CHAPTER XXII
FAME AND FORTUNE
"At twenty-two," the lecturer continued, "while Edison was with the Goldand 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 HouseSquare, where he used to meet Henry J. Raymond, founder of _The New YorkTimes_, Horace Greeley of the _Tribune_ and James Gordon Bennett of the_Herald_, the greatest trio of journalists in the world. One of the mostmemorable remarks made by a frequenter of this night lunch, as recordedby Mr. Edison was:
"'This is a great place; a plate of cakes, a cup of coffee, and aRussian 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, inSeptember, 1869, brought on chiefly by the attempt of Jay Gould and hisassociates to corner the gold market:
"'On Black Friday we had a rather exciting time with our indicators. TheGould and Fisk crowd had cornered the gold and had run up the quotationsfaster than the indicator could record them. In the morning it wasquoting 150 premium while Gould's agents were bidding 165 for fivemillions or less.
"'There was intense excitement. Broad and other streets in the WallStreet district were crammed with crazy crowds. In the midst of theexcitement, Speyer, another large operator, became so insane that ittook five men to hold him. I sat on the roof of a Western Union boothand 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 soldout its inventions and improvements to the Gold and Stock TelegraphCompany, Mr. Edison produced a machine to print gold quotations insteadof merely indicating them. The attention of the president of the Goldand Stock Company was attracted to the success of the wonderful younginventor.
"Edison had produced quite a number of inventions. One of these was thespecial ticker which was used many years in other large cities, becauseit was so simple that it could be operated by men less expert than theoperators 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 forthem, the president of the big company came to see him and was shown asimple device to regulate tickers that had been printing figures wrong.This thing saved a good deal of labor to a large number of men, andprevented trouble for the broker himself. It impressed the president somuch that he invited Edison into his private office and said, in a stagewhisper:
"'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, onaccount of the hard night-and-day work he had been doing, he reallyought to have five thousand dollars, but he would be glad to settle forthree thousand, if they thought five thousand was too much. But whenasked point-blank, he hadn't the courage to name either sum--thousandslooked 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 dollarsstrike you?'
"Young Edison came as near fainting then as he ever did in his life. Hewas afraid the 'General' would hear his heart thump, but he said quietlythat he thought that amount was just about right. A contract was drawnup which Edison signed without reading.
"Forty thousand dollars was written in the first check Thomas A. Edisonever received. With throbbing heart and trembling fingers he took it tothe bank and handed it in to the paying teller, who looked at itdisapprovingly and passed it back, saying something the young inventorcould not hear because of his deafness. Thinking he had been cheated,Edison went out of the bank, as he said, 'to let the cold sweatevaporate.'
"Then he hurried back to the president and demanded to know what it allmeant. The president and his secretary laughed at the green youth'sneedless fears and explained that the teller had probably told him towrite his name on the back of the check. They not only showed him how toendorse it, but sent a clerk to the bank to identify him--because of thelarge amount of money to be paid over.
"Just for a joke on the 'jay,' the teller gave him the whole fortythousand dollars in ten- and twenty-dollar bills. Edison gravely stowedaway the money till he had filled all his pockets including those in hisovercoat. He sat up all night in his room in Newark, in fear andtrembling, lest he be robbed. The president laughed next day but saidthat joke had gone far enough; then he showed Thomas A. Edison how toopen his first bank account."
Again the lecturer's voice ceased to be heard; again another voiceannounced that the fourth talk would be given on a certain date a fewdays later. A negro song with banjo accompaniment followed and the radioentertainment was over.
Everyone was talking, laughing and voicing pleasure in the increasinglywonderful demonstration of getting sounds out of the air, from hundredsof miles away. Only Gus and Bill remained and the two--as Billy alwaysreferred to their confabs--went into "executive session." This radioreceiver was altogether absorbing, much too attractive to let aloneeasily. The boys were proud of their very successful construction andthey could neither forget that fact, nor pass up the delight oflistening in.
This time Gus had the first inspiration. Billy often thought how,sometimes strangely or by chance or correct steering, his chum seemed tograsp the deeper matters of detection. Gus eagerly acknowledged Bill aspossessing a genius for mechanical construction and invention, withoutwhich the comrades would get nowhere in such efforts, even admittingGus's skill and cleverness with tools. But when it came to havinghunches and good luck concerning matters of human mystery, Gus was theking 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 'phoneswhich had been added to the set. He sat down and began moving the switcharms, one from contact to contact, the other throughout the entire rangeof its contacts at each movement of the first, and proceeding thusslowly for some minutes.
Bill had turned to the study of his Morse code, which the boys had takenup and pursued at every opportunity during the building of the radiosets. Gus, however, was less familiar with the dots and dashes. Awhisper, as though Gus were afraid the sound of his voice would disturbthe 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 anddot, four dots, one dash, two dots, two dashes, two dots." A pause. Gushad 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, Iguess," said Bill; and added: "That's a good way to pick up and wrestlewith 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 persongiving 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 bepaid for information leading to the arrest of a party who last nightbroke into the home of Nathan R. Hallowell. After deliberately and,without apparent cause, shooting and badly wounding Mrs. Hallowell andstriking down an old servant woman, he stole several hundred dollars'worth of jewels and silverware. Both the servant, who kept her witsabout her, and Mrs. Hallowell, who is now out of danger, have describedthe assailant. He is about eighteen, of medium height, slender, darkcomplexioned, one eye noticeably smaller than the other, nose long andpointed, has a nervous habit of twitching his shoulder. He wore a lightbrown suit and a gray cap. Send all information, or broadcast same toPolice Headquarters, Willstown. Immediate detention of any reasonablesuspect is recommended."
Gus wheeled about.
"Bill, it
's Thad! Description hits him exactly and there's five hundredreward. He's done a house-breaking stunt and tried to kill two peopleand I don't believe they've got him yet. Mr. Hooper wouldn't want us tokeep quiet on this; would he?"
"It might be a good idea to talk to Mrs. Hooper and Grace about itbefore you inform on Thad," Bill said.
"I'll do that," Gus agreed and was off. In half an hour he was backagain.
"I saw them, late as it was. Grace and Skeets were playing crokinole andMrs. Hooper came down. And, what do you think? Mr. Hooper wrote thatThad had forged his name on a check for several hundred dollars and gotaway with it and, even if he did still want to shield Thad, the lawwouldn't let him. Grace says Thad ought to be caught and punished andthat her father will want it done."
"But Gus, even if you got Willstown on the long distance 'phone, howwould 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 theold cabin? Not a bit of it! It's the last place they'd ever think oflooking for him--right on his uncle's place. Thad is pretty keen in someways. But I doubt if he'll stay there long. He'll be pulling out for themountains. 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 himmessenger. If Thad's there you can get down to the drug store and callWillstown. That'll make our case sure. By cracky, old scout, fivehundred! 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."