The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1906-11-07
EDISON'S ODD START
THE BATTLE o. PiTTSBURG LANDING
INFLUENCED HIS CAREER.

Time. aud the Incidents "f ono Dny
Oprued Ills ycs Co thc Importance
aud Possibilities OF TcIcEraphy.
when the buttlr of Pltshurg Land
ins was fought the first report which
reached Detroit was that there were
GOUoO killed and wounded WAS
train ucws1ov then. and told the
telegraph operator at the Detroit sta
tinu that IL lie would wire the main
facts Of the battle along the line, 80
that announcements could be put up
az the station bulletin boards, | would
give uarpcr's Weekly to him for six
months free of cost.
Il used to sell about forty ncwspa-
pcrs on the trip, but that day ! bought
1000. At the first station the crowd
was 80 big that | thought it was an
excursion crowd hut. no, when the
pcoplc caught sight of me they began
to yell for papers Just doubled the
price ON the spot and charged 10 cents
instead of , cents copy. When |
got To the last station | jumped the
price up TO - cents a copy and sold
all | bad left. | made SO or SlOO on
that one trip, and, tell you, felt
mighty good
That called my attention TO what u
telegraph operator could do. and |
made UP my mind to become au op-
| orator MS soon as possible.
Then joined hands with man
named Callahan. aud we got up sever
al improved types OF stock tckerS.
These improvements were a success
"Whcn the day OF settlement for my
| inventions approached began 10 Won
der how much money | would get. :
| was pretty raw and know nothir-
about business. but | hoped that
| might gct $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 bc a pretty bad place
and had general suspicion that a
man was apt 10 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.
well, one day I was sent for by the
president of the Gold and Stock Tele-
graph company to talk about settle
ment on my improvements. lie was
General Marshall Leffcrts colonel OF
the Seventh regiment I tell YOU | was
trembling all over with cmbarrass-
ment. and when got In his presence
my vision OF $1,000 began to vanish.
When he asked me how much | wanted
/ was afraid to speak. feared that II
| mentioned $1,000 might get nothing.
That was one of the most painful and
exciting moments of my life My,
how beat my brains to know what to
say Finally said:
Suppose you make me an Offer
by that time | was scared. ! was
more than scared; | was paralyzed.
How would $4,000 dog asked Gen
cral Lcf'crtS.
, 1T was all | could do to keep my
face straight and my knees from Civ
ing way. With a great effort | said
that guessed that would be all right
lie said they would have the contract
ready in few days and l could come
back and sign It. In the meantime
when | went back the contract was
ready, and l signed it in hurry.
don't know even now what was in il
4 check for $4,000 was handed me
ana went 20 the bank as fast as m!
fcct would carry me. 1t was the frs
!, time | was ever inside of bank. ! go
, IN line, and when my turn came
haEled in my check. OF course haC
not iudorsed il.
"Thc teller looked at it, then pushed
1t back TO me and roared out some
thing which could not understand
being partly deaf. My heart sank anC
my legs trembled. handed the checl
% back 10 him. but again he pushed /
back with the same unintelllgble OK
plosion Of words
|. THAT settled IT, l went out of tht
bank feeling miserable. was the vic
tim OF another Wall street skin game
| never felt worse In my life. | wen
. around to the brother OF the treasure
who had drawn the check and said
o I'm skinned, all right
when | 'old him my story he burs
, out laughing. and when he went int
the trcusurcr's Office TO explain mat
ters there was load roar of laushtc
at my expense, They sent somebod
: to the bauh with me, ana the BAN
= officials thought it so great joke tina
, they played trick on me 10y payln
tho whole $4,000 in ten, twenty an
e fifty dollar bills.
, 1T made az enormous Pile of none!
k stuffed the bills in my inside pocl
cts and outside pockets, my trouser
pockets and everywhere | could pu
them. Thea | started for my home |
Newark. ] wouldn't sit on seat wit
anybody on the train or let anybod
approach Iue. When | got to my rool
| couldn't Sleep FOR fear of being rol
bed. So the next day took 1t bac
10 General Lclfcrts and told him