Rensselaer Journal, Volume 11, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 November 1901 — KENTUCKY’S GRETNA GREEN. [ARTICLE]

KENTUCKY’S GRETNA GREEN.

Haarly 90,000 Sloping Couples KutM There la Fifteen Tears. The greatest Gretna Green of ths United States is no more. The new law passed by the Indiana legislature is in force, and no more can runaway couplea. be married in Jeffersonville, the little city opposite Louisville, Ky. Young lovers who live in nearby states are not the only oneß who are sad at the changed conditions. Two whiteheaded ’squires sit in their offices and mourn for the fat fee that will no longer be theirs. “Runners" who met Incoming boats and tried to guide the runaways to their respective employer —each ’squire had a dozen of them, so intense was the rivalry for this lucrative business—“run” no longer, but have turned to other walks. 'Squire John H. Hause still has his office at the top of the hill overlooking the Louisville and Jeffersonville ferry. The .old horseshoe still hangs over his door, and the matrimonial sign still stares the passer-by in the face ’Squire Hause has married 8,000 couples. ’Squire Nixon, who has been in the business three years, has married 1,400. He is a watchmaker by trade, and has kept up hlB business, so he will not miss the fees so much. Recently Magistrate Ephraim Keigman died. He held the record over all competitors. He married 10 000 couples •during his life. In fifteen years ths three—Hause, Keigman and Nixon, Keigman’s successor—married 19,000 runaway couples.' These three men have derived from these marriages clear of fees paid to "runners,” a little over 8100,000. County Clerk Carr also mourns a rich source of revenue taken from him. During the year 1900 1,200 licenses were issued to out-of-town couples. Each was forced to pay $3 for a certificate, Of- which the clerk kept $2. So it can be seen that he loses $2,400 a year of his Income. All Jeffersonville mourns with these men, says the New Yor k Times, for its best advertisement has ceased. But thus do old institutions pass away. Many of the 38,000 who were married in Jeffersonville are still living, and many of the 76.000 eyes may possibly be wet with tears as they think that other sweethearts will not be able to flee to the haven to which they rushed to escape obdurate parents.