The Cordova daily times., 1918-02-16
MUCH ROMANCE IS DEVELOPING
 AMONG SAILORS

| BRITISH WATERS, Jan. 20.-Every part of the United States has supplied
 a hero in love romances that have cul-
 minated in happy marriages between American bluejackets and bIue-eyed | Irish maidens since the arrival of the American destroyer forces in the south | of Ireland. After the war every part | of the United States from Maine to California and from the Great Lakes | to Florida will boast of an Irish bride
 who was wooed and won in her native | land by an American sailor.
 All of the brides are looking forward
 to that happy day when they will see
 what their husbands so proudly pro- claim as Gods country Already the American sailor has supplied his Irish i bride with all necessary documents to establish her identity as an American,
 and some have even had their prop,
 erty in the United States transferred
 to their wives as a precaution in easel
 they lose their lives for their country.
 There is the marriage of a formerI
 ranchman, Bert Adams, to BrigtdI
 O'Rourke, whose family descends from
 an Irish king of that name. Adams,
 who is a boilermaker on one of the
 destrOyers, halls from Hugo, Colo. HeI
 is now arranging to have his ranch
 in Colorado deeded to his wife as al precautiOn in the event of his beingI torpedoed, His wife's relatives live in Bruce, County Limerick, and there is plenty of anecdote connected with the fami1y's relation to the O'Rourkes of kingly fame "I don't know any thing about ranching," Mrs. Adams told the Associated Press correspon-l dent, "but I am preparing myself for the fair land Bert has told me so much about by studying a history of Colo rado" J
 Then there is the case of MaryII Ridge, head waitress at the leading hotel here, who lost her heart to liar land C. Ritchie, a machinists mate, first class, of Allston, Mass. She was one of the most popular girls in town. The dining room over which she pre- sided is out of bounds to enlisted men, but Ritchie cOntrived to see her when she was off duty. They knew each other for four months before Mir. Ritchie led her to the altar of the village church.
 But the record for love at first sight among the Americans belongs to q . young seaman, Paul ValachOvic by name, who used to work in the ma chine shop of the General ElectrfcI Company at Schnectady, N. Y. He fell in love the first day he stepped ashore lere from his destroyer. Ada Jones, ! Cork girl, was the object Of Cupid's dart. After the war Valachovic is ,oing to take her back with him to hat thriving city of New York.
 A few of the Americans first met heir wives on visits to England 7harles Harmon Cobia of Charleston. S. C., fell in love on the Beautiful Cornish Riviera with Ada Gilbert widow of 24, whose home was in Ply mouth. Another English bride is Nora Kit, who was married to Joseph w. HighfieTd of Des Moines, Iowa.
 But the majority of the Americans married Irish girls who lived i'll the of the American naval base, md whom they met at the dance hall ,r roller skating rink. Thus Dorf- Frances Phillips is now Mrs. Leo Vim cent Flavell of Hanover, Mass, and Mary Ellen Sullivan has become the wife of Thomas A. Balschi or Mount Carmel, Pa. After the war Mary O'Keefe, who became the wife of Ed ward c. Turner, expects to desert the trying climate of Southern Ireland for that of sunny San Jose, Cal, which is her husbands home. William SpauId- ing of DeLand, Fla, has married Ester Allen, while Oral E. Cox of lola. Kan, won the hand of Phyllis Rose Rogers.
 Among others of the American sail ors who have taken to themselves a wife over here are Benjamin J. Moore of Dallas, Texas; Ebert R. Bicking- ham of Pensacola, Fla; Harry E. Holder of Denver, Colo, and Michael I, Della Roco of Schenectady, N. Y. And the list gives promise of growing
 steadily.
 ~ rw,c ATT A MISTAKE.