As Mr. A. T. Stewart explained later, it was just happenstance that he was in Ypsilanti early on the morning of Wednesday, Feb. 8, 1911, and prevented his daughter from eloping.

He later explained to The Ypsilanti Daily Press, that on that morning his daughter Carrie left home to go to work at the store where she was employed. A few minutes after she had left, Mrs. Stewart decided she wanted her daughter to return home. Mr. Stewart did not explain why his wife decided Carrie should return home, and may not have asked. He did hitch up the horses and left his home just east of Ypsilanti.

Arriving in Ypsilanti he hitched up the horses across the street from the Hawkins House Hotel, about where the Ypsilanti District Library on Michigan Avenue is now. As he was hitching the horses, Ypsilanti police officer Walter Pierce walked up and told Mr. Stewart he suspected his daughter was preparing to elope.

Officer Pierce explained that he believed Carrie was planning to run off with her employer, a candy manufacturer with a store on Huron Street. This was the first Mr. Stewart had heard of such plans.

Accompanied by Officer Pierce, Mr. Stewart went around the corner onto Washington Street, just in time to see his daughter Carrie about to board an interurban car, or street railroad, for Detroit. As she saw the two coming toward her, Carrie stepped back. To her father she said, “Why, hello Daddy, I’m just going to the grocery store.”

Then she hurried off toward Huron Street, where she hoped to catch the car there. Her father and Officer Pierce stopped her at about the middle of the block. There her father asked about the planned elopement.

“Why papa you’re crazy! Married?” she responded. “Me going to be married? Absurd! Why I was just going down to the grocery.”

Carrie Stewart did not go to the grocery, but, perhaps with the help of Officer Pierce, went home with her father instead.

“The groom was seen getting on at the car barns, but alas, as the story goes, the trip was made alone, and the Ypsilanti candy manufactured still has a wedding day coming,” noted The Ypsilanti Daily Press of Wednesday, Feb. 8, 1911.

The groom to be used the telephone to call his intended the next morning, Thursday, Feb. 9, 1911, and ask to see her.

“You can’t see me,” she replied.

“But I must see you,” he said.

“No, I tell you, you can’t see me; if you come out here father will shoot you.”

This exchange was overheard by those who chanced to be present at the candy store when the call was made.

“Father seems to have a gun,” noted The Ypsilanti Daily Press of Thursday, Feb. 9, 1911, “and according to gossip, father in his present temperament, would be quite inclined to use it, so that the poor merchant’s position is apt to be either sad or perilous, or possibly it may be both.”

“It is reported,” continued the account, “also that the groom has legally transferred a large portion of his possessions over to his bride-to-be (or not to be) and consequently he is particularly anxious to see her.”

Mr. Stewart met with The Ypsilanti Daily Press on Friday, Feb. 10, 1911, to explain what happened.

“In reply to a question concerning the report that the merchant is now particularly anxious to see the marriage ceremony performed owing to the issuance of a recent deed of a portion of his property to Miss Stewart, Mr. Stewart said: ‘I don’t know about that. That is a different matter.'”

“Will your daughter resume her work at the store?” he was asked.

“No,” he answered, “she won’t go back to the store.”

“Has the merchant been out to see her?”

“No he hasn’t been out to see her, and he don’t want to either, by God.”

"Concerning the various reports it is difficult to determine what the ultimate outcome of the matrimonial adventure will be,” noted The Ypsilanti Daily Press of Friday, Feb. 10, 1911. “Nevertheless the fact remains that the girl is not now working in any store and concerning the disappointed merchant, a strong desire to yet make the fair maiden his wife seems to still be entertained.”

How the matter was resolved is unclear. We can hope that everyone involved found happiness with someone, even if it was not with the intended on those days of February in 1911.

James Mann is a local historian, storyteller and author. His books include “Ypsilanti: A History in Pictures,” City of Ypsilanti Fire Department 100 Years,” and “Our Heritage: Down by the Depot in Ypsilanti,” written with Tom Dodd. His most recent book is “Wicked Washtenaw County: Strange Tales of the Grisly and Unexplained.”