Stone County enterprise. [volume] (Wiggins, Stone County, Mississippi) 1916-current, 1923-04-05
Licensed Wireless
Operator AT II
Former Linotype Operator For
The Enterprise Likes
The Sea.

Being a wireless operator is
nothing out of the ordinary, but
to be a government licensed
wireless operator at seventeen
is a distinction. And Sargent
Rogers, former linotype opera
! tor in the Enterprise Office, is
enjoying that distinction.
To go back a little ways,
young Rogers came to Wiggins
from Ten Mile with his mother
and three little brothers about
four years ago, shortly after
his father had been murdered
by a negro who was lynched by
o mob of citizens the same even
ing the killing took place.
Sargent entered the Wiggins
High School and began working
evenings and Saturdays in the
Enterprise office. He was then
13. Within a few months he
had shown such an interest in
the marvellous, human-like limo
type that he was sent by the
Enterprise to a school in New
Orleans where he received in
structions on the mechanism of
the linotype.
Upon returning here he soon
wanted to explore new fields
and decided to go to Texas
where his mother and brothers
he'd moved. After a short stay
in the Lone Star State, he re-
turned to Mississippi and ac-
cepted a place with the Collins
Commercial as linotype opera
tor, and from there went to the
Martin Printing Company at
Hattiesburg as operator with
quite an increase in salary.
It was while in Hattiesburg
that he decided to study wire
less. With a little money which
he had saved up, and a small
borrow, he went to New Orleans
last June and entered the Nola
Radio Institute where he re-
NAMED three months. After
passing the examination neces-
sary before government license
could be issued, he went aboard
the SIS Saugerties, then docked
at New Orleans, and which is
owned by the U. S. Shipping
Board, and operated by the
Tampa Inter-Ocean Steamship
Co. He was rated as an officer,
given entire charge of the wire
less outfit and started out Oct
cher 1st of last year on his
first trip across the sea.
Since going aboard the Saug-
critics, which is a $500 ton
freighter carrying a crew of 81
men, young Rogers has made
two trips to Spain and Portugal.
He has touched Mobile, New
Orleans, Galveston, New York
and other local ports and many
on the other side.
The wireless apparatus on
the Saugerties is of the most
up-to-date Naval spark sets. It
receives from stations from any
part of the world. The opera
tor is able to tune in on the
radio broadcasting stations
throughout the country, receiv-
ing the same programs that are
heard over the phone in Wig
gins and elsewhere. He has a
head set which he uses when
tuning in on land stations for
programs. Many nights, Rogers
said, he has sat until the early
morning hours, far out at sea,
listening to the different con-
certs being broadcasted from
the cities of the United States.
This, of course, breaks the mo-
rotony of sea travelling.
The operator is expected to be-
on duty fifteen minutes of
every hour between s a. m. and
10 p. m. His duties consist of
taking care of reports on all ship
traffic, receiving and sending
messages, "and for the good OF
ship in distress, or SOS," he said.
Once each day he receives the
latest press dispatches for the
convenience of the officers and
crew aboard. FTeighters, such
as the Saugerties, carry only
one wireless operator and he is
supposed to care for the appara-
tus, with the assistance of cleo
tricians aboard.