A Prison Wedding for a Wayward Couple
A young runaway and her lover are arrested in a room together; their path to freedom is a marriage ceremony performed behind bars.
A marriage was performed at the city prison yesterday, the contracting parties being Wm. Harris and Mary J. Myers, both of this city. It appears the young girl ran away from home last week and took lodgings with her lover, who in turn left the place where he was employed, and devoted his attentions to the girl. In the meantime he became drunk and gambled away all his money. Detectives, who were put on track of the wayward girl by her father, found them occupying the same room and arrested both. When taken to the city prison the girl grew hysterical at separation from her lover, and refused to be comforted. Harris promised to marry her, and the parents assenting, the ceremony took place, after which the pair were released.
“When taken to the city prison the girl grew hysterical at separation from her lover, and refused to be comforted.”
This 1883 account highlights the era's legal and social obsession with 'wayward' young women, where a marriage certificate was used to override criminal charges of cohabitation. It reflects the paternalistic power structures of early Seattle, where parental and police control over young people's private lives was absolute.
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