137 



battery. The effect of this (an effect that we 

 did not anticipate at the time) was to send a 

 vibratory current out on all the lines that 

 were connected with that single battery as 

 well as across the street. A great many famil- 

 iar tunes were played during the course of an 

 hour or two which, unconsciously for us, were 

 creating great consternation throughout the 

 State of Wisconsin, in many of the offices 

 through which these various lines passed. 



Next morning reports and inquiries began 

 to come in from various towns and cities west, 

 northwest and north, giving details of the 

 phenomena that were noticed on the instru- 

 ments located in the various offices along the 

 lines. They reported their relays as singing 

 tunes; one party said he thought the instru- 

 ments were holding a prayer-meeting from the 

 fact that they seemed to be singing hymn- 

 tunes for quite a while, but this notion was 

 finally dissipated, because they grew hilarious 

 and sang " Yankee Doodle." 



One operator, up in the pine woods of 



northern Wisconsin, did not seem to take the 



ful view of it that some of the others 



did. He was sitting alone in tin- telegraph- 



office that evening when lie thought he heard 



the notes of a Imdo in the distance; he got 



up and went to the door to li-ten, hut muM 



hear nothing; hut on <-,>niui'.r back into the 



he heard the sain:- bugle notes very 



