The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1902-11-14

mansion at II <&e5Sa until January /.
Each proposal sfo0ssl l1ame the lieuten-
ant governor as 'sectrd choice and
each should be accompanied by a 2-cent
stamp for reply"
Here is the secret of the sudden flood
of letters which is coming upon Mr.
Bailey-all addressed in dainty feni-
nine hand. The girls OF Iowa ana ILL.,
nois and states further east are offering
to aid Mr.. Bailey in his dilemma. This
is undoubtedly the secret OF the letters
The Record Herald also published or
its first page a cartoon on the subject
bv McCutcheon its famous cartoo1ist.
The drawing represents a long string of
maidens headed for the Kansas state
house bearing banners, onto Kansas"
Kansas or Bust" and IN the fore
ground is an ultimatum From the
people of Kansas to the bachelor COVER
nor of Kansas" commanding him to get
married.
DETAILS OF BAILEY ROMANCE.
A Chicago paper has hunted up addi
tiOnal details of Governor ELECT Bail
ey's college romance in Illinois. which
is said to be responsible for the fact
that he has Travelled thus far through
life in a state of single blessedness. In
the story it says:
The girl Willis Bailey courted, who
promised 10 marry him and who might
have been the wife of the present gov
ernor of the Suufiower state. is now the
wife of railroad man and they live in
+
The jilting of Bailey is part of the
record OF the class of 1882. among
whose members now living in Chicago
are Judge Charles G. Neeley, Frederick
Rugg, Attorney David Eichberg. F. M
Mckay principal of the Anderson
school; Archibald o. Coddington prin-
cipal of the Knickerbocker school, John
Farson and score of others prominent
in school and business life here.
1t was told to the freshies' by the
today, how stocky VIII Bailey had fall
en- head over heels in love with the
girl whom her classmates knew as
Maggie She had come from Decatur.
Ill. where her father was a wealthy
business man. and was in her sopho-
more year, while Bailey was a senior
when they met He became her slave,
after the fashion of school boy lovers.
In the shadowy moonlight it may have
been that they plghted their troth and
before graduation time came-"the grad
udtiOn that was to take Mr.. Bailey out
to Kansas to assume charge of a large
stock ranch which his father had Sc
cured-the engagement had been an
nounced- Then the couple parted, he
going out west to grow up vith the
country, as many another young man
has done, she remaining at Champaign
to complete her university course and
promising she would always. always be
true-as many sweet school girl has
done.
For a while the college bred Kansas
stockman, who was destined to occupy
the governor s seat in Topeka. received
letters from his fiancee. the general
tenor of which was: Will Bailey, won't
you please come home All through
vacation time the correspondence was
kept uD and then school opened again
for the girl and a new found beau. So
cial life was livelier than ever in Cham
paign that winter, and the young man
n h oil ff, ha nf
that Maggie did not miss any of the
functions. He vas tall and handsome,
with finely chiseled features and with
the manner of knight of other days.
an announcement of the marriage of
his sweetheart-to the other fellow
Willis Bailey never married.
This is the story which may have a
bearing on Governor Bailey's ante-elec-
ton promise that he would wed if elected.
If the girl hadn't broken off with him;
If the other fellow had not come upon
the scene; if Mr.. Bailey had not gone
from Illinois to Kansas; if-there were a
dozen possibilities which might have
caused Willis J. Bailey, class 49, L. of
l.. to be a husband and perhaps even
Chicago business man instead of Kan
sas governor.
whether the memory of the sting left
by the announcement of the marriage is
still fresh in the mind of the western
state executive is a question that has pre-
sented itself to number of Chicagoans
by the failure of Governor Bailey to find
a wife in Kansas to suit him. Although
the winner of the matrimonial election
bet who originally stipulated that he
must marry a Kansas woman. has waived
that condition. and the governor is free
to choose from any state in the union, he
still reports that he cannot find a wife
to be mistress of the $4,000 executive
whether, remembering the past, he
really wants to get married. is the ques-
ton. To this George L. Douglass, a law
yer with an office in the Association
building, who was speaker in the Kansas
legislature in 1899, while Mr.. Bailey was
2 representative. makes the following de-
fense of Governor Bailey
" If Willis Bailey made bet that he
would marry if elected he will marry,
Continued on Page 81