The Durham Daily Globe

A Telegraph Operator's Kindness.

"It isn't often that a telegraph operator stops to think of the message he receives or sends," said an old operator. "They are all of a size to him. But I remember one night during the late war I felt my eyes moisten--yes, moisten--as I read the following to Senator Fessenden: 'My son is sentenced to be shot tomorrow morning at 6 for sleeping at his post. Will you kindly see President Lincoln at once and intercede till I can reach Washington to present evidence which will clearly prove my son's innocence?'

I knew that if the message was compelled to wait its turn it would not reach Senator Fessenden till too late for any hope of reaching the president, to say nothing of getting a reprieve sent to the line of battle where the son was.

"I said to myself: Here is a human life hanging by a thread. Shall I cut the thread by letting the message take its turn?" No, I couldn't. I violated the rules and telegraphed the solemn message to all the hotels in Washington till the senator was found and the message safe in his hands. Word came back that Senator Fessenden had obtained the reprieve, and I telegraphed the glad news to the poor old man up in Maine." - Lewiston Journal.