OCR Text |
Show ,V 10-YEAR-OLD WIFE. K LiTTLU OlftL CONBIONBD TO A HELL UPON IXAI1TH. Thla la Not la India. kt In I ree. Sonny tlalllomla-llrr I'alher Manellona Ilia I'm,. u.l Tlo-A llaiuarkable fata of Slay anil lrinlr. tM U8T 10 yesrs ot i age, and n wife, iNpfw II A child no laryer lllfSiifa III than the tittle girl J'lHJfWckH who ttnnda by your jKbJBiIj tW' ln ,fc iulct isjMjWRvaAjTjiMi evening hours at Vm1 1 WwH home, yet to her wMli'y nd aBO,n"' hiV" jSr? noirts form, tho old w" wordt, ' Whom Ood Iath Jointed together, let no man put sunder " And thin Is not the story of aomo tiny ' llndu bride, nor of baby wifehood In Central African tribe Its scene It ild right In the golden commonwealth, ml In characters att are Callfornlan. t Is there that the majesty of lie law waa Invoked to bind In such nllock as should be em red a stalwart sn and a child who must have pral-Ird pral-Ird her answers In the question ot the lairlage service It sbe made answer at ill Less than two weeks ago har name vas Mary Alice Adam today the Is In James P Hitchcock Hut. whether is n miss or aa madam her age Is but 10 yeara, and babyhood with her It a hlng of the near yesterdays. The little girl who was Mary Alice Adams lived In the rlllage of Woody, til Kern pnunty, It Is a mountain village vil-lage consisting of a stoic where one may buy n spool of thread a rifle or a pound of tea, a poitortlce and a dwelling dwell-ing or two. It Is well off the In Hen paths ot civilisation ard some, at least, of the residents of llnl v trinity have thoughts Slid notlonn of lltu ohUli are not shared by ixoplo who reside where population la denser Among these notions was the una that there need be no bar to the marriage nt I babes and sucklings, which was held by the father nt Mary, as well as "Jim" Hitchcock, who now It her husband. Hitchcock hat been n resident of Woody nnd vicinity for a quarter of n century or more, and he Is Sg years of age Just how he courted tho baby who now Is his wife does not matter. 1 Perhaps he presented her with n dull or mada a poplar whistle for her At I any rate, he won her, as any man might havo done by n Judicious uto ot dolls nnd candy, for how could an untutored I child know nnd weigh the cares, responsibilities respon-sibilities and deeper meaning of wifehood? wife-hood? This strangest ot all courtships, this stultification ot every Intent of wedlock, took placo under tho eyes ot Mr. Adams, tho child's father, and It received re-ceived his complete approval. He accompanied ac-companied tho strangely assorted pair when they rode down from tho mountain moun-tain homo to Vlsalla In order to securo tho marriage llcento, Klght hero occurred a hitch In the proceedings, a hitch which thould havo been permanent, but was not. Tho ' clerk of Tulare county recognised tho mora than absurdity of tuch a mar-I mar-I rlago and refused to Istuo tho license i until he had secured legal advice. The I district attorney rendered an opinion I that tho law would tolerato such a union thereby totting at dcflanco the old theory that tho law It based on common sense and tho license was Issued, Is-sued, "Any unmarried male ot tho age ot II yeara or upwards, and any unmarried unmar-ried female of tho age of IS years or upwards, and not otherwlso disqualified, disquali-fied, aro capable of contenting to and consummating marriage." . Thlt lection carries with It Ita posl-llvs posl-llvs and unqucttlonablo negative, that ' ,i, iffifrs MRS. JAMBS i; HITCHCOCK, Aged Ten Years, ihlldreu under the specified ages tiro not capable of contracting marriage i Tho "legal ' advice under which ths babyhood of Mary Alice Adama was l given In wedloctClttterly disregarded the law under which so outrageous a union would have been an Impossl- I blllty. After tho delay connected with to-luring to-luring the license, thlngt went smoothly smooth-ly for Hitchcock and hit baby fiancee. rtey found a Justice of the peace who lonsldered the county clerk'a authorisation author-isation all-iufnolent, and In unduo tu-ion tu-ion the words which would make ot carriage n farce-tragedy were spoken, the man and the babe were Judicially tronounced man and wife. That night James F. Hitchcock and site wsre registered nt the Pleasant View lodging-house In Vlsalla. The iklld bride's father occupied another oo m In tbo samo house Paternal aanctlea rI r .- as It could go On tM next mi ,, returned to i their tome m v . tiers to And, I"1, in the wild free air of tha ' mouotun, w justification of a pro. ik u"'rlr abhorrent, net only to the h bin also to every sentiment of clvtlls , mnl.lnd Tooj, rr, of lh(,r Bobber. nn of the pi, i , f ,,rt of tb. i. ley s,ni , t ,i,0i,i find their ap-provslln ap-provslln ih, vim free mountain air. If they fli i n rn where for tbo wind of peaslir r i blown but coldly upon up-on then, I h re a vast amount ot publle Indignation but II Is a law-abiding Mad ami niieim itself with mur-murt mur-murt tad I ioks of disapproval Adens alum ts tn offer tomo sort of a pita of timtlnratlon lie and the another f mc child wife are divorced, and be rlum. thai the womtn It of bad estracterand would Influence Mary to lead an evil life at she bevamo older It wis for thlt reason, he says, that he connoted in her marriage with Hitch-eocl Hitch-eocl Probably a belter reason for withdrswlni the little girl from all communication with her mother, and a poorer return for hastening her Into an nVaormat conjugal union, could not well beronolved tlit to mean of popular Indignation doss tot In the lenat help the cats ot Mrs JUry Alice Hitchcock, who al tho ate of lo years bat exchanged a doll for a buthand Nor ran any amount o( passive tmrathy benefit her. What Is needed it inch active Interference as shall remove this untutored child from the Hihlnksbly horrible condition In whtek sheet III Is placed. If her mother is bad aad her father a fool, all the greater In the duty of society to tee that ike Is the victim of neither. Illtekcock the husband, Is a miner aad s barkftniHinman and he hat the backvomls vlrtuia and defects, lit la liotphabli' and ri i rruus coarte-flbered JA1IK8 HITCHCOCK. and Ignorant Ho It precisely on that plans of Intelligence where the Idea of aolllng a girl who It barely more this a babe would fall to appw revolting re-volting to him. ns It mutt bo to a thor-inrsiy thor-inrsiy clvtllrcd man. Soytandt tho cite today. Tho law, is It It Interpreted In Tulare county, haa Istutd Itt flat and under It thlt little lit-tle mountain girl, skirted to the kneel tad with tho look ot babyhood In her unknowing eyet hat been given Into the conjugtl care and custody ot II yeart of brawn nnd muscle. He and she the mm and lilt baby wife are living together now up tbtrs In thi hills ot Kern county She Is at Ct to bt a wlfo at It the 10-year-old child you love, and not a whit mora so. Bhs ihculd be out of doors, playing on, tbt bllltldet and growing strong and larva, la tho aunthlne, nnd she la keeping house for her "husband " She should he crooning to her doll In Infancy's twset promise of futuro maternity, and Cod help her alio It a "wife." Bhs ibould know a mother's lore and a fitter's rare, and tho one has deserted her, while the other has consigned hw to a hell of Inconceivable horror. JOHN JAMKS ItCONHY. |