British Law Forbids Widower to Wed His Wife's Sister
SO THE COUPLE CAME HERE
Mrs. Herbert Allen of London Says It Was Worth the Rough Trip - To be Here Two Days.
An Englishman wished to marry his deceased wife's sister, but that being forbidden by British law, they went to France. There they found too much red tape around the French marriage certificate. Then they decided to journey from London to New York to be married. They acted on the decision, and at high noon yesterday became man and wife at the Broadway Central Hotel. To-morrow they will go back to London, their home - after two short days in the land of the free, and one of those a holiday.
The man is Herbert Allen, who is thirty-seven. She was Miss Charlotte M. Mead, and is twenty-nine years old. They got here on the New York on Sunday night. Mr. Allen had been a widower for about two years.
When the couple failed in France they decided to risk the fiercest storms of the Atlantic to reach America, and they got a good taste of about all that they risked.
All the way over - it was an eight-day passage - Miss Mead was ill, and only once was able to eat a Christian meal, but yesterday, after she was made Mrs. Allen, she said (with a bright if rather wan smile) that "it was worth it, every bit of it." The marriage was solemnized in one of the parlors of the Broadway Central. Frederick Lack stood up with the groom; the Rev. Dr. Henry Marsh Warren, hotel chaplain, united the courageous pair, so defiant of British tradition, so fearless in the face of Winter winds and waves, and so appreciative of the advantages of America.
By all accounts it was a handsome and happy occasion. The ceremony was followed by a collation, also described as handsome and happy. Mr. and Mrs. Allen will return to England tomorrow on the steamship Oceanic, spending no more than a bank holiday and one other day in the country.
The New York Times
New York, New York
February 14, 1905
