Wairarapa Daily Times [Established Quarter of a Century.] WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 27, 1902. A HERO OF THE "DOT AND DASH."

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 7244, 27 August 1902, Page 2

Wairarapa Daily Times [Established Quarter of a Century.] WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 27, 1902. A HERO OF THE "DOT AND DASH."

An incident in connection with the Martinique disaster, which passed unnoticed at tho time, owing to the tremendous character of the outbreak, as a whole, deserves to bo recorded among tho legends of constancy in the hour of peril, with which so many pages of human history arc adorned. From 7 to 8 on the morning of May Bth two telegraph operators —one at St. Piorre and the other at Fort de France— were in continual communication. The signs of coining trouble were then so ominous, and even appalling, that only a pair of resolute men could havo "stood by" and exchanged experiences. Yet these two operators did so remain, and Fort do Franco kept on receiving, at intervals of a few minutes, records of the gathering phenomena. At 7.30 the operator at St. Pierre, replying to urgent requests for an opinion as to the state of things, wired that there was "really no danger." And then the two continued to exchange messages during tho remainder of that last hour, while beneath and around them Nature was silently gathering her Titanic forces in readiness for a mighty display. Nothing more solemn can bo conceived than the persistent " click-click-click " of the instrument going on up to tho very moj ment of doom. At one minute past eight tho Fort do France operator, requiring some word to be repeated, gave intimation of his wish to his comrade at | St. Pierre. But even as he was doing so the cntastropho had begun, and St. Pierre was on the verge of destruction, for in reply came a faint quiver or buzzing along the wire, ending in one long dash! And when it was afterwards known that St. Pierre was overwhelmed, and that in a moment thousands of human beings had met a terrible end, it was understood that death had come upon the operator even as he sat with his hand on the key. Those who remember the Mount Tarawera disaster, and the heroic firmness of the operator at Botorua, may form some idea of the equally heroic constancy of the man at St. Pierre under circumstances still more awful.