The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1906-12-04
Enjoying Dose of Leisurely
Repentance in Fastness
of the Ozarks.
TO ANNUL : MARRIAGE
Fanny questions Validity of We'd
ding and Sends Scouts to As
certain the Truth.

Fred Memhard. tailor's model and
thoughtless kid. is strictly in the
hands of his relatives and they are
trying to rescue him from the clutches
of Lucille Mcleod. Miss McLeod's
clutch is not so particularly secure at
that and it is not on record that she
cares much
Fred Memhard is a good looking.
well-bred boy. who had more of the
romantic turn than agreed with him
In his sober senses he might not have
thought of acting as a fall guy" for
Miss Lucille Mcleod on the eve of her
trial for the murder OF a man whom
she knew not wisely but too we'll
Memhard did not consult his friends
before he espoused Lucille Mcleod.
He recently had been divorced from
Miss Blackman with whom he had
lived happily until a disagreement
grew out of childish pique. Whether
Miss Blackman divorced him or wheth-
er he divorced Miss Blackman or what
the grounds were had little to do with
his meeting the girl whose trial was
] pending.
Went the Pace.
His life from the time he was sep
| arated from his first wife until he hook
| ed up with Miss Mcleod was a series
| of drinking bouts. He was careless of
<his companionship and was inclined to
/ be a %real devil.1z He made many
street car visits to Hammond during
| the summer previous to the fatal Oct.
27. He had a few friends here who
besought him to behave. He came
/
and sometimes with young women out
on a lark.
Introduced Miss Mcleod.
The last of the latter he introduced
in Hammond was Miss Mcleod. None
of his friends here recognized in Miss
Mcleod the young woman who was
about to stand trial for the murder of
! Nieman. Farther away from that was
the idea that he contemplated marry
ing her.
When Memhard came out to Ham
mond to marry Miss Mcleod, which
he did with license and Judge, he kept
aloof from his friends, whether by ac-
cident design.
If he was in the same condition at
the time the ceremony was performed
as he was on occasions of his pre-
vious visit to Hammond with Miss Nc
Leod. it is possible that he did not
realize what he was doing.
In any event the marriage appears
to have fulfilled the prophesy of the
old adage which concerns itself with
hasty weddings and the leisurely re-
| pentance, which is alleged to invari-
| ably follow such escapades. The lat
est phase in the case has developed in
the spiriting away of the hero of the
romance to the Businesses Of the Ozark
moutains, far from the maddenfng
crowds, ignoble strife, and what is
more to the point, twenty-fiv miles
from the nearest railroad station.
This fact was brought out by visit
to Hammond yesterday of two persons
who claimed to be a sister and uncle
of the bridegroom. and whose mission
in this city was to ascertain the valid
ity of the marriage of Memhard with
the Mcleod woman. They said Mem
hards actions had cast some doubt in
their minds as TO whether he had really
married the girl. He would not deny
the union. they declared, but on the
other hand, he had refused to confirm
1t.
Claim He Was Drugged.
When shown the records in the case
which attested to the marriage having
been performed. they explained that
it was their belief that the bride had
drugged Memhard and while he was
under the influence OF these agencies,
she succeeded in getting him to stand
for his part in the ceremony.
Memhard's absence in Missouri they
explained was for the sole purpose
Of avoiding a meeting with his wife.
The uncle said Memhard had come
home a few days before his marriage
: dazed, and had escaped while sttll in
that condition, and was married. On
these grounds they Will seek TO have
the union annulled.
The question of the validity of the
2 couples marriage was raised once before
! in a query to THE LAKE COUNTY TINES
e over the long distance phone. Or
y that occasion THE TINES satisfied itsel
that the ceremony had been perform
d ed by recourse to the records.
h A significant fact pointing to a pos
}, sible mistake in that line seemed t
+ have been the absence Of Memhar,
from the court room during the trla
Of the Mcleod woman. The dramati
u effect upon the jury was thereby los
" to some extent, but there is no doub
It the report Of her marriage had helpe
D. some in gaining Miss McLeod's acquit