The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1879-07-10
Married by Telegraph.
A YOUNG NJ IN NEWARK To AN. OLD
MAN IN SAN FRANCISCO.

MAN IN SAN FRANCISCO.
The Rev. G.. S. Colt, pastor of the Cente-
nary Methodist Episcopal church, on Belle
willie avenue, Newark, recently performed a
novel marriage ceremony inthe main Newark
Office of the Western Union Telegraph Com
pany. He said yesterday that Miss Margaret
Wright, of Albany, \. Y, who was on a
visit to friends in Newark, requested hun to
marry her by telegraph to a gentleman IN
San Francisco. He told Miss Wright that
such a marriage would not be legal. She
then said that she was engaged to DIR. F. NJ.
Shaw, of Los Angeles, who had promised TO
come East for her. He had written, how
ever, that owing to a rush of business he
could not journey East at the time agreed
upon. He urged her to join him IN San
Francisco, where they would be married.
She replied that she wanted more than a
mere promise to marry before she would a k
such a long journey. DIR. Shaw then pro-
posed that the7 should be married by tele-
graph, with witnesses at the San Francisco
and Newark offices, and she accepted the
proposal.
The Rev. Mr.. Colt, after much urging,
consented to perform an informal marriage
with the understanding that Miss
Wright and DR.. Shaw should be married at
terward by a clergyman in California. He
forwarded a number of questions to Or.
Shaw, who answered that he was f%ifty-one
years old, did not have a wife living, and
that no legal objections to the proposed mar
rage existed. The Rev. Mr.. Colt refused to
give Miss Wright a marriage certificate, the
understanding being that she would get one
from the minister in California.
At 9 O'Clock one evening the operator in
the Western Union office at Market and
Broad streets, Newark, was surprised by the
appearance of the Rev. Mr.. Colt a fashiona-
bic party of ladies and gentlemen In the
Office. Miss Wright, who has dark chestnut
hair, brown eyes and an olive complexion,
wore a dark silk dress, with a white bonnet
and lilies of the valley. She carried in her
right hand a small bouquet of white flowers:
She biushed a deep crimson and laughed
~nervously when the Rev. Mr.. Colt said to the
operator that she wished to be married by
telegraph. BY request of the Rev. Mr.. Colt,
the operator telegraphed to DR.. Shaw. who
was waiting with his friends in the San Fran
cisco office, the question:
Are you ready
In a few minutes the answer was flashed
back Eyes, and have been for an hour"
The Rev. Mr.. Colt then read the question,
which the operator sent to DR.. Shaw "Do
you take Margaret Wright for your lawful
wife, and promise to be faithful to her until
separated by death p
There was considerable delay at the San
Francisco office, and while waiting for an
answer the bride chatted pleasantly with her
friends, one of whom said ''Wouldn't it be
a joke, Maggie, if the Doctor said no?' The
bride joined in the laughter that followed.
Meanwhile DR.. Shaw telegraphed: Il do,
and | pledge her my love and protection"
He also sent on the name OF a friend, a Mr..
Shere, as his witness in San Francisco. Mr..
Gibson, of Newark, was the witness for Miss
Wright. A few days after the ceremony
was performed, the bride started for Califor-
MIA to join her husband. She is p wears
old, intelligent and accomplished.