The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-08-30
MISS ELLA WHEELER.
Passages From the Early Life
of the Poetess of Passion.
HER EFFORTS IN JOURNALISM.
How She Became Writer OF Verses
Careless and Selfish Nature-whit-
comb Riley an Old Lover.

al knew Ella Wheeler well before she
was married" said Sumss lady, after
reading the love episode between the
''poetess of passion" and James Whitcomb
Riley, the Hoosier poet lit reminds me
OF some of her other love affairs in Wis
consin. She engaged herself several times,
as she said. just for the fun of It, and AZ
often broke the engagements.
"a cousin of mine. an intimate friend of
Elias, became engaged, and Ella, to be in
fashion. engaged herself without any
seeming thought as to the seriousness of
the matter My cousins engagement re-
suited IN marriage, while Elias, like others
she made, was matter only of the mo-
ment. She was afterward engaged to q
Mr.. Williams, and later to a Mr.. Hart,
Milwaukee dry goods merchant. In Mil
waukee she met Mr.. Wilcox, who is now
her husband. He was then book-keeper.
have understood that her married life
was congenial. but as to the facts am I'M
acquainted. 1t is not surprising to me
for she was very thoughtless and err
ratio sort of a girl and had little idea of
order or propriety. We were in Milwaukee
at the same time for over year. She was
then writing for magazine. I have seen
her appear on the street in a black silk
gown in the height of fashion, often bare
headed and wearing pair of slippers or in
some inappropriate, neglectful or unfin-
ished dress. A prominent lawyer there
by the name of Orion befriended
her in many ways, giving her
good advice and board and money
when she needed them. Some time later
he told me that she left his home without
thanking him for his kindness. 1t was
his little daughter referred to in her pretty
poem entitled Baby Eva. Ella meant
well, but gave no serious heed to the af-
fairs Of life. Her family. which consisted
of father, mother, six brothers ana her
self, lived at Windsor, about twelve miles
from Madison. They were in very mod
crate circumstances. due largely TO the idle
natures OF the father and bows, who
spent most of their time in hunting
and fishing and were somewhat addicted
to drink. This was no doubt the incentive
to her radical temperance views and
poems. Her mother was an intellectual
woman-above the average She was
writer of some note, and contributed
largely TO the support of the family with
her pen. At the age of 20 Ella was an
uneducated girl. though writing for the
press. So imperfect was she in her gram
mar and photography that her manuscript
was always revised by her mother. She
had natural talent for verse
making, but disliked it as a voca-
ton. Circumstances, however, forced
her 10 gain a livelihood for herself, and
acting on the advice of others she wrote,
read and studied until she perfected her
self for the good work she accomplished
later on. As a prose writer she was not
successful. In 1876 her friends paid her
expenses to the Centennial exposition Mt
Philadelphia and some time afterward
she made Western trim for
the Milwaukee Sentinel, but failed
as correspondent. She seemed 10 be en-
tirely unable to write historical or des-
criptive matter unless expressed in verse
We ali liked her but her ideas of general
propriety were far different from mine.
She was admired for her talent but was
not favorite so much with the educated
class as with those who liked dress and
outward show"
1t is well known that James Whitcomb
Riley and Bill Nye differed in business
and separated at Kansas City, Mo-, owing
TO Rliey's drinking TO excess. Rileys
habit has been attributed to grief, and il is
thought that it was the result of failure to
impress and win the gifted poetess with
whom he was enamored. At the time of
his business troubles in Kansas CITY he
became very much attached TO Carl w,
Snyder, son of Collector Snyder, of this
port, now member of the New
York Herald staff, then connected
with a local paper of Kansas City.
He became frequent visitor at Riley's
rooms, during which time Riley gave him
accounts of his life. He said to Snyder
that the world did not understand him
and his sorrow; that he was weighed down
with care; that his father had iIl-treated
him in his early life because ne would not
work in the field. He said he had thrown
away the hoe and departed for a differ
ent field where the soil was more
intellectual and his associates more
appreciative. Here his hopes had again
been blasted, and he sought relief in the
wine cup. He was very sentimental, and
had evidently allowed his feelings TO
master him. He talked freely to Snyder,
saying to him that he believed he would
soon de and asserted belief that Snyder
as a friend would do him justice before
the public after he was gone. Melancholy
had settled upon him, and it required his
strongest energy in the effort to wrest
himself from it,