New Britain herald., 1919-05-17

any man in the telegraph service in
 the country and it is possible that he
 is the veteran of those still actively
 engaged in eXpediting the message of
 more than 100,00O,00O people who are
 more or less dependent on the vast
 communication systems that carry
 their words over wires on waves of
 electricity.
 To sit down on a sunny afternoon
 and discuss the telegraph with MT.
 Groff is a pleasure that has been
 shared by a few of his most intimate
 friends It is something else as we'll
 it is a brief education in the growth
 and progress of the telegraph, which
 has become such vital factor in the
 business life of the nation. From
 crude instruments subjecting mes sa ges to delays that would send the average man into q frenzy today, to
 improved equipment that acts with al-
 most human precision-such is the
 story he tells.
 It was back in 1869 when the country was fighting it's way back on it's feet following the close of the Civil war, that George F. Croft found his ears charmed one day by the staccato of the sounder in the office of the Delaware River Telegraph company at Wilkes Barre, Pa, which, it might be mentioned, was not the thriving and progressive city it is to- day. It interested him to such an ex- tent that he had a talk with the man. ager and straightaway accepted an offer to become delivery clerk. The Delaware River company was a small concern owned by local merchants and used to a great extent for their 1 own convenience. The wires started | at Carbondale and ended at Philadel- l phia. Three years after MT. Groff en- ! tered the employ of the concern it
 was absorbed by the Western Union l Telegraph company and he was re- 1 tained as a clerk. He then proceeded 1 10 master the art of telegraphy which l has become so fixed in his mind that, i when in a fOrgetful mood, he ire l Quently unWittingly orders his meals l in code by means of dots and dashes l In connection with this predilection l an amusing story is told. MT. Croft was in a restaurant one day absent l mindedly studying the menu while a ] waiter stood at a respectful distance, l Unintentionally, MT. Croft was drum 1 ming on the table with his finger tips, 1 making long dashes. The waiter knew l his customer was a telegraph man and 1 thinking he would have some fun dis l appeared into the kitchen and soon 1 reappeared with a steaming dish of 1 maCarOni.
 ''Who's that for?" asked MT. Groff 1 astonished.
 1 That's for you-you have been l making long dashes for the past three l
 calling for macaroni," answered the
 waiter.
 1 "Well, I'll eat it." said Mir. Groff,
 but if I ever come in here again 1 and make a mixture of dots and
 dashes on the table for heavens sake
 don't bring me hash"
 After learning to send and receive. | at the Wilkes-Barre office, Mir. Groff 1 was employed for several years as a l relief operator and agent for the Le- high Valley and Central Railroad of ! New Jersey. He re-entered the em- 1 ploy of the Western Union at Phil l adeIphia during the centennial, 1S75- 1 1876. and then went to Buffalo. N. Y,
 where he remained for four years in ] the service of different companies. 1 including the Atlantic and Pacific. the i American Union and the Western 1 Union His next move was to Oil ! City, Pa, where he became chief op- 1 orator for the American Rapid Tele- 1 graph company He moved up a peg l when he was transferred to Balti- 1 more where he managed the office of
 the same concern. His next stops 1 were at Chicago and New York with 1 tho Postal Telegraph company. Tn
 1889 he went on the floor at the old i Consolidated Stock Exchange at 6O- 1 G. 2 Broadway, where he had charge 1 of a number of private wires going ! to ali parts of the land for stock 1 brokers.
 It was in 1909 that MT. Groff de- 1 cided to learn what kind of people 1 lived in Connecticut and he acceDted