Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-01-07

printing, and again he chuckles tc
himself or laughs broadly and loud
ly. This is when he has struck 6
funny bull in a dispatch, and they
are many.
The object of this article Is to print
some of my experiences in this line
as we'll as some which have been tolt
me, and 1t is remarkable how the dots
and dashes of the telegraph code car
displace themselves, making combi'
nations of letters which puzzle thc
Telegraph editor to decipher. In the
last Is years many telegraph opera.
tors have naturally graduated into
the telegraph editors chair, and the
number Of bulls which get into the
paper are minimized.
The worst tangle Of letters l was
ever called upon to untangle was when
was working for a San Francisco
paper. A dispatch came in dated
Carson City, New, saying that Charles
Crockett, the millionaire, was going tC
KJKHEO for a few weeks camping
trip.
This ridiculous combination Of let
ters meant less than nothing, and al
intervals I studied it until 1t got on
my nerves good and plenty. But in
stead Of killing the article, I put q
man on the desk and set myself to
solve the riddle. I did 1t, but it took
me two hours to do it. Being a teleg-
rapher, I set down every combina-
ton I could and studied them until al
last I evolved the fact that Mr.. Crok-
er had gone to Lake Tahoe on his
outing. The Morse characters form
ing "Kjkheo," with proper spacing
and spelling, making Lake Tahoe.
Another time, in Denver, I found
that a new Y. M. c. A. building was
to be erected at X. Keuka. This
localized and turned the K. Keuka
into La Junta.
New York newspaper men and
operators will never cease talking
about the ridiculous blunder the tele-
graph editor Of the Herald let slip
through his fingers. 1t was when the
ice palace at Montreal burned down
The Herald came out next morning
with a flare head about the "Yo'
palace burning down, and all through
the article wherever the word ice oc-
CURED the operator had it yo, and sc
| it went to the public. The characters
for ice being all dots, could make q
very respectable ''yo" to the ears OF
careless operator. A dispatch an
nouncing that an enormous shipment
of Irish" mackerel had been made
from Gloucester, Mass, I quickly
turned into fresh" mackerel.
David R. Downer, once manager
of the Western Union in New York
was heartily laughed at when, in g
press dispatch he had the U. S. S
Tennessee ordered to the Brooklyn
nasty yard. AS a letter V is three
dots and a dash, and S. T. three
| dots and a dash, Dswner was only
accused of carelessness, and the word
nasty" was changed to navy before
any harm was done.
Walter P. Philips, author Of Fhil-
ips' telegraphic code and for many
years manager Of the United Press
association, told me of a funny bull
he once made when taking press In
Providence. R. I. 1t seems there was
celebration of some kind in Boston
in which the state militia participated
In the dispatch Philips had the pro-
cession led by IAN Irishman from New
Bedford" and thus it was printed In
the paper. The "Irishman" from New
Bedford turned out to be "a. n. Cush-
man."
Thomas T. Eckert, late president
of the Western Union company. told
me the following incident, and classe6
1t as the funniest bull he ever saw
One day an irate society lady bounc-
ed into his office, flourishing a tele-
gram, and excitedly exclaimed:
Now, Mr.. Eckert, what does this
mean? Here's a telegram from home
and it says 'Unclean Gus is dead.
I've been after that blonde operator
of yours in the Fifth avenue hotel
and she says it's right. What have
you got to say about it, sir?
Mr.. Eckert took the telegram, stu.
died it a moment, and then asked:
Have you an Uncle Angus, mad
am?"
! Yes, sir: my mothers brother. Why
what about him." she replied.
only this: am sorry to inform yor
that your Uncle Angus is dead"
| "Unclean Gus" and Uncle Angus wa:
easy to Mr.. Eckert, but a riddle tC
the woman.
| Jerry Borst was a well known teleg-
rapher during the civil war times il
New York The city was full Of sol.
diers passing through and waiting or
ders, and the wires were busy. Jerr!
worked a hot Washington wire, ant
one day received a message about the
movement of officers equipment. L
was addressed to Gen. Basagterry.
Up to the day of mis- death Jerr!
used to tell about it and laugh up
roariously when he would say: "B!
| ginger, it took them four days to fine
out that the message was for the Ger
Bag Agt. Erie Ry."
The New York Times, when Groves
| Cleveland was running for governor o
New York state, printed a speech o.
| Clev Glands in which he sail in The be-
ginning and throughout the speech
'Ko, ko, fellow citizens" etc. Tine oper.
ator was evidently an inexperienced
one, for the letter k. o. were meant fol
punctuation mark for a colon. Th'
telegraph editor was possibly an ad
mirer of the Mikado, which was OF
the boards at the time, for he let i
pass unchallenged. The sending oper'
atOr made two colons to make sure
of it.
| Pettingill & Montgomery is hardly
recognizable in "Petting i'll in Mont
gomery." while the names of cite:
which pass through the hands of tele.