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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 13, 1905)
! i jQ si it) u fit J i V-- v -"JfZ?' If . ; s f tv v - 1 i, ! w - r. , . );. h :. ' X "V". V- I S3 Aw II WW1 1 .... -.,'U3 11 ..-Mh,i ft I ... .,v if.-.? "PiTI .' IS?""7"' WHfc I 1 I8S VIRGINIA HEPPERT, aged 47 years. n 1 and Robert B. Baylor, aged 55, eloped In ' ImVjl I Brooklyn by the aid of . the fire department. Aw ML I clambered aboard a street car, and fled ro mantically down to Flushing, were married, and returned home to the flat from which they fled to partake of a wedding aupper which Miss Hoppcrt had prepared before her elopement. . Baylor, the groom, la a stout, aedate, and settled down business man, with an established trade on Fulton street, nnd he la comfortably wealthy. Mls Heppert was ro m intlc and It waa she who Insisted upon the elopement and he who solved the problem of eloping with her from the fifth story window of hor apartment house. Despite her years Miss Heppert Is as young looking and as unsciirred by her 47 years of contact with the world or rather by'looking on at the world as she was thirty years ago up In Bcltuate, Mass., when she and "Bob" R:iylor were In the high school together. They were In love with each other then, desperately In love, and Bob v is the only boy In all Bcltuate who could carry Vlrgle Iii'PP'-rt's books for her or take her to a taffy pulling. And when Bob started out into the great big world twenty-nine years ago to make his living he gave Vlrgle i little ring sot with red coral surrounded by a true lovers' knot, and she gave him a lock of her hair to wear In a little locket next to his heart all the time, forever and ever. Promised to Elope with Her. Bo Bob kisst-d her good-by and marched away, after they had made a secret arrangement that. Just as soon as ho made his fortune In New York, he was to come back to Bcituate and elope with her. This plan was arranged be cause Mrs. Heppert, Virginia's mother, had expressed her ;lf forcibly about "kids a-wantin' to get married." So. for two years Vlrgle 'waited, and turned the llttl? coral ring so the lovers' knot was Inside where no one could see that she waa engaged, and, back of her geog raphy In school, she wrote long letters to Bob to encour age him and Bob wrote back " care general delivery " so Vlrgle's mother wouldn't suspect anything, and they plotted the ?lopement. Every time that Vlrgle wrote she told Bob just where he would find the ladder In the barn when he came for her, and Bob, lying away In his little, untidy hall bedroom In a tenementlike boarding house, looked out on the big. hot, nervous city, reeking with noise and smells, and well, he confesses that, If Vlrgle did cry a little bit, he cried just as much. Bob found employment In a wholesale shoe store down towards the point In New York and lived In cheap lodgings over on the east side. He fought bravely, saving his money and denying himself almost everything and, after two years he wrote to Vlrgle and asked if $-H5 wasn't enough to start on. (They had planned to elope when he trade 4.mM And Vlrgle wrote that she thought $'JS5 was near enough, so they planned their elopement for June, 1H87. Feared to Tell Her of Failure. Early In that month, vrliiic l.ob was getting ready a 1 'le furnish d room thut wus to be their nest, the shoe J .'jlx rs fall, d and he was thrown out of employment. it n he made his mistake. Instead of writing to Vlrgle t.nd telling her the truth he sought desperately to find a n w position and to recover his standing in the world so th it he might not disappoint her and himself. He hunted f.o;n house to house for days for weeks and not a job c nilil he find that would enable him to support a wife. The day before Vlrgle expected him to come to Bcltuate, pi ice a ladder against her window sill, and carry her down Iv his strong arms. Bob was practically penniless in New i -k. flhe waited for him In vain, and at the hour that s ' ' was sitting beside her packed valise In the darkness ' her pretty little white and pink bedroom at Bcltuate, trembling with ecstasies of fear and joy, waiting to hear tlio ladder scrape against the side of the house. Bob was drugging himself wearily along lower Broadway thinking of a leap from a pier Into the river. The following morning Virginia came downstairs red eyed, but concealing her heart sorrow. Her mother