Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1906-04-22
OID.TIME OMAHA OPERATORS
RecollectiOns Of Pioneer Masters Of the
TELEGRAPH Key.
DOCTOR RHttw tNLMSs THE SUBJECT
what They Did aud How They Dia it,
whence they Came, whittier
they Have Drifted-Tricks
of the Trade.

reminiscent article on old-time teIe-
graphic days in Omaha. contributed to the
Telegraph Age by j. w. Hayes Of Port
land, Ore, and reprinted in The Bee Of the
eth Inst, has awakened similar memories
under the square gray dome" OF DR.. l.. M.
Rheem OF Omaha and Minneapolis. The
genial operator. transmitted into a doctor,
contributes his recollections to the current
number OF the Age and materially en-
arges and enlivens the literature OF the
subject. Dr. Rheem speaks in the language
OF the tribe, dscarding for the moment the
Norsk dialect. in which he has become
adept. He says:
when you suddenly ask a respectable
and respected grandfather like myself
to turn fip-hop back through the ever
green aisles Of thirty years. there TO paint
picture Of how we used TO do It, you must
remember that there is limit TO the Nd
mans strength, and you must make allow
ance for the inroads OF senility and the
magnifying power OF lens thirty years
thick. In retrospect there come TO me
shades, shadows, spirits, faces, accidents
and names in much profusion.
Few Of Them Left.
I'm addition 10 those named by Mr.. Hayes
az working in the Western Union office at
Omaha, recall the two w. II. Murphys,
who on account Of the color of their hair,
were known, respectively. as Full" and
Half rate" Murphy Mcmeans, who was
in Indiana somewhere the last heard Of
him about twenty years ago; r. s. (''Bob'')
Hayes now in the freight department Of
the Burlington road at Omaha; ROD"
Tyler, now in the milling business at Coun-
ell Bluffs. Iowa. George Nail, who pre-
ceded Frank p. Knight as chief operator,
and who IL now working in the Omaha
once; Ewing L. c'Dad'O Armstrong, also
nov in the Omaha once; Charles b.
Horton. bookkeeper. now superintendent OF
the third district at Omaha Frank j.
Burnley, check boy, who afterwards be-
came one Of the most finished operators in
the west. later leaving the business to
establish with his father and brother The
Burnley Printing company, which he is
still successfully conducting. Then there
we're w. L. Reed, Barker and Linton.
Later on in this decade. 1870 to 1880. came
Luke Fisher Tom Curry, chief operator,
both Of whom believe have passed away;
Con" Dwyer, also dead; w. E. Hubbard,
superintendent, who moved the ONCE from
Salt Lake City dead Charley Moore sup
erintendont's clerk. now in Superintendent
Horizons ohicel Frank Crttenton, night
chief. who Is now division chief in the
Western Union ONCE. Chicago; Perry
Chamberlain, now in the Postal service,
New York city, Edgar Allen. now prom
iuent and wealthy wholesale grocer Of
Omaha, and others whose names do not
come TO me.
welcome Relief.
Leaving the Western Union and taking
up the Atlantic a Pacific. and its twin
brother, the Union Pacific, at Omaha,
remember that q few years previous to
Mr.. Hayes advent In Omaha the repeat
ing office was in the Union Pacific head
quarters where superintendent j. ]. Dickey,
l.. II. Korty. Jake" Tallman, who died
recently In New York, and the writer made
up the day force, 'Jake" working the
Chicago wire, the ogden wire west. while
ISorty looked after No. Union Pacific, in
addition TO his clerical work and seeing
that Jake and l got to the once on time
in the morning. End kept our wires clear
II either OF us wanted to so out lust .
minute which more often than other
wise meant just an hour Korty was th'
relief l knew then and know now tha
we used 10 impose on him in this way. and
l want to say right here that am truly
sorry for my part In the imposition
This public acknowledgement ought Z,
make Korty feel good, and hope It will
for there never was and never will be {
more accommodating, a more patient, Z
Detter trlend counselor ana auNlsoT 10 th'
operators than L. II. Korty, who deserves
more than a simple acknowledgment.
The Night Force.
THE night force as remember II. con
sisted of Ed Dickinson, assistant dis
patcher. whose commercial duty consisted
of tending a Woods button repeater, To-
late press report He is another good mar
for other things besides tending buttoI
repeaters; as everyone knows he afterwar'
worked his way by sheer merit to the hea'
Of the Greater Union Paoinc railroad sys
tenn. retiring recently from the road as IL
general manager. He is now the vic
president and general manager of the Kan
sas City, Mexico & Oriental railroad. ant
is today just the same Ed to his oil
friends as he was thirty-hve years age
1 remember his telling me one night whei
we were specializing on what the futur
held in store for US, that II he could onl'
get enough of a strangle hold on Fate L