by Laurel | April 1st, 2013
02 April 1915
Telephones Furnish Chief Source of Amusement; Police Line Favorite
Holyoke, April 1 — April Fool Jokers were on the job all day today and the telephone was the chief means of furnishing them with amusement, the operators being kept busy almost every minute. The police station line was undoubtedly the most popular and the officers in the main office and those in the detective bureau were given but few idle moments.
House Officer Michael Driscoll was called upon to answer most of the calls at police headquarters. The biggest pest was the person who would call up and then ask him to “hold the line minute.” He held the line five and ten minutes and until he got a cramp in his arm. Then he decided that someone was having a little fun at his expense and further requests to “hold the line” resulted in the prompt hanging up of the receiver.
One store proprietor started a bugler scare in his place of business. Getting down to the store early he tossed some of the stock about the floor and counters, opened the cash register and dumped money and bills about, just as though someone had been ransacking the place during the night. Then he locked up and went out to a nearby restaurant for his breakfast. His head clerk came in a short time after and was about to notify the police of the “break” when the owner arrived and had a quiet laugh at the expense of his much alarmed clerk.
Adapted from The Springfield Republican.
