By 1870, Waterloo was in Chicago, where he went to study law but dropped out and instead began his career in journalism. In 1871, after the
Great Chicago Fire, he moved to
St. Louis, Missouri, and acquired a proprietorship interest in the
Evening Journal. For the next dozen years he worked in Missouri at, variously, the
Missouri Republican, the
St. Louis Chronicle, and the
St. Louis Globe-Democrat. While Waterloo was editor of the
Chronicle, an editorial appeared which was critical of a local judge. The judge threatened Waterloo and there were concerns that the threat included physical violence. Waterloo refused to back down. It turned out that the editorial was actually written by another judge. He then moved to
St. Paul, Minnesota, where he began a newspaper named
The Day. He then moved back to Chicago and worked in an editorial capacity at the
Chicago Tribune. This occupied the next half dozen years, and during this time he was twice president of the Chicago Press Club. He then turned exclusively to literature. His first novel,
A Man and a Woman, sold more than 100,000 copies in six months. His work was well received in
England, and he was one of the first American authors to sell well there. His most famous work,
The Story of Ab: A Tale of the Time of the Cave Man, was followed by a story by
Jack London, "Before Adam", which was so similar to Waterloo's novel that Waterloo accused London of plagiarism. London denied this, explaining that his story was in the nature of a commentary on Waterloo's work. == Works ==