and her brother Inquired If she was sick, but she said she waa not, except that she had not slept. Lost for Years Through False Pride. After that Bob and Virginia were lost to each other. He, realising that In his false pride he had ruined his hap piness and probably hers, never wrote. She sent htm the little coral set ring with the true lovers' knot, but the package came back to her marked " Not found "and then she was sorry, fearing that something had happened to Bob and that he was not to blame. She fed her heart on the hope that something had happened not anything serious but something that would relieve him of the charge that he had been false to her. Then, for a tlme she feared he waa dead, and she r.iourned until one day, over a year afterwards, a Bcltuate man met Bob on the i.TZ..V'.J '27 wssWWSWOT. f 1 Cm., mm mm Am.fi: V 1 streets of New York and reported him well and prospering, That broke Virginia's heart almost but she was proud and never gave a sign. Bob, indeed, was prospering. He had found work with another shoe company, In Brooklyn this time, and was advancing too rapidly. He was ashamed of his action and too full of false pride to write and tell Virginia every thing. So, year by year, they drifted further and further apart until, the people of Scltuate almost forgot Bob, al though Miss Heppert (she had become Miss Heppert, not Vlrgle) never did. Bob Baylor prospered. He became a partner in the firm, then withdrew and started a big shoe store of his own In Brooklyn and began to grow wealthy, and also fat. He did not marry. In fact, the girls In his store who set their caps for him declared he was a hateful old bachelor. Neither did Miss Heppert marry. Men came and went, several proposed, but she refused them all. Bhe became well known for philanthropic . and church work, and, after the death of her mother, she inherited considerable property. She had entirely lost track of " Bob" Baylor for she moved to Worcester and lived there several years, and two years ago she moved to Brooklyn, taking apartments on Fifth avenue In Brook lyn, out in the Oowanus bay district, so as to be near her brother's business. 'Isn't This Virgie?, It Was. One afternoon In March Bob Baylor was In his Fulton street store when two women came In. All the clerks were busy, sif Baylor went forward himself and spoke to the women. One of them had a strangely familiar look and she. In her turn, glanced at Baylor with a half light of recognition In her eyes. " Isn't this Vlrgle?" asked Baylor. " Aren't you Mr. Baylor?" she asked. They claspea hands, while Miss Heppert's sister-in-law looked on won derlngly. And they stood chatting casually while Miss Henoert'a sister-in-law tried on some shoes. Then, with a sudden rush, a bursting forth of confes- slon. Bob told her the whole story; how be had starved and struggled; how he had come pear ending It all In the river; how he had fought to the last minute and surren dered and how he had lived during all those years, miser able because he feared he had caused her unhapptness. And. when he had finished. Miss Heppert, with tears in her eyes, looked at him and said: " Poor boy. You should have told me." The outcome of It was that Bob began to go to the fiat out In the Oowanus dlstnlct and. after the second call he proposed again and urged that they should forget the past and try to make It up In the happiness of the present. Insists Upon the Elopement " I'd like to, Bob," she said. But you promised to come and elope with me." " A fellow can't elope with a woman who Uvea alone and can do as she pleases," protested Bob. " I simply can't give up eloping," she said. " I'll never marry any man who doesn't come and carry me down a ladder and run away with me." " That's foolishness, Vlrgle." he protested. " I can't carry you down a ladder from the fifth floor of a flat build ing. Besides, we can elope Just as well doi the stairs. I.et's do It tomorrow, elope down to FUtbush and get married.". Se MSk " I wouldn't feel married unless I came down a ladder In the arms of the man I loved." said Miss Heppert. " I have thought of it every hour almost for the last 30 years, how you would come and carry me away, for I never thought of any one but you. Bob, and you promised to come " " We're too old for that sort of foolishness. Vlrgle," argued Bob. " I'm never too old for It," she said. " I have lived all my life on the Idea that