The [Rutland (Vt.) Herald][] relates a remarkable instance of telegraphing under difficulties, that occurred on Monday last. A train on the Bennington and Rutland Railroad had got stuck fast in a snow bank three-quarters of a mile from Shaftsbury, and could neither proceed nor back out. There was no means of telegraphing for assistance, and but for the opportune presence of Mr. John M. Hills, a telegraph operator who was on board, the dilemma would have been an unpleasant one. At his suggestion a messenger was despatched to Shaftsbury for a piece of wire. This obtained, a telegraph pole was climbed and the conducting wire cut. Then Mr. Hills affixed the piece of wire to one of the ends of the telegraph wire, and by striking the end of this against the other end of the telegraph wire formed a circle and communicated to the officers of the road at Rutland their condition, asking that an engine be sent to their assistance, which was at once despatched, and succeeded in getting the blockaded train out of its difficulty. Mr. Hills received the answer to his despatch from the Rutland office by placing the end of the wire on either side of his tongue, and receiving the shocks in his system.
I suppose it was a fairly low voltage wire in 1868. Still… no one today would be able to make a cell phone work by sticking it in their mouth. Communication technology has advanced well beyond our capacity to understand how it works, let alone use the component parts in an emergency. Call me a Neo-Luddite, but this inability that most of us have to grasp the fundamentals underlying essential aspects of our technological society is frightening.