in process of organ
ization, the Coroner was called out of
bed. to furnish details of a bloody tragedy
and by 10 clock the details of the phan-
tom event had reached Petaluma on the
north. San Francisco on the south, Be-
linas on the west and San Quentin Prison
on the east.
BY a prearranged agreement The Call
- correspondent entered the telephone Of
fee at San Rafael at II o'clock on Thurs
day evening and informed the operator
that he was about to leave town on a
story and that the latter might expect
him to return in the course Of two hours
with an item of the utmost Importance.
g AT O. clock he returned and asked the
operator to ring up the city editor of The
Call in hurry, as he had news of a ter
rible tragedy. This paper was then in
formed, simply as matter of private in
formation and for the purpose indicated,
that person living about three miles
from San Rafael, who was recently
thrashed for being the alleged author of
certain anonymous communications, had
. been detected sending more of the same
kind and that a party sent to administer
"a coating of tar and feathers had been
met with a fuSillade of DUETS, which re-
suited in two prominent citizens losing
their lives and one being MORALLY
wounded, while the person who had been
INTENDED as the victim of the irate parties
had fed to the foothills and was being
pursued by TWO armed men.
d Although this precious piece of infor-
nation was presumably private, at )
. o'clock the town was wildly excited and
the air was filled with rumors of death
and; disaster. Groups of excited citizens
filed the streets. discussing the awful
"details Of the mythical tragedy. Coroner
Edward Eden was reused from his bed
land until noon his telephone line was
kept employed in informing the public
that none of the dead had vet been
brought in. The evening papers were
= telephoning until II o'clock and inquir-
ing about the terrible affair. Several
well-knoWn citizens started to organize a
? lynching party to pursue the person that
had fled to the hills, and when r. NJ.
Dome received a business telegram the
doors of his store were nearly torn off
rushed in after the messenger, thinking
the message contained some later details
of the trouble.
I: At s o'clock the decoy news had reached
San Quentin and was known to all the
Convicts a the prison. Guard Quad, who
had been given three days leave of alb
sence, hesitated to take it in order that
he might attend tho funeral of one of
the supposed dead men, who was a bosom
friend. Before noon Conductor William
Hunter heard the news Of the affair at
Petaluma
The news promulgated by the telephone
company was exaggerated to the extent
that. prominent editor, who was only
casually mentioned in the article was re-
ported to have been killed, as we'll as The
. Can correspondent. A relative of one of
q the men believed to have died from a bull
let wound was at San Quentin when he
received the news of his brothers death
and was so overcome that he could hardly
enter the train which bore him to San