Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1913-06-26
MAROON Tells
HIS LIFE STORY

Dreamed o. ths Possibilities o. His In.
vsntion When Boy and Worked g
Develop lt-Allsoss National Signal.
ins Company 10 Using Thserise
Which He Patented.
Guglislno Aarconi, testifytng in New
York in The injunction and damage
vuit brought BY the MarceM Wireless
Telegraph Company Of America against
the National Electric Signaling COM
pany, bsiedy sketched the remarkable
career that made wireless teleCraphy
and the naass Marconi practically syn
onymOus.
Il was the life story Of well to do
Italian lad who had expanded the germ
Of an idea to worldwide proportions.
From a mere toy that spluttered feebiy
across the length Of dining room tn
bic be had laboriously evolved the mira
Gle worker Of the present day, which
sends its message Jumping across 6!OOO
miles.
The idea was not entirely new. no
said, but he insisted that the develop
ments covered by his patents had made
wireless practicable and lifted It out
Of the class of scientific freaks to
place among the commercial utilities
that are now almost indispensable. He
denied that he had taken his best ideas
from either PopoR or Hertz.
inventor q Coed Witness.
Marconi made good witnesA He
was as shrewd in appraising the cues
tons of the patent lawyers as he was
in weighing and framing his replies.
He Is a man Of medium height and
build, dark or coloring. and the slight
nervousness he manifested seemed
characteristic rather than the result OF
the swiftly shifting and sharp attacks
be was subjected to in cross examine
ton
at one point he was accused of TAX
ing his idea for grounding wires from
the German scientist Popoff. this ale
CATION being based on the fact that
newspaper reports ut the time patents
were pending contained no reference
to this vital Improvement In apparatus.
The lawyers for tie defense took this
to mean that the idea OF grounding
came to him after he had applied for
patents. Popon suggested such an i'm
provement just about that time.
Certainly not" Marconi replied.
do you think ! would be fool enough
to give away one Of my very best ideas
H,oforo I hnI n0tonfo6 81
Marconi IS thirty eight years old. al
though bis appearance would Indicate
that more than eleven years have
elapsed since he came over, mere
boy In appearance and enthusiasm. to
demonstrate the practcability Of his
apparatus to the government and peo-
pie of this country. His mustache 10
gone, but seriousness has taken it,
place. He seems to have aged even
more than the passing Of time would
warrant Cares have multiplied pro-
digiously for the young man then less
than twenty who In 1904 read of the
experiments Of Hertz. the German
wireless inventor. and was fired to new
experiments with the apparatus he
had toyed with as schoolboy.
Experimental From eoyhood.
Most Of the earlier experiments were
made on his fathers country estate In
Italy. which Marconi described as two
and one-half miles long and half a
mile wide. He had been interested in
physics and electricity from boyhood.
he testified. and naturally paid most
attention to studies bearing upon the
subject. His education along these
lines had not been exhaustive. how
ever, except in so far as he taught
himself. and it is to this self teaching
that he owes his title Of electrical en-
gineer From the time he was twenty
he stuck persistently to the study and
practical application Of wireless.
though frequently discouraged and
finally stumped for time.
1t was not until he had elevated his
conductors and grounded his connec.
tons that he was able to send over a
third OF mile After that 1t was an
almost uninterrupted march to fame
and fortune. extending from the Eng
lish postotfice experiments In 1907
down to the present day. The Brit.