Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 309, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 December 1912 — Stop Game of Cards to Get Marriage License [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Stop Game of Cards to Get Marriage License

|NDIANAPOLJS, IND.—A suggestion A from friends that they get married ■at once, made half in fun, it is said, caused John Patterson and Miss Xmma Shepp to disturb a penuchle igame in which John Rauch, county clerk, was playing. They sought Rauch in order to get a marriage license, and they aroused Mayor Shank from his slumbers shortly after midnight that the mayor might [perform the ceremony. It was not a full dress affair—far from it. The mayor was clad in a pair of trousers, his nightshirt and a Rrince Albert coat, and also wore a ipair of shoes, which were unlaced. Patterson and Miss Shepp were out calling on friends, when some one suggested they get married at once, ilt was agreed it would be a "lark,” . and aip automobile was called. (Rauch’s home was visited, and he was induced to leave a penuchle game and go to the cqprt house about 11:00 p. m. and issue a license. "Let’s get Mayor Shank," some one suggested. “But the mayor is probably in bed,” said another. “That don’t make any difference,” replied the first “No one but the mayor will do.”

The couple, accompanied by three young women and a man, went to the mayor’s home and with considerable difficulty aroused him. Rauch, William Brommer, a saloon keeper, and August Pohlman followed in an automobile, wishing to see the fun. Shortly after midnight the ceremony was performed and the couple said they would leave at once for a trip to Pittsburgh. “John was feeling good and I thought we had better get married while he felt like it,” the mayor says the bride explained. Immediately after the ceremony the bride exclaimed: t “Now that I am married I am going to kiss a fat man,” and she kissed a member of the party. The mayor declined to accept a fee. Patterson is a printer. The bride’s home is in Muncie.