Fictionalised by Dumas in the Count of Monte Cristo. The price was to cure a green-thumb gardening-mad telegraphist of his dormouse problem with cash for a new garden, once sacked.
I read the book recently, there are some interesting details in there:
-The operator of the telegraph does not know the meaning of the signals he transmits.
-The operator had a fixed break time every day, and could never leave his post. If he missed a signal or sent a single wrong signal, he had to pay a fine worth a large chunk of his annual salary.
-The pay was really bad, but it was an easy job which required no physical or intellectual skill at all, and lodging was included. Also if the weather was bad, you just had a paid day off.
-The count essentially offers the operator early retirement with full pension, all in exchange for sending a few different signals, no questions asked. The cost of this bribery is almost nothing compared to the monetary loss to his enemy.
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-The operator of the telegraph does not know the meaning of the signals he transmits.
-The operator had a fixed break time every day, and could never leave his post. If he missed a signal or sent a single wrong signal, he had to pay a fine worth a large chunk of his annual salary.
-The pay was really bad, but it was an easy job which required no physical or intellectual skill at all, and lodging was included. Also if the weather was bad, you just had a paid day off.
-The count essentially offers the operator early retirement with full pension, all in exchange for sending a few different signals, no questions asked. The cost of this bribery is almost nothing compared to the monetary loss to his enemy.