The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-02-05
BILL NYE'S EXTRA. :
IT Was About a Hanging and Was Very
Popular In Laramie.

he happened to choose the wilds of Wyo-
ming as an inviting field for humor.
"Why, bless your heart, didn't" he
said. "I didn't go out to Wyoming to be
funuy. 1 went to Laramie to get rich and
got away again just as soon as l could. In
the meantime tried humor simply in self
defense Laramie was one of those towns
that never are-but always are about to be
--blest When arrived, found mush-
room mining town. The population con-
sisted of cowboys, Mexicans, rustlers, half
breeds. Cinnamon and speculative riffraH.
The whole place was sj2Tling with excite
ment. and felt sure tllaG Laramie was to
become a second Chicago and Wyoming
new Ell Dorado. What little money had
went into mining claims. But fancied L
had longer head than the average specu-
Iator and decided to establish some solid
business. l started a paper l hoped that
in time. as the city grew into metropolitan
nronortions, my weekly would blossom
ont into a great influential daily, and IN
fancy I 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 staid. l re-
manned.
~ hung on to the paperin the hope that
T could sell it some time. But no purchas-
er came my way. The motley crowd OF
stranded SPECTATORS left behind by the
boom could not support paper, and, in
fact, a large proportion of them couldn't
rend anyway. There was no news. Every
little occurrence was seized upon eagerly,
and I suun it out as far as could tofill up
nv paper. A dog fight any time was good
for a column. At last in desperation be-
can writing humorous sketches merely to
fill IN with, OF course had no circula-
ton, but sent the paper to every leading
journal in the country, and in short time
INV stuff began to be copied That was the
beginning of the end.
,sAt one time, remember, we had
hanging scheduled. OF course we often
had little informal, impromptu hangings,
but this one was to bea real, genuine, legal
execution A half drunken miner had shot
down a saloon keeper without the slightest
proyocation. There was no doubt about
the fellows guilt. He 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 legal
execution would be good card for the
town and would show the world at large
that Laramie was not wild. lawless place,
but law abiding city, with established
courts and officials to enforce the law prop.
erly.
1.-THE murderer himself was nightly
pleased with the idea. He relished the no.
toriety it would give him, and immediately
became the proudest man in town. There
was no jail. Laramie in those days didn't
need one anyway. 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 gro
Gerry. A jury was sworn in, and everything
was done as nearly according to law as
possible. The prisoner was sentenced &c
hang, and the day of execution was fixed
for the following Friday. raised an OBJ
lection to this and pointed ont to the court
that would require more time in order to
get up creditable newspaper account OF
the affair in special edition which was to
be sent broadcast to advertise the town. So
the hanging was postponed for week to
suit the exigencies of my printing estab-
lishment.
II went right to work on the special
boom edition-wrote up history of tha
man who was murdered, gave sketch OF
the murderer, printed the judges charge
in full and gave special write ups TO every
member of the jury and to all others who
had taken part in the trial in any way,
Then 1 gave an elaborate account of the
hanging itself, told how the prisoner look
ed, gave his dying speech on the gallows.
described the scene when the drop fell and
ended with the results of the post norton
examination.
'tOnly one thing really bothered mel
wanted to illustrate the affair, and there
wasn't cut of any sort within hundreds
of miles. After worrying about the matter
for some time decided to do a little wood
engraving on my own account. took a
piece of hardwood plank, planned it down
type high, and with a chisel cut out
mans face as nearly as I could. This /
placed in the middle of the first page, with
line under IT stating that it was 'por-
trait of the murderer Beyond any ques
ton that was the oldest specimen of the
engraver's art ever turned out in America.
The head had more angles than geometry
ever described; the eye was a three cor
nered white spot made with the corner Of
the chisel, and the forehead was covered
with bumps which would have given a
phrenologist spasms. But it went all
right. The old rickety press was slow, and
I had to run off the editorial ahead Of
time. 1t was printed and piled away in q
rear room waiting for the appointed day
to come.
"In the meantime the murderer was
about town as usual, except that he was
drunken than ordinarily, because every one
seemed to feel it an honor to drink with a
man who was SO soon to be the center OF
popular interest Whenever he could walk,
he went strutting about town like O pea
cock. 1iaf
1.-TWO days before the hanging somebody
learned that my boom edition was printed,
and Immediately the office was besieged by
citizens who wanted to see the paper. AT
first I refused, but soon the crowd began
to offer bonus for the paper, and found
/ could sell out then and realize just as
much as l could by waiting, SO I took in
the cash and let the papers go. They went
like hot cakes The murderer himself was
among the first to get copy, and, although
he couldn't read, he seemed greatly inter-
octod in the yyooacJ1t Ea ca,po into tho