FAME AND FORTUNE
"At twenty-two," the lecturer continued, "while Edison was with the Gold
and Stock Telegraph Company, he often heard Jay Gould and 'Jim' Fisk,
the great Wall Street operators of that day, talk over the money market.
At night he ate his lunches in the coffee-house in Printing House
Square, where he used to meet Henry J. Raymond, founder of _The New York
Times_, Horace Greeley of the _Tribune_ and James Gordon Bennett of the
_Herald_, the greatest trio of journalists in the world. One of the most
memorable remarks made by a frequenter of this night lunch, as recorded
by Mr. Edison was:
"'This is a great place; a plate of cakes, a cup of coffee, and a
Russian bath, all for ten cents!'
"The so-called bath was on account of the heat of the crowded room.
"Mr. Edison tells this story of the terrible panic in Wall Street, in
September, 1869, brought on chiefly by the attempt of Jay Gould and his
associates to corner the gold market:
"'On Black Friday we had a rather exciting time with our indicators. The
Gould and Fisk crowd had cornered the gold and had run up the quotations
faster than the indicator could record them. In the morning it was
quoting 150 premium while Gould's agents were bidding 165 for five
millions or less.
"'There was intense excitement. Broad and other streets in the Wall
Street district were crammed with crazy crowds. In the midst of the
excitement, Speyer, another large operator, became so insane that it
took five men to hold him. I sat on the roof of a Western Union booth
and watched the surging multitudes.
"'A Western Union man I knew came up and said to me: "Shake hands,
Edison. We're all right. We haven't got a cent to lose."'
"After the company with which our young inventor was connected had sold
out its inventions and improvements to the Gold and Stock Telegraph
Company, Mr. Edison produced a machine to print gold quotations instead
of merely indicating them. The attention of the president of the Gold
and Stock Company was attracted to the success of the wonderful young
inventor.
"Edison had produced quite a number of inventions. One of these was the
special ticker which was used many years in other large cities, because
it was so simple that it could be operated by men less expert than the
operators in New York. It was used also on the London Stock Exchange.
"After he had gotten up a good many inventions and taken out patents for
them, the president of the big company came to see him and was shown a
simple device to regulate tickers that had been printing figures wrong.
This thing saved a good deal of labor to a large number of men, and
prevented trouble for the broker himself. It impressed the president so
much that he invited Edison into his private office and said, in a stage
whisper:
"'Young man, I would like to settle with you for your inventions here.
How much do you want for them?"
"Edison had thought it all over and had come to the conclusion that, on
account of the hard night-and-day work he had been doing, he really
ought to have five thousand dollars, but he would be glad to settle for
three thousand, if they thought five thousand was too much. But when
asked point-blank, he hadn't the courage to name either sum--thousands
looked large to him then--so he hesitated a bit and said:
"'Well, General, suppose _you_ make _me_ an offer.'
"'All right,' said the president. 'How would forty thousand dollars
strike you?'
"Young Edison came as near fainting then as he ever did in his life. He
was afraid the 'General' would hear his heart thump, but he said quietly
that he thought that amount was just about right. A contract was drawn
up which Edison signed without reading.
"Forty thousand dollars was written in the first check Thomas A. Edison
ever received. With throbbing heart and trembling fingers he took it to
the bank and handed it in to the paying teller, who looked at it
disapprovingly and passed it back, saying something the young inventor
could not hear because of his deafness. Thinking he had been cheated,
Edison went out of the bank, as he said, 'to let the cold sweat
evaporate.'
"Then he hurried back to the president and demanded to know what it all
meant. The president and his secretary laughed at the green youth's
needless fears and explained that the teller had probably told him to
write his name on the back of the check. They not only showed him how to
endorse it, but sent a clerk to the bank to identify him--because of the
large amount of money to be paid over.
"Just for a joke on the 'jay,' the teller gave him the whole forty
thousand dollars in ten- and twenty-dollar bills. Edison gravely stowed
away the money till he had filled all his pockets including those in his
overcoat. He sat up all night in his room in Newark, in fear and
trembling, lest he be robbed. The president laughed next day but said
that joke had gone far enough; then he showed Thomas A. Edison how to
open his first bank account."
Again the lecturer's voice ceased to be heard; again another voice
announced that the fourth talk would be given on a certain date a few
days later. A negro song with banjo accompaniment followed and the radio
entertainment was over.
