The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-03-07
EDISON AS a NRwsBOY.
The Early Life of the Now World
Famous Inventor.
Rdrper's Md1dzine

HGrper'S Magazine.
'At the beginning of the civil war" said
Mr.. Edison, 81 was shaving late and early
at selling papers, but, to tell the truth.
was not making a fortune 1 worked on
so small a margin that had to be mighty
careful that did not overload myself with
pap ers that couldn't sell. On tk., ether
hand, could not afford to carry so few
that 1should find myself sold out long be-
fore the end of the trip. To enable myself
to hit the happy mean, l formed plan
which turned out admirably. /
made a friend of one of the COM
positors 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 head lines 1
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 should need. AS a rule,
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 positer 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
and wounded as $1,000 men.
81 grasped the situation at once. Here
was chance for enormous sales, if only the
people along the line could know what had
happened; if only they could see the proof
slips l was then readingl Suddenly an idea
occurred to me. l rushed off to the tele-
graph operator and gravely made a propo-
sition to him, which he received just as
gravely. He, on his part, was to wire to
ooh0 Of fba vNriucir,oi CT tiOVc
asking the station-master to chalk upon the
black bulletin board-used for announcing
the time of arrival and departure of trains
the news of the great battle, with its ac-
comparing slaughter. This he was to do at
once, while agreed, in return, to supply
him free, gratis, for. nothing,sa Harper'S
Weekly, a HdTperss Monthly and daily
evening paper during the next six months
from date. pDr
This bargain struck, began to bethink
me how l was to get enough papers to make
the grand coup l intended. / had very
little cash, and, l feared, less credit. I
went to the superintendent of the delivery
department and proffered modest request
for 1000 copies of the Free Press on trust
But was not much surprised when my re-
quest was CURLY and gruffly refused. In
those days, though, l was a pretty cheeky
boy, aud l felt desperate. for | saw a small
ator had kept his word-a point on which
was still trifle doubtful. Nerving myself
for great stroke, marched upstairs into
the Office of Wilbur f. Storey himself, and
asked to see him. A few minutes later
was shown to him. l told him who l was,
and that wanted 1,500 copies Of the paper
on credit. The tall, thin, dark-eyed, ascetic-
looking man stared at me for a 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
l did. Then l felt happier than / have
ever felt since
II took my 1900 papers. got three boys to
help me fold them, and mounted the train,
all agog to find out whether the telegraph
opera tor had kept his word. At the town
where our first stop was made l usually
sold two papers. As the train swung into
that station l looked ahead and thought
there must be a riot going on. A big crowd
filed the platform, and as the train drew up
I began to realize that they wanted my
papers. Before we left had sold 100 or 200
at 5 cents apiece. AT the next station the
place was fairly black with people. l raised
the ante, and sold 300 papers at 10 cents
each. So it went on until Port Huron was
reached. Then l transferred my remaining
stock to the wagon which always waited for
me there, hired 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 25 cents or more per copy.
I remember / passed a church full Of wOr-
shippers and stopped to yell out my news
In ten seconds there was not a soul left in
meeting. All Of them, including the par
son, were clustered around me bidding
against each other for copies of the precious
paper.
''You can understand why it struck me
then that the telegraph must be about the
best thing going, for it was the Geographic
notices on the bulletin boards that had done
the trick. I determined at once to become
a telegraph operator. But If it hadn't been
for Wilbur +. Storey should never have
fully appreciated the wonders of electrical
science"