by David Baron
In the end, however, I have relied almost exclusively on original sources, and it is largely these items that I cite below. Many of the archival documents have not previously been published and can be found only by visiting the institutions listed. A welcome exception is the great accumulation of material compiled and organized by the Thomas A. Edison Papers at Rutgers University. How anyone wrote competently about the legendary inventor before the existence of this herculean project, I cannot fathom. Director Paul Israel and his staff continue to comb through millions of pages of Edisonia, sorting and analyzing, annotating and publishing. Where I refer, below, to items included in the Edison Papers project—whether in its books or its online digital edition—I have followed the recommended acronyms and citation format.
Many of those who participated in the tales told in this book reminisced about the events later in life, and while these recollections proved useful, they were prone to error. Stories, especially of the Old West, tend to grow taller with age. Time blurs details and promotes embellishment. In reconstructing the narrative of this book, therefore, I have relied as much as possible on contemporaneous documentation: scientific notes, diary entries, newspaper articles, letters, and telegrams. When quoting from these documents, I have preserved the original spelling and punctuation, with a few exceptions: where a handwritten item emphasizes a word or phrase through underscoring, I use italics, and where I quote what someone said—for instance, Mitchell’s lectures, Edison’s interviews, “Big Nose George” Parrott’s dying plea—I have given myself license to correct antiquated spelling and punctuation to reflect how these spoken words would be transcribed today.
THE FOLLOWING ABBREVIATIONS ARE USED FOR ORGANIZATIONS AND GOVERNMENT INSTITUTIONS:
AAAS – American Association for the Advancement of Science
AAW – Association for the Advancement of Woman/Women
NAO – Nautical Almanac Office
USASC – United States Army Signal Corps
USNO – United States Naval Observatory
THE FOLLOWING ABBREVIATIONS ARE USED FOR ARCHIVAL COLLECTIONS:
AGBFP – Alexander Graham Bell Family Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
AHP – Asaph Hall Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
AJMP – Albert James Myer Papers (microfilm from U.S. Army Signal Corps Museum), Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
ANMP – Anita Newcomb McGee Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
ASDR – Astrophysical Sciences Department Records (AC157), Princeton University Archives, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Library, Princeton, N.J.
BMCL – Special Collections, Bryn Mawr College Library, Bryn Mawr, Pa.
CAP-JHU – Cleveland Abbe Papers Ms. 60, Special Collections, Milton S. Eisenhower Library, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md.
CAP-LOC – Cleveland Abbe Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
CAYP – Charles Augustus Young Papers, Rauner Special Collections Library, Dartmouth College, Hanover, N.H.
CCM – Carbon County Museum, Rawlins, Wyo.
CHFPP – Christian H. F. Peters Papers, Hamilton College Archives, Clinton, N.Y.
CWHDP – Caroline Wells Healey Dall Papers, Microfilm Edition, Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston, Mass.
DCIS – Delaware County Institute of Science, Media, Pa.
DPLWHC – Denver Public Library, Western History Collection, Denver, Colo.
EFP – Evans Family Papers, 1866–1918, Special Collections Library, University of Michigan Library, Ann Arbor, Mich.
GADRUWM – General Astronomy Department Records, University of Wisconsin–Madison Archives, Madison, Wisc.
GFBP – George Frederick Barker Papers, University Archives and Records Center, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pa.
HFP – Howe Family Papers, Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.
HHJP – Helen Hunt Jackson Papers, Colorado College Special Collections, Colorado Springs, Colo.
HMAPDP – Henry and Mary Anna Palmer Draper Papers, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library, New York, N.Y.
HSPP – Henry S. Pritchett Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
JCWP – James Craig Watson Papers, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich.
JEKP – James E. Keeler Papers, Special Collections and Archives, University Library, University of California, Santa Cruz, Calif.
JWDFP – John William Draper Family Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
LFP – Lehmann Family Papers, Manuscripts Division, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Library, Princeton, N.J.
LOR – Lick Observatory Records: Correspondence, University Archives, University Library, University of California, Santa Cruz, Calif.
MLTP – Mabel Loomis Todd Papers, Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library, New Haven, Conn.
MMM – Mitchell Memorabilia Microfilm, Archives, The Nantucket Maria Mitchell Association, Nantucket, Mass.
