News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1885-06-25
A NEW YORK ROMANCE.
sALLIE REBER's MARRIAGE.
James ID. Fish Tells How he Met her
and Loved her In his Old Age.

Hearing that Mr.. James D. Fish, the
husband of Miss ,Reber, was to be
brought before the United States Court
ct the end of this week, on the motion
for new trial, I called upon him in
Ludlow street jail, says New York cor
respondent. did not go there merely
as reporter, but as a former friendly
acquaintance of Mr.. Fish. He had, in
deed, addressed me q note concerning
this and other misapprehensions about
him, and had replied that thought
it was due to his friends and family, as
well as the friends of the deceased
young wife, to show less indifference to
| public curiosity than he had shown.
MIR. Fish is old enough to have con-
tirmed certain original sturdiness of
Connecticut character. To attacks upon
him, he is more incepsed and silent
than expressive. Acknowledging that
he has been terribly duped, he does not
hear with much patience the aspersions
and inquisitions into his general life.
81 failed and closed up my bank"
said Mr.. Fish, con the 9Th of May, 1884.
About three weeks after that I was mar
ried to Sallie Reber. You can well con-
ceive that I must have been engaged to
her before I met with any reverses, in
order to have married her so soon after
my misfortune. Perhaps that misfor-
tune had its influence in fastening the
marriage. Her young husband had died
in the previous October, and it was after
his death that I felt free to visit her
occasionally, and in that interval I had
become interested in her, and being
widower and without any home of my
own, thought I was rich enough to
take wife, and spend some of the re-
mainder of my life with a companion
who suited me by her amiability of dis
position, her intelligence, her respect
able connections, and, perhaps, from her
misfortunes. She had married some
what late. She was about 80 years old
when she died, and we had been mar
ried at her death about ten months"
L am not clear whether MIR. Fish said
that they were married on the goth or
26th of May, 1884. That the child, how
ever, was born on the Oath of February,
and that she died on the 10th of March,
l am clear about, because he computed
that there were four days more left in
February after the child's birth, and
that the mother died on the 10th of
March.
Said I. "Were you regularly mar
ried?"
"Yes, we were married according to the
laws of New York, in perfectly regular
way. gave her written contract of
marriage, which is now in the possession
of her mother in Sandusky. I did not
marry her till I had taken advice.
saw Judge Donohue of this city, an old
friend and business client of mine and
member of the Supreme Court, and told
him of the circumstances, and asked
him if I had not better be married by
him. He replied: L do not marry peo-
pie, because it brings me into subse-
quent trouble sometimes as witness in
any legacies or family troubles, but I
have no objection to marrying you. /
will come up and unite you if you like
and take legal deposition to that effect
His suggestion was that the marriage
be made and declared. asked Judge
Donohue if it was necessary 30 have
this marriage published. He said it
really had to be recorded, and not
necessarily published. When told this
to Sallie, however, she said that it would
get out in some way, and she preferred
for a time to let the matter be secret"
"What was her objection ?"
"She had two objections. In the first
place, she was very DESTROYS to resume
her. place on the stage and to sing.
There is a prejudice on the stage against
taking singers who are married. Her
additional reason was the fact that her
husband had not been dead year."
Said J: "What were the circumstances
under which you became interested in
her ?"
"When she appeared here singing in
'Iolanthe' was introduced to her. Not
long after that she became i'll, and the
managers thought her voice was not so
attractive as it had been. She married,
and during her marriage / never called
but twice to see her. When her hus-
band died ! went to the funeral. There
saw some members of the family, and
confirmed the impression / already had,
that she was q weli-bred girl, that /
need not be ashamed of her company,
In the course of time she concluded to
return to New York, and she came here
and stopped at the Coleman House. !
called upon her two or three times, and
on one occasion her cousin, a MIR. Com
stock, said to me: 4 wish you would &C
and see Sallie whenever you feel in.
clined; your visits do her so much
good So with this encouragement,
and being myself lonesome, went to
see her more and more.
"Now," said Mr.. Fish. ''they say
there is no fool like an old fool. found
myself becoming interested in that girl.
1 did not care about marrying again,
but if I did marry I wanted to marry
some one I could be useful to. This
girl had intelligence, character, and
accomplishments which interested me.
I supposed myself worth at least 81, 000,-
900. / would not have given three
cents at the time I proposed to marry
her for ANYBODY to insure me com
petence to the end of my life. 1 said to
her one day: 'Sallie, have mind to
get married again. I am a good deal
jected to some ridicule possibly, through
marrying man of my age. If you are
minded, however, to marry me, it will
have enough to relieve you from distress
for the rest of your life, and perhaps to
be of some use to your people, She
said that she had no interest in any
other person, and that it was quite
agreeable to her.
"Here," said Mr.. Fish, sis where the
remark comes In that there is no fool |
like an old fool. Finding myself be-
loved by this yonng lady, I was anxious
to marry her as soon as possible. Sud |
denly came my failure. 1 then felt all |
the more lonesome and in need of |
domestic life. She, perhaps, took an |
additional interest in me from my mis- |
fortune. At any rate she did not object |
to the postponement of the marriage |
after that, as she had desired before. |
1t was like her to prove her attachment |
to me by marrying me in the midst of |
those reverses But you can see how |
we were both involved in tangle of |
misapprehensions. She would merely |
have got her name in all the papers if |
she had married bankrupt like myself |
at that time. My age, which is now
almost &c, would be referred to. The
fact that her husband had only died |
seven months before would have been |
matter of remark. Her mother was
very considerate about the purity and |
honor of her family. That is, we mar
ried, as 1 have told you. gave her a
marriage paper, on which I took