A DEATHBED MARRIAGE.

Motueka Star, Volume IV, Issue 167, 27 March 1903, Page 4

A DEATHBED MARRIAGE.

! A singular case was disclosed at a meeting of the Perth Hospital Board recently. It appears that a girl patient, aged 20 who was dying of consumption, was recently married to a young man of twenty-one without the knowledge of the resident medical Two nurses acted as witnesses. The Rev Father Smyth, who performed the ceremony, stated in an interview that the girl's mother .was entirely opposed to the marriage, and declared it should never take place. The couple, however, had lived together, and a child was born, and the girl soon after entered the hospital, suffering from consumption, and her lover, Hogan, expressed a desire to marry her to conceal her shame. When it was seen that the girT was beyond human aid the services of the priest were obtained, and bj' means of a special license the pair were married. Father Smyth said there was no intention of acquainting the authorities, because "it was to be a profound secret. In carrying through the solemn performance he obtained the services of those he could trust to retain* the secret. The unfortunate girl desired before she died to be united to the man she loved, and by a rule of the church it was possible to marry a couple in such circumstances.