MMP – Maria Mitchell Papers, Archives and Special Collections Library, Vassar College Libraries, Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
NAS – Archives, National Academy of Sciences, Washington, D.C.
NEWCR – New England Women’s Club Records (microfilm), Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.
OCMP – Othniel Charles Marsh Papers, Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library, New Haven, Conn.
PSIT – Presidents of Stevens Institute of Technology Collection, Special Collections and Archives, S. C. Williams Library, Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, N.J.
SBAP – Susan B. Anthony Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
SIA – Smithsonian Institution Archives, Washington, D.C.
SJNL – Sir Joseph Norman Lockyer Correspondence and Research Papers, Special Collections, University of Exeter, Exeter, Devon, U.K.
SNP – Simon Newcomb Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
SPLP – S. P. Langley Papers, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich.
TAEB – The Papers of Thomas A. Edison, multi-volume book
TAEC – Thomas A. Edison Collection, Benson Ford Research Center, The Henry Ford, Dearborn, Mich.
TAED – Thomas A. Edison Papers Digital Edition (http://edison.rutgers.edu/digital.htm)
USACC – Records of U.S. Army Continental Commands (Record Group 393), National Archives, Washington, D.C.
USHR – Records of the U.S. House of Representatives (Record Group 233), National Archives, Washington, D.C.
USNAE – Photographs and Drawings Relating to U.S. Navy Astronomical Expeditions, 1878–1905 (Record Group 78-AE), National Archives, College Park, Md.
USNO-LOC – United States Naval Observatory Records, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
USNO-NA – Records of the U.S. Naval Observatory (Record Group 78), National Archives, Washington, D.C.
VCA – Vassar College Archives, Archives and Special Collections Library, Vassar College Libraries, Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
WB – Records of the Weather Bureau (Record Group 27), National Archives, College Park, Md.
WSA – Wyoming State Archives, Cheyenne, Wyo.
PROLOGUE: SHALL THE SUN BE DARKENED
1 “That was the coldest weather”: All quotations and recollections in this paragraph come from The Dallas Morning News, Feb. 2, 1930, Automobiles and Markets Section, p. 7.
1 Predictions of the world’s imminent demise: Gaustad (1974), Numbers and Butler (1987), Weber (1987), Butler (1991), Kyle (1998).
1 “the earth will be dashed to pieces”: Bliss (1853:172).
1 “will d
estroy the bodies”: Bliss (1853:171).
2 “The trump of God”: D. L. Moody (1877:532).
2 “in the clouds of heaven”: Matthew 24:30, King James Bible.
2 “shall the sun be darkened”: Matthew 24:29, King James Bible.
2 recently transformed from open range to farmland: Byrd (1879:24). See also Block (1970), Anonymous (1892).
2 “can’t see to can’t see”: Sitton and Conrad (2005:16). For more on the harsh lives of Texas freedmen, see Smallwood (1981), A. Barr (1996).
2 What had motivated one Ephraim Miller: Details of Miller’s background and actions derive from an article in The Dallas Daily Herald, as reprinted in the Denison Daily News (Denison, Texas), Aug. 2, 1878, p. 1. This report appears to be the most authoritative extant account of the murder-suicide.
3 “Exodusters”: Painter (1977).
3 leaves bizarrely turned to crescents: T. J. Griffiths recalled that “the shadow of each leaf assumed the crescent form” [Dallas Morning News, Jan. 31, 1925, p. 14], but it is really the spots of light between the leaves that form crescents as a solar eclipse approaches its total phase.
3 croaking of frogs: Dallas Morning News, July 29, 1928, Feature Section, p. 1.
3 bats flying aberrantly in the afternoon: Dallas Morning News, April 13, 1949, Section Two, p. 2.
3 Fireflies winked on: Galveston Daily News, July 30, 1878, p. 1.
3 A star suddenly materialized, then two: Fort Worth Daily Democrat, July 30, 1878, p. 4; Galveston Daily News, Aug. 1, 1878, p. 4.
3 The air stopped moving. The birds ceased their chatter: C. Abbe (1881:90).
3 ripples of light: Waldo (1879:30).
3 Fear swept over the fields: Galveston Daily News, July 30, 1878, p. 1; Galveston Daily News, Aug. 3, 1878, p. 4; Tri-weekly Herald (Marshall, Texas), Aug. 8, 1878, p. 1; Dallas Morning News, Jan. 20, 1925, p. 14; Dallas Morning News, April 23, 1949, Section Two, p. 2.
