Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-10-05

This wedding came off all right, Judging
by the published accounts, and the bride
and bridegroom did the customary getaway
to New York and Europe, leaving us to more
important business.
THE mystery surrounding the identity of
the unknown rider created cumulative
interest that spread up and down and across
the country the way a plague is said to.
That it reached New York | know, because
l received requests from two Illustrated
weeklies for stories and Illustrations Other
writers got similar assignments; for &C
counts of the affair were published in peri
odica1s as far away as San Francisco, Lon
don, Berlin, and Paris. The way Worlds
Championship baseball series rocks the ma
ton or cyclone makes its presence felt
in Nebraska, the Roman standing race
breathed delicious excitement into the arte-
ries, veins, and understandings of Missouri
ians and Kansans. The Mighty Harkins
Show was cleaning UP at every performance,
and was getting talked about about through
out the country in way that meant fame
and fortune for its proprietor before many
seasons could elapse.
On the night before and the morning of
the contest eight special trains ran to the
town where Our tents were pitched. think
mentioned before that we often showed on
fair grounds. This was one of the times,
and as the crowd had to go to the lot to see
the race it stood to reason that the tents
would be jammed at both performances.
Foreseeing this, Sam thoughtfully doubled
the price of tickets, and put a motion picture
show in spare tent which we carried for
emergencies such as @blowdowns" or fires.
Trust the Mighty Harl1ins to overlook no
sure-thing bet!
writer's call "a seething mob" It was as
| much as your life was worth to try to jam
way into a restaurant, bar, soda water
salesroom, or hotel. The Ladies Aid Soci-
| ETY., the Christian Endeavorers, the Band
of Hope, the Dorcas Society, the Epworth
| League, and the Ladies of the Eastern Star
| had erected lemonade, sandwich, icecream,
| and watermelon booths in every other door
yard, the toy balloon and squawker ven
ders were making seasons records, and
| the crunch of peanuts could be heard for
miles.
| Sam and / drove to the fair grounds by
a circuitous route to dodge the army OF re-
porters and camera men, and on the way
out he disclosed to me fact that, if men,
toned now, would rob this tale of whatever
morsel of surprise it may possess. But, lest
you wonder at my ignorance when you do
get to this detail in the narrative, kindly re-
member that had been with the show only
few weeks, and that during this time | had
been too busy doing advance work to In
vestigate many things that might be lurk-
ing behind the flaps of the dressing tent.
At any rate, the immediate result of his dis
closure was that we decided to enter a third
contestant in the race. Miss Florence Nc
| CURE, the little blond who rode the other
team in the circus races, the twice-a-day
competitor of the bewitching -Senorita ia
cinta Alhamar.
| We paraded at ten-thirty i'll the morning,
the parade got back to the lot about eleven
| thirty, and the race was scheduled for one
Pm. When he rented the fair grounds for
the day Sans contracting agent had no
idea that the grandstand would be used, nor
had Sam; but recent developments had
caused him to utilize this unlocked for
means of turning an honest penny, and long
before the much-heralded contest was to
start three thousand persons at fifty cents
head had elected to view the affair from
the raised seats shaded from the rays of the
| blistering sun. Fifteen hundred more dol
| lars for the Mighty Harkins! +
MISS DOROTHY had motored over
AvA from nearby town early in the morn
4