Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1884-02-01
WHAT is IT?
A Man COnceals His Sex Till Love Com
pels an Astonishing Revelation,
And a Minister Completes the Work to
Which Two skillful Surgeons
Paved the Way.

Baltimore, January Pa special to
the Morning Herald from Winchester,
Va, says:
zone of the best known ladies of the
Shenandoah Valley, V rginia, has
turned out to be man. Miss Eliza
beth Rebecca Payne, daughter of the
late Joseph Payne, seven miles from
Winchester, who has lived for thirty
eight years AS lady, suddenly avowed
herself TO be man few days since,
and startled James p. Riley, clerk of
the county court here, by applying for
license to marry Miss Hinton, a
woman who had resided in the Payne
family as n domestic.
The lady who fired the heart of Mr..
Payne with such passion as to compel
him to throw off The habit of life
time and declare his sex is proposes
slug, and forty years of age. The
strange affair has caused most de-
cided sensation in the Shenandoah
valley, and nothing else is talked
about. Payne is said to have appeared
in this world as female, and was
brought up as such. No one ever
questioned his SEX and his own avowal
of masculinity took away the breath
Of the community.
Elizabeth Rebecca Payne was one of
family of five or six daughters. He
WAS brought up as a woman, and was
admitted into the best society in COM
pany with the other members of the
family. He was always regarded as n
somewhat masculine girl, but no one
ever suspected he was n man. He was
most graceful and dashing eques-
trienne, and always challenged general
admiration, as he frequently rode into
Winchester with his habit and some
what long hair trailing in the wind
He was one of the most widely known
ladies in the valley.
In addition to good birth and in
herited acres, he developed remarSa-
BILE talent for woman, when reverses
in the family fortune rendered ii nee
essary for some one to put shoulder
To the wheel. His sisters were distin-
guished for their culture and personal
charms, and several of them married
prominent gentlemen. Mr.. Rebecca
Payne devoted himself to the manage
ment of n farm and to the supervision
of II store which he had established at
Rest" where he also held the APP
dealt in cattle and horses, and became
an expert in that way. All his
enterprises prospered, and he has
acquired considerable wealth.
Determining TO marry, he threw of
his dresses and applied for license
from the court at Winchester. But
the astonished clerk, who, like every
body else, knew him as a woman,
lpaIi nod In icspa hnancn Enr , ,,.>,,,,.
To marry u woman, when Payne prov
ed his real sex 10y a certificate from
DR.. w. p. Mcguire of Winchester.
License was still refused on the ground
that Virginia law compelled a man to
have given names which show his sex
before he can act as man before the
law. Payne then determined to have
his name changed ut the March term
of the circuit court, which will meet
on the LIST proXim0.
The affair..is nine-days' wonder i'm
the Shenandoah, and has created more
excitement than any event which has
disturbed the social circles of the state
for half century. No explanation
has been offered as to why he mas
queraded so long rs woman. Rumor
has 1t that Payne and his sweetheart
went to West Virginia yesterday and
were married, but this In ks confirma.
ton.
TT is MARBIED-THE MYSTERY EN-
PLANNED,
Wheeling, w. Va, January 25-
Thursday afternoon two people were
married at Martinsburg by Rev. John
Longstreet, formerly chaplain of Jeb
Stuats Confederate cavalry. There
was nothing peculiar about the cere-
mony, except that both parties to the
contract have been known for thirty
odd years as respectable women in
that vicinity.
The groom, If such n name can be
applied TO the leuding spirit in the
transaction, has been known for ten
years In Martinsburg as n lady of cor
rect habits, modest demeanor and
marked intelligence and refinement.
His Tor herr name is Jane Catherine
payne. Jane for ten years has kept n
little store on the famous Winchester
pike. There IL no better family than
the Paynes. Jane, living quietly
and attending closely to business, was
looked upon as an old maid, born to |
blush unseen,an waste her sweet.
ness on the desert air. Judge of every
ones establishment. therefore, when
on last Tuesday Jane Catherine APP
peared In Martinsburg. boldly an
nouneed her conversion from the gem
tier TO the sterner sex, purchased and
arrayed herself In u suit of masculine
haoiliments, and also announced her
INVENTION OF marrying Mrs. Annie Hin
ION, lady who for years has been her
assistant and companion.
n the explanation furnished Jane
states that there never had been any
occasion to doubt femininity until
about fortnight ago, when led to visit