3 A man fell to his knees: Dallas Morning News, Jan. 11, 1925, p. 2.
3 Others fled toward church: Dallas Morning News, July 8, 1928, Feature Section, p. 2.
4 “so sound asleep”: Denison Daily News (Denison, Texas), Aug. 2, 1878, p. 1, provides all details in this and the following paragraph.
4 “zealous to make peace”: Herodotus ([1920]1990:91–93). For more on this ancient eclipse and attempts to date it, see Stephenson (1997:342–44); Littmann, Espenak, and Willcox (2008:49–50); Stanley (2012).
4 “began to waste away”: Noble (2009:299). More at Todd (1894:101–2).
4 emboldened a Native American uprising: Drake (1858:91), Edmunds (1983:48–49).
5 “I shall only say”: Cooper (1869:359).
CHAPTER 1: REIGN OF SHODDY
9 MONDAY, JUNE 26: Although James Craig Watson could not recall the precise day on which he and Sir William Thomson had tested Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone [see Nature 19 (475), Dec. 5, 1878, pp. 95–96], the date was June 26, 1876, as confirmed by a telegram Willie Hubbard sent to Bell that evening [AGBFP Box 321]. Bruce (1973:198) also cites this telegram.
9 unemployment ran high among tradesmen: New-York Times, March 2, 1876, p. 1.
9 the Centennial Exhibition was a grand world’s fair: For general background on the Centennial, see United States Centennial Commission (1876); Gilmore (1876); Howells (1876); “Characteristics of the International Fair” [five-part series], Atlantic Monthly 38, July–Oct. and Dec. 1876; J. M. Wilson (1880); Beers (1982).
10 aroma of tar: Howells (1876:102).
10 twelve hundred pounds of ice: Boston Daily Advertiser, June 16, 1876, p. 4.
10 narrow-gauge railroad: Gilmore (1876:4); Boston Daily Advertiser, June 16, 1876, p. 4.
11 colossal steam engine: For information on the Corliss steam engine and the machinery it powered, see Rideing (1876), Gilmore (1876:8).
11 “Dishonestly if we can”: New-York Tribune, Sept. 27, 1871, p. 6.
11 another pejorative: the Reign of Shoddy: A. K. McClure (1905:244–54) uses this pejorative to refer largely to the period from the Civil War to the Panic of 1873, but the term was still in use at the time of the Centennial. See, e.g., New York Herald, July 8, 1876, p. 6.
11 “The first day crowds”: Harper’s Weekly, July 15, 1876, p. 579.
12 foghorn that signaled closing: J. M. Wilson (1880:cxli).
12 Watson seemed innately competitive: Comstock (1895:53).
12 “seemed to me to transcend”: Charles Young to George Comstock, Aug. 22, 1887 [GADRUWM Series 7/4/2 Box 4].
12 “does not shrink from adorning himself”: Franz Brünnow to Edward P. Evans, July 28, 1864 [EFP].
12 “ [A]ll I can say is ”: Watson to Cleveland Abbe, April 28, 1864 [CAP-LOC Box 2]. For more on the charges of plagiarism, see additional letters from and to Watson, De Volson Wood, and Asaph Hall dated between January and August 1864 [CAP-LOC Box 2]. See also Simon Newcomb to Abbe, March 11 and 16, 1867 [CAP-LOC Box 3], and Abbe to Newcomb, March 15 and 17, 1867 [SNP Box 14]. For a brief summary of the affair, see Rufus (1951:448).
12 impoverished childhood: Comstock (1895:46).
13 including a student who had died: Rufus (1951:453); Chronicle (Univ. of Michigan), April 2, 1881, p. 187.
13 earned the nickname “Tubby”: Chicago Times, Aug. 6, 1878, p. 5; Cincinnati Commercial, Aug. 16, 1878, Supplement, p. 1; Chronicle (Univ. of Michigan), April 5, 1879, p. 177; Chronicle (Univ. of Michigan), May 31, 1879, p. 253; Curtis (1938:306).
13 the jurors of Group 25: Walker (1880:320).
