HOW THE TELEGRAPH LINES WERE INTERRUPTED.

Colonist, Volume XLIX, Issue 11999, 27 July 1907, Page 1 (Supplement)

HOW THE TELEGRAPH LINES WERE INTERRUPTED.

The overland telegraph service between Yokohama and Tokio was once interrupted in a strange and mysterious way. Every morning for several days it was impossible to ifofc a message over the line during the early hours. Then an odd word here and there managed to struggle along the bewitcbedgwires, arriving at some point for which it was afterwar is discovered it was not intended. As the day wore on, however. pne wires became clear, and remaining so till the following morning, when they were again interrupted. borne men and an expert were sent to investigate. One morning, when about fifty miles from Tokio, the exPert saw a neat of gigantic spiders. which had spun their webs about the wire 3. and in some instances down co the ground. On putting out nis hand to brash away these webs he received a shock, and then the cause of all the trouble was clear to Dim. The morning dew made the spiders webs good conductors of electricity and the current was carried to earth in the early morning, and the drying of the gossamer threads cere and there accounted for the clearing of the wires later in the