A week after Warren Hammond had taken the oath of office as Governor of
the State, he dropped a line to one Joseph Morris, a radio announcer
employed by the local broadcasting station, suggesting to Mr. Morris
that it might be to his advantage to call and see him.
“Mr. Morris,” the new Governor began when the young man appeared, “I
feel that I owe you an apology and a reward as well, in case anything in
the line of jobs that I have to dispose of would appeal to you. I’ve
looked you up, and the only thing I find against you is that on a
certain evening when you were acting as announcer at our party’s keynote
pre-convention dinner, you took a chance and went home early, thereby
making me Governor of the State.”
He paused and chuckled at Morris’s utter bewilderment.
“Well, it’s the answer to the ghost story that’s been puzzling a lot of
people since last spring--how I was able to get a speech of mine from
that dinner when I apparently wasn’t there. It’s so darn simple!
“When I left the table licked that night and went out the side door, I
almost ran into your little sound-proof announcer’s booth with its handy
little microphone all ready for use, and its handy little switch to cut
off the microphone out on the table so that I was able to stay right
there and substitute my speech for Mr. Jim Neenan’s horseplay, switching
back to catch his applause and give it to my radio audience as my own.
At that I guess I owe Jim something, too. But if there is anything I can
do for you, let me know.”