you would elope with me and I can't give It up." " You'll have to move Into the first floor flat then," said Bob, and they had a regular lovers' quarrel. . . Of Course Woman Won Argument. Night after night they argued It out, but Miss Heppert was firm. Bob lived in hopes that her lease on the flat would expire on the first of May and that she would move Into a first floor apartment, or at worst a second floor one, and give him a chance, but he learned on May 1 that the. lease was for three years. That evening there was a long argument and when Bob left he vowed that he would come and elope with her as she wished, and that, falling to carry her down a lad der, he would seixe her by force, carry her down the stairs, and elope with her. Still, he knew and felt that, If he won TV ) ) . . M if i ll ' El " '.x''.,.V. Li JUT.-I.L If, 'II L',11 H her by any such means, she would suffer from the blight ing of her hopes and the destruction of the romance she had cherished all her tlfe. On the way home on the elevated that evening Bob Baylor vowed a vow that he would elope with her as slie planned. Now It happened that, during the time he was wlnninr his may to success In the slioe business. Bob had achieved a little prominence In politics and he had something of a " pull" In his assembly district that extended throunh democratic circles nil over Kings county, and on his way back to Flatbush avenue. where he lived In bachelor apart ments, he stopped In to see the district leader. They were closeted for over an hour, and when they parted the leader said: " Easy easy and I'll be there to see It and the boys will give you a grand sendoff," andlie laughed until his Jowls shook. The following Thursday morning, shortly after 11 o'clock. Miss Virginia Heppert received an urgent mes sage saying: " Be readv to elope with me in half an hour. Bob." f . Wailing for the Elopement. Puxiled, but willing, she attired herself In her best gown, fixed her hair, that Is still black and plenteous, and stepped to the 'window to gate down. Elevated trains were whirling by towards the beaches and towards the bridge, street cars were clanging along underneath them, and at either side of the street streams of humanity were flowing unceasingly. She turned the latch In the door, stepped back Into her little bedroom to put the finishing touches on her toilet, and at that Instant her attention was attracted by a ter rific uproar, a Jangling. Jarring, screaming uproar in the street below. She rushed to the window, gave one glance downward, and saw in the street below a fire engine, a great crowd, and the hook and ladder truck of a nearby fire company. In one glance she realised what was coming and. with lips pressed determinedly together and a quaver of fear nnd Joy flglitlnu for mastery In her bosom, she stepped to the mirror and bcKan to fix her hat. The crowd below, excited and Jostling, saw the hlg ladder slowly unjolnt Itself and rise upward alongside the building, then sway Inward until the end rested Just below the fifth story window, but, even before It had swung In ward the crowd yelled as Bob Baylor, plump and excited until his face was pink, started to clamber upward. Slid from Window Into His Arms. Behind Bob were Mike Corcoran. Capt. O'Brien. Bill Burke, and three others f the company, scaling after him to prevent accidents. In three minutes a breathless Bob stopped at the top of the ladder nnd Virginia, casting one fearful glance below, slid from the window sill Into his arms. The Journey downward was one long march of triumph. The firemen, steadying and aiding Bob. cheered and cheered, while their cornradt-s in the street yelled them selves hoarse, and the crowd, thinking that some gallant rescue was In progress, took up the cheer until the waters of Oowanus bay were rippled. Puffing, red faced, almost exhausted. Bob, still holdini; Virginia close in his arms, reached the sidewalk and de posited her on her feet. Bhe' opened her eyes and gazed happily upon him, and whispered: " O, Bob. I was so foolish, so cruel, but It was sweet." Then, while the firemen, lowering the ladder, cheered and swung their helmets. Bob and Virgie caught a Fifth avenue car. and rode a Way to get married, followed by the yells of the firemen and the crowd. 181 X '!f 2W v. .vji, - jr 1 ; I ?rS--'.F.'' .W.'.T- - ...... r-,r r mmmM WW if! mm i hot mm m'm wS V- .".V. m Wv ff 1 '.V4 ..:.v WA Mm ' 1