One Sunday Drucilla Ellis was riding the fastest horse which her family owned in that day’s race. She was dressed in a riding habit purchased in Denver, made in the  latest style, buttons from its high  collar to the hem of the long skirt.  Her black hair was done in a chignon on the nape of her neck. Miss Ellis was an accomplished rider and of course used a sidesaddle of that time.

Johnny was not in the race that day but was in the judges’ stand. Drucilla strenuously applied her whip on the homestretch which must have loosened the beautiful black hair and just as the horse crossed the finish line the loosened hair streamed behind her on the wind like a banner. Johnny was so entranced with the sight that he paid no attention to the winning horse but had eyes only for the rider. A romance soon budded into an engagement with wedding bells waiting for the time.  Johnny could afford a bride. Hanging in the Saguache County Museum is a picture of Drucilla Ellis O’Neil dressed in that riding habit  and mounted on Red Buck.

Just how long this horse racing-betting era would have lasted is an unanswered question. One day a stranger came riding into Saguache in a light rig with a nondescript saddle horse tied to the end gate. The stranger challenged the local legend, Red Buck, and John Lawrence agreed to a race with $1400 as the winner’s purse. Everyone supposed the horse carrying the saddle to be the race horse. All local bettors agreed that the horse should be an easy mark for Red Buck. The owners, busi-nessmen, cowboys, citizens and In-dians dug deep into their pockets and put all they owned on Red Buck. Johnny O’Neil bet his Bon Ton Saloon and all the cash he could scrape up on the race at odds of two-to-one on Red Buck. He was hoping that Lady Luck would be as good to him as in the first Red Buck race and then he and Drucilla could be married.

On the day of the race a small negro jockey was riding Dolly Slane with Johnny mounted on Red Buck again, but when the stranger came on the track with his Little Casino, it was not the horse which had worn the saddle into town but the horse which had been HITCHED to the rig.

Surprised by this turn of events, the crowd was soon assuring each other that even so, this horse didn’t stand a chance against Red Buck either. Johnny’s confidence received a severe jolt when Red Buck drew an outside position on the track, and while trying to maneuver the horse into his place Red Buck seemed sluggish and indifferent to all the excitement around him.

The horses were off, and the crowd grew tense and their confidence turned to bewilderment as Red Buck seemed to stagger and then ‘flew the track” running wild and out of control while Little Casino crossed the finish line. Dumfounded, the crowd simply could not accept the fact that Little Casino had actually beaten Red Buck. Loyal to his horse, O’Neil declared that Red Buck had been overfed, was foundered, and unable to run his best.

But no excuses, even if true, could change the fact that Little Casino had won the race and that now the losers must pay their bets. When the stranger headed for home with his winnings of cash, Indian’s ponies, buffalo robes and some of the best horses of the area, the town of Saguache was flat broke and completely dis-illusioned.

Of course Johnny O’Neil lost his Bon Ton Saloon and with his business gone it looked like there would be no wedding bells for Drucilla and him.

Johnny O’Neil was a full blooded Irishman, small of stature, red-haired, blue-eyed, with a perky little red mustache. His parents, Rose Flannagan and Patrick 0’Neil were married in Dublin, Ireland and set sail for America almost immediately. They endowed their son with a true Irishman’s quick wit and gift of blarney as well as bringing him up in the Catholic faith.

Born in Chicago on March 4, 1851, he was studying for the priesthood when the lure of the gold fields and adventure of the West proved too much for him to resist. He crossed the plains with a group of pioneers which included Mr. and Mrs. John McDon-1ough and Mr. and Mrs. John Ellis all of whom settled in Saguache. When the tiresome gold panning did not fill Johnny’s pot with gold he found an easier way of filling it and became a professional gambler.  He practiced this trade in mining camps, railroad towns or anywhere there was a large regular payroll.