Grapevine Telegraph The grapevine telegraph is in origin a picturesque brother of the underground railway According to the dictionary the phrase was coined during the Civil war As the underground railway was a secret and guarded means of sending slaves CS from the South to freedom so the grapevine telegraph was any devious or covered means by which news or rumor traveled traveled traveled-by by private letter by word of mouth and so on Communication was not well organ organ- organized organized organized and there were many false war wart J reports afloat reports not to tobe tobe tobe be easily and speedily silenced Tales and canards of mysterious mysterious' origin were said to have come by grapevine telegraph The diction diction- dictionary dictionary ary ar still seeks to limit the use of the term to mysterious rumors and fabricated reports But by exten exten- extension extension extension sion the grapevine route is any means of communication which is I not easily detected or which is able to smuggle its messages past bar bar- barriers barriers intended to keep them out I