Los Angeles herald., 1907-01-20
UNKNOWING He
WOULD WE'D TWINS
NEITHER GIRL NOR HE AWARE
TILL THEY EL0PE
When on Their Journey Man Aseer-
tains, but Can't Decide Which SIS
ter Hc Loves, SO Flees from
Both Sweethearts
An ucinl TO Thc ItcrnId.

Slvcial TO The Herald.
BINGHAMTON, n. Y, Jan 10
Merle l.. Aiken, until few weeks ago
resident of Binghamptou and
now supposed to be either i'm New YORK
city or still fleeing to escape the Wrath
of two indignant beauties, had per-
haps the strangest romantic adventure
of the year. Aiken clopcd with twins.
And not only that, but neither ne nor
the twins, until the train was nearly
ten miles out of Troy on the way 10
Albany whore they agreed to meet
knew that he was oluping WIN polh
of them. Even then neither of the
girls was able to discover which one
he wanted to clopc with ana, ooth
claiming the honor each grow jealous
of the other.
Nor has the puzzle ever been straight
ened out for Aiken, seeing the cilmaN
of the development developing to SUD 10
denly and too strcnuously, ran away,
leaned on to trolley car and reachtd
Albany in safety. The twins, mean
time. let their love for Aiken turn 10
wrath and pursued him to Albany,
but he had fled further aheld' so lheS
returned home. ,,,....
Aiken either was in love with Mtnna
or Nina Naylor-hc alone knows
which. and perhaps he does not Al
any rate he was, or protested 10 pe,
in love with one of them, or perhaps
If SO bappens that the Naylor twins
are so remarkably alike that 1t was
a common joke in the family to de-
clare that the could not tell themselNcS
apart without looking i'll the mirror
Twins Devoted to One Another
Minna and Nina loved each other
with devotion even greater than Is
ordinary between sisters, or even pc
tween twins one slanderer sald lhal
each one was so selfish she loved the
Other because she was so like her, but,
as a matter of fact, they were not
selfish. any more than any young glrl
possessing good looks and good ClOthcs
and loving pleasure, is selfish lhey
needed no chums, and rather held alool
from the other girls in their crowd,
and their special pleasure seemed 10
lie in being with each other
Nothing came to mar their comrade-
shin until about eight months ago
when they were introduced to Merle
Aiken. a handsome, clever, or rather
bright. young man, who had accepted
position with a railway company Al
ken hailed from somewhere over in
Massachusetts, and was superior TO
the Young men of Binghamton at
least in dress and manners, and in the
language of one young woman he cut
quite a sWath' until he saw and fell IN
love with the Naylor tWtns-Whlch, no
one knows. 1t is certain that ne met
Minna first, or at least the one VINO
was introduced by the name of Minna,
for as a matter of fact the twins had
come to be so accustomed to having
other persons mistake them that they
answered to either name without hesi-
tation.
He was introduced to Nina just a
few minutes later. He walked nome
he in H.
twins asked permission to call again,
and received permission from both.
1t was noticed in the NaYlor family
that after that first night the twins did
not appear to be so atfecuOnate as they
had been before. In fact, it is known
that they had a squabbe while they
were dressing to receive Aiken the first
night he called One claimed that All
ken asked her if he could call and the
other declared that he had asked her
or at least meant to.
That call was the beginning of one of
the oddest cOurtships ON record. Aiken
apparently could not tell them apart,
and the girls. each claiming him as
her own. refused to yield to the other.
For a long time, two or three weeks
at least, which is a long time when
any one is in love, Aiken saw both of
them when he called. The family
laughed over the odd little comedy Of
the first love affair of the twins, who
were then only Is, but they did not
suspect or expect any serious develop
mcntS. The girls We're jealous Of one
another and tried in every way to out
wit cpe another. Some of their rivals,
who also rather liked Aiken, declared
that they We're "tlirty' whatever tnat
may mean. and that it simply was hor-
rid the way they ran after Aiken.
Minna was furious one day, and i'm
the presence of the assembled family
accused Nina of going downtown ana
waiting purpoSoly for Aiken, and fur
thcr she declared that her twin sister
had maliciously led Aiken to believe
that il was Minna who so openly had
encouraged him.
Good Joke to the Family
The sisters We're so jealous that for
weeks they scarcely would speak tn
one another, ANA each accused the
other of illogitimate efforts to "cut her
out" The comedy was enjoyed by the
entire family ANA many We're the
jokes that were made over the sup
posed prcdiCmont of Aiken, who
loved either or both Of them.
The climax of the trouble came when
Minna tclophouiug i'm the name OF
Nina, made am engagement to meet
Aiken down town One evening and go
to the matinee with him. She told him
" Nlll' a 4'l Ii4''I INV ll''ll l' 'llI, NI
that She could show it TO her parents
and was careful to tell him to address
it to Nina, and not Jet on that they
had made the oncagomout before The
next day Nina was ONcrJOyod 20 roe
ccive the invitation, and at once Jc-
copied
Later Minna telcphoncd Aiken that
she could not go, and asked him TO call
on her that evening Nina went q,
meet Aiken, who Of course called 0uo
spent the evening with Ninna. Whcr
the trick was discovered the sisters
quarreled openly and the situation bo-
came SO tense that the parents of IN,
girls, concluding that the affair hac
gone far enough, forbade them to- hov,
anything to do with Aiken and thC
father explained the case TO the yoml
man, asking him to- remain away fol