The fool-killer., 1919-08-01

THINKS j TO mySelI, II my Wr1C1ng Will
make money for other men it will
make money for me, and / will polite
ly start a paper of my own.
There was my job press and my
type, and l saw no chance only to
make them support us in some way.
l could print a little paper, n page
, at a time, and if / made it interesting
. enough it might grow and get to be
a big thing. Yes, that part of it was
settled would start a paper.
Having gone that far, the next
thing to decide on was the style or
character of my paper, and a name
for it. Reason taught me that it
must be odd and unusual if | wanted
it to attract any attention. In the
first place, it must contain nothing
but original "hot stuff" In the next
catch the strangers eye and rivet his
list Of possible names and studied
them carefully from every angle.
And finally | selected "THE FOOL
KILLER" as the one most likely to
attract attention and take the public
by surprise.
Without further delay ] began to
Cpo SOPy Cb1IO G1IC AIoI 40oNC "a
The Fool-Klller appeared in January,
1910. Only three or four hundred
copies of that issue were printed, and
| scattered them around the best l
could in order to get a subscription
list started. 1t was a leap in the
dark, and | had no idea whether it was
going to lead to success or starvation.
Well, it was pretty disheartening
for the first six months, and then the
subs began to come in right nicely.
BY this time we had bought an old
store-house in the village of Mora
Wan Falls and had moved all our
earthly belongings into it. The front
end was the printing office and the
back end was the living department.
We did not pretend to be Giving
there in the back end of the printing
!. office-we were just camping" and
waiting for a chance to do better.
: Disease was every day taking a deeper
mold on my wife, and | was not able
to give her the care and attention she
= needed.
The growth of The Fool-Killer was
{ not rapid but it was steady, and each
: succeeding week the subscription re-
ceipts were a little more than the
!. week before. That was encouraging
; although every bit of growth made
= that much more work, which must be
done under very trying conditions.
At the very outset The Fool-Killel
espoused the cause of the poor, ano
oppressed, and was merciless init at
1 tacks on the "dollar aristocracy" anC
a all the high-fyers of Society, Church
and State. 1t was natural for me tt
] take this stand, because l had alway:
= belonged to the poor and oppressed
u class-had always been an "undel
dog"
+ The language of The <Fool-kille.
was the common corn-field EnglisF
that | learned and used while growing
= up amid poverty and hardship. AS
. often expressed it, The Fool-Killeri
- object was to make a man laugh RICH
= big, and then ram a truth down hin
! while his mouth was open.
r We sold the old farm and applied
v the money toward the starting of
I. home in the village. AS soon as tn
h new cottage was far enough along +
make out with we moved into it
j. Though far from finished, it was
a a great improvement V e the way W
i had been living. We now had
= chance to fix up n or two rooms t
q look something like a home, and t
= get our home life separated fror
- the business. It also gave US more OF
= fee room, which was beginning to b
d needed.
d In the meantime the paper wa
growing at a gratifying rate, and
e was soon necessary to have a large
~ and faster press. So about March
~ 1912, | put in a large Cottrell Drur
& Cylinder Press capable of printin
J all four pages of the paper at n i'm
~. ~ preston, and at the rate of 100
Z complete copies per hour. At tn
same time l installed a gasoline en-
"a CINE to pull the new press, and then
n began to turn out Fool-Killers at
u rate that made the little job pres
'd ashamed of itself.
=; Having then an outfit that enable
10 me to get the printing done, | bega
to push the paper with samples, &C
IT vertising, ETC., and it was soon grow
~ ing by leaps and bounds. In a shol
~ running anywhere from $50 to SIC
~ ~ per week and l was handling MOI
money than / had ever seen in all m
&c life before.
From $4,000 the circulation noun
ed rapidly to 10000, then to 25,OOt
K, and on up. l was surprised an
TO pleased with the popularity which tt
ne paper had attained, and the financi;
st help it gave me was a great satisfa'
10 ton. For the first time in life l We
'lt not "hard up" for a few dollars
III cash when needed.
But the bright picture of succe.
~ was marred by one great shadow
- sickness and suffering. My wife T.
NAMED a s~emi-invalid, and the agon
d. of her suffering was at times almo
unbearable. Nobody can understar
it unless they have gone through tt
horrors of a severe case of asthma an
lst bronchitis. Then came indigestic
n, and stomach trouble to add their no
eo rors to the case, so that nearly ever
IS, thing she ate threw her into gre;
We misery almost Immediately. AS a r
suit of this she had to starve herse
nig until she was little more than SIX
and bones. From her normal weigl
of $50 pounds when in health she W;
az reduced to 80 pounds.
e. | spent several hundred dollars