The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1890-01-29
NYE's BRILLIANT CAREER.
Bill Tells the Story of His Life-How He
Abolished Slavery.

Bill Nye was recently approached for
sketch of his career. Unwilling to
trust to the tender mercies of biog-
rapher for a faithful presentation OF
his noble deeds, the king of humorists
issues the following autobiography:
Edgar Wilson Nye was born in
Maine in 1850, Aug. %, but at two
years of age he took his big parents by
the hand and telling them that Pts
cataquis County was no place for them
he boldly struck out for st. CroiX
CouRty, Wisconsin, where the hardy
young pioneer soon made home
for his parents. The first year he drove
the Indians out of the st. Croix Valley,
and suggested to the Northwestern
Railroad that it would be a good idea
to build to St. Paul as soon as the COM
pany could get a grant which would
pay them two or three times the cost of
construction. The following year he
adopted trousers, and made $175 from
the sale of wolf scalps. He also
cleared twenty-seven acres of land, and
raised some watermelons. In 1854 he
established and endowed a district
school in Pleasant Valley. 1t was at
this time that he began to turn his at
tention to the abolition of slavery in
the South and to write articles for the
press signed ''Veritas, in which he ad-
vocated the war of 1860 or as soon as
the government could get around to it.
I'm 1855 he graduated from the farm
and began the Study of the law. He
did not advance very rapidly in this
profession, failing several times in his
examination and giving bonds for his
appearance at the next term of court.
He was, however, a close student of
political economy, and studied per-
sonal economy at the same time till
he found he could live on 10 cents a
day and his relatives easily.
'.Mr. Nye now began to look for a
new country to build up and foster,
and as Wisconsin had grown to be so
thickly settled in the northwestern
part of the state that neighbors were
frequently found as near as five miles
apart he broke loose from all restraint
and took emigrant rates for Cheyenne,
Wy. T. Here he engaged board at the
Interocean Hotel and began to look
abont him for a position i'll a bank.
Not succeeding in this, he tried the law
and journalism. He did not succeed il
getting job for some time, but finally
hired as associate editor and janitor Of
the Laramie Sentinel. The salary was
small but his latitude great, and he
was permitted to write anything thai
he thought would please people
whether it was news or not.
by and by he had won every heart
by his gentle, patient poverty and hi:
delightful parsimony with regard tC
facts. With hectic Imagination an6
an order on restaurant, which adver
tised in the paper, he scarcely careC
through the livelong day whether schoo
kept or not.
He is the father of several very
beautiful children by his first wife, VIII,
: is still living. She is a Chicago girl
and loves her husband far more thai
he deserves. He is pleasant to the out
side world but a perfect brute in hi
: home. He early learned that in orde
to win the love of his wife he should b
erratic and kick the stove over o.
the children when he came home. H
, therefore asserts himself in this way
and the family love and respect him
being awed by his greatness and gent
barbarism.
He eats plain food with both hand:
conversing all the time pleasantly wit
|. any one who may be visiting at th
house. If his children do not behave
, he kicks them from beneath the tabl
till they roar with pain, as he chats o
| with the guests with a bright and evel
flowing stream of bon mots whic
please and delight those who visit hil
: to that degree that they almost forg,
that they have had hardly anything
eat.
+ I'm conclusion, Mr.. Nye is in ever
: respect lovely character. He feare
r that injustice might be done him, how
ever, in this biographical sketch, an
so he has written it himself