St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-04-21

FANCHON'S ROMANCE
A New and Singular Story in
Maggie Mitehell's
Life.
Married Twenty-Seven Years
Ago, but Separated
at Once.
They Never Meet Again and
She Marries Paddock
Afterwards.
No Record of Her Divorce
Epnr,o unx, EinCf uuc
No Record of Her Divorce
From Her First HuS-
band.

again set agog the gosslps touching her
first love affair, which has about it the
flavor of romance and adventure. Away
back in the sixties, when the war was
we'll under way, Washington city
was an armed camp. The city
then had not emerged from
its old-time lethargy, and the
invasion of great army in the midst of
its people, while it amazed those to the
manor born, gave them the first full
realization of what genuine activity
and hustle meant. 1t was at this pc
riod. too, that Maggie Mitchell as an
actress was at her best. Then she had
youth to add to the captivating graces
which even now, with the lapse of a
quarter century, mark her great. Then,
too,
FLUSHED WITH THE FINANCIAL Sue
CESS
of her artistic endeavors. the world un-
folded to her as one vast Utopia. Loves
young dream was yet before her. 1t
was no wonder Miss Mitchell was a
favorite in Washington at this period.
The two prominent pieces she then es-
sayed were ''Fanchon" and the Pearl
of Savoy" The ghoulish abandon with
which Maggie danced the shadow dance
in the one, and the pathetic love scenes
of the other, awakened among the sol
diers who then nightly crowded the
theater some of the memories which
took them back to the homes they
had left behind. Maggie indeed
became an idol. and three
weeks engagement marked from the
initial to its close almost a craze. 1t
was in the russell September of 1862.
when her professional career found her
at Ford's theater. With ali eye singly
to her welfare, her mother accompanied
her as her chaperone. Never was she
so inspiring in the graceful little roles,
so well adapted to her petite figure and
sympathetic voice. Night after night
the crowds were turned away. The day
she spent largely with her mother. be-
tween whom and the daughter the ten
there were hours when she
ESCAPED EVEN THIS JEALOUS VIGI-
LIANT.
In such an hour hinges the adventure
which makes this recital of "reminiscences
and fact of interest. All actresses,
great and small, have hobbies. Many
run to dogs, some to kittens. and few
to prudery. Maggie loved horse. 1t
was her wont before the sun was fairly
up to dash over the hills. then encircled
with forts and menacing gnns, and at
break-neck speed rush helter-skelter to
the amaZement of those less coura-
geous. Many times alone she secured the
beautiful outskirts. Not always
thus alone, however. At times it
was observed that her escort was
a manly youth of sturdy outline and
goodly features. Likewise it was no.
ticed that when together speed was not
so necessary. Rather did they jog along,
side by side, interested both in each
other and the beauties of nature such as
an autumnal September can alone un-
fold. The climax came when. upon a
return from such jaunt, Maggie.
flushed with some excitement, made a
confidant of her mother. She almost
shocked her when, in girlish glee, she
said:
Mamma, was married this morn
ing"
Treating it loosely, her mother said
"Well, l hope you have married a
SAINT
"He isl she added, and then in seri-
Gus tone she gave the details. A cloud
storm overshadowed the maternal
countenance. There was no longer
doubt. In tone of command Maggie
was ordered to her room, and next
THE YOUTHFUL HERO WAS FOUND.
The very overturn of his matrimonial
career was the malediction of the
mother-in-law. The air was surfeited
with womanly rage. In condition
the injunction to never address his wife
he
token. Then Maggie became prisoner.
Always under the eye of her mother
by day. and guarded by Gordon of her
mothers friends by night, the two
lovers were kept apart. Even in the
marriage there was romance. Five
miles away in the direction of the north
was the little town of Bladensburg,
made historic because of its duels and
medicinal because of its spa. IL was
just an easy gallop from the hotel to the
sleeping village. Here the knot could
be tied with
NO ONE TO INTERDICT OR FORBID.
A mothers acquiescence was only an
incident, for would it not come after the
seal of man and wife had pronounced
them one? Thus it was that Maggie
Mitchell, the then celebrated protean
actress, and William Virgil Wallace, on
the 9th day of September, 1862, were
joined in holy wedlock. Thus it was
that Maggie contracted her first matri-
monial alliance, which the anger of a
mother would not permit to be consum-
mated. and it never was. The objection
to Wallace was the fear that he was not
exalted enough to win such wife. He
had talent for music in largesSe. and
often led the orchestra, from which
ground of vantage he used his eyes to
captivata his sweetheart. The sequel
to the alliance was divorce. Time soon
healed whatever scars the enforced
separate On might have imprinted upon
the fair Maggie's heart.
THE DIVORCE
is said to have been granted in the
courts of Baltimore. Seven years later
Maggie Mitchell became Mrs. Henry L.
Paddock, being married on July Is,
1869. The foregoing incident of the
life of this charming actress is known
to but few of her friends. From some
of them this account was given me
vouched for fully. A few days ago ]
wrote the clerk of the court at Upper
Marlboro, Nd, to search the records
and give me transcript of the license.
This is the county seat of the county in
which Bladensburg is located, where
upOll l. JCCClfOu tllO lOlIONluS.
OFFICE j. w. BELT, CLERK CIRCUIT
COURT. PRINCE GEORGE COUNTY,
UPPER MARLBORO, Md, April 3, 1889.
Dear Sir: The marriage records of
this court show that marriage license
was issued OH the Goth day of Septem-
Der, 1862, to William Virgil Wallace and
Margaret Julia Mitchell, both of New
York. The officiating minister's name
not given. Yours, etc,
JOHN w. BELT, Clerk.
William G. MacBride, Cincinnati En-
Quirer.
IF, HOWEVER,
Miss Mitchell was divorced by the cir
cult court in Baltimore, its records do
not so show. l examined them to-day
under the direction of deputy clerk.
A search between the dates of the mar
riage with Wallace in 1862 and the date