Typed as spelled and written
Lena Stone Criswell

THE MARLIN DEMOCRAT
(Missing) Year - Number  (Missing)
Marlin, Texas, Thursday, February 20, 1902
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DRAMATIS--MATRIMONI.

       Sunday night at the late hour of 11:30 Rev. D. H. Hotchkiss was aroused from slumbers to perform the ceremony that united in marriage Mr. W. H. Stowe and Miss Gazzie Fowler of Mart.
       This event was the culmination of a day fraught with excitement, sensastion (sic) and lurid pyrotecnics, in which shot guns, pistols and knives took a prominent part.
       The first act in this matrimonial drama, bordering on the tragedic, occurred in the new town of Mart Sunday morning.  It was a continous act that lasted all day with short intermissions and slightly shifting scenes--the young man leading in the shifting with an irate father following in his wake with a double barrelled shot gun.  There were several times a narrow escape for the young man, and in one instance he was forced to take refuge under the bed in a neighbor's house to hide from the pursuing parent who was thoroughlly bent on preventing the marriage.  But Mr. Stowe and his fiance were just as thoroughly determined that the marriage should occur before another day dawned--and it did.
       After many efforts the couple on matrimony bent, eluded the father and headed for Marlin, the young man being armed with a shot gun and other implements of offense and defense.
       They drove in about 10:30 at night and left the badly jaded team at Davis livery stable and sought out deputy county clerk Stallsworth.
       The young man made the usual affidavit that the young lady was of age and that there were no LEGAL objections to the marriage and the papers were issued.
       They left the clerk's office and repaired to the Methodist parsonage and as the papers appeared regular and the couple answered all the questions to them propounded satisfactorially in every respect.  Mr. Hotchkiss tied the knot in the most approved fashion.
       Mr. and Mrs. Stowe spent the night in Marlin and the next morning went to the long distance telephone and communicated with the seat of war to determine the propriety of returning home.  From the "lay of the land" as reported from the Mart end of the lien, the young man concluded that negotiations for peace would be premature and in fact that it might not be healthy to return to Mart until the atmosphere cleared up somewhat.
       After calling on the Democrat the newly wedded pair turned their face to the setting sun, the groom remarking that his magazine was amply sufficient for any emergency, should the "old man" come in for a "finish."

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Copyright permission granted to Theresa Carhart and her volunteers for printing
by The Democrat, Marlin, Falls Co., Texas