The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1891-11-28
HOW HE WON HIS WIFE.

"See that couple going into the box
there-there, right back of the judges
stsnd-lady in red and the fellow with
the light hat-see?'
"Yesl Who are they7 What about
emp .,- e-qss-1 ~ -onz-
"0h, they're staid married.folks now
but they had enough romance in their
courtship to supply one of these female
sensationslists with plot for a dozen
Quarto novels.
well, that fellow won his wife in a
race. l first met him in England three
years ago at Newmarket, the great rae
ing heath, where nearly all their big
events come off. He is an American,
and just happened to drop into the place
few days earlier than / did. She is
English, and the daughter of man who
has long been known as one of the nerv-
lest bookmakers on the English turf
When l met him it lacked four weeks of
the date of the great Doncaster cup, one
of the biggest stake races of the English
calendar. We became acquainted and
got to knocking around together. His
name is Shelby, Thomas Shelby, and, as
| soon learned, he came from that state
where the grass grows blue. not green
and where the ripping rills percolate
through fltering limestone to be caught
by man and distilled into the nectar of
the gods-Sour mash.
Furthermore, found out that he had
money, lots of it, knew all about horses,
and had fallen desperately in love with
Miss Molly, daughter of William Mitch
ell, the bookmaker
LAS Shelby and got better acquaint-
ed he confded to me that be had paid
his addresses to the fair Molly ever since
the race meeting in Leicester, and that
while she had received them favorably
and said "Yes" to the all momentous
question her father had absolutely re-
fused to give any consideration to his
proposition for his daughters hand, and
that Miss Molly was sufficiently filial in
her duty to refuse his proposition to
elope. At that time Mitchell was rated
a wealthy man. and that his ambitions
lay away beyond bookmaking and racing
as professions was well known.
well, Shelby was the right sort He
had as much nerve as old Mitchell, and
money too. There's only one way to
make that old fool come around, he said,
for he's as pig headed as the devil, and
I'm going to take that way.
What's that? asked
"'Po break him. replied my Kentucky
friend. and I'm going 70 do it
Il intimated that there were two sides
10 every proposition. that what Mitchell
didn't know about horse racing nobody
did. and that in his attempt to break the
old man young Mr.. Shelby, of Lexington.
was very likely to go broke himself
'Elope with tine girl. | said. but don't
try to break Mitchell. Remember the
bitter Oft gets bitten.
" She wou'r elope. he answered. 1
told you that, and as long as her respect
ed dad has nothing but money ne won't
let her marry anybody while ne has a
chance Of hooking some busted title for
her. Hes ambitious and he thinks hes
smart, but have scheme to DO him
which think viii start his downfall al
night. Listen: Now. I've got a colt over
here that. as soon as he's sccllmSted, is
going 10 show some of these crack 2-yesr-
ODDS the real Kentucky pSce. Nobody
knows he's IN the country. NOBODY knows
anything about him. and when / enter
him IN the DowneSborough handicap the
Handicapped VIII let him go at feather
weight, aud the odds VIII be 100 to
sure. Well. amt going to starr him in