Just before dawn, Candiano-Popescu, armed with a revolver and with the help of another 40-50 persons, captured the telegraph operator, Grigore Iorgulescu. Although the latter was put under strict supervision, a couple of hours later his guards were inebriated, and he was able to send a telegram to Prime Minister Manolache Costache Epureanu's residence in Bucharest, asking what the situation was there (fearing that the coup had taken hold of the capital). The answer was that everything was calm and that there was nothing unusual happening. Iorgulescu then notified Epureanu of what had happened in Ploieşti.