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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (May 14, 1905)
J i if !U H - (f y f 4 , U 73 2 fey flt first 5'ujhl h IP 9 mm, 4 s 3. .I it'. . ... "SiVfe , '- -TV's.' Trier fathers country nome n ) ' J: ;r -mm ri: - :i.f,(Vv. ' v.ri.v.. V mi clergyman. r i PI M" J on. a jtoutiET s-OY LES8AR MURTAUGH. ged 11 years. I and Penelope Neddar, aged 0, of Savannah, rLJf I Ga. have eloped seven time within the JCa I last two years, nmd endeavored to gej mar ried. Their Infatuation for eaJch other and their Insistent desire to get married have driven their parents almost distracted, and every plan devised to keep them apart hae failed. " I love him," says Penelope quietly. " And some day 1 will marry him. We have not yet found any minister who will marry us but ns soon as we do we Will run away again and get married.; " What will he do to support his little wife?1' " O, nis pnpa Is rich and my papa owns a big plantation. I don't see why money should keep people from marrying when they love e:ch other. Mamma says I am too young to think of such a thing but we've been thinking of it for nearly three years." , "Any way," signed the lovelorn little damsel, "If they won't let us get married now, I 11 wait until we are both of age. Nothing can ever separate us, be cuuse we are sweethearts, and we truly, truly love each other." The, story of the elopements of the children and their love affair has aroused all the society people of 15 mm . Jfft Heifprai ' ' i 1 escape m Y XcltmVcL Wr from. Savannah. At first I, was a great joke, then It ceased to be a Joke, and sln.ee the fourth elopement the friends of the Mu-taugh and Neddar families have ceased to speak of it to the members of the clans. This strange courtship commenced In June of 1002. On that day Master Roy. aged 8 years, prop erly attired In his white linen suit, with 149 lHtle Buttn bag containing his pumps carried carefully In his hand, was deposited at the fashionable dancing school of the Misses Tlnney, In Bull street, there to receive In struction In the courtly dances of the south. Roy being a real boy hated dancing school with the hatred that any boy feels toward castor oil, " sissy boys," and dancing schools. It Is even declared that he kicked when his colored " mammy " combed the " mice " " out of his tangle of black curls and garbed him for the Saturday afternoon ordeal. Fell in Love at First Sight. But on this Saturday all things were changed, for there was a new girl In the class, Penelope, aged 6, whose mamma had come Into town from the big Tatnall county plantation for the gay winter season among her old friends, that her little daughter might have the oppor tunity to learn some of the social graces. Roy finished scuffling and mussing hair with the other miserable dan cing school victims In the dancing class and marched with them out Into the big room where the harp was playing for the first march. Then, suddenly, all Roy's, demeanor changed. He saw a vision of loveliness In pink, with fluffy light hair, just like a real princess, and a pair of the prettiest blue eyes In the world lots prettier than his ls1er Elliabebh'a doll's eyes. And instead of standing still and twisting his feet and hanging his head, as was usual, Roy walked directly over to the new little girl. " My name Is Roy Lessar Murtaugh." he said. " I'm Col. Murtaugh's son, and live down on Rayou. What is your name?" " My nameth Penelope," lisped the fair one. "May I dance with you?" he asked. " Yeth." "Engaged " on the Day of Meeting. a moment later he led his new partner out. Ignoring the scoffs of his astonished toy friends or the surprise ot the teachers. The attentions Roy paid to her that after noon were scandalous. He danced with her every time, and when luie teacher apoke lightly to him about H fee said: " I can dance with ter all the time. We're engaged.". " Teth, we're engaged."1 assented Penelope, " and we're going to get married." Roy was forced to " lick the stuffing " out of two boys who called him " sissy." and that night two mothers, smiling tenderly over the first love of their children, kissed them good night. The next day Roy, inritead of asking permission to play ball with the boys, dresxed himself carefully and asked his mother to take him to call on Mrs. Neddar, and the two younsr mothers, laugh ing over the affair, left the children In the nursery. Half an hour later the. children, hand In hand, walked into the drawing room and Roy calmly announced their en gagement to the astonished mothers. It was a great Joke at Hrst Their First Elopement. Each day Roy went to call on his little sweetheart and they sat for hours talking earnestly and laying their plans. Finally the parents thought matters were getting a little too serious, ,-nil maiio efforts to distract the at tention of the children from each other. Roy was told he should not go to ree Penelope so often. The boy said nothing. He saw the plot to separate them, and he de termined that It should not be. The next day he emptied his savings bank, attired himxelf In his " Sunday go to meeting " clothes, put the money In his pockets, and went to call again. The children were left alone for a few minutes, and, on returning, Mrs. Neddar found they had disappeared. The nurse had seen them disappear down Oglethorpe avemie, walking hand In hand. About the time the children were umsed from the house there was a ring of the bell at the parish resi dence of the Rev. Kimball Hendricks, and the negro maid who responded ushered In two pretty, blushing chil dren who wanted to see the minister. The Rev. Mr. Hendricks responded, and received a request that caused him to stop and wipe his glasses. The children wanted to be married. Dr. Hendricks took them Into his study and explained to them that they were too young. Roy expostulated and Penelope cried from disappointment. They were kept at the rectory until a telephone message brought parents flying from Doth directions,' and the children were taken home. A lecture In one case