The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1869-08-12
STRANGE PHARMACIES.

In Scotland, in the year 1870, there
was married the ''noted bachelor, W
Hamilton" lie was SO deformed thar
he was utterly unable TO walk. Tins
chronIcler draws startling portrait of
the man: His legs were drawn up 10 has
ears, Lis arms were twisted back wards,
and almost every member was out of
joint Added to these peculiarities, be
was eighty years Of age, and was obliged
to be carried TO church on mems shouI-
ders Nevertheless, lis bride was fair,
and only twenty years of ageI'
n wedding once took place in Berk-
shire under remarkable circumstances
The bridegroom was Of the mature age Of
eighty-tive, the bride eighty-three, and
tie bridesmaids each upwards of seventy,
neither of these damsels having been mar
ried. Six grand daughters of the bride
/ groom strewed flowers before the happy
couple, and four grand sons of the bride
sung an ePlthalamium composed by the
! parish clerk on the occasion.
There is case mentioned in DodIey's
Annual Register of an ostier at a tavern
! IN Spllsby, who walked with his in
! tended wife all The way to Gretna Green
| TO get married-tWo hundred and forty
! miles
! Some Of the most remarkable mar
rlages that have ever taken place are those
IN which the brides came to the altar part
/ ly, or Ia many cases entirely divested of
! clothing. 1t was formerly common no.
| tlon that if a man married a woman en-
caenieSitte Ee was not liable for her debts;
and IN ''Notes and Queries there is an
account by a clergyman of the celebration
OF such marriage some few years ago
lie tells us that, as nothing was said in
the rubric about the woman's dress, he
| did not think it right to refuse 10 perform
the marriage service At Whitehaven
| wedding was celebrated under the same
circumstances, and there are several other
instances on record.
A curious example of compulsory mar
rlage once took place in Clerkenwell a
woman, forty years of age, conceived a
strong affection for a young man who
worked in a house near her own, and
whose ''hammerinS" she could hear early
and late Having formed an acquaintance
with him, she gave him silver watch and
other presents, and lent him Gl0 to assist
HIM III hIs business. The recipient Of
these favors waited on the lady to thank
her, and intimated that he was about to
leave London. This was by no means
what the blind woman wanted, and as she
was determined not to lose the person
whose industrial habits had so charmed
her, she had him arrested for the debt of
SO and thrown into prison. While In
confinement she visited him and offered TO
forgive him the debt on condition that he
married her. Placed in this strait, the
young man chose what he deemed the least
of the two evils, and married his benefae>
tress, as the writer in the Gentleman's
Magazine calls her. The man who ar
rested him gave the bride away at The al
tar.
: 1n 1867 young blacksmith of Bedford
was paying his addresses to q maiden, and
upon calling to see her one evening was
asked by her mother what was The use of
marrying girl without money! Would
1t not be better for him TO take wife who
could bring $500. The blacksmith
thought he would be Externally obliged"
10 his advisor if she could introduce him
TO such prize. 81 am the person, then, -
said the mother of bis betrothed. and we
are told that ''the bargain was struck in-
mediately." Upon til. return Of the girl
she found her lover aud parent OH exceed
, lGg!y good terms with each other and they
were subsequently married. The bride
was sixty-iour years Of age, and ;hc bride
groom eighteen; this disparity of ages is
comparatively trifing.
y doctor OF eighty was married TO a
young woman of twenty-ei.ht a black
smith of ninety Cat W Worcester, 1S57,) to
girl of fifteen, u gentleman of Berkshire,
aged seventy>six, to a girl whom his third
wife had brought up. The husband had
children living thrice the age of his fourth
wife. at Iilil Farm, in Berkshire, Il
blind woman of ninety years was married
TO her pl"ushman, aged twenty gentle
man of Worcester, upwards Of eighty-fve,
to girl of eighteen soldier of ninety
five, vino had served in King William &
wars, and had ball in his nose, to a girl
of fifteen. In 1863 a woman of Rother-
hithe, aged seventy was married to a
young man aged twenty-just half a cen-
tury difference between their ages A
girl of sixteen married gentlman of niue-
ty-four-but he had $50, 900.