Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1917-03-16
A Singular
Marriage
By DONALD CHAMBERLIN

for the first time among the passen-
gers who were recovering from NAL
de mer and getting out from the ships
smells to help them do so Helen Tim
erson l little thought that within five
days she would be my wife and we
would be married in a way such as no
couple had been married before.
l was going abroad to establish a
wireless telegraph station, wireless te-
Biography being my profession. kept
away from the wireless office on the
ship, fearing to make known my inter
est In wireless matters, and | did not
care to have what l might say re-
ported. But a time came when this
did not deter me.
We were steaming along through a
thick fog one afternoon when suddenly
I felt a shock. We had collided with a
ing us with a big hole in our ships
bottom. l ran to the wireless office,
and from that time till the vessel went
down l alternated with the operator
calling for help. Meanwhile the ship
had beer put on a course toward the
shore, and when we We're left on the
water we were not far from it.
l was picked up by a boat that had
left the ship with but a few persons in
her, and during the exposure that fol-
lowed they all died. How l kept body
and soul together l I'M at a loss to
know. | have a haZy remembrance of
the boat beng overturned and l ex-
pecting to drowned. But later |
found myself lying on a beach. This
seemed like life to me, and l made an
effort. Sitting up, l looked about me
and saw only bodies of those who had
been washed ashore from the wreck.
1t was a grewsome sight, one that I
shall never forget. And I was oppress-
ed with the thought how narrowly /
had escaped a like fate.
Presently | arose and staggered
about on my feet. One of the first OBJ
jects to confront me was the girl l
had seen on the steamers deck-Hel-
en Timerson. / supposed she was
dead. l approached her and saw that
she breathed. l had a flask in my
pocket with top well screwed on, and
l had refrained from taking the last
drink. This l gave to the girl, and it
revived her.
Looking about me, l discerned at a
distance the a%ntennae Of a wireless
station. Expecting that there would
be persons there, 1 took Miss Timerson
In my arms and carried her there.
What vas my surprise to find the
place deserted. Why no was there
is another story. too long to be given
here. Leaving the young lady on "A
lounge, / went On the roof of the sta
ton building and saw that we were
on an island, though the mainland
was dfmly visible. There were pro-
visions in plenty, and 1 prepared some
thing for Miss Timerson, feeding her
carefully.
Well, to make a long story short, we
were the only two persons on that Is
land for a week. Others started to go
there, but were turned from their
course. Within a couple of days of
our arrival the young lady and | had
quite recovered our strength, and l
noticed hat she seemed concerned at
the equivocal position in which she
was placed being alone with a man.
| told her that the circumstances in
which we were placed would preserve
us from scandal. She replied that
they should. preserve us, but they
would not. There were always per
sons who would take advantage OF
,..o1 n rs+,,a Etoa 70 n CT n cl11r
/ told her that if she felt that way
about the matter there was but n re
course for ds-to be married. After
much pondcring without reply to this
she said that she did not see how we
could be married, since there was no
n to marry us and no witnesses. A
plan occurred to me for a marriage
seemed so wild that | said nothing to
her about it at the time.
The next day l led Miss Timerson
into the operating room and began to
call for ships out at sea | soon came
In touch with a tramp steamer 500
miles distant and asked if there was a
clergyman aboard. The reply being i'll
lie dulIlldtlNG l. NdilCQ lOA hihi dli0
asked If he would marry a couple by
wireless. He assented, and I then told
Helen what l had done.
We were an hour talking the matter
over, at the end of which time we
agreed to be married. l called the ship
1 had called before, gave the parson
our names and such other information
as was required, and we went through
a marriage ceremony by wireless teleg-
raphy. The minister was requested
to send the certificate to her address,
duly witnessed by two persons on
board the vessel.
The day after u union a boat ar
rived, bringing persons to take charge
of the station, and the same boat took
me and my bride to the mainland. On
reaching it we learned of the great
ommotiO axcitad nv tho loss of the