The Savannah morning news., 1904-10-13
A HUMAN FERRET.
The Lincman Whose Duty IL is to
Locate Trouble.


From the Buffalo Commercial.
To find the source of the trouble
when a break occurs in one of the
many circuits which include the thous-
ands of district messenger call boxes
in Buffalo looks, to a layman, about
as hopeless a job as a man could well
be set upon. A trained lineman APP
proaches the task with more conf
dence. but often even he Is stumped.
The break is there, somewhere along
the line, among the many twists and
turns which 1t makes on its way
through big office buildings and over
their roofs, but just where 1t is Is the
question. This is one of the things
which help to make managers OF the
big telegraph offices gray-haired before
their time. There are others, of course,
but none which perplex them more,
and so, when a manager gets hold of
q lineman who Is a specialist, as one
might say, in the art of locating these
breaks, he welcomes him with open
arms and sees him go with regret.
This is the case with Manager G. III.
Newman of the Postal Telegraph Com
pany's Buffalo office. MIR. Newman's
hair is jet black yet and part of this
desirable state of affairs can be at
trlbuted to the fact that he has among
his force of linemen one man who can
locate any break that ever happened,
or at least he has been equal to the
task of finding any one which has ever
happened yet
IL call this chap the human ferret"
said Manager Newman, chatting with
Commercial representative this
morning, because he can ferret out
trouble when no one else can locate
It," The human ferrets" real name
is Paul Lucell, and he has been a line
man for many years, first with the
Western Union, and of late years with
the Postal. For years Mr.. Lucell has
been so constantly repairing breaks in
balky circuits that It has became o
sort of second nature with him 10 go
almost directly to the cause Of the
trouble. Once found, of course, the
break is easily remedied. 1t is the To-
eating of IL that stumps most linemen
and all of them but experts like Lucell.
You see." explained Manager New
man, I'VE have forty-eight circuits on
which are the district messenger call
boxes. Each circuit will average about
100 boxes. The wires which connect
these boxes with the main office run
all over and through trees and In all
sorts of places where there Is q first
rate chance for a break These breaks
wire will get grounded in other words,
come in contact with some conductor
which carries the current to and into
the ground. The worst kind of break
OF all is what we call a swinging
break. In a swinging break a wire
becomes broken inside the covering
which protects II. AS long as the line
is quiet 1t works all right. With every
gust OF wind, however, the ends of
hos "a
current cannot reach its destination.
Naturally these breaks are hard TO
locate. Any break is serious because
generally Il puts every box on that
circuit out Of commission for the time
being, and until the break is located.
Here is where Lueel's work comes In.
He has been at the business 80 long
and has been up against every con-
ceivabIe kind of break so often, that
he can locate the source of the trouble
In a space Of time that seems miracu-
lous TO the uninitiated. l have known
him to locate break simply by the
sense OF feeling. This comes In where
there is a bad connection somewhere
along the line and the current flows
haltingly. Lucell has such a fine
touch that, by feeling Of wire, he
can tell whether the current Is normal
~ strong or not, and thus he goes
over the line uIllii ne lllibo tiN allttA1h
spot !" Lucell has been called In and
found breaks where man after man has
tried and had TO give It up.
"a few months ago" said Mr.. New
man, 1--WE. sent him to Niagara Falls to
locate a break which three men had
tried 10 find. A circuit was out Of or
der and the break could not be found.
The break was peculiarly tantaliz-
ing one. as the circuit would work all
right for hours at time and then all
OF a sudden II would get out OF order.
An hour or so later Il would be all
right again. Lueell was told how the
circuit was acting and he made straigh
for a restaurant which was on the cir
cult. He found that the wire passed
beside "a swing door which connected
the dining room and a kitchen. The
wire ran along one side of this door
and one Of the door was swung open by
one Of the Mattresses II Jared a
break I'm the wire and put the wire out
Of commission. When the door was
rhut the two broken ends Of the wire
came together and formed a good cir
I... H.