Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1899-02-10
A DASH FOR NEWS.

I was the only American OPERATOR in
eastern Cuba in February and March,
1898. which were very busy montAs in
the cable office at Santiago, where ! hsd
been for four years. In the early part Of
1895 we seldom handled more than 80
messages a day, but after the insurrec-
Jion began the number rose to 80 and
100 duly, increasing a little every
month.
The cable from Santiago to Spain
goes under sea first to Kingston, Ja-
maica. thence to Porto Rico, thence to
ST. Croix, and from there to Paramaribo
and Pernambuco in Brazil. Gables from
Ps-nanbuco cross the south Atlantic
to st. Vincent, Cape Verde islands, and
from st. Vincent other cables extend to
Madeira, thence to Lisbon, and overland
to Madrid. There is also a less direct
cable from Pernambuco to st. Louis, in
Senegal, Africa, and thence to the Ca
nary islands and Cadiz.
Beside myself there was but one other
operator in the Santiago office, Laurin
Merode, a young Spaniard, who had
learned cable work at Lisbon. We
thought that 100 messages daily made
work enough, but over 800 passed the
day after the Maine was blown up in
Havana harbor. Four more operators
were needed, and we called to Havana
for help, but no notice was taken of
our appeal, and rather than desert our
posts and leave the company's business
undone we shaved night and day, al
ways hoping the pressure would moder-
ate.
One day we sent Is, 742 words in over
l, 100 dispatches, yet we were two hours
"back" at midnight, with Havana fun
ing at us over the land wire, and still
hurrying messages through the Cienfue-
gos cable. There were Spanish govern.
ment cipher messages from Sagasta to
Blanco, and Blanco cipher to Sagasta;
reams of bombast from the Cuban corre-
spondents Of the impartial and Correo
for Madrid, followed by more cipher to
Weyler at Barcelona from his brother
officers at Havana, and then the bank
ers and merchants quoting, selling and
ordering!
To add to our vexations the "mouse
mill" of the siphon recorder gave trou-
BILE constantly, and the clockwork that
carries the record tape broke down every
day or two. Now, a Spaniard is utterly
without native ingenuity. Merode wasa
tolerably good operator, but when it
came to rectifying faults Of the instru-
ment he was an infant, and all such
tasks fell on me.
Anything like clockwork I can ''tink-
er," but the mouse mill that works the
siphon pen is a very delicate bit Of
mechanism, which assists the faint elec-
trio impulses that come great distances
through the cable to move the ink point
of the recorder to and fro Oh the tape.
I suppose l had taken the record tape
clockwork and mouse mill apart 20 diff.
ferent times, and on the evening Of the
I'd Of April, after Merode relieved me,
/ set to work to wind a new motor coil
for the mouse mill, which had worked
SO very badly all day that rather than
struggle with it longer I had determined
to sit up all night and build a new
mill.
The cable house at Santiago is a most
lonesome place, particularly at night,
but q Spanish sentinel was supposed to
pass the door every three minutes.
These poor fellows were rarely paid,
and often looked in at the door to beg q
cigarette. So when the outside door
opened behind III that evening I sup
posed the incomer was the sentinel, and
I did not even look around till an
amused voice exclaimed, AHA, senors,
buenos nochesv'
A Spanish sentinel begging a cigarette,
does not speak in that tone, SO Merode
and I faced round with a jump. There
stood a rather tall, good looking young
fellow, in a white duck suit and white
cap, regarding us keenly, and a step be-
hind him was a typical Cuban rebel
sombrero, long mustachios, broad belt,
long boots, revolver and machete.
In an instant Merode was on his feet
and shouted, "Sentinelar at which
our unexpected visitors laughed good
~humoredly, and the Cuban said, II
must beg the senior telegrafero not to
distress himself concerning the worthy
ssetnel. for that watchful soldier is
now lying comfortably On his back out
side, wilma gag in his mouth, and his
hands are tied to his feet"
"Well, who are you and what do you
want here9" I exclaimed in Spanish.
'The young man in white duck
laughed. "You are an American; any
body could tell that by your Spanish.
Oh, I know about you. Speak English"
Certainly" I replied. "What do
You want here?"
1.-The news"
"What news?"
Are the Spanish warships, Vizcaya
aud Oquendo, still at Porto Rico? Has
the torpedo fletilla arrived there, or has