Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1890-02-14
THE GREEN SCANDAL.
FuRrNER PARTICULARS OF THE SEN.
SATiofkAL MARRIAGE.
onaseusns Of Commodore Bassnsn--
Aresns vsmily-Intervicw with MIRA
acCrss and the Coiored Preacher.

Areens ramily-Intervicws with MIRA
McCrss and the Coicrcd Preacher.
TIA recent marriage ut Old Point by a
colored preacher OF Douglas Green. mar
lied man of New York, TO Amce onen-
9cCrea, . divorced woman OF Chicago' an
account Of which was published IN she
Dispasch yesterday, IL the sensauQn oi .ne
day in New York, Chicago, anu ""Snhs-
ton society circles.
There Il no question Of the truth OF tne
statement that they were really InaIrieu,
and that il was not mereiya lokse, ~ u len
Rafeman- The license was regularly IS
sued nv John Booker, clerk OF Eiizaoeth
City county, Va.
WIDOW AND wrDowER.
The ,,;n;ster'a certificate Of marriage was
6n,v retnrnea 10 the Clerk of the Court and
sfafes that the parties were married by
him TT II. Shorts) on February 3, 1871.
In the license Green is put down es
vidowcr and Mrs. McCrea as o widow. Ills
res,densc is given as New York and hers Is
Elizabeth City. Va.
THE CoIORrD PREACHER.
TIL. Shorts. the negro preacher VINO
performed the marriage ceremony, was m
teryiewed by correspondent and ne said /;
"S;pce I've been IN this parish I've mar
ried forty.scvea couples. but this Wedding
was the curiousest ever i hsclated al.
The bride and groom seemed mighty
anxious TO git married. and as they nsu q
license I couldn't see what 1 shouldn't
marry them. The bride certainly was
beautiful. She was beautiful. sure enough
She wasn't very big. but she was mighty
fair and white, and she had short hair mat
was yailerlike and curly all over; Inc
BRIDEGROOM was kinder hcavy-set and look
Cd sort O. settled. He looked pretty nigh
forty wear old. He wore thick moustache
and the rest of his face was smooth, L
reckon he was about five feet eight, put ne
might n been a trifle taller. The other
gentleman was Younger and was fair-look-
IN, and wore specs. The other lady, was
very pretty, but she wasn't nothln ike so
pretty As the one what got married. Inc
bride gave me her name as Mrs. Ahce
Smell. McCrea, and. deed. she was beauti-
full. The bridegroom's name was Douglas
Green.
THE CEREMONY.
ct read the license" continued Shorts,
"apd made up my mind it was all right:
Then I took 'em all in the parlor and called
in nv wife and Youngs the driver. linen
/ read the marriage service ana married
'em tight and fast. AS soon ash got through
the bride says: Are we sure enough mar
ried?'
married. and then you ought TO have seen
the kissin' and the huggin'! They all
Rugged and kissed each other, ana II
seemed like they never would get
through"
ABOUT KISSING THE BRIDE.
"Did you kiss the bride?" asked the cor
respondent. =.
AT tins Shorts's wife. who had been sit;
ting quietly in corner, bristled up ana
answered sharply:
"No. sir. The elder don't kiss no brides
it's not accordin' to his dignity and his
calling" -,
"You see, it's this way" explained the
" elder, apologetically. makes 1t a
rule not to kiss any of 'em. IL kissed one
I'd have to kiss all, and sometimes them
comes along as | wouldn't like to KISS. so
makes il q rule not TO kiss any of 'em,
and consequently there can't be no hard
feelin's.'
WANTED To GET MARRIED ALSO.
after / had married Mr.. Green and
Mrs. McCrea, i noticed the other lazy
looked very hard at the other gentleman,
and presently she cried out, Why can't
we get married, tooy
II reckoned she was in fun first. but the
gentleman says: All right, say we do
"Then tOle em that ! couldn' marry
'em without license, and the gentleman
saws. That's So kind o. sorry like. The
lady looked like she wanted to cry, but the
gentleman comforted her by sayin' that
they could get married some. other time"
Shorts keeps q register of the couples he
msrrles aud he exhibited this entry under
date of February 3, 1880:
Married: Douglas Green TO Alice Smell
McCred." ,
Before the gentleman that got married
went away" said Shorts in conclusion, ne
made me promise faithfully that would
take the license, with my certificate at
tached, TO the County Clerk TO be put away
for safekeeping. That same afternoon |
carried it up and deposited it in the court
house. l don't know how anybody come
to know about this weddin', for deed, /
amt said word TO nobody"
HARD on BOOKER.
In its account of the affair yester-
day the Worlds Old Point correspond
emit tells pretty hard story on
Clerk Booker. He represents that
Booker tried to sell the marriage certificate
TO that paper for $50, alleging that the
negro preacher still had it and had not re-
turned il TO him, and that it would require
an effort on his (Booker's) part to. get the
certificate from Shorts the preacher, who
had gone to Mathews county. That, after
Booker's offer Shorts was found and
stated that he had returned the certificate
to Booker q week ago.
SPICY INTERVIEW.
The following interview is from yester-
days New York World:
"Yes, come inl if you don't mind the
confusion of this room DON'T" and there.
in big red mahogany bed, lay Mrs. Smell
McCrea. with her fluffy yellow head resting
on a crushed copy of yesterdays World.
She wore night-robe of satin striped
crepe de Chine, made with lace yoke and
elbow sleeves. About her slender wrist
was a snake OF carved gold; mar
ouise of sapphires and diamonds orna-
mented one hand and on the other was q
heart-shaped diamond ring and magnit-
cent pearl set between two smaller bril-
liants. She folded her hands on the pillow,
laid her cheek on them, coiled up in the
This thing will break my mothers
heart. know il will. Do you think the
Chicago papers will get il? oh, dear, il
will kill herl l know il will. / would
have given anything If it could have been
kept ont of the papers. Poor Douglas
VIII they do anything to him? 1t IS not
bigamy it was only a sham. Sit here,
smoothing a place on the side of the bed
"and I'll tell you all about it.. The whole
thing was a farce. 1t was all in fun.
didn't know there was any license. Sun
day we drove out TO Hampton-Mr. Green
Jamie Aver. Mrs. Anna Brandt, and myself
We went to about seven niger churches.
Mr.. Green got up in meeting at one place
and spoke to the congregation and Jamie
Aver spoke at couple of Sunday schools
He told the little things TO be good and
they would be happy-told them TO learn
their Bible lesson and obey their parents
and teachers.
LAUGHING MARRIAGE.
ave were nearly crazy from laughter,
and when Jamie suggested that it would be
fun to get married we all consented. He
was to marry Anna and l was TO marry
Douglas. Then we drove to the hotel, had
supper and on the way home went TO two
more colored churches to find some one to
marry us. The ministers all refused, as we
supposed they would. The next day was
Monday, and as the gentlemen were not
going back 20 New York we got carriage
and went on 10 continue the lark of the
previous day. Deacon Shorts fnally agreed
to perform the ceremony, which was q
regular circus, for we were all screaming
with laughter. When we cOuld get Quiet