The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-06-16
PHONE SERVICE
AGAIN IN ORDER
THRUOUT CITY
Trouble Shooters Work All
Night to Provide Service.
Twelve Thousand Telephones
Connected This Morning.
A. J. CONWAY THE HERO
Did Splendid Work on Inside OF
Big Switchboard.
"Gus" Huebener Is First
"HeIIO Grip on Job.

."Trouble shooters for the South
western Bell Telephone company as
tonished officials of the company, who
were in Topeka last night, by having
felephone service practically COM
pletely restored in Topeka shortly aIt-
er the opening of business houses this
morning.
The local telephone service was
paralyzed at 1:45 O'Clock Weonesuag g
afternoon when short circuit burned
out the entire switchboard. The city
was "phoneless'' until this morning.
H. D. Livers, plant superintendent
for the state. was in charge or the
work Immediately after the fire, or
ficials asked him how long it would
take to get service restored.
''I told them twenty hours, and
didn't believe myself that it could be
done" Livers said today. ''The boys
O'Clock this morning every phone in
the city, with the exception of the
rural lines. was in working order.
10000 Phones Connected.
Twelve thousand local phones were
connected again at $3.50 o'clock this
morning. and the job of calling the
switchboard operators to their duty
began. The girls reported for work
and filled the stations on the board
as rapidly as they could be called.
The rural lines will not be in action
until late tonight, probably.
Toll stations were established at
various points in the city Wednesday.
afternoon, and long distance calls sent
thru them. The private phone ex-
change of the Payne Taxi-cab service
was turned over to the police and fire
departments during the night
A. j. Conway Is the Hero.
"The man who deserves the credit
ont nf a1
phone service for several days. is A. ].
Conway" Livers declared today. Con-
, way is the hero of the occasion at the
telephone exchange. He was the first
man to arrive on the scene after the
fire alarm had been turned in, and
when Livers arrived, was inside the
switchboard with a chemical. fire ex-
tinguisher. fighting the flames at so
close range that his arms and one of
his legs We're painfully burned. Con-
way himself eXtinguished the fire,
sticking to his wor-- inside the blazing
board, and then attacked, with the
other men. the task of restoring the
service. He was sent to a doctor to
have his burns dressed. and ordered
to return home but was back at the
scene of the trouble as soon as his
injuries had been looked after
If it had not been for the quick
thinking and the heroic action of Con-
way. Topeka would be without phones
Worked All Night
All Wednesday night trouble men
worked in relays of three, cutting
away the burned wires and splicing
in new wires. There was space for
but three men at a time, and they
worked at top speed until it was time
TO fall back and let other men take
their places.
At o'clock this morning the traf-
fic department was informed that A.
500 "multiples" were ready for the
operators.
First "HelIo Grip Is Man.
The first hello girl'' on the switch
board this morning was Gus" Hue
bener, transmission protection engi-
neer, who attempted to handle all of
the fifty-four positions at once.
Huebener found a good deal of fun
in the situation. Subscribers gasped
when his husky voice answered their
call with Number, please" and some
of them hung up, believing that they
had got in on, a test line. Others
hardly believed that he was the hello
girl" he claimed to be.
The spirit of the repair men and the
operators was highly praised by Livers
today.
About II o'clock Wednesday night
we began to think about men for
working today, and to check off the
names of the men we wanted to send
home so that they could report this
men we ordered home was willing to
go. And some of them went out in
the garage and slept in the cars there,
waiting for a call if they were need
ed Livers said.
Cut Out Section of Switchboard.
While the servic, has been resumed
in Topeka, the burned section of the
switchboard has been cut out, and the
girls who worked at that section can
not handle calls.
This means reduction in the speed
of the service, and the company Of
ficials have asked that the public for
the next few days, limit their calls to
really important business. All con-
nections can be made, but there arc
not available the same number of
positions and operators to handle the
volume of business.
Original Cause Still Unknown.
No one knows the cause of the short
circuit which started the fire. Almost
anything might have done it, H. d.
Livers plant superintendent, said to-
day, and there was no indication in
the tangled mass of wires as TO where
the first arc occurred, or what
caused it.
Standard Takes Over X. C. Refinery
Chicago. June 16.-Plans for taking
ha