M E M O R I E S
Hello,
I joined The Western Union Telegraph Company in Denver, Colorado
on Sept. 11, 1963 as a bicycle messenger. I was assigned to their branch office
at 13th & Broadway Monday thru Friday, and at their branch located at 16th
& Glenarm on Saturdays. I frequently went to Denver's Main Office at
917 (later 915) 17th St. to deliver and pickup interoffice communications.
I
was paid at the rate of $1.25 per hour, with three cents added for tire repair
etc. If I recall correctly, there were three bicycle messengers assigned to the
Broadway office. The Main office employed automobile messengers in addition to
bicycle, plus one walking messenger for close by deliveries. I believe Denver's
branch offices closed at 5:00p.m. while the main office closed at
midnight.
Excellent protection against rain was provided to messengers in the
form of black plastic raincoats with hood, covering you head to foot. Western
Union Messenger Uniforms first worn in 1911, were long past when I was hired. I
was identified by a yellow 'Western Union' badge attached to my lapel or shirt
pocket.
After 145 years, Western Union delivered its last telegram January
27, 2006. When I was hired, we were given a Messenger Handbook full of advice
and instructions. We were advised that we would be tired at day's end, but that
it would be a restful tiredness that would enable us to get a good night's sleep
for our next day of work. We were also strongly advised, that when delivering a
'bad news' telegram, we should make certain that the receiptant in question
would be looked after by someone to share their grief with, or that they would
definitely be strong enough to handle the 'news' before we left. Our handbook
also advised us to always be courteous to our public, and to be especially
careful around entrance and doorways. On a particular winter day, I slowly
pushed open an apartment door to the street, to immediately discover a frail
elderly woman about to enter, the woman was standing on an ice covered walkway.
A hastily opened door could have been a disaster.
My daily bicycle delivery
mileage averaged forty miles per day. I worked a six day week. When winter snow
came up to my knees I 'pushed' my bicycle to and from all day. I rarely missed
work, rain or shine. I was in excellent condition, lots of exercise. In between
snow day deliveries, we thawed out our feet on the office radiator across from
our bench in front of the delivery counter. Often, one delivery run included
over 100 stops. I repacked my coaster brake every six months, and wore out the
tread on my bike's tires.
After 18 months on my bicycle, I successfully
passed a required typing test and began delivering in my VW Bug, averaging 150
miles per day with a salary of $3.50 per hour. I was assigned to NW Station (in
northwest Denver) from 4:00p.m. to 6:00p.m. and then I worked out of the main
office from 6:00p.m. until midnight. On especially busy holidays I started my
shift at noon, and worked until midnight, delivering mostly Candy and
Dollygrams. In addition to NW Station, there was E (east Denver) Station,
and SW (southwest Denver) Station. These 'stations' consisted of a single room,
or one corner of a building with a Teleprinter connected to the Main Denver
Office. The station messenger received telegrams and money orders over the
printer and placed the message, or the money order draft (which we prepared) in
the appropriate envelope and delivered same.
A little more than two months
into my employment as a messenger on Nov. 22, 1963 President John F. Kennedy was
assassinated, resulting in the delivery of many telegrams. On Sept. 18, 1970, I
delivered a telegram to a young woman, who tearfully passed on to me the news
that she had just received over the radio, Jimi Hendrix the musician had just
been found dead. The total length of my Western Union employment was nine
years.
I am proud to have been able to work alongside with but a small few of
the many, men and women who throughout its history, were employed by The Western
Union Telegraph Company.
Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to share
my memories, its been quite a trip.
If I may be allowed to share one anadote.
During my time as an auto messenger I spent one vacation driving from Denver to
Redwood City, California to visit friends. My Mother was apprehensive, for I had
never driven this far alone before. I reassured Mom, everything would be fine.
"It will be just like one of my telegram deliveries, only just a long time in
between start and finish."
