The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1902-09-23
AN INCIDENT 7
Of the A Gil d q n { to
Roosevelt.
THE OPERATORS MIX
And Each Sends the News
Over the Line Of tho
Rival Com
pany.

cause newspaper men generally don't
consider things happening to them
selves in the course of their business,
of any interest to the public. Whether
! they have the right idea, at the risk of
becoming liable to the charge Of vio-
lating the ethics of the trade, l shall
recount the story brought back here
by one of the presidential party.
Just before the president was to
start from Pittsfield to Lenox, six
miles distant, member of the local re-
ception committee approached the cor
| respondents tally-ho and said that Mr..
Roosevelt had determined to go a lit
| tie out of his way and stop at the home
of ex-senator Dawes, and that as theirs
was a heavy vehicle and the presidents
| a light carriage, drawn by four horses,
they had better take short cut to
Lenox so as to be on time when Mr..
Roosevelt got there. This suggestion
was acted upon.
A mile from Lenox the correspond
ents tally-ho halted and waited for the
President. Half an hour passed and
the president was still missing. There
were thirsty reporters and telegraph
operators in the bunch and about half
Of these we're swearing softly because
of the long wait, especially as the trip
through New England had been barren
OF accidents out of which good copy
could be made. Another half hour
passed and still the executive wanting,
and not soul had come along the road
from the direction of Pittsfield. Then
farmer, astride one of four horses
drawing hay wagon at snail's pace.
| In oh hn inc
nothing better to do commented free
ly upon his whiskers, the cut of his
clothes and other things personal to
himself. But the farmer innocent OF
the critisism of which he was the butt.
and also of the CONSERVATION that he
was soon to cause his critics, pulled up
his team with long "whoa-a-,' and
Inquired, as he stroked his whiskers:
did you hear about the accident to
the PRESIDENT
Had galvanic battery been turned
on the little lot of news gatherers tEe
effect could not have been greater.
They started wild-eyed to their feet,
jumped from the tally-ho and sur
rounded the countrman who was act
ually dragged from his horse, while a
score of interrogatories were poured in
to his ear.
WAS the president hurt?" was the
substance of all the quiries.
Don't know" he drawled, "but one
man was killed-that might have been
him."
What sort of looking man was the
man that was killed." was demanded.
Kind of an ordinary looking fell
low. l saw them carrying him away
and came Long on"
The ordinary looking fellow" might
or might not be the president, and the
correspondents, five miles from the
scene of the accident, were distracted.
"Old Farmer Gibbons, half a mile
across that field, has telephone; may
be he might let us use it," suggested
the man who had brought the news.
4 In jiffy a dozen or more long-leg-
|, ged and short-legged men were sour
rying like frightened hares across the
stretch Of intervening ground. Arriv-
ing on Farmer Gibbons lawn, they
rushed madly on, knocking over dog
that tried to bar their way, and burst
ing through the owners door without
stopping to knock or to introduce them
selves. With the keen scent that a
blood hound has for his prey, they
smelled out the location of the tele-
phone, and while the Gibbons family
were wondering when the keepers OF
the lunatjcs would arrive, Pittsfield was
called up an few details of the accl-
dent were learned.
OF course the account they got was
very meager and very badly mixed, but
II had to do. Every man wrote like
mad for five minutes, and then the
chief operators of the Western Union
and the Postal Telegraph companies
gathered the pages together and made
for the hotel at Lenox, mile away,
in which each knew was station of his
company. The Postal man rushed up
to the operator at the hotel, who was
playfully lingering his key and painted:
Rush that!" t-
The man behind the counter looked
the copy over calmly and announced: !:
Cant; it'll have to be sent to the
main Office at Pittsfield."
There were many words said by the
Postal's chief operator that would have
to be represented by dashes in an ac-
count of the incident written for any
but yellow and pink newspapers. They
were all. however, predatory and ex-
planatory or the plain statement that
the other fellow would lose his job
If he didn't comply with orders. Then
the other young man ON the other side
of the counter began to realize the
situation and told his excited caller
that he might wire the stuff himself as
he was probably the faster sender OF
the two. His task finished, the Posta.
man turned thankfully away from tho
key, when his eye stopped at a sign
two feet from him that nesrly froze
his blood. 1t read: western Union
Telegraph company. He groaned, but
staggered over to the Postal's Office on
the other side of the lobby. There
was the Western Unions operator tick
ing Off the last page of his stuff.
y In the excitement of the moment
each operator had telegrapifed his mat
ter over the rival line.