Blackmoor Vituperative

Effective January 27, 2006, Western Union will discontinue all Telegram and Commercial Messaging services. We regret any inconvenience this may cause you, and we thank you for your loyal patronage.

(from Western Union, Western Union Telegram)

Messages announcing births, deaths, congratulations, and world wars came in Western Union’s cryptic telegrams for more than 150 years. The last one has been sent. […]

Western Union now wires nothing but money. It did not announce who sent or received the last telegram.

When the first trans-Atlantic telegram was sent in 1861, it was as astounding as the first computer, or the first fax. Telegrams were used to announce the first flight in 1903 and the start of World War I. During World War II, the sight of a Western Union courier was feared because the War Department, the precursor to the Department of Defense, used the company to notify families of the death of their loved ones serving in the military, according to Associated Press.

(from WhatsNextBlog, Western Union -STOP- EndsTelegram Service After 150 Years – FULL STOP-)

We are witnesses to the end of an era.