Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1886-04-30
E OF EDISON.
An Inventive Train News-Agent Who An,
tedated the Wizard.

An Inventive Train News-Agent Who An
tedated the Wizard.
edison may think he has this bust
ness of t%elegraphing from a moving
train down fine," said the candy
butcher, ''but I a go him one better
I have been sending messages from a
moving train for two years, and
stopped only three months ago. That
amt all, either; I send my autograph
by wire, and boxes of candy, fruit, noyI
els, and a hull lot o. such things. Edi-|
is way behind the times"
"You're lying"
horned spoon that 1 am telling the
truth, s'elp me. You doubt me? OF
course. All great inventors have been
greeted in this cold world by sneers and
incredulity. That has been the fortune
OF all of us great men. But we get
there just the same. You want to hear
how 1, did it? Well, I'll tell you.
About two years ago went gone on a
girl who lived down in the country in q
house located about u half mile from the
track in a little valley. There was no
station there, and l didn't get to see
her very often, except at a distance-a
of a handkerchief, or some thing
like that-and this wasn't satisfactory,
as you may imagine. My train never
passed that way unless I had a yearning
that there would be an ac-
cident or something that would cause us
to lay over two or three days. I used
to think seriously about throwing my
self off the rear car and getting hurt, so
[ could be carried to her dads house
and by her fair hands and loving ten
derness nursed slowly back to the
strength and health of vigorous young
manhood, as tho story books have it.
But | didn't throw myself off the train,
not just then. Might have Zone it but
for an idea. An idea came to me from
out of the clouds. I guess. It was a
regg1lar inspiration. 1t broke all over
me like a bad egg, which a granger
threw at NE once down the road in re-
venge for cheating him out of a nickel.
1t took possession Of nj from my brain
to my heart. | wasn't long getting to
work on it, either. The very next Sun
day | stopped at the nearest station.
hired a livery horse and carriage, and
drove out to my girls house. Under
the seat in the carriage I had a big roll
OF telegraph wire which the linemen
had left out in the storm. [ told the
girl of my little scheme, and she became
enthusiastic over it. Between the
house and the railroad, q half-m!le
away, was a piece OF woods coming
clear up to the track. Here we were
walking, and I took along my roll Of
wire and some tools which se
sneakcd out of her dads shop
We worked like beavers all the after
noon, and by night had a wire stretched
from the track down the hillside to an
arbor in the garden by the house. From
that on | sent her a message every time
| passed. Some days l sent her books
like that. How? Just as easy IS fall
ing Off a log. had stretched the wiz
from the top of a whistle post close y
the side OF the trark, and in my KIT
Kept a lot Of little wire fxin's which
made myself. They fit the wire nicely
and to 'em I could tie letters, IGN
packages and such things, and then ~
had to do was to watch for the wlls1
post, hoop in hand, and, on reaching
the post, slip the hoop on the VIII
while the train vas running forty NUT
an hour. Down the hillside the leusa
gllded with great rapidity, and at a1
other end of the line she was Waltz
on the arbor bench for my messy
Great scheme, isn't it?"
Yes; but how did you come to sN
why, bout three months ago mu
RED the girl. You wouldn't expeu
man to go to all that trouble in orae,
Keep up communication with his o3
wife, would you?"--C Chicago Hsra@