El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1899-08-03
!; Dog Telegraph
Operator
Its Tail Could Spell Only One
Word, But That Word Was
Effective.

The old-time operator. who long ago
lost his arm, put who. with many of
his kind exists pleasantly on no sp-
parent income and in an altogether
mysterious manner that ought to give
the rest of the world ~unbounded faith
in Providence, leaned against the desk
In the telegraph Office and lazily took
on q blank form q message that was
got as far as 81 will be no" and
then q repeater ear him began to
~clatter with q market report going
across the continent and drowned out
the clicking that told of someone's
coming home. It was q quiet hour in
the office. The one clerk was working
on q report of receipts and a group OF
messengers were fussing in a corne
"That market report going out
west" remarked the old-time opera
tor to no one in particular" reminds
me of a good story an old partner who
worked out there, told mo-"
"That sop" said the clerk glancing
up for q moment. "Whst was it,"
The messengers quieted and drew
closer. Being thus encouraged the old
timer continued:
"Billy was working for some rusty
railroad and there were only two sta
tions on the line besides the terminals.
Billy was the whole thing at one of
these stations, and a young fellow
whose call over the wire was e'B' was
operator at the other. The way Billy
told 1t he didn't see many human be-
ings in a month, and anything out OF
the usual that turned up was a eat
to him. Well he was standing in the
door If the station one hot afternoon
wishing for something to happen.
cur appeared around the curve to
the east and came trotting toward
the station. Billy said that the dog
seemed to have q smile on it's face. 1t
squatted on the platform and lOOke up
at Billy. Billy spoke to 1t, and 1t seem
ed to him that h dog had the most
nervous tail he had ever seen a dog
wear. AS Billy went on to talk to the
cur the tail became agitated, and
Billy caught the rappings of the dogs
tail on the planks. The raps made
four dots, dot, long dash, five dots. over
and over again-I suppose you boys
have learned the code,'' said the story
teller turning to the messengers, land
know that that spells the word 'help?'"
Some of the boys nodded and SOM
only looked sheepish.
"When the dogs tail, he continued,
''kept on pounding out that word help
Billy realized that the cur was q won
der and he called it into the office. A
dog telegraph operator ven if he can
only make one word, isn't to be run
across every day. The little u was
desperately hungry and gobbled up q
big chunk Of meat that Billy gave him.
Then it jumped on the desk and lay
down, as if it were used to no other bed.
1.-THE road that Billy worked for was
principally q carrier for silver bullion
from mines and smelters at one termi-
nal to q trunk line at the term1-
nal. OF course, there was considerable
attraction for train robbers, but there
hadn't been a nold-up since Billy was
employed On the road. just at this
time, however, q gang OF desperate
men-and they weren't hard to find in
the west in those days-had determined
10 have q try at the bullion train. The
trains had to slow up on the curve just
east of Biliy's station and this point
place for them to operate. According
ly, a few nights after Billy had adopted
the dog operator, he was awakened by
a rough hand being laid on his mouth,
and an equally rough voice told him to
keep his head shut. Billy was dead,
but he realized what was going on,
particularly when n of the men in
the Office look down the red lantern
from it's nail and lighted it.
1.-THE gang agreed that Billy must
be tied and he was soon fastened good
long piece of rope. The gang then
went outside. Billy was sort Of dizzy
with excitement, but when he turned
his head and saw the little yellow cur
squstting on the table near the key
and soupder, a feeling that he had a pal
came over him. He spoke softly to the
dog, and that started the ervou tail.
The tail hit the key, and Billy could
tell by the sound that by some chance
it was open: The dog sent that one
word help owe and yer again.
Billy kept on talking to the dog,
and wondered what the effect of the
nervous tail would be in B.'s Office. By
stretching his neck he could see
through the window, for the moon was
up, that the desperadoes were at the
curve. They were too far away to hear
the instrument. The train would be
there in an hour, Billy calculated. The
minutes dragged on, and the dog curl
ed up and went to sleep. just then
awakened by the clicking of the instru-
ment. He asked what was the matter
again and again, and all Billy could do
WAS to lie there and swear, and pres
emily the sounder shut down. Billy
could not make himself believe that
the good luck would happen that the
other operator would stop the train
and warn the He didn't know
what a bright young fellow 'B.' was.
"It seemed hours to Billy before he
heard the distant roar of the coming
train. Pretty oon The track began to
sing, and the train was only a short
distance the other side of the curve.
The suspense must have been some
thing terrible. The train stopped
obeytng the signal of the red lantern
swung across the track. In a moment
more Billy heard a u0llau of shots. A