Everyone was talking, laughing and voicing pleasure in the increasingly
wonderful demonstration of getting sounds out of the air, from hundreds
of miles away. Only Gus and Bill remained and the two--as Billy always
referred to their confabs--went into "executive session." This radio
receiver was altogether absorbing, much too attractive to let alone
easily. The boys were proud of their very successful construction and
they could neither forget that fact, nor pass up the delight of
listening in.
This time Gus had the first inspiration. Billy often thought how,
sometimes strangely or by chance or correct steering, his chum seemed to
grasp the deeper matters of detection. Gus eagerly acknowledged Bill as
possessing a genius for mechanical construction and invention, without
which the comrades would get nowhere in such efforts, even admitting
Gus's skill and cleverness with tools. But when it came to having
hunches and good luck concerning matters of human mystery, Gus was the
king pin.
"I'm going to see what else we can get from near or far," Gus said,
detaching the horn and using the head clamp with its two ear 'phones
which had been added to the set. He sat down and began moving the switch
arms, one from contact to contact, the other throughout the entire range
of its contacts at each movement of the first, and proceeding thus
slowly for some minutes.
Bill had turned to the study of his Morse code, which the boys had taken
up and pursued at every opportunity during the building of the radio
sets. Gus, however, was less familiar with the dots and dashes. A
whisper, as though Gus were afraid the sound of his voice would disturb
the electric waves, suddenly switched Bill's attention.
"Two dots, three dots, two dots, one dash, one dot and dash, one dot,
one dash and two dots, same, dot, dash, dot, two dots, two dashes and
dot, four dots, one dash, two dots, two dashes, two dots." A pause. Gus
had whispered each signal to Bill; then he asked: "What do you make it?"
"I make it: 'Is it all right, then?' They have been talking some time, I
guess," said Bill; and added: "That's a good way to pick up and wrestle
with the code; it's dandy practice and we want--"
"Wait, pal, wait!" gasped Gus, bending forward again.
Words came now, instead of the code. It was evident that the person
giving them out had sought authority for so doing from headquarters.
Gus heard:
"This is to whom it may concern: Five hundred dollars' reward is to be
paid for information leading to the arrest of a party who last night
broke into the home of Nathan R. Hallowell. After deliberately and,
without apparent cause, shooting and badly wounding Mrs. Hallowell and
striking down an old servant woman, he stole several hundred dollars'
worth of jewels and silverware. Both the servant, who kept her wits
about her, and Mrs. Hallowell, who is now out of danger, have described
the assailant. He is about eighteen, of medium height, slender, dark
complexioned, one eye noticeably smaller than the other, nose long and
pointed, has a nervous habit of twitching his shoulder. He wore a light
brown suit and a gray cap. Send all information, or broadcast same to
Police Headquarters, Willstown. Immediate detention of any reasonable
suspect is recommended."
Gus wheeled about.
"Bill, it's Thad! Description hits him exactly and there's five hundred
reward. He's done a house-breaking stunt and tried to kill two people
and I don't believe they've got him yet. Mr. Hooper wouldn't want us to
keep quiet on this; would he?"
"It might be a good idea to talk to Mrs. Hooper and Grace about it
before you inform on Thad," Bill said.
"I'll do that," Gus agreed and was off. In half an hour he was back
again.
"I saw them, late as it was. Grace and Skeets were playing crokinole and
Mrs. Hooper came down. And, what do you think? Mr. Hooper wrote that
Thad had forged his name on a check for several hundred dollars and got
away with it and, even if he did still want to shield Thad, the law
wouldn't let him. Grace says Thad ought to be caught and punished and
that her father will want it done."
"But Gus, even if you got Willstown on the long distance 'phone, how
would that help to----"
"We'll get them later; after we have located Thad."
"Oh, Gus, do you think Ben Shultz was dreaming?"
"When he said he saw Thad out there in the barren ground woods by the
old cabin? Not a bit of it! It's the last place they'd ever think of
looking for him--right on his uncle's place. Thad is pretty keen in some
ways. But I doubt if he'll stay there long. He'll be pulling out for the
mountains. There's a late moon to-night, you see."
"I wish I could go with you; this old leg--"
"Never mind now; don't worry. I'll take Bennie Shultz and make him
messenger. If Thad's there you can get down to the drug store and call
Willstown. That'll make our case sure. By cracky, old scout, five
hundred! We can--"
"Chickens, old man; chickens. Hatch 'em first. But you will, I'll bet,
and it will be yours; not--"
"What are you talking about? Ours! It's as much your job as mine.
Divy-divy, half'n'half, fifty-fifty. Well, I'm off."