Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1901-07-20
A TRAGEDY OF The WIRES
John H. Raftery in Chicago Record
Herald.

Herald.
She was only a child of II years when
she sat down to the telegrapher's table
In the little station at Sussex to send
her first real dispatch. She never for
got that first message or the fright
ened, hesitating ann in which she
SLOWLY pounded out its dots and ,dashes.
1t was an order from a Sussex dealer
to a city firm ordering a carload of ice.
she was frightfully ratified, and the
operator at the other end had to break
In three or four times before the short
message was understood.
Where's j. K. ?" asked the city oper-
ator when the girl had finished her
message.
He took a night off. I'm just here
to take his place for one night. I'm a
beginner. It's my first real work"
Your first real message, I'll bet"
ratified the key.
How did you know?' The fair
haired girl was blushing now; was it
so bad? 2"
The sounder laughed for nearly a
minute, and Helen didn't know wheth-
er to get angry or smile too.
You're all right II. NJ" resumed
the expert, 'all right little girl
How did o know l was a girl?"
the new operator pouted, with a puz-
zled frown on her pretty forehead.
"Oh that's easy. They all send alike
at first"
"Oh thank you!" pettishly.
Keep cool, little girl, keep COOL
"Oh, I'm not angry" The scared girl
was afraid she was offending the
merry fellow at the other end.
That car load of icell, be along pref
ty soon. You ought TO be able to keep
cool then. Ha, ha, hi, hi!"
That's the way the acquaintance be-
gan. She asked j. X. about him-the
fast man" at the main office in Pitts
burg, and every time she got q chance
to sub" for the regular operator j. X.
would break in somehow and tease her.
But he showed flashes Of real kindness
too. His flashes of humor helped her
70 improve as no amount Of fry bust
ness" could, and he coached her with
out even limiting hat he really wanted
to help her.
One cool evening while she was Sit
ting in the office, the regular operator
now, a curly-headed young fellow with
mischievous eyes came TO the window.
Are you II. Mp" he asked, smiling
frankly.
Yes, sir" she blushed, laying down
her sewing.
We'll, I'm James Kirk, J. X, from
%Pittsburg," he said laughing with
pleasure. May l come inY"
She Unmatched the door OF her little
office and gave him such welcome as a
modest young woman may give to the
man who has been kind and respectful
to her, but whom she had till then
never seen.
That was the beginning Of the end.
He came often to Sussex after that,
and at Christmas time they were mar
ried and went back to Pittsburg to live.
1t was agreed that she too might work
in the anne office with him for a year
or so. She was yet a beginner" and
the novelty OF the fascinating business
had not begun TO stale upon her. Then
she liked to be near him, and-they
needed the money for the little home
they hoped soon TO make for them
selves. So for six months they were
very happy.
Always in the crowded, Gathering,
busy main office she could feast her
eyes o. him. They came together and
went home together, and their worka-
day honeymoon seemed like a long hol-
iday till the summer conventions be-
gan. Then Jim had to go with a
squad Of operators to help out at Phil
adelphia, and Helen he'd the first tears
of her married life.
cAAN ON NNh ''o NAS - Va
rushing press dispatches, political mes
sages and the hurly-burly of a great
telegraph office little Mrs. Kirk, tired,
sleepy and lonesome, was sitting at
her key pounding out a long rigmarole
about planks and platforms and candi-
dates and cancuses. The air fairly
hummed with the buzz of a hundred
saunders. All her attention was cen
tered upon the business passing in at
her attentive ear and turning into
good copy at the ends Of her flying
fingers.
Suddenly out of the bedlam of sharp
noises she heard a volley of SHARP
clicks that sent the blood cold to her
heart.
Kirk d-e-a-d-" she heard thai
much, sounding like a distant, steel
toned knell. Her hands fell to her
sides, she clinched her teeth, and,
without an effort to listen, heard above
the clickety-click of the tumult the
very sounds that she should never
have heard:
Fell out t-h-i-r-d story win
dow That was enough for the
little Mrs. Kirk. Cold and uncon-
scious she slipped down upon the floor
and while kind comrades carried hel
away and sent for the doctor the fol
lowing message was handed TO the gen.
eral manager:
Your chief operator, Kirk, dead
Fell out third-story window Of the
hotel Ave minutes ago. Said Poor Hell
en- Please notify family and send
another man on the fast mail tonight,
Jenkins"