Thanks again,
Ken Stevens
Pa2nvfd@aol.com
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, January 23, 2007 11:48 PM
Subject: Western Union (memories) submission
Richard: This submission is intended to be a humorous anecdotal one, rather
than a historical survey. I have always wanted to self-publish some of my W.U.
'career' highlights, to go on the shelf beside my baseball book, but I am
uncertain whether I ever will do so.
So, if it would be of interest to our fellow telegraphers, please feel free
to use.
Charles Therminy (retired, Los Angeles 1986)
Skipping ahead from the particulars as to how I came to work at the
Hollywood California Western Union, initially on New Year’s day, 1971– as we
were designated in those days –a telegraph operator; I would like to share some
of my reminiscences.
Hollywood was definitely different. At the beginning of the seventies,
the area surrounding 1636 N. Wilcox, just off Hollywood Boulevard was still in a
shabby decline.
A block to the south, on Selma Ave., there were For Hire hustlers while
further south on Santa Monica Blvd.,
the belles of the night sauntered.
(I don’t ever recall a lady dressed in seven veils,
gracing my Western Union office in my hometown in Western
Pennsylvania.)
But my first day of the year of 1971, in Hollywood was a tip-off of the
uniqueness of what hitherto had been an imaginary location. (As a warm-up, I had
worked as an usher at the local movie theaters in high school; committing each
movie to memory after fourteen viewings!)
One of my first memories that New Year's day was a young lady calling to
ask the standard inquiry:
‘My name is - -. Do you have a money order for me?’
‘Yes, I do’, I replied.
‘WELL THANK GOD! SOME OLD DRUNK CALLED ME LAST NIGHT TO TELL ME I DID
HAVE ONE; BUT FOR GOD’S SAKE, DON’T COME DOWN HERE TONIGHT!’
Yes, you – the reader – might be correct in assuming the employee had a
drinking problem. I was later told that on another occasion in the process of
closing-up - whereby you leave the bullet barrier (plexiglass and wire) inside
gate and lock the front door, one night he passed out on the lobby floor,
between the two. Probably discovered early in the morning by the messenger from
the main office, L.A., dropping off the days’ business.
Speaking of drinking, a night manager in Hollywood, told me the time a
man entered the office and threw down a bag of money – about $200 – and told her
to:
‘Wire this to the poor sons-of-bitches in Viet Nam! And then
departed.
She kept the bag in a safe compartment for a suitable length of time –
weeks – expecting the ‘customer’ to sober up and claim it. He never
did.
So in his honor, she and another employee after closing up, took the bag
across the street to the bar and polished-off the contents in
liquid.
Or the 'customer' who inquired: 'Pardon me, but do your wire flowers?'
'Yes, we do."
'Well, I'm a pansy! Wire me to Cincinnati!'
Or I was told the time a lady brought in her parakeet (in a cage) and
demanded it be 'wired' to someplace or other. Could not be convinced that our
technology didn't cover bird transport.
Finally our very dry, wry, (rimless glasses) Manager Ollie, instructed
the clerk to bring the bird and cage, inside. Whereby Ollie opened the
reperforator cover from the top and then opened the small cage opening. All the
time striking the side of the cage with his ball point pen and saying: 'Come on,
birdie! Let's go!'
When the bird refused his summons, Ollie told the 'customer':
'Sorry, lady, the bird doesn't want to go!'
Oh, later on that New Year’s day. I was waiting on this couple at the
front counter (she had received a money order). I recall that her companion was
busy trying to straighten out the contents of several bottles of pills on the
counter.
He must have felt threatened by my good looks; as I was holding my head
down while writing the identification info, I felt a breeze over my head. It
seemed Pillsy had managed to take a punch at me through the narrow opening in
the screen.
I will close now on just the anecdotes related to New Years’ Day in 1971,
to see if this submission is accepted.
H E L P N E E D E D
Email received June 4, 2009
I'm trying to find information on my paternal grandmother, Fleta (Beck) England, who worked
for Western Union in the Detroit area sometime during the 1940s or 1950s. Do you have
any employee records going back that far?
