In honor of Halloween, I present a tale that comes directly from that infamous lair of horror and evil, New York's Marriage License Bureau. It appeared in the "New York Tribune" on November 1, 1921. Look out for those Goblin Cats!
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| via Newspapers.com |
Young men bewitched to the point of matrimony thronged the Marriage License Bureau in the Municipal Building with their enchanting fiancees yesterday and everything was as merry as a marriage bell until just at dusk, when the Halloween goblins were mustering.
At that mystic hour Joseph J. McCormick, Deputy City Clerk, threw open the door of the marriage chapel with beneficent gesture and was astounded to see the happy couple he was shepherding draw back in perturbation. He glanced into the room. Its sole occupant was a black cat which sat in the clerk's chair glaring at him.
Nothing would persuade that couple to get married there. One glimpse of that apparition on Halloween was enough. They departed in spite of Mr. McCormick's protests that it was just a cat. Even Mr. McCormick's equanimity was shaken when he returned to the office alone and found that the black cat had vanished, although all the doors and windows were closed.
What a great excuse for last minute doubts!
ReplyDeleteThe Greenockian
I would take a cat at my marriage to be a good sign! And Mr McCormick couldn't have owned a cat himself, otherwise he would not have been surprised by it vanishing from an closed room.
ReplyDeleteBlack cats--particularly the Goblin variety--are the *best* luck.
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