Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1918-11-11
IT WAS 4 LONG
WAIT,BUT WHO
MINDS IT NOW
rook Is Hours Vigil on the Wire to
Get 8 Story That Could Be
Told in TIVE Words
,rTT TURNED OUT ALL RIGHT
,.lsrrsph Force, worn and Weary,
was There and Ready Whea
the B}0w-0f Came.

waiting even for the biggest
Is sfory that ever came over the
80 IS tedious business, if one
~sifs long enough II anyone
s,nbts il lei him interview the first
decorated Press operator or the
- telegraph Editor he meets. Ii.
rsburn. who takes The Argus wire
Snort and who did a continuous
trirk of 20 hours. is especially COM
pe,ent TO testify
Wben Marshal FoCh gave the
German pleUipotenuaries 2 hours
:, which 10 reply TO the terms of
s--,jsrice there was nothing to do
mt TO keep the wires open till the
snsuer came. Relief operators are
s-srce and assistant telegraph edi-
- scarcer outside the big cities.
That threw all the work on a single
shift
After their regular trick Friday
.bsse men stuck 10 their posts most
~ Friday night Saturday they
we're on deck bright and early in
,be morning. The days news re-
,ort was handled. When, in the
sfrernoon. big things began break
ing in Germany the tension grew.
FTpectauon seemed warranted that
some action on the armistice would
mi be long delayed. Everybody
stood By prepared for the blow of.
Dummies were prepared for spe-
fjaI edition and everything was
kent in readiness TO have the story
IN the streets IN q few minutes aft
e. the fash" came. But il did not
cone.
Spend Fruiless Night
All night long the vigil was main
tanned. In the early hours of the
morning the wire was silent for
several hours and some Of the
watchers managed 10 snatch a few
winks Of sleep.
Sunday forenoon matters livened
NJ q bit when 1t became known
that the revolution across the Rhine
was spreading rapidly and that
there had been riots in Berlin.
But the announcement also came
that the courier wi.h armistics
terms from the allied headquarters
did not reach German headquarters
til 10 a. m Sunday. Berlin was
sill waiting for the text and pre-
sumabiy nothing would be done till
the reichscag passed upon the pro-
posals. IN the afternoon a dispatch
stated that the former kaiser had
fed TO Holland
Hope OF an end of the suspense
rose early Sunday evening when
mysterious limitations came over
tie wire mat something might
break al any moment The hag-
gard and drawn watchers pulled
themselves together and again pre-
pared for eve1tualities. 1t was a
false alarm, and after a vain wait
everybody once more relaxed and
grimly settled down for another
night Of it
As the hours passed the bunch in
the Office dwindIed slowly. The
buzZing OF the telephone became
less frequent. The city was going
to bed-tO sleep on its arms" CON
sisting Of making instruments
and flags Somebody started a
pitch game. Those not interested
either as participants or spectators
and rooters, dczed, The telegraph
instrument clicked away and the
hours dragged along.
Good bye Sandwich.
AT las D. m it came. Flash : -
The operator at the moment hap
Pened 10 be standing eating a
sandwich With one Of those dull,
sickly thuds the sandwich hit the
IGOR. Bang over went a chair!
Click, clickety click, The news
vas told,
Ina operator returned the 0. x.
signal AS he did so frantic calls
from a score Of cities where teleg-
raphers had been sleeping on the
Wlre came iuqUiring what it was
all about.
IN the Office every man sprang to
ms post The Iinotypes came TO
NE, the forms shot TO the press
room and in an incredibly short
space Of time the first extra was
on the street Another giving more
details appeared half an hour later.
Ihen the tired bunch went home
LOT a brief rest. leaving the rest
u the folks to 90 the celebrating.
ms Is what took place at The
argus Office. The story, with a few
'@Flatons in details, stands for ev-
~ other daily newspaper in the
country.