Evening star., 1928-12-24
MESSENGER BOYS
ADEPT AS SLEUTHS
Army of Youngsters Trained
by Companies for Many
Emergencies.
Special Dispatch to The star.

Special Dispatch to The star.
NEW YORK, December 24.-Car-
toonists 20 years ago used to depict
the telegraph messenger boy creeping
along reading a dime detective story.
Today thousands of messenger boys
have become competent detectives and
are engaged in hunting down wanted"
persons, not to present them with
warrant for arrest, but with a Christ
mas greeting.
Hundreds of thousands of these
greetings are passing over the lines
Of the great telegraph and cable sys-
TENS at this moment and each must
be delivered without delay or mistake.
The telegraph companies have built
up for this purpose a very efficient, re-
sourceful army of boys. One concern
keeps $4,000 constantly employed. They
must be under 18 years of age, except
for night work, since youth over that
age cannot stand the wear and tear of
legs and energy.
Supplemental Service.
The telegraph companies not only are
transmitting messages from one point
to another at top speed, but are giving
supplemental service which is inval-
liable. The process of sending a
wire" is about as follows: The message
is telephoned to the branch or main
office or carried in by messenger.
Thence 1t goes to the main operating
| room either by automatic telegraph
equipment or b. Morse method or by
pneumatic tubes. In few minutes 1t
is received at the Office of the city des-
ignated, and goes to the branch Office
| nearest the address of the recipient. A
messenger takes it by bicycle, motor
cycle, or on foot, or it is telephoned
to the addreSsee
Theoretically if the addressee is not
at home or If the address Is incorrect.
the obligation OF the telegraph company
might be regarded as discharged, and
the sender could be notified that the
message could not be delivered, but no
company fails now to make every effort
to locate the proper party. The boy
with message for 131 First street may
have to go to 100, 113 or 131, not only
on First street but on First avenue,
First road or First place. He may
! have to hunt through a big apartment
house with names on only half of the
| door bells.
Busy Day in Street.
Such service has grown up in re-
sponse to the speeding up of business
This was impressively shown in wall
Street today, the day before the Christ
mas holiday. The wires were crowded
with important night letters and urgent
| messages involving huge sums. Most
OF these found their way inside the
offices of the brokers and bankers long
before the offices were opened by the
first clerk
More than $25o,ooO,o 900 has been
transmitted by the leading company
alone so far this year by telegraph. II
| is obvious that mistakes not only a."
cost" but may be fatal to the cuStonne
Ever effort, therefore, is made to ave
mistakes. For example, mistake made
on the Stock Exchange ticker in Cne
motor stock recently cost dealers thou
| sands of dollars and threw the market
into confusion.
just because a friend or relative Is
In another continent this Christmas will
| not prevent the usual telegraphic greet
ing from being transmitted over cables
| OF. over the air. The most recent cable
laid permits the transmission of four
messages each way at once, and de-
l1veries in foreign countries, especially
Great Britain, France, Germany and
Italy, are almost as efficiently executed
as in the United States.
Other Activities.
The detective services of the mes
sengers do not end with the transmits
sion of messages. They meet trains and
escort strangers to their destinations
They have delivered no small portion
OF the gifts which will be distributed
tonight and Tuesday morning. They
| are called on to perform such duties
as climbing through tranSoms to let
| locked-out tenants into their homes and
have been known frequently to discover
| fires send in alarms, get word of at
tempted suicides to the police and
| physicians and save persons from as
phyxiation or drowning.