How do cable addresses work (e.g., "Wire Paladin, San Francisco")?

[Melbourne]

@whitetho

Well, I messed up that reply. On further review, the † symbol indicates communities, not hotels, with telegraph offices.

However, I was able to find a few references at the California Digital Newspaper Collection site. At this time the two main U.S. telegraph companies were Western Union and Postal Telegraph (which, despite its similar name, was a private company unrelated to the U.S. Postal Service): Hotel La Vista Grande, Monrovia, 1903, Tremont Hotel, Red Bluff, 1904, Clarendon Hotel, Los Angeles, 1875 where “The Western Union Telegraph Offices communicate with the Reading Room”, Blackman House, Los Angeles, 1875 (which became the Grand Central Hotel), and another Grand Central Hotel, Tabor City, 1875.

Hmmmmm. I said “swank hotel”, but actually I picture Paladin more as an upper-class commercial traveller, not a millionaire businessman.