Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1883-11-29

4
J am, as ever, your loving NELLIE.
: Direct your letter to me as follows: Bel
!. tina l.. Bothamley, Fort Reno, Indian Tel
ritory. Goodbye.
IL WAUKKsHA, WIS.,, November IL, 1888.
, To the Editor Of the Eagle:
e After reading SO many falsehoods about
! Mrs. Nellie Bailey who spent the early par
OF last season here visiting her aunt, L can
: not refrain from furnishing your readers
plain, truthful history OF the lady's deport
! ment while in Waukesha, (some four months
4. having enjoyed the pleasure OF her acquaint
! ance from her arrival to the day OF her de
parture, q portion Of which time she was
T welcome guest at my house.
One Of these reports says !: zone of he
i first moves after she arrived was to attemp
: TO form theatrical troupe"
|. The troupe referred to was organized ear
ly i'm the fall OF 1882, and given several pub
lie performances in Waukesha and adjoin
ing towns. witnessed the second perform
ance here, In Carney's opera house. Tn,
play on this occasion was entitled the $50
u
At this performance, the troupe was undel
the immediate management of "Geney'
Sweet Ia son OF Mrs. Bailey's aunt whit
who seemed to be impressed with the idei
that he was born to shine in the histrionie
art(D The headquarters of this troupe wert
at the residence Of his parents and just pre-
vious to the arrival OF Mrs. Bailey, the lead.
ing lady had become disguised with the af
fair, and utterly refused to take part in the
next performance, which was TO be TRACE.
dy entitled, "Michael Earl, or the Maniac
Lover" and so left the troupe temporarily
paralyzed. A few days after her arrival
she was persuaded by her uncle and aunt to
take the leading part in the play, and did
believe, appear in the rehearsals which
took place in her aunt's parlors. From
these rehearsals dissensions enough arose
born to demolish the troupe and take the
conceit out Of Its would-be Othellos. BY
this, your readers can judge how much OF
her energy was spent in trying to organize
4 dramatic company.
| Another report says: ''She undoubtedly
married Robert Riese for money" As MIR.
Riese was TO play the "villain' in the trag-
edy, and attended all the rehearsals, Mrs.
Baily had abundant opportunity to learn
| that there was not q member of the troupe
able to raise the price of two books OF the
play which would have cost about thirty
! five cents each, or less, SO you see what an
exalted opinion she must have had Of Mr..
Riese's financial ability, and how anxious
she must have been to marry fellow worth
about "two for nickel" Just to know
this young man would knock this theory Of
the marriage higher than Beecher's "Life
of Christ" was knocked by the Brooklyn
scandal.
The mock marriage of Riese and Mrs. Bal
ley was a one-sided affair and came about in
| this way: Mrs. Bailey's aunt manifested a
determination that her son "Geney" should
act as Nellit's protege, TO the exclusion of all
others, during her sojourn in Waukesha,
and having discovered that Mrs. Bailey pre-
ferred Mr.. Reese, rs an escort. to her own
dear son, from this time on, the English
language seemed inadequate to furnish her
aunt with invectives sufficiently strong to
heap upon Mr. Robert Riese's head. To ap-
pease her anger for the imagined wrong
done her son, she notified Mrs. Bailey that
Riese would not be permitted to enter her
house again, and that she, Mrs. Bailey,
"must cut him. then and forever, which, of
course, Mrs. Bailey, woman-like, refused to
do, and at the first opportunity informed
Riese Of her aunt's hatred for him advised
him, to save himself humiliation at her
aunts hands, not to call at the house again,
but come along Sunday afternoon (the next
day. and she would take walk with him,
just to spite her aunt. On this afternoon
they planned the "mock marriage" which
was to, and did, come of at the residence
of one of our justices on The 10Th day of
April, 1888. That the affair was reckless
piece OF business, and intended as joke
on Mrs. Bailey's aunt, and nothing more,
all are only too willing to admit. Mr.. Riese
and supposed it was, bogus from beginning
to end; that he never received the slushy
letters published in the papers and alleged
to have been written by Mrs. Bailey; that
he never received but one postal card and
one letter from her since her departure; that
sha again; and among ether things that he
did not know he was married until he had
consulted a lawyer, and to his utter aston
ishment and sorrow, learned that the mock
marriage was really binding on him, and to
remove all doubt he had better go through
the form of securing a divorce and thus re.
move all doubts, in a legal point of view,
from his further actions. Mr.. Riese being
engaged to an estimable young lady in Mill
waukee, these foolish reports have placed
him in rather peculiar position. Here
your readers will be able to judge whether
she married him for money or not.
Still another report says: "She became
so bad that her aunt turned her out of her
house." The facts are, that Mrs. Bailey's
aunt made it SO unpleasant for her. because
it had leaked out that she had been married
to Mr.. Riese, that Mrs. Bailey came to my
house to live until the first of June when
she said she intended to go to st. Louis to
join every dear friend" She having de-
ported herself in the most lady-like manner
during her stay here, We consented to adj
init her as a guest to our house and family
circle. One Sunday evening, when Mrs.
Bailey was in talkative mood, she said
she would tell us who the "dear friend'' she
was to join in st. Louis really was, upon
condition that We would promise to keep it
4 secret from her relatives in Waukesha.
OF course, We promised. She said: "Well,
he is handsome young EngIishman he
lives out in Kansas; he is worth some money
and will have a large fortune when he re-
do not care for his fortune, love him for
his dear self alone. / am going to be mar
ried to him, because he is the only man
ever loved. He says he loves me, too; and
| know:he does. lie has already made ar
to start large sheep ranch way
down in sunny Texas, and we will have ev-
erything fixed up in fine style to travel over
land from Kansas to Texas. 1t will be
fne trip. wish you would come with us
Wen have such nice time. After we set
lie down, shall have nice home and a
kind and loving husband, because ] know
he thinks the world and all Of me. And
hen shall settle down In sober earnest for
he remainder of my life, aud be true and
owing wife to him."
"But Nellie" said my wife, "you haven't
old us his name YETI
"Well," she said, "his name Il Clement |
Now, don't you ever mention
{, will your
Upon her engagement finger she wore q
beautiful and costly diamond ring, which |
he always alluded TO as ! gin from her |
handsome Englishman. She seemed to be |
airly infatuated with this man Bothamley,
md exhibited various pieces of jewelry as
from him.
on another occasion, we asked her about |
Ter former husband, Mr.. Bailey. She said
Mr.. Bailey and parted up in Dakota one
ear ago. Since that time, have heard he
vas dead, but do not know anything defi-
lite about his DEATH"
Mrs. Bailey had fine wardrobe, when /