The Austin Weekly Statesman
Thursday,
December 24, 1885
pg. 1
A ROMANCE
The Way a
North Texas Youth Got to the Penitentiary
Special Telegram
to The
Statesman
Sherman,
December 22 - District court disposed of a
romantic case this morning. W.P. McDowell, of
McKinney, indicted for perjury, was called
from jail to answer the charge, and cut matters
short by a plea of guilty, on which the jury
assessed his penalty at 2 years'
confinement in the state's prison.
The romantic appears when we look back to the cause of this
young man's trouble, which began in the
month of July and ripened into a prosecution for
felony, with the above result. One
George P. Bedford, an operator in the Western Union
telegraph office at McKinney, became
enamored of Lula Wiley, of that place, and
told McDowell that he had the lady's consent
to a marriage but her father objected,
and notified the clerk of that court not to
issue license in which his
daughter was
to be a contracting party. This story,
when told by the stricken Bedford to his friend
McDowell, excited his deepest sympathy, and
agreed to accompany him to Sherman, where no
orders had been issued from Grayson
county. They came to Sherman, hunted the clerk
at a late hour, when the usual affidavit was
required certifying to
the age of
the lady. McDowell, who had applied
for them, while his friend sat outside in a buggy, swore
she was over 18 years old, and,
impersonating Bedford, signed the latter's name to the
affidavit.
The next morning's Courier, from Sherman,
containing an account of the issuing of
the license, fell under the notice of the
father-in-law in prospective, who took prompt
steps to stop the proceedings, and came to
Sherman at once to investigate the matter.
He saw the false oath as to the age of his
daughter, and filed a complaint charging the
parties with perjury.
Both Bedford and McDowell were arrested, and
the county
clerk identified the latter as the man who
did the swearing. He was indicted by the grand jury
and now takes a felon's stripes and a
blighted life as a reward for his acts.
In connection herewith, it may be proper to
say that the lady in question promptly denied
any engagement with Bedford, and asserted
that his conduct was to be accounted for on
no other grounds than that the scamp was so
badly stuck on himself that he presumed
to forestall her answer to his suit, and
prepared a marriage license before asking her
hand in marriage.
