Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1890-07-17
EDISON AS A NEWS5oY.
THE Beginning OF His Career and His Oar
inc Enterprise when Newsboy.

,.;,b Edison" which George Parsons
fsthrop reports in HUPcr'S Magdztne:
tttbt beginning of the civil war "
Iii AIR Edison. II was shaving late
s.l .arlyal selling papers; but, to tell
nm. truth was not making Il fortune.
worked ON SO small a margin that l
ta5 fo he mighty careful not to over
I,.l myself with papers that | couldn't
.a ON the other hand | could not
sF,rl ,o carry 50 few that | should
and myself sold out long before the end
of,bs irip. To enable myself to hit the
nanny mean. formed Il plan which
turBrI ont admirably. ! made friend
If onp of the compositors in the Free
prss office and persuaded him to show
me- every day galley proof of the
most important news article. From a
.tuJ, of il, headlines soon learned
m aIu.se the value of the days news
and FL, capacity SO that | could form
toIrrabh correct estimate of the
number of papers | should need. As a
rulc could dispose OF about 200; but
fthrre was amy special news from the
sea, of war. the sale ran up TO 300 or
over Well, one day my compositor
brought me q proc. Slip Of which near
N the whole was taken up with Il
gigantic display head 1t was the first
repnrt of the battle of Pittsburg Land
inc aftcrward called Shiloh, YOU know
and 10 gave the number of killed and
wounded rs 10000 men!
i grasped the situation at once.
Here was chance for enormous sales,
HouA the people along the line could
know vha, had happened; if only they
could see the proof slip | was then
reading, suddenly an idea occurred
tome. ! rushed off to the telegraph
operator and grJvely made propo-
stou To- him, which he received just as
grUelv He ON his part, was to wire
toeaeh of the principal stations on our
route. asking the station-master to
chalk mp ON tie black bulletin-board-
used for announcing the times of
arrival and departure Of trains-the
news of the great battle, with its ac-
c9muauymg slaughter. This he was
todo at once while | agreed, in re-
turn lo supply him free, gratis, for
nothing Il HYpc'S HcckiH IA HdIper'S
NnEtH and daily evening paper
during the next SIX months from that
date
This bargain struck, began to be-
think mp how | was to ge enough
wlpr- to make the grand coUp | in
tended had very little cash; and, |
feared still less credit. ! went to the
superintendent of the delivery depart
meat and profered modest request
ior Hnc thousand copies of the Free
Piss on trust. But | was not much
surprised When my request was curly
and gruttil refused In those days,
though. was a pretty cheeky boy, and
Iieit desperate. for | saw small for
tune 10 prospect if my telegraph oper-
ator had kept his word--a point on
winch ! was still trihe doubtful.
NeYmg myself for a great stroke,
marched upstairs into the Office of Will
our + Storey himself, and asked to
zee him. A few minutes later | was
SHOWN in to him. | told him who
was and that ! wanted fifteen hundred
cope. OF the paper on credit. The
la', thin, dark-eyed, ascetic-looking
Maa stared at me for moment, and
.ssa scratched few words on a slip
q paper Take that downstairs, said
w. and You will get what YOU want,
ana So did, Then felt happier than
4laFe ever felt since.
TOOK my fifteen hundred papers,
~, 'ATee boys to help me fold them,
o-1 mounted the train, all agog to find
~. whether the telegraph operator had
SsP- his word, AT the town where our
-. SOP was made | usually sold two
t-t' AS the train swung into that
r-oI 4 looked ahead and thought
. ,-..e must De a riot going on. A big
seo AAel the platform, and as the
G 1Ie" UP began to realize that
lss'r wanted my papers. Before we
c. ""o sold hundred or two at five
'peee AT the next station the
1 "A, fairly black with people. |
5->.4 .Ae ante and sold three bpn-
w. papers at ten cents each So it
r N until Port Huron was reached.
t.a transferred my remaining stock
MAJ. wagon which always waited for
H... a.rei small boy to sit on
's 'i papers i'm the back of the
s- III ~ la discount any pilfering.
~... l out every paper / had at a
.i dollar on more per conv.
..a aet passed church fuU III
.'.- and stopped to yell out
~ leu seconds there was
aa-.. let in the meeting. An
c-.- including the parson were