At this time Fanny Fern was the great literary sensation of the day.  She had just published her “Ruth Hall,” which had attracted universal attention, and had given rise to a sharp discussion in the public press as to whether she was the sister of N.P.  Willis or not.  Mr. Bonner resolved to profit by her sudden notoriety, and requested her to write a story for the “Ledger,” for which he offered to pay her twenty-five dollars per column.  She declined the proposition.  He then offered her fifty dollars a column, and, upon a second refusal, increased his offer to seventy-five dollars a column.  She was pleased with the energy exhibited by Mr. Bonner, and flattered by his eagerness to secure her services, but declared that she would write no more for the newspapers.  A little later Mr. Bonner was offered a story from her, about ten columns long.  He at once accepted her proposition, and upon the receipt of the manuscript sent her a check for one thousand dollars.

With this story began that wonderful career of the “Ledger” which seems more like a dream than hard reality.  The story was double-leaded, and made to fill twenty columns of the paper.  The “Ledger” itself was changed from its old style to its present form, and made a purely literary journal.  The price paid for the story was unparalleled in the history of American journalism, and Mr. Bonner spread the announcement far and wide that he was publishing a serial for which he had given one hundred dollars a column.  His advertisements were to be seen in almost every newspaper of respectable circulation throughout the Union.  In form they were different from any that had preceded them.  “Fanny Fern writes for the ‘Ledger.’” “Buy the ‘New York Ledger,’” etc., appeared, dozens of times repeated, until men were absolutely tired of seeing the announcement.  Nothing had ever been brought to the public notice so prominently before.  For awhile people were astonished at the audacious boldness of “the ‘Ledger’ man.”  Then they began to buy the paper.  Since then the demand for it has steadily increased.

The venture was successful.  Fanny Fern’s reputation and Mr. Bonner’s energy and boldness made a demand for the “Ledger,” at once, and out of the profits of the story for which he had paid such an unheard-of price Mr. Bonner purchased a handsome residence in New York City.

There was as much originality as boldness in the peculiar style in which Mr. Bonner advertised his paper.  As before stated, nothing of the kind had ever been seen before, and the novelty of the announcements at once attracted attention.  It was seen that they were expensive also, and people naturally felt some curiosity to see for themselves the paper for which a man was willing to assume such risk and expense.  These announcements sometimes covered a whole page of a daily paper; sometimes the page would be almost entirely blank, with only a few lines in each column containing the announcement.  Again the advertisement would be the opening chapters of a story, which would be sure to excite the curiosity of the reader, and induce him to purchase the remaining chapters in the “Ledger” itself.  It is to the credit of the “Ledger” that it rarely loses a subscriber.  It has become a family paper.