The Vinton record. [volume] (M'arthur, Vinton County, Ohio) 1866-1891, 1866-08-09

olner Win tne tenaclty O1 q Soutn
American monkeys tail to a cocoa
limb. The court and audience
were pretty we'll prepared for the
development by the announce.
ments in the morning papers in re.
lation to the affair. On Friday
morning a paragraph appeared in
one of the city journals, to the ef.
feet that, at the close of the ser.
vices on Thursday night, sat the
First Baptist Church, just as the
congregation were leaving, they
were invited to remain, and they
again took their seats. Thompson,
white man, walked up to the
front of the pulpit, accompanied
by a coal black negro woman, and
producing his marriage license, the
twain were made one flesh and
and blood, in due form, by the off.
ciating minister of the church."
This statement was questioned
and condemned by the Banner,
with the suggestion that if the
white man and negro woman were
actually joined together, at the
time indicated by a disgusting
mockery of one of the hottest rites
sanctioned by the church, it could
only have occurred at the Colored
Baptist Church. Our surmise was
in the main correct. In the list of
marriage licenses printed yester-
day morning appear the names Of
the lively pair: civilian A. john
son (not Thompson) to Josephine
McConnico." Z The marriage Ii.
cense, of which we have been per-
mitted a glimpse, bears on its front
the following: g.. rHs
civilian A. johnson to Josephine Nc
Connico Issued June 2S, 1866.
IL solemnized the Rite of Matrimony be-
tween the within named parties on the 2Sth
of June. 40 ~ ID '.'-'
[signedl NELSON MERRY
The license was regularly issued
to the man Johnson by the deputy
clerk of the County Court, never
for a moment suspecting that o
white man Of the applicants ap,
pearance designed such a use or
abuse of its privileges. The ofici.
ating minister, Rev. Nelson Merry,
is a freedman, for whose active part
in this interesting and impressive
ceremonyhe is liable to a fine of
five hundred dollars. The case was
called by the Marshal, and the ma.
ted doves ranged themselves in
front of the bench, the dusky bride
in sun-bonnet and calico, and her
"lord of the lion heart and eagle
eye" clad in dirty linen duster.--
To the question of the Court if he
was married to the negro woman,
the so-called white man replied
that he was. He was from Ohio;
he did not know it was against the
law; he did not say to the clerk,
when APPLYING for the license, that
he was going to marry a negro;
his courtship was so very brief it
amounted to no courtship at ALL
And by this, his own confession, it
will be seen that he rushed into the
bridal moose and practically en-
braced the miscegenative faith
with the moral but reckless hero
ism of a martyr. r o.. ..l- eH
Together, they presented a very
pitiable picture of degradation, of
which the so-called white man was
the prominent figure. By the sys-
tenn that he would introduce here
in Tennessee, there is no doubt but
we should soon be rid of the mex.
tinguishable nigger-but whether
the country would be the better
for the cross remains to be dis.
closed. Such white men are not!
likely to elevate the race, and we
are surprised that even an ordinary
looking negress should mate with
creature SO utterly depraved. But
chacun a son gout If the appetite
of the Buckeyes runneth in that di.
rection, it is none of our funeral.
Black spirits and white,
Blue spirits and gray, .. n
Mlngle, mingle, mingle,
You that mingle may.
The Court fined them $50 each,
and they are likely to work that
out among the anvil choristers OF
the work house stone-yard. u Z -
P. S. Since the above was in
type, the Reverend Nelson Merry
has been arrested and taken before
Squire Matthews. He was held
to bail in the sum of one thousand
dollars, to appear before him, at
the City Courtroom, on Tuesday
next. Jerry Stoddard, a cofored
l. n oly,,,1,, D xx,anf nr. h;c .hopd opd