13 On the previous day, June 25: The preliminary test of Bell’s telephone on Sunday, June 25, 1876, was the more famous of the two trials at the Centennial. Alexander Graham Bell was in attendance on that day, as were many luminaries, including George Barker, Henry Draper, and most notably the emperor of Brazil, Dom Pedro. See Bruce (1973:193–98).
13 Watson clutched a copy: Thomson’s recollections of the telephone test are in Nature 14 (359), Sept. 14, 1876, p. 427. Watson, in Nature 19 (475), Dec. 5, 1878, p. 95, noted that the items he read down the wire came from the New-York Tribune. Indeed, the front page of the Tribune of June 26, 1876, contains phrases almost identical to those recalled by both men. The wording I use for what Watson read, and what Thomson heard, comes from the official Group 25 Report on Awards dated July 8, 1876 [TAED X031C; also in Walker (1880:452–53)].
14 “The results convinced both of us”: Nature 19 (475), Dec. 5, 1878, p. 95.
14 near the Gatling gun display: Gilmore (1876:31–32).
14 “It is very much like holding”: Newark Daily Advertiser, Sept. 17, 1875, p. 2; also reprinted in pamphlet The Edison Electrical Pen and Duplicating Press, p. 15 [TAED D7607J (image 9)].
15 “The simplicity of the whole apparatus”: Walker (1880:517). See also draft Group 25 Report on Awards dated June 20, 1876, which indicates the portions of Edison’s advertising pamphlet to be quoted [TAED X031A].
15 “[A] flash of light”: TAEB vol. 1, pp. 637–38.
16 “a very important step in land-telegraphy”: Walker (1880:452). Also see TAEB vol. 3, pp. 54–58.
16 “Up to this very day”: Watson (1877:34–35).
16 “knackiness”: Leng (1877:29).
16 Foreigners scoffed: Leng (1877:31–32).
16 The march proved a disappointment: J. M. Wilson (1880:cxiv); Atlantic Monthly 38 (225), July 1876, p. 122.
17 “rather meagre display”: Wharton to Simon Newcomb, Feb. 17, 1876 [SNP Box 57]. The Centennial did showcase some scientific achievement by American institutions. The Smithsonian, USNO, and USASC mounted displays.
17 “think we are a mere nation”: Newcomb to O. C. Marsh, Jan. 27 [1887] [OCMP].
17 engaged in public self-flagellation: Bruce (1987:342).
17 “period of apparent intellectual darkness”: Newcomb (1876:97).
17 Before stopping at the Centennial: Randel (1970:91) writes that it is unclear, based on Huxley’s datebooks, whether the British scientist actually attended the Centennial, but the American natur
alist Graceanna Lewis claimed that Huxley did visit the exhibition. See Woman’s Journal, Nov. 4, 1876, p. 353; Lectures on Zoology, Miss Graceanna Lewis (pamphlet) [DCIS].
17 “I cannot say that I am”: Nature 14 (364), Oct. 19, 1876, p. 550. See more at J. V. Jensen (1993).
18 “Our American confrères”: Nature 14 (349), July 6, 1876, p. 210.
CHAPTER 2: PROFESSOR OF QUADRUPLICITY
19 “Menlo Park, Middlesex Co.”: Edison to Fred W. Royce, June 10, 1876 [Simonds (1934:101)]. Louisville Times, Oct. 21, 1931, p. 2, includes a full transcription of this letter. Josephson (1959:134) quotes from the same letter, but his wording differs.
20 “in size and external appearance”: Scientific American, July 13, 1878, p. 17.
20 “dragon’s blood”: Boston Evening Transcript, May 23, 1878, p. 4 [TAED SM029086b].
20 on a clear day, one could make out the towers: Newark Morning Register, May 3, 1878, p. 1 [TAED MBSB10575X]; Newark Daily Journal, May 3, 1878, p. 3 [TAED MBSB10572X]. See also articles (cited in chapter 9) by Boston journalists who gazed at the bridge through Edison’s borrowed telescope during their visit to Menlo Park on May 22, 1878.
20 bronzes and busts and a pianoforte: Daily Evening Traveller (Boston), May 23, 1878, p. 2 [TAED SM029106a]; Mary Edison insurance policy, April 7, 1876 [TAED D7606A; also in TAEB vol. 3, p. 5].