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New Orleans 14 purchased in st. Louis, which Baldwin blamed for the terrible smell of his urine in that very close space. (“it was so bad it would nearly drive you out of the room,” he said later.) This went on for two full days, until Walkup had a bowel movement at the end of the second day. From that point on, he was completely fine. He told Baldwin that these bouts were caused by excessive smoking, but the more likely cause of the problem, one that would account for the intermittent pain in the lower stomach, the vomiting, and the foul-smelling urine, was kidney stones.8 on board the Baton Rouge was a man named Green from Jacksonville, illinois, whom neither Baldwin nor Walkup knew, but when he found out the two men were also headed for the World’s Fair, he recommended the boardinghouse where he would be staying, run by a mrs. elizabeth Wallace . Green had a letter of introduction to her from a former boarder and instructions to the house at 222 Canal street. They arrived in New orleans a few days after Christmas: sunday, December 28. instead of going to mrs. Wallace’s, however, Walkup and Baldwin went first to a lodging house. Given the propensities of both men, what probably really happened here is that Walkup wanted to stay somewhere a little more anonymous and a little less respectable than the Wallace place was represented to be. But when Baldwin saw how seedy the lodging house was, he insisted they go elsewhere. To the Wallaces’ they went, then.9 until he met minnie Wallace later that evening, James Walkup was probably secretly cursing eben Baldwin for making him leave the comfort of the lodging house. The Wallace boardinghouse was very cramped, with six men assigned to the same room and Walkup and Baldwin sharing a bed. But when Baldwin introduced his friend Jim to fifteen-year-old Minnie Wallace that first night (Baldwin had met her first, so would properly do the honors here), Walkup was clearly smitten right from the start. He found himself babbling about nonsense, about birds, about whatever came into his head—as long as this adorable creature would consent to stay and talk with him. He found out she played the piano and got her to play for him, with her sister, Dora, singing in accompaniment. The very next morning, Walkup approached mrs. Wallace and told her he was in love with her daughter and wanted to marry her. she just laughed at him. “minnie has many such admirers,” she told him. But Walkup— who never took “no” for an answer—would not give up. every time he saw The Visitor from Kansas 15 minnie, he corralled her for a private talk, something no well-brought-up young lady of that era should have tolerated. eben Baldwin was becoming alarmed. Although he himself was spending most of his days at the exposition, he did not think Jim was. His friend was drinking quite a bit, hanging out at the brothels in the neighborhood of the Wallace house, and becoming more and more indiscreet regarding this young girl. For example, because she said she liked birds, Walkup got Willie Willis to go with him to the local bird fancier’s and pick out a canary for minnie. To make it appear more legitimate, he also bought a parrot for his daughter Libbie (who was three years older than minnie). Baldwin resolved to get Walkup away from the Wallace house as soon as he could, before he did something completely rash, such as marry minnie, a totally unsuitable match, given their ages. it did not appear to eben that either minnie or her mother was pressing this match in any way or acting inappropriately, but Minnie’s own version reveals a flirtatious attitude on her part that did more to tease Walkup than discourage him: For example, when he told her he wanted to marry her, instead of turning him down, she kept him dangling by saying she’d never thought of marriage before. About five or six days into their stay, Walkup encountered Minnie on the stairs. He was quite drunk at this time, although neither minnie nor her mother ever acknowledged that fact, as it might appear that they were taking advantage of him. “i was just coming downstairs to look for you,” he told her. “Were you?” she answered coyly. “What did you want to say?” “I...

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