Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1906-10-28
EDIS0N'S ODD START
THE BATTLE OF elTTSeURG LANDING
INFLUENCED HIS CAREER.

Opened ut. Eyes to the I'm pOrtnncc
ana Possibilities al TcIegruply.
"Whcn the battle Of plttsburg Land
ing WAS fought the first report which
icachcd Detroit was that there were
$4,000 killed and wounded. was Il
train rcwshoy then. and told the
telegraph operator at the Detroit sta
ton that If he would wire the main
facts OF the battle along the line. so
that ANNOUNCEMENTS could he put up
at the station bulletin boards. / would
give llarpcr'S Weekly to him for six
months free OF cost.
81 used to sell about forty ncwspa-
pcrs on the trip, but that day ! bought
1000. AT the first station the crowd
was 50 big that | thought ii was nn
excursion crowd. But, no. when the
people caught sight OF me they began
To yell for papers. ! just doubled the
price OH The spot and charged 10 cents
instead of . cents Il copy. When |
Got to the last station | Jumped the
price up To - cents II copy ana sold
all had left. made $50 or 500 on
y
mighty good
THAT called my attention to what II
telegraph operator could do, and
made up my mind to become an OPP
orator AZ soon as possible
"'rhcn ! joined hands with Il man
named Callahan, and we got up sever
III improved types of stock tickers.
These improvements were success.
when the day of settlement for my
inventions approached began TO VOL
der how m,lch money | would get.
was pretty raw and knew nothing
about business. but hoped that
might gel $1,000 | dreamed of what
! could do with big money like that.
Of the tools and other things | could
buy To work out Inventions but knew
Wall street to be Il pretty bad place
and had Il general suspicion that IL
mum was apt To get beat out of his
money there. So | tried to keep my
hopes down. but the thought of $1,000
kept rising in my mind.
'Wrll. one day was sent for by the
president of the Gold and Stock Tclc.
graph company To talk about II settle
mcnt on my improvements. He was
General Marshall I.cfrerts, colonel Of
the Seventh regiment. ! tell YOU was
trembling NIL over with einbarrass.
meIit. and when got IN his presence
my vision of $1,000 began to vanish
When lie asked me low much wanted
! was afraid to speak. feared that II
! mentioned $4,000 might get nothing
That was one of Tie most painful and
NJ
! how beat my brains to know what to
| ray! FINALLY | said:
Suppose you make me an o(rerr
by that time | was scared l was
: more than scared; | was puralyZcd.
"'IIow would $4,000 dor asked Gen
rral l.rlferts,
| ut was all | could do to keep my
! face straight and my knees from Civ
! Ing way. With II great effort said
/ HAT guessed that would he MI right
| lie said they would have the contract
ready In II few days and could come
back aud sign ii. In the meantime
scarcely Slept. | couldn't believe 1t.
when went back the contract was
ready. and signed 1t In Il hurry. 7
don't know even now what was In it.
y check for $4,000 was handed me,
ana went TO the hank us fast as nv
| Feet would carry me. 1t was the first
lime WAS ever inside of II hank got
IN line, ami when my turn came |
handed in my check. or course had
not Endorsed it,
The teller looked at it, then pushed
IL back To me and roarcd out some
ttng Which could not understand.
being partly deaf My heart sank and
any legs trcmhled, handed the check
back TO him, but again he pushed 1t
Dnck with the same unintelligiblc ex-
plosion of words.
That settled il. | went out of the
bank feeling miserable. was the vic
tim of another Wall street skin game
never felt worse i'm my life. went
hro'ind to The brother of the treasurer
Who had drawn the check and said
I'm skinned, all right
when told him my story he burst
ont laughing. and when he went into
The trcasurcr's Office TO explain mat
tcrs there wnS Il loud roar of laughter
1T my expense. They sent somebody
! TO the bank with me, ana the bank
officials thought it so great joke that
they played Il trick on me by having
tho whole $4,000 in ten. twenty and
| fifty dollar bills.
1T made an enormous pile of money.
| | stuffed the bills in my inside peck.
| cts ana outside pockets. my trousers,
/ pockets and everywhere could nut
| ihcnl, Then started for my home In
Newark. l wouldn't sit on Il seat with
anybody on the train or let ANYBODY
upproach me. When got TO my room
| couldn't sleep for fear of being rob.