Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1900-04-28
OF CUSTER FIGHT:
Operator Carnahan Tells the Part He.
Took in Sending Out the News
of the Massacre.

]. NJ. Carnahan. manager of the
Western Union Office at Missoula,
Mont, who was operator on duty at
Bismarck at the time of the Custer
massacre, tells the Anaconda Stan
dard in a recent issue OF the part he
took in sending out the news OF the
massacre. He says: ..4
On the night of the 9th of July the
steamer Far West, bearing the Woun-
ded from Reno's command of Fort
Lincoln, touched at Bismarck. Col.
Smith of General Terry's staff, and
DR.. H. r. Porter. the only physician
OF four who accompanied the expedl-
ton who escaped death, landed. Col.
Smith was the bearer of the official
report of GeneralsTerry to the depart
ment commander at st. Paul, together
| with hundreds of messages to private
parties throughout the country and
Immense bundles of special matter
for various eastern papers. +.
1t was then II O'Clock at night. Not
| SO much as a runlof of a fight had
reached those of all others most inter
ested until the arrival. Of the Far
West. There was, at that time, but
one wire between st. Paul and Bis
marck. No night operators were EN-
l5ployed, as we had only a tri-weekly
| train service west of Fargo in the sum-
mer time and zone at all in the Win
ter. This wire was usually divided
at Fargo, so nothing could be done
toward forwarding the great mass OF
information until morning. There
was the widest CONSERVATION at Bis
marck, and few of the inhabitnts Wis
tied their lodgings during the night.
The next morning I called up the
Fargo office and requested him to con-
meet us through to st. Paul, as was
the custom when we had an unusual
amount Of eastern business. He i'm
mediately asked Whats upe9" and
replied I" Cut us through and listen"
He persisted, and I then said: H"All
the Clusters are k1ued." This he re-
peated to the 81. Paul office, who, in
turn, gave it to Chicago, and so on to
New York. But two operators were EN-
ployed in the st. Paul office, Will Grid
ley and Ed Hughes. One of them
would receive from me while the other
kept it moving eastward.
Terry's report was the first to be
handled. This, together with the pri-
waite kilograms, we finished without
stopping for refreshments at ) O'Clock
the following morning. Up to this
time nothing had been given to the
newspapers aside from the short State
ment prepared by Colonel Smith dur
ing the afternoon, embracing the main
facts. After three hours sleep we
started in OF the newspaper matter
and for twenty-five hours we contin-
ued before clearing the table, having
put in forty-three hours out of forty
eight, with practically nj Interrupt
ton. .G
But about that special-after / had
sent away the brief message that ]
have referred to as having been pre-
pared by the consent of Col. Smith,
there was even greater eagerness
than ever on the part of the eastern
paprs. The curt statement that ]
had made simply whetted their desire
for messages and the editors all over
the country began to fire kilograms at
me o more news. While the gov
eminent messages were on the hook
| could not pay any attention to these
requests, but as soon as we had cleared
the wire of this stuff I did my best
to accommodate the eager publishers,
There were, as | said. thousands OF
words filed from the special CORE
~spondents in the field. AS all OF
these specials were filed by Colonel
Smith at the time he filed the official
reports, / could not give one the pref
erence of the others. as all had been
fled at the same time. In order to
be as impartial as possible, I prepared
an account of the Big Horn battle thai
was a little more detailed than the
brief message that T had sent earlier
This ! sent to all the papers that had
filed specials from their correspon-
dents in the field. This special was
accepted by the papers to which it was
sent with many expressions of appre-
citation. | don't think that ! ever
did anything in my life that was sc
appreciatiVely received.