Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-12-28
Telephone Bares
Electrical Mystery
At Naval Academy
MILDLY edison Taps
Official Line and Prank
Is Revealed.
BY REX COLLIER,
STAFF Correspondent Of The star

ANNAPOLIS, Md, December 27.-1f
John Armstrong ("Edison"O Cygon had
not succumbed to the brilliant idea of
installing telephone in his room at the
Naval Academy, he might have been q
midshipman still-and the mystery Of
the weird electrical phenomena in Ban
croft Hall might never have been solved.
But Young Cygon, whom the middies
already have nicknamed Edison" for
his electrical wizardry, just couldn't re-
sist the lure Of room telephone. The
thought of being able to call up his
friend outside the academy any time he'
felt good and ready, without even leav-
ing his bedside, was most intriguing.
OF course, he probably should have
felt satisfied to have those extra con-
venienceS he already had rugged up in
the dormitories-such as the radio and
the electrical clock. Most middies are
content to have q radio-a luxury per-
mitted under the academy's modern
regulations. The electrical clock was
Cygon's own idea, however, as were sew
eral other devices said to have been
found in his room after his departure.
The fact that telephones and cleo
tricai clocks and the like are not per-
mitted In the dormitories here did not
feaze MidShipman Cygon in the least.
In fact, the prohibition on them only
added to his determination to be Diff
ferent from his classmates.
Instals Telephone in Room.
Finding q telephone set proved an
obstacle but to person Of Cygon's
ingenuity 1t was not an insurmountable
one. Where he found loose telephone
Is not matter Of record here. At any
rate, 1t appears he, borrowed one from
outside the academy confines and In
stalled it In his room.
Tapping the phone in on the proper
circuit was the next problem. Cygon
solved the problem without q whole lot
Of difficulty, but in doing so he made
a fatal mistake. He tapped his phone
in on an of1cial line, and one day an
officer, lifting up his receiver to make
an outside call, was amazed to hear
an animated conversation taking place.
What he overheard enabled him to
trace the call to Cygon's room, which
was right in the same building with
the commandant and all the academy
executives.
The oficial investigator had more
surprises in store for him, however. In
Cygon's room he found a network of
wires leading in various directions
One Of the wires ran from the electrical
clock to moulding on the ceiling, be-
meath which were wires controlling the
master clock in Bancroft Hall. Cygon
believed In having official time right at
his side. His clock was operated by
the same impulses that regulated the
system of electrical wall clocks in the
building.
Wire Stories Conflict.
Where the other wires led to, if there
really were as many wires as rumor has
reported, Is the subject Of conflicting
statements. Some, 1t Is said, were
traced to an elevator, the misbehavior
Of which had been a matter Of con-
Germ for several weeks. The elevator,
OF the self-controlled button type, had
a habit OF stopping at the wrong floor
when q SPECIFIC button was pressed,
and Of going up when 1t should have
gone down.
An ofncer Of the academy declared
today, however, that the elevators &C.
centr1ctties, as well as dimming of lights
and other electrical alterations credited
TO Cygon'S juggling Of volts and amperes,
probably had no connection with the
mtdshipman'S experiments"
THE stories about Cygon have been
repeated so many times, and embroid-
cred so beautifully in the telling, that
the middies have come to regard Cygon
with real ave-" the officer said. "He
has been credited with doing things
that Edison couldn't do. The whole
thing has been greatly exaggerated"
Classmates Pushed.
It Is not so much Cygon's wizardry
as an electrical expert that has puzzled
his classmates, however, but how he
found the time to rig up his contrap-
tons and keep UP in his studies, sinful
taneouSly. Many Of the middies do not
even md time to put on their radio
head-SetS.
That Cygon was able to run his wires
around without discovery was due to the
fact that midShipmen are permitted to
work on their radios and string indoor
antennaS in the building officials stated.
1t was supposed that Cygon was tinker
ing with his radio set when he really
was tapping telephone wires and cleo
trical clock systems.
CygonS activities were accepted in the
light OF prankS by academy executives,
and he was asked to submit his resigna- |
ton. "A more serious view Of the case |
might have resulted in his summary dis |
missal 1t was pointed out.
Cygon lives in Baltimore with his |
father, who is Maj. Joseph r. Cygon of |
the Sd Corps Area.
It is understood here that the youth |
filed an application for entrance to
West Point on leaving here, and that the |
application now Is pending before Presi-
dent Hoover.