The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1897-01-20
BILL NYE'S EXTRA.
1t Was AbOuz a Hanging and Was Very
Popular In Laramie.

ming as an 11Vll11B 4Ct0 luz 4HlIOE
"Why, bless your. heart, 1 didn't" he
said 81 didn't go out 10 Wyoming to be
funny. I went to Laramie to get rich and
got away again just as soon as could. In
the meantime tried huInor simply in self
defense Laramie was one of those towns
that never are-but always are about to be
-blest When 1 arrived, found mush-
room mining town. The population con-
sisted of COW boys, Mexicans, rustlers, half
breeds, Cinnamon and speculative riffraff.
The whole place was sizzling with excite
ment, and felt sure that Laramie was to
become a second Chicago and Wyoming
new Ell Dorado What little money I had
went into mining claims. But I fancied 1
had q longer head than the average specu-
lator and decided to establish some solid
business. / started paper. hoped that
in time, as the city grew into metropolitan
proportions, my weekly would blossom
out 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 CT Laramie
did So These who had not staid. I re-
manned.
81 hung on to the paper in the hopethat
I 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 large proportion of them couldn't
read anyway. There was no news. Every
little occurrence was seized upon eagerly,
and spun it out as far as could to fill up
my paper. A deg fight any time was good
for column. At last in desperation be-
gan writing humorous sketches merely to
fill up with. Of course had no circula-
ton, but I sent the paper to every leading
journal in the country, and in a short time
my stuff began to be copied. That was the
beginning of the end.
AT one time, 1 remember, we had
hanging scheduled. OF course we often
had little informal, impromptu hangings,
but this one was to be a real, genuine, legal
execution. A half drunken miner had shot
down a saloon keeper without the slightest
provOcation 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 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 wild lawless place,
but a law abiding city, with established
courts and officials to enforce the law prop
erly.
'rThe murderer himself was nightly
pleased with the idea. He relished the no.
toriety it would give him, and Immediately
became the prcudest 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 gro
Gerry. A jury was sworn in, and everything
was Done as nearly according to law as
possible. The prisoner was sentenced to
hang, and the day of execution was fixed
for the following Friday. 1 raised OBJ
lection to this and pointed out to the court
7 Il
get up a 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 exigencics of my printing estab-
lishment.
II went. right to work on the special
boom edition-wrote up a history of the
man who was murdered, gave q 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 tho
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.
"Only one thing really bothered me-I
wanted to illustrate the affair, and there
wasn't a cut of any sort within hundreds
vi 444l4OS. @11OSE dCOu6 Inc IIlaECcF
for some time I decided to do little wood
engraving on my own account. l took a
piece of hardwood plank, planed it down
type high, and with chisel cut out a
mans face as nearly as I could. This 1
placed in the middle of tho first page with
a line under it stating that it was a 'por-
trait of the murderer Beyond any Ques-
ton that was the oddest specimen of the
engravers art ever turned out IN America.
The head had more angles than a geometry
ever described; tho 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 q
phrenologist spasms But it went all
right. The old rickety press was slow, and
1 had to run off the editorial ahead of
time. 1t was printed and piled away in
rear room waiting for the appointed day
to come.
In the meantime the murderer was
about town usual, except that he was
I drunken than ordinarily, because every ono
seemed to feel it an honor to drink with
man who was so soon to be the center of
popular interest Whenever he could walk,
be went strutting about town like pea
cock.
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 l refused, but soon the crowd began
to offer bonus for the paper, and found
l could sell out then and realize just as
much as could By waiting, SO I took in
the cash and let the papers go. They went
like hot cakes. The murderer himself vas
among the first to get copy, and, although
he couldn't read, he seemed greatly inter
ested in the woodcut He came into the
/ office to assure himself that there was 10
! mistake about it, and told him it was ali
right-the picture was his-and read him
+ the line under it.
That night he disappeared. There was
saw him gain. Frank S. Pixley in Chi
cago Times Harald