The Telegraphers’ Part

     The events of the past few days have brought into play the wonderful facilities of the telephone and telegraph, and the remarkable part they play in the daily life of the nation.
     Within a few moments after the attack upon the president, millions of people in the remotest parts of the country were discussing a universal topic; within a few hours the crowned heads of Europe were considering the possibilitie [sic] arising from an event which bore such an intimate relation to other tragedies enacted within their borders.
     From time to time people who were hundreds and thousands of miles from the place where the terrible affair occurred, were receiving bulletins from the bedside of the chief executive.
     It is estimated that not less than 650,000 words were sent out of Buffalo Saturday by the telegraph companies in special dispatches to papers all over the world. Those whose knowledge on this subject is limited to the 10 per telegram find it a little difficult to grasp the situation. As set and displayed by the newspapers that received them these 650,000 words filled nearly 500 columns. If one newspaper had received all the specials sent out it would have had about 80 solid pages of matter concerning the president, exclusive of illustrations and headlines.
     The telegraph operator has not posed as a martyr. It was his business to take the messages for which a fearful public was anxiously awaiting. But they have been under a strain which the people who read the dispatches can hardly comprehend. In numerous instances operators have had to work for thirty-six hours at a stretch, taking only enough time to eat a light lunch. About 1,700 operators have been at work for the last three days, and the results of their labors have been very apparent.