, 1889-04-07
A DEAD BRIDEGROOM.
A LIVE WOMAN AND A DEAD MAN
Welded AT THE coFFIN'S SIDE.

Are Joined-who and What the Inter
ested Parties Were and Are.
/ once interviewed for The Sun q young
woman with bright blue yes and a pink
face who had been married" to a dead
man. She stood beside the coffin in
which the dead man rested, and placed
her right hand in his right hand, as her
father stood at the head of the coffin and
read the ceremony and answered for the
voiceless lips in the coffin. That young
woman is alive today, and lived at last
accounts in Elm avenue, Philadelphia.
She formerly lived in New York, but
after the strange ceremony went to the
Quaker City and married n truck driver.
1t is a long story that led up to the cere-
mony, and one that required a months
work, day and night, to thoroughly sift
and demonstrate its truthfulness.
A SINGULAR CEREMONY.
A little over a dozen years ago a scion
of the Polish aristocracy, with eminent
connections in Paris, came to New York
TO live. He was fairly wealthy at the
time, and later on was Joined by his
mother, a widow. They lived in a num-
Der of New York boarding houses, and at
last put up permanently in one in Wash
ington square. The young man there
met the blue eyed young woman and
fell passionately in love with her. She
was the daughter of the landlady of the
house.
The money of the mother and son be-
gan to give out, and they were Joined by
an aunt from Paris, whose sole wealth
was in valuable paintings. The young
man was stricken down with quick con-
sumption. AS his dying day approached
the father and mother of the young girl
suggested that the young people be mar
ried. The mother and aunt of the young
man acquiesced, but before the ceremony
could be performed he died.
His relatives could not speak English.
They were devout members of the Cath
ole church, and were told by the father
and mother of the young woman that
the laws of the church in this country
permitted a marriage between q dead
man and their living daughter. The
dead mans relatives at first depurred,
and her acquiesced. A friend of all
the parties who was present at the cere-
LlOlN bellu llib lit boh1 was III luI
evening dress, and was leaned up against
the wall of the parlor, where its picture
vas taken before it was put into the
coffin for the ceremony. There is the
spot" the witness said to me-, as she
pointed TO a corner in the parlor, land
don't i remember distinctly how fright
ened my little daughter was when she
entered the parlor and saw the dead
man standing in the corner before the
photographer came. When the time for
the ceremony arrived n score of people
We're clustered in ther room, and the bride,
standing beside the coffin, took her dead
lovers hand in hers. Her father, at the
head of the coffin, first addressed the
corpse, Max, wilt thou have Fanny to
be thy welded wife? ETC., after the man
of the ritual, and, bending down into
the coffin, he uttered u sepulchral Yes
for the corpse.
Turning to Fanny, the father said:
Wilt thou have Max for thy welded
husbandY etc, and Fanny, between her
sobs, said Yes A ring that had been
bought for the occasion was hen slipped
on tho wedding finger of the young wo-
man. All the company then had cakes
and wine and n wedding jollitication."
NOW A TRUCK DRIVERS WIFE.
The body of that young mar now
rests in a sealed coffin in old st. Patrick's
cathedral in Mulberry street. The
mother of the boy is dead. The aunt
was the Countess Marie de Pruschoff.
Even in the little room in Eldridge
street, where she told me of this strange
ceremony, she looked q veritable grand
dame of France. She was 60 years old,
and her silver hair combed over her fore
head and her dignified mien were truly
~aristocratic. She was in n little room
10 by IL, and was making shirts for n
livelihood. She managed to exc out 50
u week. She had been accustomed to
all the luxuries of life. She spoke of the
dead boy as my crown, my pride and
my joy"
The mother of the boy was the Coun-
tess Betkowska. Max as a boy went to
school with the Dominicans in Paris and
at the Lycee Bonaparte while waiting to
be admitted to the Oratoriens, n learned
religious order.
The parents of the girl were Mr.. and
Mrs. +. II. Emmertz. They frankly adj
mitted the marriage, and so did the girl.
i loved Max very much" she said to
me, land we were betrothed. a mar
riage ceremony was said between us as
he lay in his coffin. l was known as
Mime. dc Betkowska for a long time after
MaX's death. took his name after the
ceremony, and l want to say this: That
in the event of the death of his mother
and aunt | should consider myself en-
titled to any property that should fall to
Max's widow" At the time she said
this she was the wife of the Philadelphia
truckman.
All the parties interested have photo
graphs of the body in evening dress as it
stood in the corner before the ceremony.
The ceremony took place on Oct. 12,
1878, at So South Washington square.
The principals all seemed to accept the
ceremony as binding. The Countess
P~ruschoff owned the famous Murillo,
1.-The Flagellation of Christ" on exhibit
ton several years ago at the Metropolitan
museum. There is a contest for its
ownership among several lawyers grow