Didn't telegraphs use paper tape in the beginning?
Not just in the beginning. Almost until the end. The paper tape with the actual messages was cut into strips and pasted onto a telegram form before being put into an envelope and delivered.
No, that's not how it worked. The messages weren't arranged in paragraphs. They were snipped to fit inside the pre-printed box on the telegraph form.
And even very rich people didn't send multi-paragraph telegrams. You paid by the letter. Most telegrams were two sentences or less. Sometimes two words or fewer.
I always heard it was Victor Hugo and Les Miserables–indeed it's mentioned ("apocryphal tale") on Hugo's wikipedia page...with a link to this page saying it most probably never happened. Also I came across it as an Oscar Wilde story online just now.
Not just in the beginning. Almost until the end. The paper tape with the actual messages was cut into strips and pasted onto a telegram form before being put into an envelope and delivered.