, 1896-12-31

One of His Boom Editions.
Frank S. Pixley tells the following
story in the Chi cage Times-Herald OF
how Bill Nye happened to make Wyo-
ming his home:
The last time Bill Nye was In Chi
cago, shortly before his death 1 asked
him how he happened to choose The
wilds Of Wyoming as an inviting field
for humor.
Why, bless your heart. l didn't.
he said. 1 didn't go out to Wyoming
10 be funny. | went to Laramie to get
rich and got away again just as soon as
| could. In the meantime / tried hu-
NOR simply in self defense.
81 was living in Dakota when the
Black Hills gold craze started-practic-
ing law as hard as l could, and sue,
ceeding just well enough to keep from
starving. Several of the boys whom 1
new left for the Hills at once. They
tried to induce me to go. | laughed
At them. They got in on the ground
floor in some way and had sense
enough to sell out before the boom col
lapsed. When they came back 10 Da.
kota their pockets were bullying and
my law practice was as d%iaphanous as
ever. Then the laugh was on me.
81 kept quiet but l felt mighty sore
just the same. Then came the news
hat the richest gold mine in the world
had been struck in Wyoming. l didn't
wait a minute. but made a bee line for
the spot.
Laramie was one of those towns
that never is-but always is about to
bNblessed. When l arrived | found a
mushroom mining town. The popula-
ton consisted OF cowboys, Mexicans,
rustlers, half-breeds, Cinnamon and
speculative riff-raff. The whole place
was sizzling with excitement and l felt
ond Chicago and Wyoming a new Ell
dorado. What little money | had went
into mining claims: but | fancied | had
a longer head than the average specu-
lator and decided to establish some
solid business. | started a paper. l
hoped that in time, as the city grew
into metropolitan proportions, my
weekly would blossom out into a
great influential daily, and in fancy l
saw myself the Pulitzer of the west.
But the lead of ore played out and
the town instantly collapsed. Those
who had enough money to get out OF
Laramie did SO. Those who had not
stayed. remained.
- hung on to the paper in the hope
that l could sell 1t some time. But no
purchaser came my way. The motley
crowd of stranded spectators left be,
hind by the boom could not support 4
Taper and. in fact. a large proportion
Of them couldn't read, anyway. There
was no news. Every little occurrence
was seized upon eagerly and i spun it
out as far as l could to fill up my pa
per. A dog fight any time IA good for
a column. At last In desperation l be-
gan writing humorous sketches merely
to fill up with. OF course, I had no cir
culation, but l sent the paper to every
leading journal in the country, and in
a short time my stuff began to be
onp{nI sNhat NE Nha hnDi,nr{pD ~ thu
end.
"'At one time, l remember, we had .
hanging scheduled. OF course, we oft,
en- had little informal, impromptu
hangfngs. but this one was to be a real.
genuine. legal execution. There was
no doubt about the fellows guilt. He
had admitted it himself. Ordinarily he
would have been lynched right away.
but several OF us talked the matter
over and decided that the murderer
ought not to be wasted. We would use
him as an advertisement. We held
that a legal execution would be a good
card FOR the town and would show the
world at large that Laramie was not q
wild, lawiess place. but a law-abidins
city with established courts and Of
ficials to enforce the law properly.
1.-The murderer htmself.was might
ly pleased with the idea He relished
the notoriety 1t would give him and
Immediately became the proudest man
in town. There was no jail. Laramie
In those days didn't need one. any,
way. Lawbreakers never were fed at
public expense. They were lynched or
given notice to get out Of town.
Court was held in the rear room Of
a grocery. A jury was sworn in and
everything was done as nearly accord
Ing to law as possible. The prisoner
was sentenced to hang and the day OF
execution was fixed Tor the following
Friday. 1 raised an objection to this
and pointed out to the court that /
would require more time h order to
get up a creditable Newspaper account
OF the affair in q special edition which
was to be sent broadcast to advertise
the town. So the hanging was post
uoned for a week to suit the e~xigenciee