Before the telegraph how did people communicate?

Pre-telegraphic communication was often achieved through the transmission of visible cues or sounds. Smoke signals, for example, could be seen from a distance. Similarly, drums could be heard from far away.

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Then people became sophisticated and invented writing on papyrus, parchment and eventually paper, so messages could be sent by runner (on his own two feet or horseback). This in turn led to the regular mail services, horse-drawn until the invention of mechanised transport.

Military, especially naval, communications were often by flag signals; and until quite recently Royal Navy seamen were trained in sending Morse Code messages between ships at short distances by Aldis Lamp flashes.