I think your website looks very cool, and hope you find a location for a museum.
Take care
Cheryl Harrison cardiffmom@gmail.com
Webmaster note: The WU Alumni web site
does not have any employee records. We have only what you tell us when you
register with this site.
I am still looking for a G F Kennedy use to be a plant maintainer
or plant tech. He worked at Colorado Springs then Texarkana. Can u be of any help on this retired plant tech.
Herman Murrell e-mail telegrapher1@suddenlink.net
X-Original-To:
richardutz@netpass.com
From:
JGLRR@aol.com
Date: Mon, 3 Sep 2007 23:38:34 EDT
Subject: Western Union
Office - New Orleans
To: richardutz@netpass.com
Richard,
I just discovered your site, and as I have been
researching L&N RR history on the "south end" of the railroad, I would like
to communicate with a retired WU person who is familiar with the old office in
New Orleans. I'm a retired L&N [now CSXT] telegrapher and train
dispatcher.
Back in the 1950's and probably long before, the various
stations along the line summoned the WU operator in New Orleans with a
desk-mounted magneto. The WU operator obviously utilized a Western
Electric 60-System ringing key to raise stations, and at some point in time
there must have been telegraphy involved between the L&N and WU
operators.
J. G. Lachaussee
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, February 05, 2007 3:21 PM
Subject: STATION CALL SINES
MR. UTZ,
I AM A CIVIL WAR RESEARCHER, PRIMARILY INTERESTED IN THE UNION AND CSA SIGNAL
CORPS ACTIVITIES, PLUS THE UNITED STATES MILITARY TELEGRAPH. ALSO, I AM
PRESENTLY BECOMING INVOLVED WITH A GROUP THAT USES THEIR COMPUTERS AND/OR KEYS
TO COMMUNICATE USING THE "AMERICAN" OR RAILROAD MORSE CODE. THE
SOUNDER IS OBVIOUSLY SIMULATED ON THE COMPUTER AT A SITE ENTITLED "MORSE
KOB".
I WAS WONDERING IF THERE IS ANYONE IN YOUR GROUP THAT WOULD KNOW WHAT THE
CALL SINE FOR THE SCHENECTADY, NEW YORK WESTERN UNION OFFICE WAS ? IF SO, COULD
THEY LET ME KNOW PLEASE? THANKS VERY MUCH FOR YOUR ASSISTANCE WITH THIS
REQUEST.
73 Ray Wemple ..
ray wemple
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday, September 01, 2006 2:49 PM
Subject: My time with Western Union
Greetings from Florida:
Back in 1940-41, teenage
boys, like myself, that lived in and around Albany, New York, were
always looking for, or working at, after-school jobs.
I became a Postal Telegraph
Messenger but whenever we were sent out with a delivery, we had to walk
either up or down that very steep "State Street hill". Occasionally we'd be sent
along either North or South Pearl St. that went along the "lee of the hill"
but that was a rarity. After several deliveries up or down State St.
hill, the fun went out of it, even though it was great
exercise.
A classmate told me he was
leaving Western Union and I'd like becoming his replacement because it was
running the WU desk in New York Central's Union Station down at the foot of
State St. on Broadway near the Hudson River.
The switch was quickly achieved
and my uniform went from Postal Telegraph blue to Western Union olive green. I
was given the keys to the depot office and told that when my shift ended to
send the receipts up the main office on State Street via the vacuum tube.
That was the extent of my training except told that my job consisted of 3
functions:
(1) Work the desk in the station
when there were no NYC passenger trains in the station.
(2) When the train announcer boomed out the imminent
arrival of a passenger train, done without a PA system, we were to take
note and attend the arrival. The announcer would also post the arrival
time, the train name, its number and which of the 4 depot tracks
it would arrive on, but I soon knew all that by heart.
