Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1890-02-14
EDISON AS A NEWSBOY.
His FIRST Streak Of Luck-And
How He is Said to Have
Prodted by It.

son, Il was shaving late and early
selling papers; but, to tell the truth,
I was not making a fortune. I work
ed on 50 small a margin that had to
be mighty careful not to overload my
self with papers that I couldn't sell
On the other hand, I could not afford /
to carry so few that should find my
self sold ont long before the end of
the trip, To enable myself to hit the
happy mean. I formed a plan which /
turned out admirably. I made a
friend Of one of the compositors in
the Free Press office, and persuaded !
him to show me every day a galley /
proof of the most important news |
article. From a study of its head !
lines I soon learned to gauge the
value Of the day'sn news and its selling
capacity, so that I could form toler-
ably correct estimate Of the number
of papers I should need. As a rule,
I could dispose of about 200; but if
there was any special news from the
seat of war, the sale ran to 300 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. It was the
first report of the battle Of Pittsburg
Landing afterward called Shiloh,
you know-and it gave the number
of killed and wounded as 10000 men!
81 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 I
was then reading! Suddenly an idea
occurred to me. I rushed off to the
telegraph operator and gravely made
/ a proposition to him, which he received
/ Just as gravely. He, on his part, was
to wire to each of the principal sta
tons on our route, asking the station
master to chalk up on the black bulle-
tin 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, a
Harper's Monthly, and a daily eve
ming paper during the next six
months from that date.
''This bargain struck, I began to be-
think me how I was to get enough
papers. to make the grand coup IN
tended. I had very little cash, and
I feared, still less credit I went to
the superintendent of the delivery de-
partment and proffered a modest re-
quest for 1000. copies of the Free
Press on trust. But I was not much
surprised when my request was curt
ly and grufiy refused. In these days
though, was a pretty cheeky boy
and I felt desperate, for 1 saw a small
fortune in prospect if my telegraph
operator kept his word-a point
on which I was still a trife doubtful
Nerving myself for a great stroke,
marched upstairs into the Office o
Wilbur +. Storey himself, and asked
to see him. A few minutes later
was shown in to HIM. told him whC
] [ was. and that I wanted /, 800 copies
o of his paper on credit The tall, thin
q dark eyed, ascetic looking man stareC
+ at me for a moment and then scratch
It ed few words on a slip Of paper
e Take that down stairs said he, 'an'
y you will get what you want. And g
e I did. Then I felt happier than
e have ever felt since.
81 took my 1 800 papers, got tire
, boys to help me- fold them and mount
l. ed the train all agog to find on
:. whether the telegraph operator ha
kept his word at the town wher
our first stop was made I usually sol
u two papers. As the train swung int
u that station 7 looked ahead an
10 thought there must be a rot goin
9 on. a big crowd filed the platforl
/ and as the train drew up I began
70 realize that they wanted my paper
az Before we left I had sold 102 at
3. cents apiece. At the next station t1
~ place was fairly black with people.
- raised the ante, and sold three hun
r. dred papers at ten cents each. So
went on until Port Huron was reacl