The Hartford herald. [volume] (Hartford, Ky.) 1875-1926, 1911-05-03
Are Spurned BY a ST.
Louis Couple,
WHO UNITE BY PUBLIC PACT
VIII Live Together Right
AlongUnless State Com
pelS Otherwise.
,sEEKING PERFECT OFFSPRING

e. ROehlk, 3SlO OllVe street, ar
fist, and Miss Maria ok, sister of
Hugo Ok, the concertmeister of the
st. Louis Symphony Orchestra, sent
an advertisement to the newspapers
this afternoon to notify their friends
and the public that they had been
united without the forms Of legal
marriage. The announcement is as
follows:
"St. Louis, Mo-, April IL, 1911.
ION the 18th of August, 1910, we.
were united before God and man.
Louis c. Roehlk.
Miss Maria DIX"
The Roehlk' brothers are fresco
and portrait painters and photog-
raphers. The ok sisters are vio-
linists. Their brother, Hugo Ok,
who has been a prominent figure in
symphony concerts for years, ap-
proves the arrangement into which
Maria has entered. He shares the
Roehlk studio with them.
Inquiry at the studio, where Roe
blk, his brother Ernst, Miss ok and
her brother Hugo live, revealed a
strange double romance of the Bo-
hernia, which is the traditional
home of arts devotees.
Not only have Louis Roehlk and
Maria ok signified their choice for
C-Iach other for life without the ben
1T of clergy or sanction of the
State, but a similar union has been
pledged by Ernst Roehlk and Miss
Elizabeth ok, brother and sister Of
the principals in the first agree
ment.
Elizabeth Ok is now in Germany,
taking a course Of violin lessons.
She is wearing a wedding ring given
her by Ernst Roehlk, the latter de-
clared, and he exhibited a ring
which he wears as her gift.
Wedding rings are also displayed
by Louis Roehlk and Maria Ok
hers worn on the left hand, his on
his Tlknl. nc llh6o ASPACoN N--N
q only concessions which the two In
tend to make to the customary mar
rage uses of ordinary civilized So
ciety.
UNLESS the State compels 1t,
said Louis Roehlk to a reporter
while Miss ok stood approvingly
beside him, I'VE shall never &C
through the ordinary marriage Ger
emory. II some officer of the Law
should undertake to prosecute us,
suppose we would waive our objec
lions and satisfy the requirement
But Miss ok is never to change he
name. She and | wish that she con
tinue to be known simply as Mars
4 DIX"
n Hugo ok came here from Ger
\ many four years ago and becam
acquainted with the Roehlk broth
ers. who had then recently opene
their art studio. Louis Roehlk ha
in former years run a wagon sho
in st. Louis, but had taken an al
course in Germany, and had brougt
his brother from that country.
Becoming very friendly with tn
Roehlks, Hugo ok mentioned thel
in his letters to his sisters in Gel
many. The young women came
st. Louis two years ago, and la'
summer they and ok moved int
the Olive-street studio, and the tw
h women began to keep house for I'll
three men.
Last August" said Louis Ro'
blk. maria and ! decided that v
would be married, but not in the o
binary manner. We both regards
the ceremony of church or State
an outward, and, in our case, unne
essary form. am Mason, mer
her of Erwin Lodge of st. Louis,
Knight Templar and Shrine
Through brothers in those organic
tions / learned that the presence
Maria ok in the studio had bee
the subject of gossip. l resolved
end this, and so we sent the adve
\ tisement to a newspaper, settil
August 10 as the date of the ma
rage agreement, since that was Z
time when we first decided on o
future course.
\ "My statement regarding our
lations may seem strange to ma
persons, and it may be asked W
we should call ourselves married
we do not sustain the ordinary
lations of husband and wife. c
only answer by saying that we q
both believers in the power OF !
win and the domination OF mil
' over matter, and that we hope,