The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1888-02-04
OLD SQUIRE BEASLEY.
The Oficiating Genius of the Famous
Gretna Green of America.

opposite this city, has become famous
within the last quarter of q century as
the Gretna Green Of America. More
couples are married there in year
than in many large cities of the coun-
try. 1t is the haven of runaway lovers
from kentucky, although couples 60
there from Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and
/ even New York. Aberdeen is pretty
/ place of about nine hundred inhabt-
ants. 1t is situated on the Ohio river.
sixty-One miles above Cincinnati, and
/ is reached by steamer and ferry
boat. The town is leading tobacco
market. Runaway marriages have be-
come so frequent at Aberdeen that the
people pay no attention to them. There
are sometimes six or seven weddings q
day. The veteran marrying Squire is
Massie Beasley, who is now seventy
seven years old. He has held his pres
ent office continuously for twenty years,
and is always reelected without oppo-
sition. Every grade of society appears
before Squire Beasley to have the hy-
meneal knot tied. He is good-hearted
old fellow, and if the pair have no
money to pay the fee, which is often
the case he dismisses them with his
blessing Some of the couples arrive
in carriages and are dressed in silks
and broadcloth. Others enter his office
barefooted and in rags, but the Squire
never turns them away, no matter how
forlorn or pitiable their condition. He
marries people at the dead of night
when they are in a hurry to escape the
wrath Of pursuing fathers or brothers.
Squire Beasley's Office has furnished
many sensations which never got into
tho newspapers. On two or three oc-
oasions the wedding has been harshly
interrupted by the arrival Of pursuers
Just in time to prevent the ceremony.
The age of applicants for his services
makes no difference to Mr. Beasley.
He has united boys of thirteen and
girls of eleven, but up to this time he
has never been involved in any trouble.
The oldest pair to enter matrimony be-
fore the marrying Squire was man
of eighty and woman of seventy-two.
1t had been wonder how many mere
children could be welded without
making the justice liable to fine and
imprisonment. 1t seems that Beasley
is a law unto himself. He asks no
questions, and aims to make every body
happy without regard to age or color.
Most of his patrons are from Kentucky,
and the marriage laws of that State
are decidedly crude and indefinite.
! Within the last five years West Virginia
has sent many of her young people to
Aberdeen to be married. Squire
Beasley has tied the knot for a, 15S
couples in the sixteen years of his
: career in that time. His predecessor,
Squire Shelton, who has been dead
many years. married 5000 couples in
his life. In thirty years nearly 10000
pairs of lovers have been made happy
, or miserable in Aberdeen.
Squire Beasley is youthful in spirits,
: being man of fine social qualities.
, His office is at his residence, two
story brick, just on the outskirts of the
town. There. with his only son, Cap
tain Tom Beasley, he keeps bachelor s
purposes is large and attractive. 1t
contains an old-fashoned bookcase
and table, cozy arm-chairs, a bedstead,
and the 'Squire's pet hooking bird.
The experiences of Mr.. Beasley prove
that people will undergo almost any
hardship to get married. The run
Always knock at his doors at all hours
+ of the night in the worst of weather.
, They come on horseback and on foot,
frequently being only a few minutes
ahead of the Infatuated father. {!
, The records of the 'Squire's office
show that Lewis County, Kentucky.
sends the most runaway5 to Gretna
) Green, although every county in that
? State is well represented in his register
/. Ohio couples are required to produce q
, license. and in this way Mr.. Beasley
) saves himself from being amenable to
the laws of that State.
Although Squire Beasley is a jovial
fellow, he is aggravatingly reticent
about his career as dispenser of mat
rimonial bonds. He has refused re-
peatedly to be interviewed on the sub
t iect and will not have his picture taken.
The Squire keeps his records, not in a
5 book, but on slips of paper. he says
it is nobody's business who the people
, arc that come to him to get married.
and he will not reveal any of the many
, interesting secrets of which he is the
possesssor. A newspaper man once
t offered him $780,, 900 Tor two of his
: pictures and an interview, but he posi-
; lively declined to consider the PROPOSE
4 ton. Mr.. Beasley has made several
. thousand dollars as the result of his
; reputation as the marrying Squire of
America. MaysviHe, (Ky.J Cor. CHI
cago Tribune. I
The coasts of Lower California
abound with huge turtles. which weigh
from 800 to 400 pounds each. Down at
Punta Banda, where n company is build
@ ing large hotel, one Of the workmen,
who is an expert swimmer and who
spends much time in the water has be-