to remedy this situation, riley hired his brother-in-law henry eitel, an indianapolis banker, to manage his finances and act on his behalf to try to extricate him from his contract. despite discussions and assurances from pond that he would work to address the problem, eitel had no success. pond ultimately made the situation worse by booking months of solid performances, not allowing riley and nye a day of rest. these events affected riley physically and emotionally; he became despondent and began his worst period of alcoholism. during november 1889, several shows were cancelled after riley became severely inebriated at a stop in madison, wisconsin.