Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1894-12-06
The story Of Three Weddings.
PAID A BIG PRICE FOR A WIFE.

PAID A BIG PRICE FOR A WIFE.
A wedding combining romance and
business occurred at Morgantown, this
State, last Thursday, at which Ephraim
Walters, of Uniontown, Pa, aged 80
years, and Mrs. Mary MADEIRA, aged
SO years, of Morgantown, were mar
ried. The affair was more like the
completion of business transaction
than a wedding. Walters's third wife
died about two years ago; at that time
the old man was very feeble and had
to walk with cane. He had then
had stroke of paralysis and was bad
ly crippled. His friends thought he
would soon follow his wife. To their
surprise he became very sprightly and
soon threw away his cane. Not more
than six months elapsed until he began
to talk of matrimony again. His chill
dren discouraged the idea as much as
possible, but he was determined to get
married. After looking about and
finding no one to suit him, he placed
an advertisement in the papers, offer
ing $500 to any one who would find
him respectable wife. He also Of
fered S., 900 to any woman who would
agree to marry him. Mrs. MADEIRA
heard of the offer and a correspond
ence was arranged between them.
She agreed to marry him for certain
sum of money, made payable to her at
the time of the marriage. A satisfac-
tory arrangement was made and the
wedding day set. Mr. Walters went
to Morgantown Thursday morning, and
after placing himself in the hands of
barber for an hour, met his bride,
then got marriage license and signed
the written agreement, which makes
her the possessor of $4,000 The
groom is very wealthy, and the bride
has kept a millinery store in Morgan
town for a number of years.
VERY ROMANTIC.
A dispatch to the Wheeling Register
from GAINESVILLE, Ohio, dated November
Goth, relates the following romantic
story:
W. C. Mann, one of the leading mem
bers of the Moundsville, West Virginia,
bar, will be married tomorrow evening
to Miss Charlotte Coon, the charming
and estimable daughter Of George Coon,
carriage manufacturer. The ac-
quaintance between the two young peo-
pie began year ago through the med
ium of an "adlet" in the personal col
umn of a Cincinnati newspaper. A
coterie of Moxahal avenue girls, of
whom Miss Coon was one, rented box
at the postoffice and then just for fun
advertised for gentlemen correspond
ents, giving the box number as the
address. There were several replies
received, and the one from W. G. Mann,
of Moundsville, fell to Miss Coon's lot
to answer, The correspondence was
mutually agreeable, and when at the
end of six months he asked permission
to visit her, the assent was promptly
given with the approval Of her parents.
He returned again in the fall. The
friendship ripened by gradual stages
into an intimacy of which tomorrows
wedding is the elimination. There
was a dinner party this evening at the
home of the bride, at which the chief
theme of conversation was the romantic
manner of the courtship. They will
leave tomorrow night for Moundsville,
where they will reside
THE BRIDEGROOM RAN AWAY.
The Harrisburg CaNsays: "There
was a wedding fixed for Thanksgiving
evening that did not come off at Sun
bury, although all the preparations
were made and the families invited.
The groom was to have been Thomas
Swenk, a brakeman on the Sunbury di-
vision of the Northern Central Rail-
road, and the bride a charming young
lady who lives in this city. At the
time fixed the groom did not appear
and the next heard of him was that
he had gone to Hagerstown, Nd. He
wrote letter from this city, stating
that he was on his way south, and that
he would not be at the wedding
Swenk was arrested Saturday afternoon
at Hagerstown, by Officer Steiner, and
was taken back to Sunbury on Satur-
day night. He refused to give his
reason for running away. Swenk will
be given hearing today at that place,
the woman having preferred charge
against him. Policeman Saylor said
he helped to effect Swenk's arrest Sat-
urday afternoon at the Mansion House.
Swenk was taken to Sunbury.