The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1912-09-26
LOVE IN
MARRIAGE PACT
CALIFORNIA COUPLE SIGN AN
AGREEMENT THAT NEITHER
is TO HAVE ANY RIGHT TO
THE OTHER.

Pasadena, Calif.-In .he shadow
of a prenuptial contract which does
not tightly bind the contracting par
ties to a maritnal life such as is pre-
scribed by custom, Miss Heloiz Chan
dler, daughter of Julia Davis Chan
der of Philadelphia and Carleton w.
Washburne of this city. were mar
ried at the bedside of the bride
groom's mother.
Judge Robert Mcdonald was re-
tanned two days ago to perform the
ceremony, but a perusal of the I'M
usual compact the young people had
signed brought misgivings to the jur-
list. and after a lengthy conference
with the wedding principals and a
half hours argument with w. A.
Witherspoon, the bridegroom's at
torney, Mcdonald, donned his hat
and solemnly walked away.
II couldn't conscientiously per-
form the ceremony in the light of the
existing prenuptial contract" said
Judge Mcdonald. ut doesn't meet
with my ideas of marriage"
Substitute Quickly Found.
When it looked as though there
would be no wedding bells this NOR
ming the bridegroom busted himself
at the telephone, and it was a scant
quarter of an hour before Judge
Northrup was speeding to the front
in an automobile from Alhambra.
Northrup did not dissect the pre-
nuptial compact, which among it's
many other features permits either
of the parties to mate with another
person or persons during the term
of their married life, but on ascer-
tanning no legal bar to the wedding
existed, prepared to perform the
ceremony.
Pronunciation of the form laid
down by the code of the state OF
California, without any flourishes
concerning love, honor and obey
or until death do us part" made
husband and wife of the twain, who
met for the first time September S.
became engaged September s, fixed
the wedding day September IL, got
the marriage license Friday, Septem-
Der 10, and ended the whirlwind
courtship today.
The contract, which seemed to
prove a stumbling block in the march
to the judicial altar, vas drawn by
the bridegroom several months ago.
Mr.. Washburne, an alumus of Leland
Stanford university and formerly a
student at the University of Chicago
declares he has some original ideas
on the marital state and all that per-
tains thereto. He is twenty-three
years OF age. His bride, who concurs
with Washburne in the unusual ten
cts he sets forth, is twenty-one.
AOpsnn tSVpvA NruSf ho Erop
Thus starts the document which
the pair have nailed to the mast of
their matrimonial bark:
Love to exist must be free. But
for the enrichment of the nature and
the establishment of the JOY of the
parents, as we'll as for the best rear
that man and woman cooperate as
parents of their own children. And
for the sake of the happiness of the
children and parents, as well as the
free intercommunication of both
with the rest of society, it is neces-
sary to conform to the conventions at
least to the extent of having a legal
marriage before man and woman
become parents"
Both of the wedding principals ad-
mitted it looked better to have a
legal ceremony performed.
But" smiled the bride, I'VE just
wouldn't have a minister. Judge Nc
Donald is just lovely, but conscien-
tious scruples wouldn't permit him
to o%ficiate."
Further along the compact states
that marriage does not give either
husband or wife any control or pos
session of the other. If the marriage
is not fruitful, either in children or
spiritual uplift, both partners shall
be perfectly free to choose others and
marry them. Should the spiritual love
and life at any time the con-
jugal relation shall cease at the same
time. There should never be a caress
which was not mutually delightful.
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