Christian Science Monitor, March 12, 1909, page 1:
Wireless Amateurs Send Fake Messages of Wreck
NEWPORT, R. I. After an all-night search by revenue cutters and other boats for a vessel supposed to be in distress somewhere off the Newport coast, Capt. Mark Bristol, inspector at the torpedo station, declared today that the wireless help calls which sent relief ships scurrying in every direction were the work of amateur wireless experimenters.
The unwarranted messages sent out last night have impressed the authorities with the increasing necessity of taking some steps to curb the operation of the amateurs, whose experiments, it is declared, are hindering the wireless stations.