Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 33, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 August 1895 — Eloped on a Steer. [ARTICLE]

Eloped on a Steer.

A story has been received at Sergent, Ky., of a peculiar mountain elopement and wedding under trying circumstances, followed by the forcible separation of the lovers. Saturday morning a couple from Tuscola, Dickinson County, Va., appeared at Coeburn, a station on the Clinch Valley division of the Norfolk and Western Railroad, having come from their homes, a distance of thirty-two miles, that night on a steer. They were Miss Louella Regal, a peachy cheeked girl of 16, and Burton Preston. aged 18, son of a wealthy farmer They said they came there to get married, but, having no money, and, considering the girl’s age, it was impossible to procure a marriage license. Sympathy for the young couple's woes brought a determination on the part of the many spectators, and someone suggested that they give them enough money to take them to Bristol, Tenn., where it would be no trouble to get married. The sum was at once raised, and when the train pulled up at Coeburn the young people left for Bristol, embraced in each other’s arms. After being married the couple started across the country on foot, a distance of 73 miles, to their home. On arriving at Tacoma, in Wise County, they Were suddenly surrounded by three masked men and the girl’s father. The young girl was taken from her boy husband after a fight, and young Preston disappeared in the mountains near Tacoma, and is now a fugitive.