The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1914-09-17
WIFE CAST OFF
BY

The quiet wedding at Noroton,
Corey and Len A. Duckworth, gen
eral retail manager of the Estey
Company, dealers in pianos and or
gans, is the latest episode in a re-
markable drama which began in
Pittsburgh December /, 1888, with
the boy and girl wedding of Laura
Cook and "Bill" Corey.
Young Corey-he was only II then
was earning only $40 a month. But
he and his bride %cheerfully went to
housekeeping, while Fate started
weaving the threads that were to
bring millions of dollars, the presi-
dency of the United Steel Corpora
ton and Mabelle Gilman, then a
year-old baby in San Francisco. to
disrupt in later years the peace of
the Corey home.
Worldwide Sympathy for Mrs. Corey
Probably no woman under similar
circumstances received more world
wide sympathy than did Mrs. Corey
from the time'that rumor first linked
the name OF William Ellis Corey with
that of Mabelle Gilman, the actress,
through the period when she was OBJ
tanning her divorce until, on May IA,
1907, Corey n Miss Gilman were
married.
From the first Corey and Miss Gil
man was censured. The pulpit rose
against him. Corey's aged father
threatened to disown him when he
first heard the whispers that Corey
wished to separate from the wife OF
his youth. Corey's friends and bust
Iness associates, turned from him. and
FINALLY. the minister who performed
the ceremony that made Miss Gilman
Corey's wife was forced to return
Corey's check and admit that he had
done wrong.
There have been many stories that
Corey and his actress wife have not
been perfectly happy. The f%ailure-of
their social aspirations, in this coun-
try at least, is no secret.
When Corey, however, was asked
a year or so ago about a rumor that
he and his actress wife were contem-
plating a divorce, his emphatic Rot
stopped that sort of gossip for the
time.
Helped With Her Love mi Brain.
How Corey rose from his $40 a
month job OF dumping coal on his
uncle's tipplef in Braddoek, Pa to
the presidency of the Steel Trust is
a wonderful story in itself. But the
side of it that his family and his
friends have always ~ernpnaslzed is
not the ~spectacullr side. They have
pointed out repeatedly that the fist
Mrs Corey put all her woman's love
and all her woman's brain into the
task of developing him. She even
purchased with a small legacy, the
frame house in which for years they
lived in Braddock.
1t was not long after their mar
riage that the youthful Corey made
! the first upward step toward his
100000 a ear job as head of the
Steel; Trust, by getting employment
I'M the Edgar Thompson Steel Works,
the great rail mill OF the. Carnegie
combination. Encouraged by his wife
Corey not only worked as hard as
lid could by day. But he studied far
into the night, preparing his courses
I'M a Pittsburgh business college. Sat
u1day nights and Sundays he stayed
home to absorb text books in chem
istry. metallurgy and other subjects
that might be of use IN his life work.
Corey was transferred next to the
Homestead Steel Works., where.
when he was onlyse21 he.ewas made
superintendent of the ,armor plate
department, the most important and
difficult department position in the
mill *.s
He was not 80 years old when,
Charles M. Schwab became president
of the Carnegie Steel Company.
Corey succeeded to Schwab's position
as superintendent OF the Homestead
works, and later, in 1903. succeeded
Schwab as president Of the United
States Steel Corporations III
When Corey was appointed to sue
coed Schwab as one of the highest
|salaried officials in the world he was
referred to as "a man no woman can
touch" 1t does not detract fromsthe
interest to know that it was just
about this time that Corey first saw
Mabelle Gilman, then starring in
"The Mocking Bird. at the opening
nights performance in the Alvin.
theater. Pittsburgh,
What happened after that had it's
climax in Reno, New, July 80, 1905,
when Mrs. Corey in tears was grant
ed a decree of divorce 1t was adj
|mitted by lawyers for both sides that /
there had been %collusion in the case. |
Corey did not contest the suit. 1t had
been understood from the first that
he would not if Mrs. Corey did not
mention Mabelle Gilman in her ac-