MARRIED OR SINGLE.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1464, 6 February 1886, Page 3

MARRIED OR SINGLE.

The New York Tribune says ; -A curious romance has been unfolding itself in a corner of the little village of Tarryiown. In one of its aspects it has given rise to legal questions which the heroine is now most desirous of having settled. The said heroine was born to humble station, but was fond of reading. By the - time she was eighteen years of age sbe had read much. She was tall and slender, and attractive by reason of her intelligence. Withal she was ignorant of society and its ways, except as the latter purported to be taught in the light literature of which she had imbibed deeply. Of the realities and of life she knew little. Into Tarrytown came a dashing young clergyman of a peculiar type, who carried firearms and shot at a fellow-student while at college in Virginia. He became interested in the girl, whom he flattered by his visits and attentions, and to whom he read his sermons for criticism and the “ poems of their choice’’ for mutual delectation. His visits grew more and more frequent. One evening he asked her to marry him. Regarding this as a joke, the girl said yes, Afterwards he referred to this as a binding promise. His next step was to repeat to her a portion of the marriage service of (the Episcopal Church, getting her to riiake responses, telling her that it was . merely a form of engagement. Then -;h» told her that they were married

hard and fast. All this time the clergyman had been trying to get the girl to go to picnics and places of amusement with him, but in vain. She had never met him except in her father’s house. Now he told her that they'were married, but as his church did not wish a married pastor, they must keep it secret until he was in a position to acknowledge her. They could, however, spend their vacation together. The girl steadily refused to believe in the legality of the marriage. Then the clergyman filled out one of the marriage certificate blanks, signed it himself and (hen got a firm of New York lawyers to certify to the correctness of the document and the legality of th marriage. By alternately threatening te kill himself and her he tried to mako the girl sign it. She would not, howe ever. One day, in a fit of anger, be* destroyed it before her eyes. Then he filled out another, and got a brother clergyman to sign it, or else forged his name, and had still another law firm put the imprint of their approval upon its legality. He was again unsuccessful in making her sign this one, and it, 100, was finally destroyed. After failing in these repeated attempts to make the girl acknowledge the marriage, the clergyman gave up the contest and left the town. During the two yaars that has passed the girl has pondered the question, “Married or single 1” until she is well nigh distracted. Legal experts consulted by°her flatly contradict one another as to the law bearing on the point, and she hesitates to appeal to the Court, as she shrinks from publicity.