On New Years eve in 1912 Armstrong fired his step fathers gun in the air during a New Years eve celebration and was arrested on the spot. He was sent to the Colored Waifs Home for boys. There he received musical instruction on the cornet and fell in love with music. In 1914 the home release him and he immediately began dreaming of a life making music. While he still had to work odd jobs selling news paper and hauling coal to the city famed red light districts. Armstrong began earning a reputation as a fine Blues Player. One of the greatest cornet players in town "Joe King Oliver" began acting as a mentor to the young Armstrong, showing him pointers on the horn and occasionally using him as a sub. By the end of his teens, Armstrong had grown up fast. In 1918 he married Daisy Parker a prostitute commencing a stormy union, marked by many arguments and acts of violence.
During this time Armstrong adopted a three year old boy named Clarence. The boys mother, Armstrong cousin had died in child birth. Clarence who had become mentally disable from a head injury he had suffered at an early age was taken into care of by Armstrong his entire life. Mean time Armstrong reputation as a musician continued to grow. In 1918 he replaced Oliver in Kid Orys Band, then the most popular band in New Orleans. He was soon able to stop working manual labor jobs and began concentrating full time on his cornet - a name playing parties, dances, funeral marches and at local Honky Tonk a name for small bars. Beginning in 1919 Armstrong spent his summer playing on river boats with a band led by Fate Marable.
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