Evening star., 1944-06-04
False Alarm
Continued From First Page,)

practicing on a disconnected ma
chine, and in violation of instruc-
tions included in her exercise this
urgent message:
Flash. Eisenhower's headquar-
ters announce Allied landings in
France"
At 4:3s pm, the fash appeared
on the APPS direct London printer
in New York and was relayed i'm
mediately throughout the United
States and to Latin America.
Less than two minutes later came
q message, s'Bust that FASH" and
word was sent out at once to editors
to withhold publication. AT 4:44
pm. another London message di-
rected that the flash be "killed,"
and this was done.
In the two-minute interlude be-
tween the erroneous flash and the
withhold order, however, the in
correct news had been announced
over many radio stations in Amer
lea and at some baseball parks. In
New York's Polo Grounds the
crowd observed one minute of ST.
lence after the word was given over
the loudspeaker system.
In: Ciudad Trujillo, capital of the
Dominican Republic, newspaper ST.
rens were sounded and crowds gath
cred, only to exclaim in disappoint-
ment when the error was announced.
In New York and elsewhere news
paper and radio station switchboards
were almost instantly swamped with
inquiries from persons who had
heard the original and incorrect
fash but not the ''kill
The London Bureau of the Asso-
csated Press cabled this explanation:
THE flash enormously stating
Eisenhower had announced Allied
landings in France was transmitted
by a new teletype operator in a
wholly unauthorized test of per-
forator.
New York Notified Immediately.
SIT moved without authority of
censors and without knowledge of
the editorial staff, which had no
such copy on hand.
Experienced operators saw the
fash on the printer and Immediately
notified New York and the editors,
who sent kill
Both editorial and traffic stats
were under strict instructions
neither to prepare nor to practice
with any such kind of copy, against
the possibility of precisely such an
incident.
Joan Ellis the young operator
who erred, said she had been prac-
ticing on disconnected machine
and thought she had torn up all
that tape and thrown it away"
However, before transmitting the
first take of the Russian communi-
que she said she inadvertently ran
through part of the tape that she
thought she had destroyed
The wholly mechanical error oc-
Cured in one of the buriest periods
of the evening, which the fearful
operator said probably accounted
for the fact she did not notice he,
mistake at once.
The censors were entirely un-
aware of the transmission"
Signed Secrecy Form.
The girl was one of several opera.
tors authorized to transmit on thu
direct facilities and fully and in.
dividually instructed to send only
material passed by the censor anc
so stamped. Each operator ha.
signed secrecy form affirming he OF
she understood his full responsible.
ity.
In this instance however, no COD,
such as that wrongly transmitted
had passed through the regular
guarded editorial and censorship
channels. The censors are not con
cerned with traffic routine nor ply
sically able to keep tab on practicin,
operators. Nevertheless censorship
also is taking added precautions.
Miss Ellis is % and has been will
the Associated Press since 3anuar,