The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1900-08-31
AN UNWISE
- = " '' OHIO GIRL
She Married For the Purpose OF
Going to Paris.
HUSBAND A SENATOR'S SON
Both Agreed That the Marriage Should
BE Annuiled Immediately on Re-
turning From Paris; Then
They Didn't Go.

Washington, Aug. 29.-In a petition
filed in the supreme court Of the Dis
trict Of Columbia by a young woman,
who halls from xenia, Ohio, is told
one Of the most remarkable stories
ever related in q document of that
character. 1t is a story Of an apparently
unsophisticated maiden, who married
the son of a United States senator for
the sole purpose of going to Paris tn
enjoy the sights and delights of the ex-
position, with the understanding that
the marriage, which was to be merely
a formal matter, should be annulled
when the primary object was attain
ed.
Mrs. Walter P. Turner Is the petition
er. She Is the wife of the son of Sem
ator Turner, of the state Of Washington,
who, by the way was once telegrapher.
Before her marriage she was Miss Ven
ME Knowles, a member Of a well known
Xenia family. From her petition 1t ap-
pears that, although a wife, she is still
a maid. She says that being very
young and having lived secluded life
in the shelter of her parents home, in
small town, she was unacquainted
with the world and it's ways. Knowing
nothing of the laws of marriage, nor of
the Importance and gravity of the mar
ried relation, she entered into wedlock
without reflection
UPON IT'S SERIOUSNESS.
Two years ago Miss Knowles, for she
was single then, came to Washington,
from her home in. Ohio, and until last
April was employed as a clerk in the
postoffice department. She is % years
Of age, she says, and those who know
testify to her prepossessing appearance.
Her petition sets forth that life in all
were new to her. and, being away from
her parents, she had no one to advise
her and correct her youthful errors Of
judgment.
She had heard much of Paris and its
delights, and longed to go there, and
finally conceived the idea of securing an
appointment with the United States
commission to the exposition. The plan,
she says, appealed with undue at
tractiveness to her youthful fancy and
immature judgment, and the more she
thought Of it the more enticing 1t SEEM
command and appealed to friends to
help her, but met only with discourage
ment. The United States commission
er was unwilling to employ young and
unmarried women for service in Paris.
She was given to understand, however,
she AYERS, that If she were married it
would not be difficult for her husband
to secure place. and he could take her
to Paris to live during the exposition.
The young woman says she had
known young Turner for several
months, but had regarded him merely
as an acquaintance, with never
A THOUGHT OF MARRIAGE.
So far as she knew he, too, had no
thought or desire of marrying her.
She met him on March 6, last, and told
him of her ambition and likewise her
troubles, remarking that she guessed
she would have to get married and
secure the place for her husband.
Thereupon, she declares, Turner volun-
teered to marry her. explaining there
would be no necessity for their assum-
ing conjugal relations, and when their
visit to Paris ended the marital bonds
could be dissolved. She says that at
first she would not consent to such a
marriage, but her ignorance having led
her to accept Turner's representations
as true, and, desiring above all things
else, to go to Paris, she finally agreed
to his proposition.
The next day they We're married in
Alexandria, Va, by the Rev. DR.. Be-
velles, a Methodist Episcopal minister.
Immediately after the ceremony they
raturned to WASHINGTON and went to
their separate homes, and at no time
since, she declares, have they assumed
the relations Of husband and wife. Act
ing upon the advice of her friends, who
told her 1t was out of the question for
them to go abroad and maintain the
relations they had agreed upon, she
says she gave up the idea of visiting
Paris AS the reasons that led her into
becoming Turner's wife no longer eX-
list, she asks that the marriage contract