, 1888-01-29
VINO DISCOVERED BILL NYEt

The question as to who discovered and
started Bill Nye is becoming a national
one New claimants for the distinguished
honor are ~springing up on all sides. The
Denver Republican contributes this to the
absorbing subject:
A good deal has been written of late
about Bill Nye. o. Ii. Rothackcr, writ
ing in the Omaha Republican, adds to the
gossip concerning the now famous humor.
list, by asserting that it was through the
Denver Tribune that Edgar Willis first
found opportunity to speed his merry pen.
In part this statement is correct, but it is
doubtful in the extreme whether Nye
would have ever become a funny man of
rcnown had it not been for the Boom
erdng, which n few friendly citizens of
Laramie City, Wyo., enabled him to start
and Bill Root. Bill Root is a funnier
man by nature than Bill Nye is. Hesells
wagons and moving machines for n living
in Laramie City, and makes a good
living at it, too. He was Nye's inspira-
ton. If Root could be induced to aban-
don the e%nioyments of descanting on the
virtues of the Deering mower and the
Studebaker wagon, and, in the intervals
of n trade, telling n rural customer most
picturesque stories, relevant and irrelc
vant thereto, he would be worth money
to a cartoon paper to do nothing but sug-
gest ideas. lie is oddly original and APP
parently fails to see the many funny parts
of his own dry witticisms.
1t was to Root that Nyc owed his best
things while he was IN Laramie, and to
Bill Root, more than TO any one else, he
owes his present popularity.
The Root story is not an entirely new
one, says the Omaha Republican.
There can be no manner of doubt but
that Mr.. Root is a very bright man,
and that he and Nye were intimate in
Laramie City, but 1t seems like stretching
things a little to say that Nye owed his
best things to him, and that to Root is
due his present popularity. Neither can
the Boomerang be credited with bringing
Nye before the public Before this en-
terprise was started his first book, made
up altogether of selections from the Den
yer Tribune, was in print and was sue
cessful. His first engagement, after a
stupid business manager anxious to econ
omize had cut him off the Tribune pay
roll, was with the Chicago Tribune. This,
too, antc-dated the publication of the
boomerang.
The truth is that NSe discovered him
self. He always knew that he would be-
come iamousif he could get a large enough
audience to listen to him and give him a
chance. lie got this through the Denver
Tribune, and there was, thereafter, no
question as to his future. His best work
has been done in Wisconsin and in the
East, and the theory that he Is simply a
machine through which someone else
pumps humor is absurd. He is a genius,
and has developed wonderfully since 1879
and 1880, the years which brought him
into general notice.
However, upon this subject, Mr.. Nyc's
own testimony may have some value. Upon
the fy-leai of copy of his second book,
'Baled Hay, is written this in his easy.
running water hand:
ITO o. II. Rothacker, who. more than
any one else, is responsible for the crimes
against public patience of which | have
been guilty. "E. w. NYE."
This, of course, is a bit of good nature.
Nye would have become famous even if
there had been no Roots, no Boomeran9s
and no Denver Tribune.
The idea that Bill Nye discovered him
self will gain ground day by day.