Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1879-06-19
How aaa.sy" Got III. start.
PHILADELPHIA Timer.

! was O very poor man once, and !
edited the Findlay Jfersonian. In Find.
lay, Jefferson county, Ohio. II there IL
any grade Of poverty from which there
IL no further descent, editing q news.
paper in . sparssly settled country is
the grade. I was ON that grade. and
we'll on TO the further end OF 1t. too. I
set my own type, carried my paper from
the stage office on my shoulder 10 my
printing ofloe, worked of my paper on
Q rusty old hand press, and wrote or
soissored out Of exchanges everything
the sheet contained. About the time
the wal broke out I was existing in this
way, whom I heard Of . paper being cir
culated for signatures. p~etitionips the
Legislature to prohibit negroes from
coming into the State. and asking for
legislation TO remove all the colorsd
population the State contained. What
was then known % Copperheadism was
IN important element In our State polit-
ical history Of the time. ! was then, a.
now, . Republican, and the petition was
not brought to mo. I heard Of II, and
hearing also that q shiftless, worthless
fellow named Levi Flsnnsr-whoss
parents. BY the way. were both In the
amshouse % county oharges-was cir
culatine II, I made up my mind to see
the paper. The satire OF the situation
struck mi at once. The few negroes we
had In Fndlay were Woodworking.
law.abidipg men, and to remove
them from the State and leave
Levi there was q prepostsrous out
rage on the fitness Of things. One
night In . country drug store, where
people gather. as you know. In country
towns. ! met Levi. I saw a paper In his
pocket. and a. I knew the dirty Gus
never read q newspaper at ell I grabbed
Il as the petition. And 80 1t was. I
read 1t aloud with comments, and, as I
read and interpolatsd my own remarks,
I felt the aflatus OF the situation. and
made up my mind to write tho Nasty
letters. That week I published the first
one. II was Gas those that followed II
were not) locally oolorsd. even to the
names Of Levi and the few colored men
living in Fndlay. The first letter was
dated Wingert's Corners. Crawford
county. one Of the rankest copperhead
sections In Ohio. A preacher. q few
Sundays before, in that locality. had
the temerity TO pray from his pulpit for
the safety and preservation Of the Fed.
sral Government. That night he was
warned to drop that sort OF business,
and the next Sunday q mob came with q
dozen teams Of oxen and pulled the
church to pieces. ! will do the mob the
justice to say that they wore considsrats
enough to AJAX the congregation to take
. walk before the work OF demolition
Was begun.
tell you 1t wa hot times then 10
Ohio. and Vallandingham wal the
prophet OF . gospel that eminently
threatened TO divide the State on the
question Of secession and Union. The
great argument OF the Copperheads
against the negro at that time was, first,
that a. the Union army invaded the
slave States the negroes would flock to
the North; and second, that once In the
North they would enter into competition
with and destroy the rights Of the white
labor. In the Chinese question the
same arguments. Orientalized, are now
being revamped. Why, in 1851, there
was q Democratic church organized in
Ohio. which gave o new d~ispsnsation Of
gospel. indeed. I kept up the letters
from Wingert's Corners for some time.
Ny 6rst letter travelled everywhere. It
was the ,hnt thing I remember Of
having seen quoted from the Findlay
Jtfersonian, and I was very proud OF 1t.
After q few letters had been published
Murat Halstesd, editor OF the Cincin.
natl Commercial, hunted me up and
offered me $40 q week for o letter from
Wingsrt's. It was simply boundless
prosperity 10 me. I had never hoped,
even In my widest dreams, to possess
90 much money. And that Is the way I
| got my start a. Petroleum V. Nasty.