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281
Heroes of the Telegraph
·
John Munro
188
But
his
employment
of
the
telegraph
seems
to
have
diverted
his
thoughts
in
that
direction,
and
with
the
help
of
a
book
on
the
telegraph
he
erected
a
makeshift
line
between
his
new
laboratory
and
the
house
of
James
Ward,
one
of
his
boy
helpers.
The
conductor
was
run
on
trees,
and
insulated
with
bottles,
and
the
apparatus
was
home-made,
but
it
seems
to
have
been
of
some
use.
Mr.
James
D.
Reid,
author
of
THE
TELEGRAPH
IN
AMERICA,
would
have
us
believe
that
an
attempt
was
made
to
utilise
the
electricity
obtained
by
rubbing
a
cat
connected
up
in
lieu
of
a
battery;
but
the
spirit
of
Artemus
Ward
is
by
no
means
dead
in
the
United
States,
and
the
anecdote
may
be
taken
with
a
grain
of
salt.
Such
an
experiment
was
at
all
events
predestined
to
an
ignominious
failure.
An
act
of
heroism
was
the
turning-point
in
his
career.
One
day,
at
the
risk
of
his
life,
he
saved
the
child
of
the
station-master
at
Mount
Clemens,
near
Port
Huron,
from
being
run
over
by
an
approaching
train,
and
the
grateful
father,
Mr.
J.
A.
Mackenzie,
learning
of
his
interest
in
the
telegraph,
offered
to
teach
him
the
art
of
sending
and
receiving
messages.
After
his
daily
service
was
over,
Edison
returned
to
Mount
Clemens
on
a
luggage
train
and
received
his
lesson.
At
the
end
of
five
months,
while
only
sixteen
years
of
age,
he
forsook
the
trains,
and
accepted
an
offer
of
twenty-five
dollars
a
month,
with
extra
pay
for
overtime,
as
operator
in
the
telegraph
office
at
Port
Huron,
a
small
installation
in
a
jewelry
store.
He
worked
hard
to
acquire
more
skill;
and
after
six
months,
finding
his
extra
pay
withheld,
he
obtained
an
engagement
as
night
operator
at
Stratford,
in
Canada.
To
keep
him
awake
the
operator
was
required
to
report
the
word
'six,'
an
office
call,
every
half-hour
to
the
manager
of
the
circuit.
Edison
fulfilled
the
regulation
by
inventing
a
simple
device
which
transmitted
the
required
signals.
It
consisted
of
a
wheel
with
the
characters
cut
on
the
rim,
and
connected
with
the
circuit
in
such
a
way
that
the
night
watchman,
by
turning
the
wheel,
could
transmit
the
signals
while
Edison
slept
or
studied.
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