The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1907-05-23
rEIEonApH OPERATORS JOKE.
In Fun He Sent Gable Message TO
Emperor Napoleon.


''The story OF Billy Holtbam's
costly joke illustrates that the laugh
is not always on the side of the
JOKER" said w. d. Bassett, an old
time telegraph operator to a reporter
OF the Kansas City Star.
"The incident occurred a short
time after the Civil War, when Holt
ham was assistant operator in Dem
yer, Col. In those days two operat-
ors did all the work of the Denver
office. Holtham opened the office
one morning, took the daily paper,
and began reading about the war be-
tween Germany and France. All at
once the desire to perpetrate a prac-
tical joke seized upon him. Taking
the pencil from his pocket he indited
the following cablegram upon one
of the Office blanks:
"To the Emperor Napoleon. Garden
of the Tuilleries, Paris, France: Colo
RADIO will not accede to the cession
of Germany to France. Please let
Bohemia alone, Gov. Gilpin or any
other man.
sent the cable to the man on duty
there, just as he would have sent
bona fde cablegram.
Omaha was the repeating Office
for all Eastern business. Holtham
then tore up his copy and threw the
remains in the waste-basket. Then
he sat down and laughed He sup
nnan6 hn I.,tt t., L.
would, of course, see the joke and
after laughing himself over it would
throw his copy into the waste basket.
But the Omaha operator was a man
who took everything seriously and
hanging the cablegram on the New
York hook thought nothing more
about it.
This happened about the middle
of the month and nothing more was
heard of the fateful cablegram until
about the middle of the following
mouth, when Mr.. Woodward, the
Denver manager of the Western
Union Office, received the following
message from the secretary of the
cable company in New York:
" Please come down with the
dust
woodward scratched his head,
but could not solve the enigma, and
replied:
Don't understand your message
about dust. Please explain
In due time an answer was re-
ceived, saying:
dXour cobIaOroro 70 Ep,raror Mo
poleon, Garden of the Tuilleries,
Paris, France, signed Governor Gilpin
or any other man, $1S7.5O in gold,
please remit
AT this juncture Billy Holtham
stepped in, and, pushing the message
toward him, Woodward remarked:
What do you suppose that New
York idiot means by that?'
"Holtham read 1t and, turning
pale, blurted out: Why, I sent that
thing to- Omaha as a joke, supposing
the man receiving 1t there would see
the point and throw his copy into
the waste basket as did with mine
'Joke!' replied Woodward, an
grily. DO you understand that gold
is now worth Just two to one and the
cost of your little joke is $375?'
Manager Woodward wrote a letter
to the cable authorities explaining
the matter to them and asking that
the cablegram be cancelled, hut they
were inexorable and demanded pay
ment in full. At that time cable
grams were enormously high and
payable in gold at that The result
was that poor Holtham had to make
the amount good and the telegraph
company permitted him to pay $50
a month until the whole sum was
paid. Fortunately operators were
then paid 1925 month salary, and 1t
was not as hard upon Holtham to H.
quidate the obligation AS it would
be upon telegrapher at the present
day, with salaries so greatly reduced.
"The late Edward Rosewater, who
was manager of the West Union Of
hce at Omaha when the incident took
place. secured copies of the cable
gram and of all the correspondence
relating thereto, and put the whole
thing in a frame, and it is no doubt
somewhere among his collection Of
telegraphic curiosities."