"Bill Nye was "considered 'Wyoming's most celebrated citizen' and remains one of the state's most famous historical figures." -WyoHistory.org
"Bill Nye...once among the most well-known humorist in the country...in Laramie, Nye wrote his best material...Forty Liars and Other Lies." -Billings Gazette, Dec. 1, 1978
"Bill Nye first publisher of the Laramie Boomerang...wrote a book about the Liars club of Laramie...one of the greatest humorists in America or world history...ranked with Mark Twain." -Casper Star-Tribune, Jan. 5, 1933
"Edgar Wilson Nye...held the post of justice of the peace for six years...the most popular among his publications were...Forty Liars." -The Butte Miner, Jan. 29, 1919
"Bill Nye...the humorist dies at his North Carolina home...was born in Shirley, Maine...moved to Wyoming Territory...began to contribute humorous sketches to...various Western journals...published...Forty Liars." -The Anaconda (Montana) Standard, Feb. 23, 1896
Why is Bill Nye one of the world's foremost authors of humor who ranked in fame with Mark Twain virtually unknown in modern times?
Bill Nye's 1883 book "Forty Liars: And Other Lies," is a collection of humorous short essays about life in the early West, and is described by the author as "the initial step in the world's great march toward universal frankness."
Edgar Wilson "Bill" Nye was born August 25, 1850, and died February 22, 1896. He went by the pen name "Bill Nye" as an American humorist. He was also the founder and editor of the Laramie Boomerang.went to Wyoming Territory in 1876, where he was admitted to the bar and practiced law for several years in Laramie City, was later elected to the office of Justice of the Peace. Having much time at his disposal and possessing a " considerable assortment of long words, which he had thought out at leisure moments," he began writing Sunday letters for the Cheyenne "Sun " at a dollar a column. Thus began his career as a humorous writer.
"My revenue from those letters," he said, "which aggregated as much as sixty dollars a year, so completely dwarfed the returns from my law practice that I abandoned the latter." He soon accepted a position on the Laramie City "Sentinel." Of the editor of that paper he wrote later: -" He was warm-hearted and generous to a fault. He was more generous to a fault than to anything else—more especially his own faults. He gave me twelve dollars a week to edit the paper — local, telegraph, selections, religious, sporting, political, fashions, and obituary."
Nye left the "Sentinel" to found a paper which he named the "Boomerang," after his favorite mule, which he called Boomerang, because he never knew where it would strike. The office was over a livery stable in which the mule was kept, and on the door Nye put this sign: "Persons wishing to see the editor will please twist the tail of the white mule and take the elevator.'' From that time Bill Nye's fame dates. The "Boomerang" was quoted all over the country and abroad, but it was not a financial success.
The popularity of Nye's writings grew rapidly and his services were accordingly much sought after. The New York "World" secured them in 1886, and he wrote a weekly article for that paper which was syndicated also and published in several hundreds of newspapers throughout the United States. The returns from the sales of these articles, from his books, and from his annual lecture tours made him a wealthy man.
