The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1909-12-12

sufficiently interested in learning what
was going on outside of them and their
families were as much concerned here
in what was taking place at the plan
tations so that sufficient inducement
was made for the company to act.
First Steamer Signals.
"Before the completion of the tele-
phone line there was no way of learn
ing when a steamer was coming along
Afterwards directly one was sighted at
Waimanalo the fact was made known
to Central" and by him, we had men
in those days, to the public The
whistle would blow three times for
steamer off Waimanalo so that even
those who were not subscribers had
knowledge of her expected arrival. The
original operator in the Honolulu office
was a man by the name of Briggs, who
IS now in San Jose. He came down at
my request and he had very little to
do in the office. l had two beds in
the Office which was in Honolulu Hale,
and Briggs occupied one and I the other.
During the day when the calls were
few he used to walk around the water
front looking at the immigrants from
Europe and Asia who happened to be
coming in at the time. One night he
expressed himself as feeling under the
weather and for some reason I allowed
him to sleep in my bed and [ took his.
The next day he was quite i'll and I
told him it would not do for him to
remain there as I was out too much
to give him the attention [ believed
he needed l had him removed to the
Queens Hospital and few hours later.
while | was on the other side of the
island with some line men, Briggs was
removed to the quarantine station on
the island 1t had been discovered
that he had contracted smallpox, pre-
+, sumablv from contact with immi-
grants. When it was learned that I
had slept in his bed Doctor McKibbin.
examining physician, remarked that
my belongings would have to be de.
stroved by fire and everything went;
bedding. clothing and trinkets along
! with the Briggs collection of apparel.
+ Doctor McKibbin marveled at nv es-
cape and put it down to robust health
and strong constitution. I never suffer
ed any bad effects except the loss of
my clothing.
Kicks Began Early.
Aut LeltInDHt system OF honolulu
| in the early days was different from
that of today. But in proportion to
the number of phones in use we had,
| guess, almost as many kicks as "Cen-
trail gets today. The system then
had telephones requiring a double line.
| For instance, if you were on 81 and
you wanted to talk with the man who
had 43 you pulled down the lever at
the side of the box and gave the num-
Der you wished and then your own.
When you were through talking YOU
again pulled down the lever and wait
ed until Central intimated a desire to
! hear of your wants. You said Dis
connect and the incident closed. If
the operator was not told to disconnect
the line would stand connected for an
! indefinite period.
Cranks and Cranks.
At one time there were instruments
used that had a crank on one side and
when an operator was wanted the
crank had to be turned until your bell
rang. ANY break in the line, unless
the subscriber had information to that
effect, would cause lots of annoyance
and the cranks were in almost con
tlnuoUS ACTIVITY. 1t may be SAID.
parenthetieaIly. that the cranks We're
net always on the boxes. This class
Of instruments was used. mostly. on
private or long distance lines
In the old days the telephone was
/ really more of a household necessity
/ than now. If one did not care to walk
/ TO the next room or take his watch
! from his pocket he had only to ask
- Central and he was accommodated