Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1917-02-01
Switchboard HeroSnes
New York Sum

| bells in the various sheds to give warning OF
impending disaster she probably saved the lives
heroic action. But telephone girls have way
of doing just that sort Of thing.
| Although Miss McNamara's courage in re-
naming at the switchboard in the munitions
plant and doing what she considered her duty
in the face OF what seemed certain death was
especially conspicuous, there are many other
cases on record in which telephone girls have
stuck to their posts in spite Of danger. They
have done so while fire was licking at the very
doors of the rooms in which they were working
while foods have threatened the destruction of
the building from which they were sending out
the alarm.
But in the case OF another girl the danger
that threatened came slowly. She had ample time
to give full consideration to the peril she would
encounter il she remained at the board. Un-
preferred to do so; but she didn't. Her decision
to remain at her board and spread the alarm was
the means of warning hundreds OF persons who
were thus enabled to get outside the danger zone
in time.
This was the case OF Miss Airline Barneil, an
operator in the exchange at GAINESVILLE, O., during
the great food in March, 1918. in spite OF the
fact that the water rushed through the street in
which the telephone exchange was situated. at one
time rising as high as the second story Of build
ings in close proximity to the exchange; in spite
Of the fact that FIRE caused by the food
at one time threatened the, exchange, Miss Bar
nell remained at her post and spread the alarm
up to the very moment that the local telephone
system gave out
When the local system gave out there still
remained open wire to New York and over this
Miss Barnell sent an appeal to the world at large
to send relief in the form of food to the starving
and pent-up inhabitants of GAINESVILLE. Because
OF the fact that the rushing waters had leveled
all telegraph wires leading out OF the city it was
% Nax, VArty tba fr,ta midi
tons that existed in the Ohio city until Miss Bar
nell sent the facts over the one remaining tee-
phone wire
Miss BarnelPs own version Of the conditions
that existed in the Aood-detastated city was pic
turesque. To the person at the New York end
OF the wire she said:
From the front windows we can see bodies
floating in the water and everywhere the scene
is awful. The town is in darkness, as the electric
plant has been swept away and our only light
is from the one gas main that hasn't broken.
"You cannot even family imagine how horrible
it is here. The only telephone line left is long
distance over which | am talking to you in
New York. An the way up Main street to Second
street the water is very very deep: 1t is at least
right up to Sixth street, where this building Is
located We can see the buildings burning down
from our windows. Tell the people everywhere
to send us food
"I'm pretty tired tonight, but must keep on
working There are four girls here and we
haven't rested since day before yesterday But
we don't think OF ourselves when we remember the
poor dead women and babies down there under
the water.
Don't forget to tell people to send us food
and clothes and medicine. We don't need money.
1t would be just in the way and il can't buy what
we need Don't forget to tell them that-good
night, New York"
Now that the heroic deeds Of Miss NIGHTMARE
and Miss Barnell in the face Of explosion and
food have been recorded, it is time that the case
Of the telephone girls In the exchange in Suffern
N. r., was considered. Those girls had to face
the peril III FIRE when they committed themselves
to the task Of remaining at work sumnioning
assistance from neighboring towns. The peril
was SO imminent that the heat cracked the win
dows beside which they worked
The FIRE started early in the morning Of Sep
TENDER %, 1915. 1t destroyed the largest hotel
in the town. the Rockland house, and for time
threatened the town itself.
From the windows of the exchange the tee-
phone girls were able to grasp the extent of the
blaze, which was famed by high wind. With
out undue deliberation the girls summoned
assistance from the fire departments in Paterson,
,Ridgewood Spring Valley. Tuxedo, Ramsay
Waldwiek Lawrence and other places.
The girls had been notified to leave their posts
because of the impending danger. This they abso-
lutely refused to do until they were assured that
their efforts had brought the needed assistance.
In January, 1915 the west furnished proof
that the plucky telephone girl was not a product
Of any particular locality. 1t was on January 10
Of that year that three yeggmen tried to break
into the telephone exchange at Andale, Kan,
and destroy the means of communication after
cutting the telegraph wires in the Missouri Pa
ci6c station soon after o'clock in the morning.
They might have succeeded had it not been
| for the courage displayed by Miss Clara Dressed
| 10 years old the telephone operator. She was
awakened by the splintering of the door panels.
| She reached for an automatic revolver and began
| firing the robbers retreating before the timex
| pected attack
As she shot she pushed the plug into the num-
| BET of Town Marshal Helder and notified him
of what was happening The marshal rang the
| fire bell. The town began to wake up. Miss
| Dressed in the meantime had got the Wichita
| police on the wire and eight policemen started
| along the Missouri Pacific tracks.
| Despite the fact that their presence in town
| had been made known by Miss Dresseps prompt
| action in notifying the marshal, the robbers set
to work to blow open the vaults in the state bank
| For two hours while the safebowers worked their
| pals outside stood off the citizens, who had been
aroused by the telephone girl. With the entire
| town firing in their direction the yeggmen
| worked coolly. Three hundred shots were poured
into the bank, and every window in the main
4 street was broken by the fusillade.
| After the third attempt to blow the safe had
! exhausted their supply Of dynamite the robbers
| got into automobile and sdrove off, followed by
| many shots. The machine broke down and they
| were forced to take to the railroad tracks, where
| the police from Wichita summoned by Miss Dres-
sell met them. Three of the yeggmer were cap
| tured but fourth escaped.
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