The daily morning journal and courier., 1906-08-18
EDISON TELLS HIS CAREER
INFLUENCE 4 GREAT BATTLE
 HAD ON HIS WHOLE LIFE.
His First Invention Good One, But Not WeIcOme-His Second Brought a Check for Forty Thousand Dollars Which He Couldn't Cash--BOx on the Ears Made Him Deaf.

NNSAA AOE fOGly IhOuH"hu OOA"As
 Which He Couldn't Cash---Box on the Ears Made Him Deaf.
 I'll tell you how I happened to get into telegraphing first" said Thomas Edison to a representative of Pear. sons Magazine When the battle of Ptttsburg Landing was fought the first report which reached Detroit an- .nounced that there were sixty thou sand killed and wounded.
 T was a train newsboy then, and 1 told the telegraph operator at the De- troit station that if he would wire the main facts of the battle alone the line so that announcements could be put up on the station bulletin boards I would give Harper's Weekly to him for six months free of cost.
 T used to sell about forty newspa- pers on the trip. This time 1 made up my mind that I ought to take thou sand, but when I counted my money l found l had only enough to buy four hundred.
 Then 1t occurred to me that if I could get to Wilbur F. Story, the pro- prietor of the Detroit Free Press, I might be able to work out of my diffi- culty. I climbed up the stairs to his office and said:
 MT. Story, I have only got money enough to buy four hundred papers, and I want six hundred more. thought I might get trusted for them, I'm a newshoy' I got my thousand papers all right.
 That was great day for me. AAt the first station the crowd was so big that l thought it was an excursion crowd, But no; when the people caught sight of me they began to yell for papers, just doubled the price on the spot and charged ten cents instead of five cents a copy.
 When got to the last station jumped the price up to twenty-five cents copy and sold all had left. I made seventy-five or 6 hundred dollars in that one trip, and I tell you l felt mighty good
 That called my attention to what a telegraph operator could do. l thought to myself that telegraphing was sim ply great, and I made up my mind to become an operator as soon as possi- ble.
 The first serious thing I invented was machine which would count the votes In congress in very few mo- ments. It was good machine, too but when I took it to Washington they said to me:
 Young man, that's the last thing we want herel Filibustering and the delay in counting the vote are the only means we have of defeating bad legls- Ilation.'
 My next practical invention was tho lquadruplex telegraph, started in tc work it on the Atlantic and Pacific tel. Iegraph line between Rochester and lNew York, but there was chump a 1 the other end ofsthe wire, and the de monsNSeiion ended in a tizzle. It was years before the quadruplex wal adopted.
 That landed me in New York with tout a cent in my pocket. I went to al loperator and managed to borrow a dol lar. I lived on that for a week, but had to park 1t little. ooh, didn mind 1t and l never did care mucl about eating, anyhow
 "Then I hustled for something to do I could have got job as an operate lat ninety dollars a month, but l want ed a chance to do something better. Happened one day into the office of gold ticker company which had abou live hundred subscribers.
 q was standing beside the appara tus when 1t gave a terrific rip roar an, suddenly stopped. In a few minute hundreds of messenger boys blocke, Iup the doorway an yelled for some on to f1xthe tickers in their office. Tn man in charge of the place was simpl f1abbergasted, so I stepped up to hin and said:
 1T think I knew what's the matter
 T simply had to remove loose con tact spring which had fallen betweei the wheels. The result was that I wa employed to take charge of the servic at three hundred dollars a month. almost tainted when l heard hoy much salary I was to get.
 Then I Joined hands with a ma named Callahan and we got up severe Improved types of stock tickers These improvements were a success.
 When the day of settlement for m Inventions approached I began to won der how much money 1 would get was pretty raw and knew nothin about business, but 1 hoped that might get five thousand dollars.
 q dreamed of what l could do wit big money like that, of the tools an other things could buy to work ou Inventions; but I knew Wall street t be 8 pretty bad place, and had a gene lral suspicion that man was apt t get beat out of his money there. So tried to keep my hopes down; but tn thought of five thousand dollars kep rising in my mind.
 Well, one day I was sent for by tn president of the Gold and Stock Tele graph company to talk about settle ment for my improvements. He wa General Marshall Lefferts, colonel C the Seventh regiment
 T tell you was trembling all owe with embarrassment, and when gC V in his presents my vision of five thou l. sand dollars began to vanish. Whe V he asked me how much l wanted wa , afraid to speak. I feared that if a mentioned five thausand dollars l might get nothing.
 That was one of the most painfl . and exciting moments of my life. M. how beat my brains to know what