St. Louis Post Dispatch
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Description: Captured By a Soldier Boy. Miss Nellie H. COLTON Elopes on the Eve of Her Marriage. VANDERGRIFT
Date: January 1 1888Newspaper published in: St. Louis, MO
Washington, D. C., December 31.
The relatives and friends of Miss Nellie H. COLTON of 434 H. street, this city, who had received invitations to attend her wedding with a spruce young Treasury clerk on Wednesday last, were greatly surprised and not a little disappointed upon reaching the residence of the bride-elect to learn that the ceremony was "off." The great wedding-cake occupied a conspicuous position in the center of a very tempting spread, the house wore a spick-and-span air appropriate to such occasions, and the Rev. Dr. FAUNCE had been engaged to tie the knot. Nellie, however, was nowhere to be found, though the reverend doctor was in a measure prepared for her non-appearance by a note which he received during the afternoon, saying:
Dear Doctor - The wedding is off and so am I.
Nellie H. COLTON, B. & O. Depot
A note was also received by her affianced, stating that when he should read it she would be hundreds of miles away. The young man was just on the point of starting for the license and was so upset by Nellie's desertion that he disappeared from the city and has not since been seen. His friends fear he is demented and are searching for him everywhere. Anxiety as to the whereabouts of Miss Nellie was set at rest early next morning by the receipt of the following telegram:
Philadelphia, December 28.
Married this eve. Send Nellie's trunk to _______.
Your son, W. P. VANDEGRIFT
During the inauguration of President Cleveland the Pennsylvania soldier-boys descended upon Washington in full force, and, illustrating the fact that "Gold lace hath a charm for the fair," all the Capital City maidens with susceptible heart at once proceeded to fall in love with them. Miss Nellie's conquest proved an easy one for a handsome young plumber of 22, who, in exchange for her heart, gave a shining brass button from his uniform. These buttons were in great request, and were regarded as special marks of favor. After the departure of the troops Nellie carried on quite a vigorous correspondence with her "coat-button hero," as she called him, which finally died a natural death. A few days since, however, she received a letter from him, and since then she has worn a distrait and preoccupied air. On Wednesday, a few hours before the time set for the ceremony, she left the house on pretense of an errand, and has not since been seen. Mr. VANDEGRIFT is supposed to have been her coat-button beau.