While James was teaching school, Baker had purchased the _Middletown News-Signal_. As already stated, the young man worked upon this at odd times. Now, however, he gave it all his time and served as reporter, make-up man and pressman or typesetter, as necessity called. In addition to working for the _Middletown News-Signal_, Cox was also a country correspondent for the _Cincinnati Enquirer_, the leading paper of that section.
One day a railroad wreck occurred[1] at Heno, Ohio, a village near Middletown, and several employees of the National Cash Register Company of Dayton, Ohio, who were on a picnic, were killed. Altho the various Cincinnati papers had several correspondents along the line of the railroad, Cox was apparently the only reporter who got his story in on time. His energy and versatility apparently so appealed to the managing editor of the _Cincinnati Enquirer_ that they offered him a position on the _Enquirer_. Mr. Baker of the _News-Signal_ advised him to accept it. In speaking about the Cox of those days, one of his associates says:
[1] The wreck was on what was then the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton Railroad. The line is now owned by the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company.
"Cox's success was due to his ability to understand and talk the language of the average man. He seemed to have the ability to keep in touch with the aspirations and thoughts of his fellow citizens."
Jim Falkner, the veteran political editor of the _Cincinnati Enquirer_, says that Cox's stories were notable for their simplicity. They not only told the facts, but they were told in a way which the average man understood, believing he was getting a square deal. According to the records, Cox started with the _Cincinnati Enquirer_ at $20.00 a week. That was in 1892. He worked for the _Enquirer_ diligently for two years.
From all accounts, Cox's work on the _Enquirer_ was satisfactory, although nothing extraordinary. Altho now in the twenties, he had risen quite rapidly in newspaper work. From the _News-Signal_, at $6.00 a week and board, to the regular staff of the _Cincinnati Enquirer_ was a fair jump. He apparently enjoyed the work, and the editors apparently liked him. It is said that he might be there today had it not been for a certain incident. Various accounts are told regarding this event, but the most authentic account is as follows: