Rensselaer Union, Volume 9, Number 25, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 March 1877 — A Michigan Matrimonial Mystery—A Somewhat Remarkable Story. [ARTICLE]

A Michigan Matrimonial Mystery—A Somewhat Remarkable Story.

The Mary E. Knox case has been discussed by the Homld and other journals as one of the most curious cases on record, and yet the dust-covered legal records of Michigan tell of a case still more singular. Miss Knox was engaged to a young mhn named Merritt, the day was set for the nuptials, they drove away together and were married,, and now Merritt vows he was not the bridegroom. Bhe vows thitahajKns, but cannot prove it, and both make out a pretty good case. One may well argue that he ought to know whether he ever married a certain young lady or not, and the said young lady may well argue that she ought to know the man who rode to the clergyman’s with her, stood up beside her, made his responses in due fbrm, and drove her back home. These arguments are what mystify the Knox ctee. Now for one still more singular: About twenty years ago there lived in Centra 1 ! Michigan a curious old Benedick named Dodsworth At the age of-fifty he married a girl of twenty, and when the burden of sixty years bore him down, his wife was only half his.age. Dodsworth was noted for his peculiarities, but the Climax camo when he found himself on his dying bed. He was worth about $30,000, and he hadn’t a blood relative living, so far as he knW. He wanted to leave his property to his wife, ’as the pair had "lived very happily, but yet he could not leave it without displaying some of his peculiarities inthe-provisions of the will. Some oilmen display a mean spirit when makindßheir wills, and draft in a provisioncutting the wife off with a shilling if she marries 'again. This old man wasn’t of that stamp. His young wife was good looking, vivacious, fond of society, and it was folly to suppose she would mourn forjier “ late departed"any great length OF’time. Therefore, Mr. Dodsworth turned heel on the usual custom and said in his will: In case my wife Celle does not take unto herself another Ipiabana within thirteen months fiom date of my burial, all bequests otherwise madd in this will are to the State of Michigan, be .used for building and furnishing a hppse for old women. r Whether Golla was pleased or displeased at this provision;-deponent saith not, but the old man hhdmot been under the sod more than sixr nkonths when the widow was said to ( be. looking out for another man. If it was singular for the dying Dodsworth to urge his wife to marry qgain, it was still more singular that he should desire • the ceremony to be performed under, lire following circumstances. viz.; '■ And it is made incumbent on said Celia Dodsworth that, in taking a new husband, the marriage ceremony shall be performed in the big barn on my farm on the H road, ft shall take place at ten o’clock in the evening, on -tup main flomy wlthout lights of any description, with til doors shut, and a free invitation shall beextended to all. The clergyman stand in the stables and the bride and groqm on the main floor, and the principal partieq to the mremony shall be dressed in The her intention to faithfully obey in spirit and letter, the will was probated, and the twelfth month had scarcely passed before she issued an invitation for the public to attend a wedding at’the big barn. Just who the groom was to be no one could positively assert, as the widow had been keeping Company with a widower, a bachelor, and twojyoung men, and as far as any outsider could judge, she loved one as well as the other. Being good-looking and talented, and having a fortune behind her, it was not strange that she should have a number of suitors, bhe seemed to enter into the spirit of the affair with great zest, as also did the minister ; and, to further Sify the people in attendance, the ). entered the barn alone at one door, the groom alone at another, and no one knew that the minister had arrived until his voice Was heard in the stables. There were at least 200 people present, and each one understood that even the striking of a match would break the will. Many jokes were passed, and considerable confusion existed, but at length the minister announced that all was ready. The ceremony was gone through with, and at its conclusion, the affair having been a “ profound success," a rush was made for the bride; she was kissed by a hundred men, and was then carried home, a'distance of a mile and a half, in a big arm-chair. Now comes the mystery. When the lady was down at her own door the widower, the bachelor and the two young men each claimed to be her true and lawful husband. None of the crowd could say who was the lucky man, the minister was at sea, and the bride herself seemed to h|ve doubts. The widower was the 'man- of her choice, but in the confusion he could have been hustled aside, and he did affirm that an attempt had been made to choke him and get him out of the barn. The, bachelor vowed that she had promised to marry him, as also did both young men, and each one was sure that he held the widow’s plump hand and was legally married to her. The four men had a fight, but that didn’t mend matters. The crowd ducked two of them in a creek, but that didn’t decide the question. Just how it would have terminated had hot'(fie widower been a man of nerve no one can tell, as the other three had already Appealed to the law, when the widower stepped in and took his place as husband anq settled with the others for $2,000 eacK Onb of the young men, now over forty years old, and having all the wife he wants (she weighs 280 pounds), is living in this city, and, during an interview had with him to-day, he solemnly and earnestly assured your correspondent that he was legally married to the Widow Dodsworth that night in the big barn. Another of thb partiaß. lives in Clinton County, and he has time and. again asserted that he is the womb’s true and lawful husband, so help him God* The bachelor is dead, but were be alive and kicking he wdtfld renew his oft-repaated protestations: “ I married her, by gum! and, by gum, I ought to have her V'—Jackoon (Mich.) Cor.M. Y. r —No more Bunday trains in Canada. The Dominion Government has issued orders that no trains shall be run dn the Sabbath Day eicept In case of great emergency, and then only on direct order es the Government.