Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1877-03-02

o'clock in the evening, on the main floor,
without lights of any description, with al
doors shut. and a free invitation shall bt
extended to all. The clergyman shall stand
in the stables and the bride and groom OF
the main floor, and the principal parties tx
the ceremony shall be dressed in black
throughout.
A WILLING WIDOW.
The widow announced her intention tt
faith fully obey in spirit and letter, the will
was probated and the Twelfth month hao
scarcely passed before she issued ar in
v~itation for the public to attend a wed
ding at the big barn. Just who the groom
was to be no one could positively assert
as the widow had been keeping cornpan,
with a bachelor, a widower and tWoyoun,
men, and as far as any outsider coult
judge she loved one as well as the othei
Being good looking and talented and hav.
ing a fortune behind it, it was rot strange
that she should have a number of suitors.
She seemed to enter into the spirit Of tie
affair with great Zest, as also did the min
lister; and to further mystify the people il
attendance the bride entered the bari
alone at nj door, and the groom alone al
another, and no one knew that the minis.
ter had arrived until his voice was heard
in the stables.
BOUND IN THE DARK.
There were at least eco people present
and each one understood that even the
striking of a match would break the will
Many jokes were passed and considerable
confusion existed, but at length the minis
ter pronounced that all was ready. Tie
ceremony WAS gone through with, and al
its CO.. c~lusion, the affair having been 8
profound snccess,' a rush was made fol
the bride; she was kissed by a hundred
men, and was then carried home, a dis
lance OF a mile and a half, in a big arm
chair.
WHO is THE HUSBAND?
Now cOmes the mystery. When the
lady was set down at her own door the
wIdower, the bachelor ard the two young
men each claimed to be her true and law
full husband. None of the crowd could say
who was the lucky man, the min ster was
at sea, and even the bride herself seemed
to have doubts. The widower was the
man Of her choice, but in the confusion he
could have been hustled aside, and he did
affirm that an attempt was made to choke
him and get him out Of the barn. The
bachelor vowed that she had promised to
marry him, as also did both the young
men, and each one was sure that he held
the widows plump hand and was legally
married to her. The four men had a fight,
but that didD'tm mend matters. The crowd
ducked two of them in a creek, but tina!
didn't decide the question.
A COMPROMISE.
Just how it would have terminated had
not the WidoWer been a man of nerve no
one can tell, as the other three had already
appealed to the law, when the widower
stepped in and took his place as husband
and settled with the Others for So, 900
each.
One of the young men, now over forty
years old, and having all the wife he wants
(she weighs 230 pounds), is living in this
city, and during an interview with him to-
day, he solemnly and earnestly assured
yonr correspondent that he was legally
married to the Widow Dodsworth that
night in the big barn. Another of the
parties lives in Clinton county, and he has
time and again asserted that he is the We
mans true and lawful husband, so help
him God. The bachelor is dead, but were
he alive and kicking he would renew his
repeated protestation:
II married her, by gum! and, by gum,
l ought to have her!"