My Sisters Telegraphic: Women in the Telegraph Office ... - Monoskop

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CINEMA 143 starred Randolph Scott, Robert Young, and Virginia Gilmore. Virginia Gilmore portrays Sue Creighton, a telegrapher who is the sister of Edward Creighton, supervisor of construction for the telegraph; Creighton is played by Randolph Scott. Edward Creighton was a historical figure who was largely responsible for the building of the transcontinental telegraph, but there is no evidence that he had a sister who was a telegrapher. In any event, she is present chiefly as romantic interest, being wooed simultaneously by the strong and silent Vance Shaw (Dean Jagger) and the wealthy easterner Richard Blake (Robert Young). The movie is badly flawed by racism and sexism; the Indians are portrayed as drunken louts who must be given electric shocks to teach them to leave the wires alone. Sue Creighton watches the wagons roll west, full of linemen eager to string the transcontinental telegraph, and remarks wistfully that “things like this make some women wish that they’d been born men.” The movie partially redeems itself through its depiction of authentic telegraphic equipment of the era; numerous genuine keys, sounders, and batteries are shown in use. Western Union provided technical assistance for the movie and gets an occasional plug when outlaws are told not to “mess with Western Union.” Overland Telegraph, filmed in 1951, a Tim Holt western, stars Gail Davis in an uncharacteristically strong role as Colleen Muldoon, a telegrapher, line stringer, and manager. She is accurately portrayed as being Irish, the daughter of telegrapher Terence Muldoon. Although flawed by a ridiculous opening scene in which she is “rescued” from atop a telegraph pole by two handsome cowboys, the movie is reminiscent of the early serials in its depiction of women operators as strong, reliant, and capable of managing. Unlike Sue Creighton, Gail Davis’s character is not afraid to climb poles, fix wires, manage a station, and give orders to the linemen. She becomes manager of a telegraph station after saboteurs kill her father; later, she even leads a posse in search of the desperadoes led by Brad Roberts, played by Hugh Beaumont. Throughout the story, she remains free of romantic involvement with Tim Holt and his sidekick, Chico Rafferty. In the 1953 movie Kansas Pacific, directed by Ray Nazarro, telegrapher Barbara Bruce, played by Eve Miller, has to alternate between her role as railroad section chief Cal Bruce’s dutiful daughter, who must prepare meals
144 WOMEN TELEGRAPHERS IN LITERATURE AND CINEMA and do the dishes, and her role as telegrapher, providing the only link between the isolated railroad camp and the rest of the world. Thus her telegraphic skills give her a special significance and make her a central character in the plot, in which Confederate sympathizers are sabotaging the building of a railroad in pre–Civil War Kansas. The plot is centered around the building of the Kansas Pacific Railroad, anachronistically situated before the Civil War; actually, the Kansas Pacific was built in the 1870s by Jay Gould and his associates. The movie accurately depicts prewar “bleeding Kansas” as torn by conflict between pro-Southern forces and Union loyalists; the Confederate sympathizers, led by William Quantrill, of Quantrill’s Raiders, are trying to sabotage the building of the Kansas Pacific to prevent the Union from having a rail link to its western outposts. The plot may have been suggested by the real-life story of Louisa Volker and her experiences as a military telegrapher and operator for the St. Louis and Iron Mountain Railroad in Civil War–era Missouri. After a construction crew is attacked near Rockwood, Kansas, the action switches to Washington, D.C., where General Winfield Scott orders army engineer John Nelson, played by Sterling Hayden, to go to Kansas in the guise of a civilian construction engineer and ensure that the railroad link is completed on time. Back in Kansas, Barbara Bruce is in the midst of clearing the dinner dishes in the boxcar home she shares with her father when she is interrupted by a message coming over the line, announcing the imminent arrival of Nelson, who will oversee construction of the railroad. Cal Bruce reacts with disbelief; he asks Barbara if she hasn’t made a mistake in reading the message. His disbelief soon turns to anger; he fears that Nelson is being sent to replace him. When Nelson arrives, Barbara treats him coolly at first; when he asks what the problem is, she replies that she cannot be expected to feel kindly toward a man who would attempt to further his career at her father’s expense. Nelson assures her that that is not his intent and hints at his real purpose, which Cal Bruce has already guessed from his army-style horseback riding. The sabotage attempts continue, in spite of Nelson’s efforts to maintain an armed guard around the camp. Finally, after the rail route is completed to the Colorado border, the Confederates attack trains with artillery; Nelson responds by bringing in a train loaded with Union troops and artillery, who quickly dispatch the Confederate irregulars.
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My Sisters Telegraphic Thomas C. Je
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My Sisters Telegraphic Women in the
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Contents List of Illustrations vii
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Illustrations 1. Emma Hunter, teleg
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Acknowledgments I would like to tha
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MY SISTERS TELEGRAPHIC
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2 WOMEN IN THE TELEGRAPH INDUSTRY t
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6 Figure 1. Emma Hunter, telegraphe
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10 WOMEN IN THE TELEGRAPH INDUSTRY
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c h a p t e r t w o Daily Life in t
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14 DAILY LIFE IN THE TELEGRAPH OFFI
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c h a p t e r t h r e e Society and
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40 SOCIETY AND THE TELEGRAPH OPERAT
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Figure 18. Emily Warburton and Barb
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80 WOMEN’S ISSUES IN THE TELEGRAP
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194 CONCLUSIONS Although Wired Love
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196 CONCLUSIONS the same gender iss
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198 CONCLUSIONS of Railroad Telegra
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200 CONCLUSIONS female railroad tel
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Notes Chapter 1—Women in the Tele
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NOTES TO PAGES 15-32 205 4. “The
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NOTES TO PAGES 42-52 207 10. Gabler
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NOTES TO PAGES 63-72 209 lection, N
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NOTES TO PAGES 86-108 211 tlemen of
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NOTES TO PAGES 129-159 213 is ident
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NOTES TO PAGES 181-200 215 64. Fone
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218 BIBLIOGRAPHY Burman, Shirley, c
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220 BIBLIOGRAPHY Long Beach (Calif.
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222 BIBLIOGRAPHY Withuhn, William L
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224 Boston and Providence Railroad,
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226 “glass arm” (telegraphers
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228 Northbridge, Mass., telegraph o
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230 telegraphers, demographics: age
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My Sisters Telegraphic: Women in the Telegraph Office ... - Monoskop

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