i]HY" Sparks had stopped reading the New York Evening World: He contemp- lated his old meerschaum pipe medita- tively while "with his long and lanky in- dex finger, stained by many acids, he carefully rubbed a long, thin and quivering noae. This wa3 always a sign of deep, concentrated thought of the nose's owner. It also, as a rule, in- duced the birth of a great idea. Again, and very slowly he re-read the article, which millions that same day had read casually, without a quiver, let alone, a nose quiver. The news- paper item was simple enough: NEW YORK, Aug. 10, 1917.— An electro- magnetic storm of great violence swept over the eastern section of the United States iast night. Due to a brilliant Aurora Borealis, — the North- ern Lights, — telegraph and long distance tele- phone, as well as cable communications were interrupted for hours. No telegraphic traffic was possible between New York and points West. It was impossible to work any of the transatlantic cables between 12:15 A. M. and 9:15 A. M., every one of them having "gone 1 dead." The Aurora Borealis disturbance af- fected all telegraph and telephone line3 extend- ing between Chicago and the eastern cities. On telegraph wires of the Postal Telegraph Co. without regular battery being applied at terminal offices, grounded lines showed a po- tential of 425 volts positive, varying to 225 volts negative; the disturbance continuing be- tween 12:15 A. M. and 9:15 A. M. At Newark, N. J., in the Broad Street office a Western Union operator was severely shocked, trying to operate the key, while long sparks played about his instruments. Sparks rose excitedly and began pacing the ce-' ment floor of the vast Tesla laboratory, totally ob- livious to the fact that he was sueking a cold pipe. The more he paced about, ^^^ == ^ === ^ = ^ = the more excited he be- wawWW— Mi^— I came. Finally he flung himself into a chair and began feverishly to make sketches on big white sheets of drawing paper. "Why" Sparks had been just an ordinary "Bug," an experimenter, when he entered Tesla's great re- search laboratory at the beginning of the great war in 1914. Tesla liked the keen, red-haired tous- led boy, who always seem- HimilWSWBiaiBia ed to divine your thoughts before you had uttered rive words. His clear blue . eyes, lying deep in their sockets, sparkled with life and intelligence and what Sparks did not know about electricity was mighty little indeed. I believe there is no electrical book in existence that Sparks had not devoured ravenously in his spare hours, while hav- ing lunch or else while in bed, in the small hours of the morning. His thirst for electrical knowledge was unbounded, and he soaked up every bit of in- formation like a sponge. Yes, and he retained it. V-/t3 too. . In short, the young prodigy was a living elec- trical cyclopedia and highly valued by his associates. No wonder Tesla in three short years had made him superintendent of the laboratory. Sparks* First Name F course, Sparks' first name was not really "Why." But some one had dubbed him with this sobriquet because of his eternal "But why is this," — "Why, why should we not do it this way"— "Why do you try to do that?" In short hi3 first word always seemed to be "Why," — it had to be, in his unending quest of knowledge. And his "Why" was always very emphatic, explosive-like, imperative, from which 'there was no escape. Ah, yes, his first name. To tell the honest truth, I don't know it. Last year in the spring when I went up to the laboratory, I thought I would find out. So when I finally located the young wonder, behind a. bus bar, where he was drawing fat, blue sparks by means of a screwdriver. I told him that I intended to write something about him and his wonderful electrical knowledge. Would he be good enough to give me his real first name? He was watching a big fuse critically, and in art absent-minded manner exploded: "Whyf" That " finished my mission. And for all I know his real name is "Why" Sparks. But we left Sparks with his drawings, in the laboratory. That was on a certain evening in 1917. To be exact it was about 10 o'clock. At 10:05 Tesla accompanied by two high army officials strolled in- to the laboratory where Sparks was still feverishly engaged with sketches lying all about him. Tesla who was working out a certain apparatus for the Government had dropt in late to show Major General McQuire the result of six weeks' labors. The apparatus had been completed that day and the General, a military electrical expert, had come over specially from Washington to see the "thing" work. But before Tesla had a chance to throw in the ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ switch of the large rotary r VHIS story was ~,;-t!!Ici; during the world war, long be- fore the death ray was ever "invented." It is believed in smite quarters thai here we have the original germ nf the death ray. In fart, the means chosen by the author to rrinij do^;;i enemy nirpliines by means of electricity were exploited a number of years later by Grhtdell Matthews, although he admits today that the death ray was pure fiction. Nevertheless at some future date it will be possible to do fust what the author tells as in this story. Nikola Tesla, whn read the original proofs of this story, endorses the idea. He himself was able to bunt out electrical amateurs thirteen, ;;:i!es from his famous Col- orado power plant, in 1892, when he was also able to light electric lamps at this distance, without wires. converter, Sparks had leaped up, and was wav- ing excitedly a large drawing in Tesla's face. He gushed forth a tor- rent of sentences, and for fully five minutes Tesla and the two Army officials were listening spell-bound to the young inventor. For a minute or two the three men were speech- less, looking awe-struck at Sparks, who, having de- mm m— TfaaHnaanstt livered himself of his — — — " latest outburst, now became normal again and lit up his still cold pipe. It wa3 Tesla who first found his voice. "Wonder- ful, wonderful. Absolutely wonder-ful. Sparks. In a month you will be the most talked of man on this planet. And his idea is sound." This to the Gen- eral. "Absolutely without a flaw. And so simple. Why, oh why! did 1 not think of it before? Come, let me shake the hand of America'a youngest and greatest genius!" Which he did. There then followed an excited thirty-minute con- ■