The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1904-08-07
THE STORY OLA + x STORY $, ,::'
How THE Tale Of a Ticker
Served to Renew Acquaintances

Served to Renew Acquaintance
&C. Boyd, In the Roanoke Times
In the peaceful little town OF Salem,
Va, there lives to-day a + i ripe Age.
though still hale and hearty, and with
an apparent long lease Of life before
him, Virginia gentleman who has just
rounded out half a century in the tele-s
graph service. He is William s. Oakley
manager Of the Western Union telegraph
oflice-h position he held for5a8lons time
prior to the outbreak OF ltostilities be-
tween the States. and one he has held
continuously since January, 1865. ss4s q
8 Mr.. Oakley, before assuming the man
agenent ofthe Salem Office for the second
time was stationed at different points In
the state. II In 1857 he opened the first telc-s
graph office and sent and received the
first kilograms ilf-ithe town of #Farmville.
During the Civil War he was detailed In
the Confederate service and for several
years Of that stormy period In Americas
history he transmitted and received thou
sands Of kilograms Of the most impor-i
Gtant character. ~ ID 34 5is * e.
The first thing taught u telegraphe by
( his superlors ors seniors, Is the value Of
secrecy. His en- lire success In the profess
sion, after he has ma stcred the alpha bet,g
depends upon his a bility to keep his
mouth shut. He must know things and,;5
4 at the same time he must be ms ignorant
as the most benighted Celestial Of the
Orient If hesS takes the cue and starts
Alright. lie soon ceases to be interes ted In
anything tina pnsses through his hands
and brain. kilograms involving mill
lions OF dollars 30 In one arfand out
Of the other; messages ofscondolerce and
tidngs OF la ppiness are ia ken down and
at The same time. forgotten; n dispatch
ordering the movement ii Of MI army Is
Transmitted and the text y oroye buried
SO far,8 at least, as revealing 1T to an out
slider Is concerned. Messages OF the vast
est Import gcs that the business
man or tho politician or the solder5or the
loverFor the gambler .hesita tel or Decline
through fear Of leakage. to place in the
hands OF Uncle Sam himself for trans!
mission through his malls, nrc entrusted
to the telegraplier. But they all look alike
10 the man who knows how to keep a
secret. Tho trust imposed is held. as
sacred al the marriage vow.
And yonder in Salem, Is a gentleman
who. for more than nifty years--tnore than
nineteen thousand days and nlghts-has.
sent and received kilograms Of every Inn
aginable sort. 1s It any wonder then.
that his mind is n cemetery filed with
dead secrets and dotted with vaults that
are stockcdswith n wcll-nigh inexhaust-.
bic fund OF incidents and anecdotes?
Notlong n go there appeared In the coll
umns Of The Roanoke Times little
story which dealt with a telegraph sound
err In the Western Union Office at Salem.
Tho narrative WAS headed. Hrhe Tale Of
a Ticker" IT related how a small In
strumcnt constructed OF wood and brass
and guttnpercha and wire. after doing
| daily service on tho telegraph line for L.
L a,ta
suddenly slenccd by n ruthless bolt OF
| lightning The story told how tho sound
| err, had been carried through the Civil
by William S. Oakley; OF how many
kilograms 1t had recorded; OF how many
words 1t had spelled out; of how many
Morse letters 1t had licked into the keen
cnl Of lts master; OF how many millions
| of dots and dashes II had pounded OF al
| the instance of its friend of battle and Of
peace and of how many thousands of dol
| lars it3had made for the great telegraph
! company
THE Tale OF a Ticker" was taken up
/ by the Virginia Press and soon spread 10
| other States. 1t was clipped by telegraph
/ ers and mailed To their fraternity organs
| and to the telegraph Journals The night
| operator in the lonely. out-of-the-way
railway station, to break The silence Of
| his long ind weary Vigil, picked up The
county sheet and read over the wire
The Tale az "A frIckern 10 his brother
workers hundreds of miles distant. The
man in the Junction office relayed tho
i story and sent II along the line In a
i few days THE Tale OF Ticker" from
the columns Of The Roanoke Times, had
been copied into hundreds Of newspa pers,
and had been heard on telegraph saunders
by thousands oftelegraplers IN as raany
tnwns throughout the United States.
The man who figured In the story has
heard II ffoin every Quarter of the coun;
t!r,and THE Tale OF a Ticker has served
10 frlshen and brush up some things
II that Mere inferred with their birth dur
Ing tho earlier half Of the sixties, A few
days ago Mr.. Oakley received n newspaper
t7om u little town In Colorado. on The
front page of this western publication. II
most conspicuous place Was printed
nnder, big. blackftypeA heading. .rht
Tale of q Ticker" and on the vide white