The Bridgeport times and evening farmer. (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1918-1924, 1918-02-08
AMERICAN BOYS
WIN MANY VERY
PRETTY BRIDES
Sailors of Fleet Succumb to the
Attractions of the COlIeenS
of Emerald Isle.

Base American F1otilla in British |
Waters, Feb. 8.-Every part of the
United States has supplied hero in
love romances that have eliminated
IN happy marriages between Ameri-
can bluejackets and blue-eyed Irish
maidens since the. arrival of the
American destroyer forces in the
south of Ireland. After the war, ev-
cry 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 Ameri-
can sailor.
All of the brides are looking forward
to that happy day when they will see
what their husbands so proudly pro-
claim as Goods country" Already the
American sailor has supplied his Irish
bride with all necessary documents
to establish her identity as an Ameri-
can and some have even had their
property in the United States trans
ferred to their wives as a precaution
in case they lose their lives for their
country.
There is the marriage of a former
ranchman, Bert Adams, to Brigid
O'rourke, whose family descends from
an Irish king of that name. Adams
who is boiler maker on one of the
destroyers, halls from Hugo, Color
ado. He is now arranging to have his
ranch in Colorado, decided to his wife
as a precaution in the event of his
being torpedoed. His wife's relatives
live in Bruce, County Limerick, and
there is plenty of anecdote connect
ed with the family's relation to the
ORrourke's Of kingly fame. 81 don't
know anything about ranching," Mrs,
Adams told the Associated Press cor
respondent, "but I am preparing my
self for the fair land Bert has told
ne so much about by studying a his
tory of Colorado
Then there is the case of Mary
Ridge, head waitress at the leading
hotel here, who lost her heart to Har-
land G. Richie, a machinist's mate
first class, of Alliston, 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 Richie contrived to see her wher
she was off duty. They knew each
| other for four months before Mr..
Richie led her to the altar of the
Village church.
But the record for love at first
sight among the Americans belongs
to young seaman, Paul Valachovic
y name, who used tc work in the
machine shops of the General Elec-
trio Company at Schenectady, n. Y.
He fell in love the first day he step
ped ashore here, from his destroyer.
Ada Jones, a Cork girl, was the OBJ
ject of Cupid's dart. After the war
Valachovic is going to take her back
with him to that thriving city in New
York
A few of the Americans first met
their wives on visits to England.
Charles Harmon Cobia of Charleston,
S. c., fell in love on the beautiful
Cornish riviera with Ada Gilbert, a
widow of "a, whose home was in Ply
ruouth. Another English bride is
Nora Elizabeth Kilt, who was mar
ried to Joseph w. Highfield- of Des
Moines, Ia.
But the majority of the American
married Irish girls who lived in the
vicinity of the American naval base
and whom they met at the dance hall
iOA Ao41OI ohdIAilS Illus bOI IL
Francis Phillips is now Mrs. Leo Vim
cent FIavel of Hanover, Mass, and
Mary Ellen Sullivan has become the
wife of Thomas A. Balschi of Mount
Carmel, Pa. After the war Mary
I 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
Spaulding of DeLand, Fla, has mar
ried Ester Allen, While Oral E. Cox
of lola, Kan, won the hand of Phyl-
lis 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. Hol-
der of Denver, Colo, and Michael ].
Della Roco of Schenectady, N. Y. And
the list gives promise of growing
steadily.