The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1912-09-03
SfMFCENTENNIAL.
Thomas F. Sloan Completes Fifty Years
Of Continuous Service With The
W.U. Telegraph Company.


locality, is a record of which any
man might weltbe proud. Such
is the record of our townsman,
Thomas F. Sloan, Esq.
OnSeptember l, 1864, Mr.. Sloan
was placed incharge of the West
ern Union telegraph Office in Nc
Connellsburg: hence on Septem-
ber |, 1914, he had served that
company for an unbroken period
Of fifty years. In that time he has
seen the line grow from a one
wire service to its present dimen-
sionsof forty-eight silent tmediums
for the instantaneous conveyance
of intelligence to millions of hu-
man beings in every part of the
Globe. His position embraced
not only the Office of operator but
included that of manager and
lineman. During the last forty
years he has been ably assisted
by his wife, who, when duty call
ed him out along the line to make
repairs, received and sent the
messages entrusted to the office.
In 1903, Mr.. Sloan was placed
in charge Of the testing station
at the Mountain House on Rays
Hill, thus adding to his RESPONSE
bilities.
He has five sons, all of whom
he trained, and they are now en-
gagged in telegraph work.
The first telegraph line between
the East and the West was built
through this place. The first ex-
perimental wire was made up of
several strands, and was not
satisfactory. Mr.. Sloan recently
found a few feet of that wire,
and as it was among the first
used for public service, both Mr..
Sloan and his Company prize it
highly. Years after the tele-
graph had become an established
necessity, he attended a recep-
tion>in New York given in honor
of the aged inventor, Mr.. Morse,
where he had the honor of shak-
ing hands with the wizard" "
and received his photograph and
his autograph.
During the Civil War Mr.. Sloan
was captured three times by the
Confederates making raids in
to this county-twice as pri-
vate citizen who was endeavor-
ing to save personal property,
and the third time when his of
fee was raided, his instruments
carried away, and the single line
of communication cut at both
ends of town. Fortunately, Mr..
Sloan had a set of instruments
hidden away, and as soon as it
was safe to do 50, they were
brought out, the line repaired,
and next morning after the raid,
he was able to place General
Averill, the pursuing officer, in
direct communication with Wash
ington.
Would space permit, columns
could be written relating Mr..
Sloan's experience while he
fought his way through blizards
and floods to find and repair bro
ken wires, and when he was max
ing his weekly trip to the Noun
tain House before daylight each
Monday morning. Naturally
modest, he seldom refers to them
except as matters of expected oc-
currence. When reporters for
the great dailies were trying ev-
cry route to reach the scene of
the Johnstown flood, Mr.. Sloan
bravely crossed the torrential,
bridgeless flood at Harrisonville,
with his tools strapped on his
back, repaired his line that had
gone down at that memorable
time, and notified the news agen-
cies, and his was the first wire
to tell to a waiting nation the de-
tails of that awful catastrophe.
The blizzards of 1883, and of
1914, were experiences in which
he realized the possibilities of
losing his life in a storm, especi-
ally during the latter, for there
was a time that day when he
could not assure himself of his
I------ H. L. IL c-..l G.