Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1896-11-05
QUEER WEDDINGS.
OCCASIONS WHEN ODDITY WAS AN
IMPRESSIVE FEATURE.

Freaks Who Have Been Joined In We'd
iock-1Iany Cases of Marriage by Proxy.
Welded by Photograph - symBoIIcaI
Marriages of India.
The conventional idea Of wedding
does not agree with THE tastes of some
people, and OCCASIONALLY very eccentric
and sometimes romantic marriage cere-
monies are solemnized. Men and wom-
cd entirely opposite in disposition and
character frequently unite in the holy
bonds Of neutrality-suspicious. much
% their mutual regret. This peculiar
fact, IL would seem, also applies to oddi-
ties OF human nature In many Of the
travelling shows the freaks who help to
draw money from the public intermar-
ry, and it j. not an unusual thing to
find the fat man welded to the skeleton
woman and the tattcOed man to the
bearded lady.
Mrs Hannah Battersby, who one
time toured the country as fat wom-
an, was married TO a Pennsylvania
man, IA it i stated az a curioua fact
that no sooner were they married than
she began to lose flesh and he to gain
it. His weight increased so rapidly that
he soon took to exhibiting himself as a
fat man An exception TO this rule Of
contrast, however. was Colonel Glover,
the giant who stood feet inches. He
was welded to Martha Peabody, the
American giantess. Several years ago,
when they appeared in public together,
they used to receive as much as $3.50 a
week
The Italian consular agent at Cincin-
natl performed the most peculiar mar
riage ceremony on record. The groom
was a well to do resident Of the Ohio
city, and his bride lived in Italy. The
contracting parties were thousands of
miles apart when the wedding was per
formed, the marriage being by proxy.
The consul filled in a blank certificate,
which he forwarded to authorities il
Italy, who in the presence Of the parish
priest exhibited it before the bride, who
affixed her signature, accepting it as her
action. The marriage was perfectly
binding.
A very similar ceremony was per-
formed some time ago. The affair took
place by proxy, and Miss Maple was
married by a clergyman in New York
to a man who at the time Of the mar
riage lay dying in Texas town. The
I bridegroom was represented in the cere-
mony by the BRIDES cousin. who made
/ the necessary responses and signatures
as his proxy. The two lovers had been
engaged for q long time, and Miss
Maple wished to bear the name Of her
betrothed even though she could do SO
only as a widow.
\ The all important ring il sometimes
Y forgotten, and in more than one case
the door key Of the church has had to
1 do duty, but it is not often that portions
Of the marriage service are omitted In
I a southern town, however, a little while
ago, after the party had left the church,
it was discovered that the clergyman
had forgotten the words, with this
ring / thee wed, N etc., thus relieving
4 the bridegroom Of the most serious part
of his obligations, and the fair bride
was minus q wedding ring. Instead of
sitting down to the breakfast the party
] hurried back to the church and were thus
practically married twice in one day.
Cupid ran amuck some years ago
among the old folk Of a Georgia town.
An old soldier. rs years Of age, led to
the altar an aged damsel who had seen
4 ~ summers There were three brides
maids, whose ages respectively were so,
SO and 10. They were all spinsters
( The best man, who was rs, brought the
combined ages Up to 423 years.
An unusual kind Of marriage was
celebrated in New York recently. This
was between d couple both deaf and
dumb They held prayer books while a
\ friend pointed out the different passages
in the service rs they We're spoken BY
the clergyman, and they made the Gus
tomary responses in tho deaf and dumb
alphabet.
An ingenious couple once conceived
the idea Of being married BY phono-
graph. In the place where the BRIDE
groom resided he and the minister went
v over the marriage service, and he recited
II the proper responses into the instrument
The photograph was sent to the lady,
she willingly supplying the requisite,
Ill Will, p" and iii do' in the presence OF
her pastor, who then pronounced the
pair united in matrimony. No explana-
tion is given Of how they got over the
difficulty Of the ring.
"a well known anthrc-olOgist, in de-
scribing various marriage customs, re-
fers to a strange sort Of symbolical mar
riage which j. supposed to have origi-
mated id India lit j. d marriage with
trees, plants, animals and inanimate
objects If any one proposes to enter
upon union which is not in accordance
with traditional ideas, ID j. believed
that i'll luck which is sure to follow
may be averted by a marriage of this
kind, the evil consequences being borne
\ by the object chosen lii various regions
q girl must not marry before her eldest
sister, but the difficulty is overcome by
N the eldest daughter marrying the branch
Of a tree Then the wedding of the
younger daughter may safely be cele-
brated. Buffalo Express.