A Surprise Wedding at the Knights of Pythias Hall
A Seattle policeman elopes in Tacoma, interrupting a lodge meeting with a sudden matrimonial ceremony.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
On Tuesday, at Tacoma, Mr. John Kelly, of Seattle, was united in marriage to Miss Annie Bryant, the ceremony being performed by Judge Richard Osborn. The affair was a genuine surprise perpetrated on the assembled Knights of Pythias. Germania hall was crowded with members of the uniform rank, who had gathered to listen to interesting exercises. The regular order was carried with numbers one, two and three on the programme. When all present expected the next number to be given, John Kelly, with a lady on his arm, followed by Mr. and Mrs. J. T. Mitchell, appeared. They marched up the center aisle and ascended the platform and everybody wondered what was coming next. They soon learned, for Judge Osborn began repeating the words which soon made the couple one. Then cheers broke out that made the hall tremble. Mr. and Mrs. Kelly afterward held an informal reception at the Tacoma hotel. Mr. Kelly is well known as a citizen of sterling character and a member of the Seattle police force. Mr. and Mrs. Kelly will reside on Fourteenth street, near Yesler avenue, where they have a neat and comfortable home.
“The affair was a genuine surprise perpetrated on the assembled Knights of Pythias.”
Public spectacles at lodge halls were a centerpiece of civic life in 1890s Seattle. Today, the intersection of 14th Avenue and Yesler Way in the Central District remains a residential hub, though the fraternal halls of the era have largely vanished from the neighborhood's footprint.
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