Anadarko daily democrat. [volume] (Anadarko, Oklahoma) 1908-191?, 1909-08-09

| tSs..S-.~ 49, 1851 the system OF
-S9s-,----@sa., mo, ing trains by
'..'' - telegraph, created
new railroad op-
Grating department, that of train dis
patcher and appointed Douglas as the
head of the department.
Douglas was the last of the tele.
graph operators who learned the bust.
ness on the pioneer lines constructed
by Ezra Cornell 60 years ago. Hav.
ing learned the printers trade I'm An.
gelica, n. Y, he started out to seek
work elsewhere. He found It in the
office of the Recorder at Dundee, n.
Y. This was in 1S49. Cornell had
recently extended his telegraph line
through that part of the state and
had established an office In the print
ing shop at Dundee. Douglas learned
to operate the Morse instrument. In
1S5l-the Erie telegraph line having
been put in oeration, with headquar-
ters at Elmira-Douglas, then 10, ap-
piled for place as operator and got
charge of the Erie office at Addison
n. Y. Soon afterward the telegraphic
system of running trains was adopt
ed by Mlnot.
The Morse alphabet characters
were in those early days OF telegraph.
ing perforated on tape as the mes
sage came to an operator, which un.
wound from a reel, and the operator
copied the message from the tape as
1t unwound Douglas had not been
long in the service when he dscov.
cred that he could translate the mes
sages by sound, and he ignored the
tare thereafter. One day eonduc.
tor was waiting et Addison for train
orders and he discovered that Doug.
las was paying no attention to the dots
and dashes on the tape
The conductor refused to accept the
order until Douglas had copied II in
his presence from the tape. Although
1t corresponded exactly with the mes
sage the operator had taken by sound
the conductor reported the unheard
.of act to telegraph headquarters.
Douglas was called there for repri.
mand, but he gave to the superintend-
cnt, who was the late l.. O. Tillotson
OF New York, such convincing exhibi.
ton of his ability to take messages
correctly by sound that he was pro.
NOTED to the general office. Although
the tape attachment to telegraph in
struments was not abandoned for
years, from that innovation of Doug
las in railroad telegraphy dated the
beginning of the taking of messages
by sound as a requisite of all opera.
tors.
No other railroad had yet adopted
the telegraph system of train running
orders and none adopted it for sew
eral years, the Delaware & Lacka.
wanna being the second railroad to
establish it as part of it's regular op
Grating system in 1856. The men who
dispatched trains on the Erie were
their own operators and no central
head had knowledge of the position
OF trains anywhere on the road. The
danger of this arrangement appealed
to Superintendent Minot, and when
the ability OF young Douglas came TO
his knowledge he made him chief dis.
patcher of the Delaware division and
subsequently originated and estab.
lished the department of train dis.
patching and made Douglas its head.
Douglas thus became the first train
dispatcher in the world.
Douglas rose to be superintendent
OF the Delaware division of the Erie,
succeeding Hugh Riddle, who succeed.
ed Minot as general superintendent in
1863, Douglas and Riddle resigned
after quarrel with Jay Gould.
Riddle went west, entered the sery.
Ice of the Chicago. Rock Island & Pa
citic, and rose to be president of that
company. Douglas subsequently be.
came general manager of the South
side railroad of Long island, and later
general superintendent of the New
York 4 Oswego Midland, now the
New York. Ontario & Western When
the late Vice-President Garret A. Ho.
bart was made receiver OF the New
York & Greenwood Lake railroad he
appointed Douglas superintendent of
the road, from which place he re.
signed TO become part owner and gen
eral manager OF the New York a Sen
Beach railroad and the Sea Beach Pal.
ace, one of the pioneer show places
and hotels on Coney Island. When
those interests were absorbed by 9th
ers Douglas became manager of the
Erie Express Company, which was aft.
erward purchased by the Wells. Far
go Company. Since then Douglas had
been engaged iN general railroad
work
Tramps Killed on Railroads.