Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-10-10

Wa.u, Ior tWenty-nVe years, CITY ticket
and passenger agent for the Pennsyl-
vania railroad in Louisville.
Mr.. Underwood confesses that he
would not know what to do with the
vast amount of money he might have
made had he shared in the profits from
the inventions of Mr.. Edison. He has
no regrets on the score of monetary
loss, but he wishes that he had not
taken the advice of his superior officers,
and had given Mr.. Edison the 500 he
wanted to borrow, just to be his part
ner. and to share in some OF the great
honors which such an association WouIo
have brought him. Chevalier and com
mander of the Legion OF honor OF
france, and recently called upon by the
government of the United states 10
head a commission OF inventors 70 "
pare for national defense. Thomas a.
Edison is honored the world over MT.
underwood long ago amassed compe-
tence sufficient to satisfy his every
want. and is also held in hign eseeeni
nv his neighbors and acquaintanSes.
but he cannot help every NJ" anu '
saving to himself:
II wish l had loaned Tom Edison that
$780," s.vs
he cannot help congratuia'1,, I'M IN ni West
Orange. n. j., where Edison now ives
He loves his old Kentucky home ana
feels satisfied to live and die where ms
distinguished namesake. Gen. Aacnaay
TayIor lies buried. Had Mr.. Edlsoh
succeeded in getting that $1oo rory
nine years ago, he might have located
in Louisville and not In New Jersey.
What a great thing that mighI nave
been for the city, thinks Mr.. Choe1
wood. Says he:
When Tom Edison, as they then
called him, blew into the telegraph OF
Ace in Louisville in 1855 and got Jon
as operator the other operators at nrst
set him down as a queer country gawk
who knew nothing. but their minus
were soon disabused. for they soon
found. out that he was a hrst-ra.e op
orator l do not know where ne came
from direct to Louisville. but ne was
born in Milan. Ohio. in 1S47. and this
would have made him about nineteen
years of age at that time.
seemed to me to have been made OF the
linsey-woolsey homespun which the
country women wore before the civil
war His suit could not have cost
more than a dollar and half never
knew him to have change OF outer
clothing during the two years ne
worked in Louisville. Winter and sum
mer he wore the same suit-the one ne
came to town in-and seemed totally
unm,ndful Of his dress. but his race
was always clean, as was his shirt.
Edison was an expert operator. even
at that time. Every one in the ONCE
had to acknowledge that before he had
worked a week. He took the press re-
ports for the newspapers. and that re-
CURED the services of a good operator.
At midnight. or shortly thereafter. 80
came in for Edison. go meaning the
end. and the office was then closed I'M
til the following morning. but the Of
fice was not closed for Edison. 1t was
then he began to work real hard. He
took down several of the telegraph in
struments from their fastenings on the
desks and placed them on the floor,
connecting them with telegraph wires.
He began experimenting on his scheme
for sending more than one message at
time over a single wire. He would
try to explain how this might be done
when his fellow operators would listen
to him. but they nearly all believed him