The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-05-08

n NEWSPAPER published on the
high seas has scored a beat"
the first since wireless telegraphy has
made it possible to publish papers be-
fore landing1 It was in this wise: The
Red Star steamer iceland, on April
IL, was pushing her way toward New
York some distance east Of Nantucket
on her way from Antwerp. The "bone"
was tumbling picturesquely back upon
the green water from her towering
bows as she made her way onward. It
was early In the morning, but up in a
little house on the deck the quietness
OF the hour was broken by cracking
sounds like irregular pistol practice.
accompanied by blue-white lightning
flashes. A wireless telegraph operator
with his big handled key was opening
and closing the circuit. For several
minutes he continued. Then he shifted
the connection from the sending to the
receiving apparatus and waited a cor
responding number of minutes. There
was no responsive clicking, and again
ne set the interstellar ether in motion
with his mysterious wave making ma
chine. Then he listened once more for
the reply, but still none came For an
hour or more he continued this feel
ing in the air. At last his patience
was rewarded, for there was a faint
clicking and the tape began to unroll,
displaying dots and daShes. He had
picked up the Nantucket shoals light
ship, forty miles southeast of the is
land OF Nantucket, the first wireless
telegraph station on the coast Of the
United States reached by west bound
steamers. After a few preliminary
messages had been sent, the regular
news items for the newspaper began
to tick off. The first started somewhat
like this: "A-d-m-i-r-a-l M-a-k-a-
r-o-ff-'-s f-l-a-g-s-h-f-p P-e-t-r-o-
p-a-v-l-o-v-s-k SUNK, M-a-k-a-r-
off a-n-d-
The operator on the iceland broke in
here with a message conveying the
following information to the operator
on the Nantucket lightship:
"B-e-h-i-n-d the t-i-m-e-s. Pub
l-i-s-h-e-d THAT y-e-s-t-e-r-d-a-y
In extra U-m-b-r-i-a."
This was the beat. The news had
been received by wireless telegraphy
on April IL from. the Umbria, which
sailed from New York on Saturday,
April 16.
Fortunately perhaps, for the jaded
mind Of the Spectator, the dream of
the writer of fiction who a year ago
published in one of the magazines
story OF a Spectator who sailed for
Europe to have few days of rest, and
was confronted day by day with the
quotations of the stock market and the
possibility Of giving orders regarding
the buying and selling of stocks, has
not been realized yet. The use Of the
invention, however, has become so
common that it was possible year ago
to play a rather cruel practical joke
on passenger on one of the French
liners. This particular passenger had
large quantity of the stock of a
Northwestern railroad. Two of his
fellow passengers knew Of his big hold
ings. When the steamer locked he
dashed down the gangway and up to
the first newspaper man he could find.
How is the stock market-any
panic?" he gasped.
There is nothing particularly alarm
ing about it that 1 know off, replied the
reporter.
Wasn't it bad early in the week."
Not that / know Of" replied the
newspaper man. "A pool of $4,000, 600
was formed, but no o.s applied for
loan"
Then there wasn't panic."
mo"
The man heaved a sigh of relief Aft
er passing out of range of the wireless
telegraph land station one of his ac-
quaintances had announced in the cab
in that there had been a panic because
of a drop in the stock held by him.
Quotations were given, and after a
while the Spectator began to figure
where he stood. He soon discovered
that on the basis Of the quotations he
had lost $50, 900. 1t is needless to say
he suffered mental anguish from that
moment until the ship reached New
York
1t is only a little more than a year
ago that the first newspaper ever
printed on the ocean was taken damp
from hand press on the steamship
Etruria. About midnight on Feb. 6,
1903, as the Etruria was nearing the
coast of Ireland. she entered into COM
munication with the wireless telegraph
station, seventy miles away Several
news items We're received on the tape.
The purser edited the copy the ships
printer set it up immediately, and two
hours after it had been received the