Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1896-02-26

tiers arrived from Washington city,
where they have been attending
school, last Wednesday, and have been
at his bedside since No arrangements
have been made for the funeral. Mr..
Nye came to this section seven or eight
years ago in search of health and finally
bought farm, where he built a palatial
home.
Some time ago Mr.. Nye received a re-
quest for some details regarding his
early life. Jokingly answering that
the public having manifested more or
less interest in him and his work, and
being apprehensive that some biography
might be constructed which would dis
tort the truth of history, he had de-
cided to write his own biography. 1t
was AS follows:
Edgar Wilson Nye was born in Maine
in 1850, August %. but at years of
age he took his parents by the hand, and
telling them that Piscataquis county was
no place for them, he boldly struck out
for st. CroiX county, Wis., 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 North Western
railroad that it would be good idea to
build to st. Paul as soon as the company
could get grant which would pay them
two or three times the cost of construc-
ton. The following year he adopted
wolf scalps. He also cleared twenty
seven acres of land and raised some
WatermelonS. In 1854 he established
and endowed district school in Pleasant
Valley. 1t was at this time that he be-
gan to turn his attention to the abolition
of slavery in the South, and to write
articles for the press, signed 'Veritas,'
in which he advocated the war of 1860,
or as soon as the government could get
around to it.
In 1854 he graduated from the farm
and began the study of law. He did
not advance very rapidly in this profess
sion. failing Sc, eral times in his eX-
aminations and giving bonds for his ap-
pearance at the next term of court He
was, however, a close student of political
at the same time, till he found that he
could easily live on 10 cents a day and
his relatives.
Too Tricky Settled.
'Mr. Nye now began to look about
him for a new country to build up and
foster, and as Wisconsin had grown to
be so thlckly 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,
Wyo. Here he engaged board at the
lnter-Ocean hotel, and began to look
about for a position in a bank. Not sue
ceeding in this, he tried the law and
journalism. He did not succeed in get
ting q job for some time, but finally
hired as associate editor and janitor of
the Laramie Boomerang. The salary
was small, but his latitude great, and
he was permitted to write anything that
he thought would please the people,
whether it was news or not.
by and by he had won every heart
by his gentle, patient poverty and his
delightful parsimony with regard to
facts. With a hectic imagination and
an order on q restaurant which adver-
tised in the paper, he scarcely cared
through the livelong day whether school
kept or not
"Tbus he rose to justice of the peace
and finally to an income which is re-
ported very large to everybody but the
assessor.
His Home Life
He is the father of several very beau
tiful children by his first wife, who is
still living. She is a Chicago girl, and
loves her husband far more than he de-
serves. He is pleasant to the outside
world, but a perfect brute in his home.
He early learned that in order to win
the love of his wife he should be cratic
and kick the stove over on the children
when he came home. He therefore as
serts himself in this way. and the fam
lily love and respect him. being awed by
his greatness and gentle barbarism.
He eats plain food with both hands,
conversing all the time pleasantly with
anyone who may be visiting at the house.
If the children do not behave he kicks
them from beneath the table till they
roar with pain, as he chats on with the
guests with q bright and overlooking
stream of bon mots, which please and
delight those who visit him to that de-
gree that they almost forget that they
have had hardly anything to eat
I'm conclusion, Mr.. Nye is in every
respect a lovely character. He feared
that injustice might be done him, how
ever, in this biographical sketch. so he
has written it himself