and a spunking In the other were supposed to have ended the romance, and the parents met and loughed over it for an hour. Another Elopement and Two Spankings. - Two days later Roy disappeared from his home, and a negro maid confessed that he hud sent her with a note to the Neddar residence early in the morning. A messenger discovered that Penelope also was missing. . That time 'Wkat tfwjj botfi got the cuildren wore found wandering disconsolately through Forsythe park grieving because the Methodist minister had refused to marry thtm. There were two spankings administered this time, and Roy and Penelope were Informed that t!;ey vould not be 1 ermltted to see ea?n other at all if tiny c-uild not be lnve like other children. For Just one mnnM they met only at dancing sclviol, and although Roy i!anced with Ills fiancee most of the time, they " belir vrd " and the purents again thought the romance was en l"d. Then one day they eloped for the third time. They were found Just before dark on board a trump steamer that was loading cotton in the harbor, surrounded by a group of roaring sailors who were listening to something funny. The officers entertained them at dinner before sending them home. "They wanted us to take them to Fpaln on the ship," explained the first officer to Roy's father, who came to tuku them home. " Why did 'you want to go to Spain?" asked the puzzled father. " I read that boys and girls get married In Spain," explained the boy, seriously. The situation had become so startling that the parents 'of the youngsters determined to separate them, and Mra. rr-tflnr lonn rtTnyi frvrte-V 'ih" T-atr,'l ':'iTi7" plantation, near Reidsville, where her husband roared !over the story of his daughter's love affair. Within a month he began to take a serious view of the situation, be cause Penelope mopod and sat around the big country mansion in desolation, as if heart broken. She scrawled long, ardent letters to Roy, and he wrote to her. The parents tried stopping the letters, but, fearing the re 'sults, permitted a few to reach the little correspondents. und strove to make them forget. Eleven months after the lovers were torn apart by cruel parents Roy arrived In Reidsville, dusty, tired, but triumphant. He hired a carriage and drove out to the Neddar plantation, where he requested an Interview with Mr. Neddar and formally requested permission to marry Penelope. Mr. Neddar did no laugh this time. He tele graphed the Murtaughs that Roy was safe, and explained to the boy that, while there was no objection to him, he must wait. Roy und Penelope, happy In each other's company, spent n Joyous week, and then Roy prepared to go home. The children sobbed all through supper at the Idea of parting, so that the parents suffered with them. The next morning they were gone again. They were traced Into Reidsville and found at breakfast with the Rev. Matthew O'Brien, who was shaking all over from suppressed laughter and trying to explain that the bans would have to b published before they could be mairried. Roy was sent to Savannah, and Penelope taken home. Saved All for Another Elopement. Six months later Roy disappeared from Savannah again. He had been saving his money during all the time, every penny even that which was given him to put in the Sunday school collection plate. His parents telegraphed the Neddurs, thinking he had gone there again, but no trace of him was found.. A week later Pene lope went driving In her pony cart. It was found aban doned four miles fro-n home, near the railway, and the following day a telegram came announcing that the children had tried to gel married at Mountsvllle, forty-five miles away. Mrs. Neddar took her daughter to Europe Immediately afterward, trying the cure that has worked on so many older persons, and she remained there for eight months. She stopped In Savannah with her fumlly on the way back, and, although no one knew that Roy Murtaugh knew of the arrival, Roy came Into the house through the serv ants' quarters und took away Penelope again. They were caught that time at the home of a Justice of the peace, striving to persuade him to marry them. Pene lope was weeping and Roy was nesr tears when they were separated again. For a long time the children neither saw nor heard of each other, both bilng forbidden to write until they, were 18 years old, at least. Every effort was made to prevent Roy from getting money. Late In Manjh Mrs.' Neddar with her daughter went to Savannah and stopped over for the day on the way to New York. In some mys terious way Roy heard of their arrival again. That day he sold his pony and cart, borrowed 10 from the negro ' mammy," and, when the Neddars took the train for New York that night, he was on board. They were in the sleeper and he rode In a day coach, so they did not see him. Jk Thought He Had Died for Love. There was wild excitement In the Murtaugh house hold when it was found that Roy had disappeared. It was feared that he hid brooded over his love affair until he had decided to kill himself. Not knowing that the Neddars had passed through town, the Murtaughs had no clew. They telegraphed the Neddars In Tatnall county, and learned that Mis. Neddar and Penelope had passed through on their way to New York. Telegrams were sent to the Fifth Avenue hotel In New York, and when Mrs. Neddar received them, she started In hurry to her rooms to seek her daughter. Penelope had disappeared. From the house detective the frantic mother learned that Penelope had gone out with a little boy. They bad climbed Into a cab. i The 'police were requested to keep a close watch for them, and two hours later a telephone message came to the hotel. It was from the Rev. Hurry Turlot of the Church of the Sacrament, who notified Mrs. Neddar that h was keeping the children at his house, s This seventh failure to get married discouraged tha young elopers. " I reckon no one will marry us yet," said Roy, as he started buck to Savannah. " But we'll wait and we'll get married Just the first minute we are old enough," ' "V ,4. - J V I i - .