The San Francisco call., 1899-10-06

centered in front of The Call office. At
the Merchants Exchange where old
ana young salts gather, where congre-
gate broWn-skinned shippers of all ma
u9HS ana dappeT captains of white
winged racers, The Call had placed a
puIleun board. The Examiner in utter
fatuousness, still blinded Dy prejudice
anu Jdundlce to the wonders of wireless
IeIeSraphy, tempted fate by erecting
another, cheek by jowl with it, Time has
us reVenges, and it was not long before it
o9k Io9k severe one on the temerar-ous
The Call flashed its bulletins to the
eNchange as fast as received, and they
We're posted almost simultaneously with
those IN front OF its business Office. At
IrSt each bulletin board had its crowd
IN less than ten minutes after the race
had started there was a movement from
the Examiner board TO The Call bulle-
IHs' me reason was as apparent as thai
Nnlch vas causing the same movement
uptOWn-WireleSS telegraphy was doing
It's work well. The Call was posting the
story OF the race and the Examiner was
IaKng 1t-faking it, too, in the face Of
men Versed in yachting knowledge.
FINALLY 1t quit even that and its boar,l
was thoroughly deserted. and an Exam
iner attendant, shamefaced at the expo
sure of fake, tore off what bulletins he
had posted and left il bare after the
nrst hour He did wiser at that than his
fellows at Third and Market streets.
The wonderful results of wireless teleg-
1
board, were the topics of conversation al
the Exchange all day, and, as at the uD-
town bulletin board, that in the Exhange
heid crowds all afternoon, the people
evidently impressed with the lesson that
had for Its text Marconi and wireless
telegraphy.
AT the Western Union telegraph offices
in this city an entirely different kind Of
excitement had been stirred up. Every
preparation had been made to receive the
MarconI' as The Calls yacht race bull
lEf1nG a hanrt dr1h Ivr. h. 1g-rR,.,
strikers. The way had been cleared for
il and the Office force was early on the
qut vive for the first tick that should an
nounce its arrival The manipulators of
the wired article of telegraphy We're agog
70 note the workings of the wireless.
They were attached to the old fellow and
while the advent of the new phenomenon
would be a triumph in electrical transmits
sion it is safe to say that its powers were
doubted. Consequently every ear was
cooked to detect the least halt in its step,
every eye wide to note the least totter in
its gait.
AT last the st}"Marconf" came. sharp
and distinct and connected, and the sec
ond and third. others following fast with
out break. The effect was magical AL
most all other business in the offices was
suspended while manager, operators mes
senger boys and other attaches gathered
to listen at the saunders at which the
MarcOni was making itself heard in it's
passage from the Atlantic haze off the
Jersey coast to The Call office
Only once did it wObble and this was
the exception that proved the rule of its
ACCURACY. One of the bulletins read:
"Shamrock's mainsail to starboard Co
lumbia's unintelligible word" The story
from Marconi had lost a word in the haze
between the yachts and Navesnk. That
was nothing when you come to consider
that the yellow journals had lost their
heads.
At the "Marconi" sounder in the West
ern Union offices an operator was sta
toned to catch the bulletins in passing
and to send them, on The Calls instruc-
tions. to its bulletin boards in various
cities of the State. The wonder of wire
less telegraphy was too good to be mo-
nopolzed in San Francisco and large
crowds in the various centers of Cali
fornia were given opportunity to testify
their appreciation Of this end Of the CEN
tury feat.
And when the race was over everybody,
even the yellow journalists when they
talked in private. admitted the greatness
of the achievement. Great, they said
was the discovery Of Marconi. And If
The Call would refrain from saying any
thing about it they would admit that
great was The Call that had made wire
less telegraphy the handmalden of modern
journalism.