The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1890-03-29
EDISON As 4 NEwsBoY.
Shrewdness by Which He Made
Money on q Great Battle.

"AVA CNACOA "AANA4 NAOoA 81 i 90 oOAN
Lathrop reports in Harper's Maga.
zine for February: "At the begin.
ming of the civil war;" said Mr.. Edi-
son, 81 was shaving late and early
at selling papers; but, to tell the
truth, | was not making fortune.
I worked on so small a margin that
l had to be mighty careful not to
overload myself with papers that l
couldn't sell. On the other hand,
l could not afford to carry so few
that l found myself sold out long
before the end Of the trip. To en-
able myself to hit the happy mean
I formed a plan which turned out
admirably. / made friend of one
of the compositors in the Free Press
office, and persuaded him to show
me every day galley proof of the
most important news article. From
study of its headlines I soon
learned to gauge the value of the
days news and its selling capacity,
so that | could form a tolerably
correct estimate of the number of
papers l should need. AS rule, I
could dispose of about 200; but if
there was any special news from the
seat of war the sale ran up to 800 or
over. Well, one day my compositor
brought me a proof slip of which
nearly the whole was taken up with
a gigantic display head. 1t was the
first report of the battle of Pittsburg
Landing-afterward called Shiloh,
you know-and it gave the number
of killed and wounded at 10000
men!
II grasped the situation at once.
Here was a chance for enormous
sales, if only the people along the
line could know what had happened
If only they could see the proof
slip was then reading. Suddenly
an idea occurred to me. l rushed
off to the telegraph operator and
gravely made proposition to him,
which he received just as gravely.
He, on his part, was to wire to each
of the principal stations on our
route asking the station-master to
chalk up on the black bulletin
board-used for announcing the
times Of arrival and departure Of
trains-the news of the great battle,
with its accompanying slaughter.
This he was to do at once, while l
agreed, in return, to supply him
free, gratis, for nothing a Harper's
Weekly, Harper's Monthly and a
daily evening paper during the next
six months from date.
"This bargain struck, | began to
bethink me how l was to get enough
papers to make the grand coup l
intended. 1 had very little cash,
and, l feared, still less credit. l
went to the superintendent of the
delivery department and proffered
modest request for one thousand
copies of the Free Press on trust.
But l was not much surprised when
my request was curtly and grufly
refused. In those days, though, I
was a pretty cheeky boy, and l felt
desperate, for l saw a small fortune
in prospect if my telegraph operator
had kept his word-a point on
which l was still a trife doubtful.
Nerving myself for great stroke,
l marched up stairs into the office
of Wilbur F. Storey himself, and
asked to see him. A few minutes
later I was shown in to him. told
him who I was, and that wanted
1900 copies of the paper on credit.
The tall, thin, dark-eyed ascetic-
looking man stared at me for
moment and then scratched few
words on a slip of paper. Take
that down stairs said he, and you
will get what you want And SO |
did. Then l felt happier than |
have ever felt since.
II took my fifteen hundred pa
pers, got three boys to help me fold
them, and mounted the train, all
agog to find out whether the tele-
graph operator had kept his word.
At the town where our first stop
was made I usually sold two papers.
AS the train swung into that sta
ton I looked ahead and thought
there must be a riot going on. A
big crowd filled the platform, and
as the train drew up | began to re-
alize that they wanted my papers.
Before we left l had sold a hundred
or two at 5 cents apiece. At the
next station the place was fairly
black with people. Iraised the ante,
and sold 800 papers at 10 cents
each. So it went on till Fort Huron
was reached. Then l transferred
my remaining stock to the wagon
which always waited for me there,
hired a small boy to sit on the pile
of papers in the back of the wagon,
SO as to discount any pilfering, and
sold out every paper had at quar-
ter of a dollar or more per copy. |
remember / passed church full of
worshipers and stopped to yell out
my news. In ten seconds there was
not soul left in the meeting. All
of them, including the parson,
were clustered around me. bidding