Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1889-12-06
SCRATCHED OUT.

During the earlier years of the
present century the Russian mobiles
ruled their households with a high
hand Accordingly, when the Dowa-
ger Countess Cheraski found that her
only son, Ivan young man Of about
90 years, was engaged to marry a
beautiful serf of his estates, she forth
with banished him to France and or
dered the girl to whom he was en-
gagged to marry another serf immedi-
ately. AS the commands had to be
obeyed poor Sophia Tschakoff, for that
was the girls name, went with her
father, some six days after the Counts
departure, to the chapel where the
marriage service was to be performed.
There were present, besides her father
and herself Michael Tokhtamish (the
bridegroom, his father, and the
priest, an old man, who was upwards
of 70 years of age. The service had
scarcely commenced when the door
of the little chapel opened and Ivan
Cheraski, the young Count, entered
with revolver in his hand.
"You thought | was out of the
country" he said, "but not so; have
been biding my time not far away
from here. l know all about the
attempt to marry my betrothed to
this clown, and | have come to pre-
vent it. Everything is ready-the
priest, the altar and the bride. So,
my good father, you will please marry
me to Sophia Tschakoff at once, or
you and Michael TokhtaInish shall
die before five minutes are over"
| do not know what would have
happened if the priest had refused to
obey the Counts order. AS | have
said, Russian mobiles used to be, and
very likely still are, rather high
handed, especially in dealing with
their dependents. At all events Ivan
Cheraski was a nobleman armed with
revolver; Michael Tokhtamish was
only serf who might have been shot
for the fun of the thing, while the
priest was very infirm old man, and
bound moreover, by his religion, to
discountenance bloodshed. So the
serf stood aside, the nobleman took
his place, the priest performed the
service, and in q few minutes Ivan
Cheraski and Sophia Tschakoff were
man and wife. The service over, the
company entered the vestry room,
where the priest proceeded to enter
the particulars of the marriage in the
registry book.
Now | must pause here to inform
the reader that in Russia it was the
custom for the priest, and not the
parties who were married, to sign the
names of the bride and the bride
groom in the marriage register. Al
exander Troubetskoi, the priest, was
placed, as the saying is, between two
fires. If he had not obeyed the
Counts orders he would have been
shot. On the other hand, If the
Countess Dowager found out what he
had done, something else as bad, or
worse, would probably happen. To
escape from the dilemma he entered
i'm the register Michael Tokhtamish
instead OF Ivan Cheraski as the name
of the bridegroom. The parties who
were interested did not observe the
substitution. The register was re-
stored to its place, and the Count and
Countess Cheraski left secretly for
Paris that day.
For FIVE years they lived very hap
PLY in France, and then the Count
died, leaving the Countess a widow
with two children. His mother had
died about a year before and Trou-
betskoi expired shortly after they left
the village of Narovel, where the
marriage took place. On the death
of her husband the Countess went to
the province of Minsk, ia Russia, TO
claim his estate on behalf OF herself
and his children The claim was OPP
posed by his family, who produced
the register which bore evidence OF
her marriage, not with Ivan Cheraski,
but with Michael Tokhtamish. There
seemed then. to be no use in resort
ing to legal proceedings, as the evil
dence of the witnesses to the mar
riage, who were all serfs, would be
worthless against the evidence OF the
marriage register. Accordingly the
Countess, as she was dejure, if not
defacto, returned to France. Partly
by the sale of her jewelry and partly
owing to her husband havinginvested
some money in their joint names In
| French 4 Der cent rents she had q