Arduous Years In The Central West - 12
"Stanton said that the usual live-stock accompaniment of operators' boarding-houses was
absent; he thought the intense cold had caused them to hibernate. Stanton, when I was
working in Cincinnati, left his position and went out on the Union Pacific to work at
Julesburg, which was a cattle town at that time and very tough. I remember seeing him
off on the train, never expecting to see him again. Six months afterward, while working
press wire in Cincinnati, about 2 A.M., there was flung into the middle of the operatingroom
a large tin box. It made a report like a pistol, and we all jumped up startled. In
walked Stanton. `Gentlemen,' he said `I have just returned from a pleasure trip to the land
beyond the Mississippi. All my wealth is contained in my metallic travelling case and
you are welcome to it.' The case contained one paper collar. He sat down, and I noticed
that he had a woollen comforter around his neck with his coat buttoned closely. The night
was intensely warm. He then opened his coat and revealed the fact that he had nothing
but the bare skin. `Gentlemen,' said he, `you see before you an operator who has reached
the limit of impecuniosity.' " Not far from the limit of impecuniosity was Edison himself,
as he landed in Boston in 1868 after this wintry ordeal.
This chapter has run to undue length, but it must not close without one citation from high
authority as to the service of the military telegraph corps so often referred to in it.
General Grant in his Memoirs, describing the movements of the Army of the Potomac,
lays stress on the service of his telegraph operators, and says: "Nothing could be more
complete than the organization and discipline of this body of brave and intelligent men.
Insulated wires were wound upon reels, two men and a mule detailed to each reel. The
pack-saddle was provided with a rack like a sawbuck, placed crosswise, so that the wheel
would revolve freely; there was a wagon provided with a telegraph operator, battery, and
instruments for each division corps and army, and for my headquarters. Wagons were
also loaded with light poles supplied with an iron spike at each end to hold the wires up.
The moment troops were in position to go into camp, the men would put up their wires.
Thus in a few minutes' longer time than it took a mule to walk the length of its coil,
telegraphic communication would be effected between all the headquarters of the army.
No orders ever had to be given to establish the telegraph."
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