, 1891-08-01
MARRIED BY FORCE.
Remarkable Story of Miss
Mary Mckinney.
Forced to the Altar Through
Fear of Death.
She Refuses to Assume Her
Husbands Name.
Her Marriage Was a Failure.

tained the relation of wife to her would
be husband.
Mary Mckinney is about "a years old.
She can barely remember her father, who
died when she was very young, and her
mother has long been an invalid; so for
years Mary has had no one to lean upon
and no one to whom to appeal for advice
aud assistance. She was one of the first
clerks appointed by Superintendent Por-
ter TO assist in the census bureau. One
OF the first acquaintance she made in the
census bureau was Charles Edwin Reed.
a ~good-looking fellow, who was regarded
as an excellent clerk. The two young
people worked side by side for several
months, and a close friendship
grew up between them. After
Superintendent Porter assigned them
both to night work Reed was in the habit
of escorting Miss Mckinney to her home
in the early morning hours. Reed was
politely attentive, but never obtrusive. As
the DAYS wore by she noticed a slight
change in him. but she is quite sure she
was totally unprcparcd to receive from
him n declaration OF love and offer of
marriage. II was the old story. She re
81 ttlCu III anu Nbulu NC u slsttT 10 nun,
but she really could not love him.
Reed did not grieve over his rejection.
He told her very coolly. but with quiet
emphasis, that he wanted her to be his
wife. not his sister, and ended by doclar.
ing his firm conviction that sooner or later
she would change her mind and marry
him. lie was in no hurry, he said, and
could wait, Mary did not know what to
make of Reeds conduct. She had OK
pected to see him either angry or fearful
This cool, unmOvcd determination fright
ened her, but she contcn.cd herself by
%forbiddlng him to call on her, aud avoided
him as much as possible when engaged in
her daily task. But Reed was not to be
shaken off so easily. He intercepted her
at every opportunity. and even risked be-
ing handed over to the police in order to
have a few words with her. On her way
to and from the bureau he would wait
for her at quiet corners, and always with
the urgent request that she reconsider her
determination. Her fear OF him soon in
creased 10 positive terror, tor besides de
claring that he would surely marry her
some day, he warned her that he would
kill her before she should wed another.
About the first of last November Miss
Mckinney resigned from the census
bureau. In giving up her work she be-
lieved she had also got rid of her impor-
tunate suitOr. One day, however, she
went to the bureau to get something she
had left there, and upon leaving the
building she was met by Reed. who drew
her into a corridor and telling her that he
had a revolver IN his pocket declared that
he would kill her at once unless she would
consent to marry him. She says that,
looking at his determined face and into
his Offering eyes, she believed he would
carry out his threat. He went on to tell
her how easily they could get married
without anyone knowing OF the affair.
They would not live together until she
had learned to love him, but once mar
ried he would feel sure of her and Ger
tain she would not marry another. With
the fear of death thus before her she con
scented, and obeying his instructions met
him within an hour and they were mar
ried the same afternoon by Rev. Asbury
r. Reilly, the colored pastor OF Grace
Methodist Episcopal church. Reed lrad
secured the help of Justice of the Peace
O'Neil, who got a license for him and
kept it out of the record for n few days
so that it would not get into the news
papers. But a wIdeawake local reporter
lOuuu Nht blhIh III lut IttOTu, anu when
it was filed up he printed the notice of
the marriage.
For two days Reed kept his promise
not to claim Mary Mckinney as his wife.
She had gone home and with the lear of
her husband strong upon her she had
said nothing to her mother of the mar
riage. But when the marriage was pub
llshed Reed wrote to his wife, pointing to
the fact that their secret had been di-
vulged and urging that she acknowledge
him as her husband and live with him.
She replied in a curt note, refusing his
plea and declining even to grant him an
interview.
Reed followed his first letter with Others
and the girl almost frantic with fear con
suited an old family friend, David A. Nc
Knight. a well known IawJe r. Mcknight
sent a peremptory message to Reed to
call on him. Reed came promptly and
told his story without the slightest
hesitation. He admitted everything that
Miss Mckinney had said, but he loved
the girl ~passionately and had not thought
of iDjuring her. He was sure she would
in time return his love and they would be
very happy. He wanted his wife to live
with him and pleaded f0raan interview so
that he might persuade her. The la aver
concluded that it would be best for the
young woman to acknowledge Reed as
her husband and he arranged an inter
view between them. He kept within
hearing distance in an adjoining room. In
response to her husbands pleadings the
girl burst into tears and finally suffered an
attack of Mysteries. Reed, Lawyer Me.
Knight says, watched her sufferings with
perfect omposure with not a trace of