The Red Cloud chief., 1878-04-11

A reporter for the Commercial YES
scrday obtained from MIR. I'd. 7. Gin.
land. an interesting statement regard
ing Thomas Alvey Edison. tho great
electrician and inventor. Mr.. GiliIland
has been more ar less associated with
Mr.. Edison since boyhood, and for three
years. recently, was associated with him
In business. He says
Edison was born nj Milan. In the north
part of this State. and his parents
moved Ia Port Huron. Michigan. while
he was quite n small boy. lie was first
employed NJ train boy ON n railroad
Sunalng through Port Huron. II was
while thus employed that he learned
t1lcgraphing.
first met him In 1863. nj Adrian.
Michigan, where We were both employ.
ed M telegraph operators. We both
loft there about the same time. he going
t0 Indianapolis and ] coming Ia this
city. lie remained only n short time
in Indianapolis, and then came 10 Gin.
cinnati. was then boarding nj the
lSevis House. Mr.. HyAms. now manager
0f Woods. Edison and myself occupy
ing "a room. One day Edison was RI.
lailng 10 Hyams and myself how. ON
q occasion. while he was n peanut
boy. ho had taken charge of the lOcomo-
Tive and run the train the entire trip.
The engineer and fireman had been COM
PEELED tn make n or two extra trips.
and had become completely worn out,
and while ON siding both engineer aud
fireman fell asleep on their seats. The
conductor ~signallcd Ia 20 ahead. and
Edison e~ndcayOred ~ awake them. but
was unable To do 80. and decided he
would pull out, expecting they would
soon awake after they got In motion.
Finding everything was going all right,
he grew q little bold aud didn't disturb
them. Tho train being n light one be-
was enable ~ do the stocking. II the
train hands looked forward they saw
Tom busy singing wood or pulling the
bell. or. pcrhaps. with his hand ON the
throttlc-valvc. but M he was very fond
Of riding on the engine aud had often
been allowed Ia do the same. nothing
WAS thought Of land 81 he drove ahead,
completing the entire trip. Of course.
very little could he said about Il u the
time without giving the engineer. who.
ON many occasions, under the p~rctcnSe
Of adjusting some pant III the machine.
~, would delay starting u few minutes
tn enable him 10 get his box aboard.
when he had oversight and was u littlc
late.
From this story I learned that Tom
wa of \ mechanical turn of mind. and
having In my youth been %apprcnticed
out At gunsmithing, We found much to
talk about. He then showed me n little
steam engine he had made out of brass
tubing, with = very ingenious valve
Ipoti0n, and told Of several other inven-
lions he had gotten up. From this time
all Of our spare time was spent
IA tinkcring md experimenting. At
The: time "a very poor facilities
70 rely wholly Nc old, WORKOUT
and discarded aments and battery
from the office
In 1868, who } Western Union Of.
iice was moved IN Fourth and Wal.
nut To Third str6et, there WA All old set
Of rcpeaters not wanted In the now Of.
dos, and Mr. Stevens, the chief opera.
Tor, told Edison no could have them.
For some time Edison had M Idea that
he could send two messages simultane-
Ously over one wire. Hc had a great
many sketch drawings Of II. and often
explained the invention 10 me Il have
these drawings now In my pOssession),
but up To this time had never been able
70 secure sufficient apparatus to test II.
Immediately upon getting possession
Of the old repeater. II was taken to his
home and pulled to pieces, and the work
Of constructing . duplex was begun, and
0vhnn OOvps sNlnVaO anH Aa.eol ,.,.. H...l
70 work precisely A. no expected. The
few operators to whom Il was shown
could not understand or appreciate Il,
and went away believing Il 70 be some
trick. or that he was dcceiving him.
self.
At this time this tinkering or expert.
menting was not looked upon with
much favor. and no hopes were enter.
tained Of being able 70 get 4 set Of ap-
paratus and making . practical test up-
ON the wires. The instruments used
for the experiments were, Of course. not
suitable for practical transmission Of
messages, being stuck together with
sealing.wax, and tied up with strings.
An old cigar box, being easily whitfield
and bored with u gimlet. was usually
the base or foundation Of this expert
mental apparatus. I have always be-
lieved that, had Edison received u little
encouragement ut this time, from the
telegraph company. they would have
enjoyed the benefits OF the duplex and
Iu~adruplex, from five to eight years
Arlicr than they did. Edison's early
powledge Of electricity was largely
Huired from books In the Mechanics'
brary, which was then situated at
tn and Vine. MIR. johnson, the pres
chief operator Of the Western Union,
In those days the assistant chief,
, that many times Edison would got
pused from duty under pretense Of
ng too sick to work, and various 9TH
excuses, and invariably strike a bee
Q for the library. where no would
end the entire day and evening in
Ading DE La Rue's or Noad's Manu-.
and such other works on electricity
were to be had.
He left here In 1863 or 1869. going to
bston, where I chat.ed with him occa-
bnally over the wire, nearly always
nOorninp some new i%nvention he had