We'd take any messages that had arrived from the main office,
addressed to a passenger on the arriving train . If we had such a
delivery to make, we'd get on the forward car and run through each car loudly
calling the name of the intended recipient, hoping to find that person, or the
final car whichever came first, before the 20 minute layover expired.
An 11 car train required a lot of yelling and running to get through the
22 doors, each slowed by a powerful hydraulic restraining device. Going through such a train
was worse than climbing State Street hill just once.
(3) If there were no messages to
be delivered to that train, you would still go through the same routine except
you would shout "Western Union" and take messages and make change from any one
that called out "Here, boy". An imperfect chart was all I had to determine the
rates accurately to various cities.
The trick was to complete
all transactions before departure time and get off before
the car you were on was pulled past the end of the walkway
platform. Sometimes, it was already going too fast to jump off and then we'd
have to stay on until the next stop which was sometimes as far away as
either Harmon, just north of NYC, or Syracuse, west of Albany, both 100+ miles
away and then dead-head back.
They finally added a girl on the
desk so we wouldn't have to shut down so much of the time. One day, when I
came back from working a train, she announced excitedly that she had a
telegram for the famous bandleader, Kay Kyser, who was scheduled to go
through Albany on the 20th Century Limited. She asked if she could take it
to the train and deliver it herself and receive the anticipated huge tip.
I agreed and when it arrived for its usual brief stop, she followed me
to the train. I quickly found his compartment number from the porter and
when we got to it, she pounded on the door. Mr. Kyser opened it and received
the "wire" from the smiling young lady. His hand went to his pocket and out came
his handkerchief and he started to blow his nose as he turned and shut the door.
I felt sorry for her but couldn't help but laugh all the way back to the
office.
Many events that took place
in that huge domed waiting room are still with me. It was the time of the
first WWII military draft and many men passed through that train depot
on their way to training camp and possibly future combat. After one group of
draftees went through the doors to their train, a young lady left standing there
in tears screamed out, "They're going to kill him!" Maybe they did.
Without any training in pricing
telegrams and only that imperfect chart to work from, I felt I wasn't doing
my job well at all and in our family that was imperitive. Therefore, after a
year of guessing at proper charges, I'd had enough and announced my departure.
In a few days, the boss arrived at my home to retrieve my uniform and told my
Mother that he thought I was doing a great job and didn't know why I quit but
that was still the end of my career with Western Union.
I've been unsuccessfully
searching the Internet for one of those keystone shaped cap devices with the
words "Western Union" cast into it so I can put it in a framed picture with the
most famous NYC "Hudson 4-6-4 Passenger Locomotive" to memorialize my
association with both Western Union and The New York Central passenger service.
I have a photo to add of the Albany Depot and if you can suggest where I might
find one of those cap devices, I'd be most grateful. I did find a Coca-Cola
poster containing a nice big color sketch of a red-cheeked W.U. messenger
wearing his green cap and W.U. device but so far I've been unable to find "The
Real Thing".
For an 80+ year old, those days
in a self-taught position in the Albany Depot - long ago torn down, are
treasured memories and Western Union has my Thanx for the
privilege.
Sincerely,
Lawrence D. Sheely
36838 Tara Ave.
Zephyrhills,
Florida
33543-1978
to read "help needed"
items previously submitted.
The cartoon below was submitted by Jim Komro. It was cut out of the San Mateo Times newspaper sometime in the early '70's.
TELL US YOUR STORY
Tell your story. While you are still able, why not
write your own story about your W.U. experiences and history. Tell
us when you started with the company, the jobs you held, cities worked,
etc. Your story will be published on this site for all to read.
Most of us went to work each day,
did our job and came home. However, there were also exciting days as
well. Tell us about a promotion, a transfer, meeting a celebrity,
working with a new person, or with new equipment. These are but a
few suggestions. Compose an email today and send it to richardutz@netpass.com.
Don't be concerned about the length of your item.
First Data to Spin Off Western Union