Wichita eagle., 1890-02-11
EDISON AS A NEWSBOY.
How He First Appreciated Electricity and
Incidentally Made a Stake.

How He First Appreciated Electricity and
Incidentally Made a Stake.
The following is one of the "Talks with
Edison" which George Parsons Lathrop re-
ports in Harper's Magazine. "At the be-
ginning Of the civil war;" said Dir. Edison,
81 was shaving late and early at selling
papers; but, to tell the truth, / wss not max
ing a fortune. l worked on so small q margin
that had to be mighty careful not to over
load myself with papers that couldn't sell
On the other hand, l could not afford to
carry 50 few that / should find myself sold
out long before the end of the trip. To en-
able myself TO hit the happy mean, / formed
a plan which turned out admirably. / made
q friend of one Of the compositors in The
Free Press Office, and persuaded him 70 show
me every day galley proof OF the mos.
important news article. From a stndy Of its
headlines i soon learned to gauge the value
Of the days news and its selling CAPACITY, so
that l could form a toIerabiy correct eSti-
mate of the number Of papers I should need
As a rule, could dispose OF about 30; bet
il there was any special news from the seat
Of war, the sale ran Up % 800 or over Wei,
one day my compostor brought me a proof
slip Of which nearly the whole was taken up
first report Of the battle Of Pitteburg Land
ing-afterward called Shiloh, you know
and it gave tho numoer Of killed and ~ounisd
as GO 900 meu
II grasped the situation at once. Here was
. chance for enormous sales, IL only the peopIe
along the line could kLor what bad hap
pened; IL ouly they could zee the proof sip
was then reading! Suddenly an iina occurred
to me. rushed OF TO the telegraph operator
and gravely made a proposition 20 hin1. which
ne received inst as gravely. He, On IA. part.
was To wire TO each Of tbs principal stA.aoas
On oiir route. asking the station master %
chalk Upon the black oslilsssn bo<xr6-sEsd
for announcing the times OF arrival and Go
paxture Of tralEs--the ur~x Of the area: batfas
with its accompanying slaazhter This b
was TO do at once; whiie agreed. In rrturn,
TO supply rim free, gratis, Tor noticing,
Harpers Weekly, a Earp-'s ncntoIy, and
q daily evening paper during tbs nsIs az
months from that date.
''This bargain Struck, began 20 h~taina
me how ! was 10 gst enough gsayers 70 make
the grand cup intsndsd rad very utfIs
cash, and, ] feared, still l-sS credit real
TO toe superintendent u the delivery depart
meat and proz1er-d modest rsq1s=t for 90
copies Of The Frs~ Press ~ trust. But was
nos much sarTgSsed when nv request was
curtly and graf3y refssoi- II thsse daya,
though, / wa pretty cbeexy boy. and fs4i
dez3srste. for Saw snail fortune In pro~-
pec. ny telegraph operzsor had ksr: MS
words point On whsch ] zss s.4l tr1fss
doubtful servisg Eaysslf scr grssst stroke.
marched UPSTAIRS into The osfses a y litsr
z. Storrr hirss~lf asd asksd 20 - kfrn- A
few minutes Later ! wss Shown In 20 hlm- ]
tod hi-n who ~a<. and thai ~aatsd ! 80
copses Of the rassr Cd c-s1lG TIE taii. thAz,
dark eF~d. assetAc looking iran ssa--si AZ ne
FOR Esozo<nf, All tssa S-rx.3bsd fs~
words CT = sip Q, paper. Tahs TIA; DOM
s-&i-s.' Aaid be, AID yDs rsl gss -h&; you
want Ard 70 ID Ts@a J ssst kzppser
tsaa have ever fsst ssrcs-
Il tax rsy 900 y&Pers. 81 thrse h<vTx 10
help n1e fosa them. srsd ,ssoSat~i tbs txsIa.
au azoz 70 End ozt wbszlssr -. fas~xrxpa
o1SrztA- Lad sezt ha w1.G- a. tes toru