Los Angeles herald., 1907-04-11
YOUTHFUL ELOPERS
Hailed into COURT
HONEYMOON ENDS BEFORE
JAIL DOOR
Little Mary Spencer Weeps for Hubby,
Who May Face Serious Charge
In the Juvenile Court
Today

Little Mary Virginia Spencer the 49,
year-old child wife who, with her hus-
band only eight years her senior, were
yesterday arrested by Deputy Sheriffs
Wright and Sepulveda, will today APP
pear before Judge Wilbur of the ju-
venile court to explain why she was
naughty and eloped.
The little girl is one of the brightest
and prettiest youngsters that the
matron of the detention home has ever
had under her protection, and yester-
day the child's gentle manners and good
disposition made her q host of friends.
The youthful married couple were ar
rested at cheap lodging house on
South Main street at IL o'clock yester-
day after the officers had been trailing
them since the girls disappearance on
April 8.
That the 13-year-old girl could fool
both county clerk and preacher is q
mystery but her ways are odd and she
wore her mothers long dress and man
aged the deception.
She left home on the morning of
April 5 and met George Tabbert her
sweetheart.
Tabbert is a manly sort of young
fellow, 81 years of age and makes a
good living at tile work. He stated yes
terday that Mary's mother didn't treat
her right and that he would do anything
in the world to help the little girl.
Together they went to Santa Ana, the
bride and groom-to-be. 1t was like a
! lark Of school youngsters. The boy
wore his best clothes; the girl, rather
| large for her age, had smuggled one of
her mothers skirts out of the house,
and when she reached a convenient
place she put it on to make her appear
| older. Together they faced and in
quisitive deputy county clerk at Santa
Ana and received their license, show
ing that the boy was 81 and the girl Is.
The marriage certificate is to appear In
court.
Then they came back to Los Angeles
and rented a little room on South Main
street. 1t was to be only q temporary
arrangement, and they planned to have
| a home Of their own and be good to
each other for ever and ever, when two
big officers came in and broke up all the
happiness and romance and took the
girlish bride to the detention home, an
awful humiliation for a real married
where he may be compelled to face a
| felony charge.
| Yesterday afternoon very pretty and
forlorn little girl who ought to have
been home playing with her dollies sat
disconsolately weeping in one of the
| rooms of the detention home with her
nose pressed close to the window pane,
looking out across the court house yards
in the hope that she might catch some
glimpse of her husband as he was
being taken to and from court.
Her statement that they married in
order to escape unpleasantness at home
was corroborated by her husband, who
stated that he married her because lie
thought it was the square thing to get
her away from a place where 1t was
hard for her, and to protect and care
for her and give her as much Of the
sunshine of life as he could.
That statement interested the officers,
as did the boys manly ways, and there
may be no criminal prosecution, al
though under the California laws a
felony has been committed in the mar
riage of a girl under the age of 16
years.
So the young couple will face the
| greatest trouble of their lives this
morning in the Juvenile court If they
do not receive punishment of some sort
or on some charge then the least they
can expect is that they will be separated
and their marriage will be annulled.
| Today a number of friends of both
parties will be in court as character
witnesses, and a great contest is ex-
| pected.