Shotgun Wedding Party: A Close Call in Ping Gulch
A celebratory charivari turns dangerous when wedding guests accidentally riddle the newlyweds' home with lead.
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.
Mr. and Mrs. Long of Ping Gulch are to be congratulated. It appears from the Pomeroy paper that W. H. Long and Annie R. Childers were wedded October 22. The occasion was marked by no extraordinary features, but later came the charivari, which was different. As a method of expressing their joy, the young men of the neighborhood brought shotguns and exploded them in the vicinity. Some had forgotten to remove the charges, and the shot that pinged through the domicile of joy really would have been annoying to persons not of serene disposition. The bride stopped a few of the shot with her person, but her clothing was thick. The groom was forced to shake a few pellets out of his raiment. Other charges went through the walls, and the lead pattered down upon the floor and furniture. Instead of turning loose upon the nocturnal bandits, the head of the house invited them in and disarmed them by tendering an excellent repast, topped with cigars. They have lovely tempers.
“The bride stopped a few of the shot with her person, but her clothing was so thick that penetration was not much deeper than her beauty.”
A 'charivari' was a noisy, tradition-bound social ritual used to celebrate or mock newlyweds; today, such an event would be treated as a severe public safety crisis. It serves as a reminder of how quickly community norms regarding weaponry and public celebration have shifted.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.