The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1889-06-10
MARRIED BY PROXY.
Il CURIOUS CUSTOM IN YOGUE IN
SOUTH AMERICA.
The Wedding Was Celebrated in the CO.
lombian Capital, While the Bride
groom Was Signing Hundreds of Miles

f-r a~r - ea+NrU
The Wedding Was Celebrated in the CO.
lombian Capital, While the Bride
groom WA Signing Hundreds of Miles
Away.
Senior Ulpiano Obando was, until
recently, Consul of the United States
of Colombia at San Francisco.
We, the senior and myself, lived at
the same hotel and, by mutual agree
ment, we each instructed the other in
the language, customs and manners OF
our respective countries.
/ grew to be quite fond of the Senior,
he was so generous and simple and
eager to learn our ways. His consular
duties consisted mainly in drawing his
salary, which he did every month with
clock-like regularity.
The Senior was married. l learned,
and the picture of his wife, which he
always carried about him, was that OF
a charming sonora of the regulation
Spanish type of beauty.
Bogota was the home OF this loving
DdtI. IhlIlt. OOdilOO OCAhS nv ~ -
the President of the Republic.
| soon found out. however, that h
Senior was by no means as mild and
docile as appearances would seem to
indicate. He had been rather gay"
at the Colombian capital, and Presi-
dent Mendez had sent him on a consul
lar mission in the hope that travel and
officialduties would work heir reform
ing influence.
One day the Senior said to me, in his
broken English:--"I must go home to
my wife. / can no longer bear this
separation; besides, my father has been
married to her about long enough"
His father, / thought. why, what
on earth do you mean" / asked. 1
then said to him:
when We're you married, Senior =
sAbout six months ago." he replied.
| knew he had been in San Francisco
a year, so | said
f'Oh, l see; your wife did not like
San Francisco, so she returned home"
"She has never been here"
"And yet you say you were married
to her six months since?
"Certainly; | gave a power OF attor-
ney to my father, who married lnez IN
my stead"
s'Now, see here Obando," l re-
| marked, 81 am afraid you're making
fun of me. This idea OF your wife
being your steplnother at the same
time, and your fathers wife being his
daughter-in-law; oh, no, it won't do"
The Senior, however, was in earnest,
and then l learned one of the peculiar
customs in vogue in the South Ameri-
can republic.
AS a matter of policy or convent
ence it had been necessary h a Senior
Obando should marry his affianced, and
therefore the necessary Instructions
were wired to Panama, conveyed
from thence down the Magdelena
River to the port, and by muleback to
the capital. In the same manner h
news of the ceremony was conveyed
back to San Francisco, and Senior
Obando was a duly married man.
Marriages of this sort are by no
means i%nfrequent among Spanish
American people. The proxies" are
generally male relatives OF either
prospective bride or groom. An init
mate friend, in fact, may perform the
office. though in the latter case it
sometimes happens that the friend
betrays his trust, and the fond, alb
sent husband returns home to find
himself divorced.
These marriages are perfectly legal,
and are recognized by the church
They are somewhat like binding
Slips in insurance, the policies being
delivered afterward.
Upon the return of the husband,
though, he must be married publicly.
In case he dies before seeing his
proxy wife, then his "vicarious"
widow inherits his property the same
as if she had been married in the regu-
lar fashion.
Senior Obando returned to Bogota,
and the last time | heard from him he
wa occupying a high official position
and living happily with his wife, to
whom he had been regularly" mar
ried.