WEDDED AT A DANCE

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLV, Issue 283, 3 November 1925, Page 13

WEDDED AT A DANCE

A FANCY DRESS CEREMONY. OTHER UNUSUAL SCENES. A strange wedding service has been performed at a fashionable dance club in New York. Many exciting “stunts” had been carried out to amuse the guests, but they were capped when the orchestra suddenly ceased playing a waltz and switched over to the “Wedding March.” Two of the best-known people among the dancers, who were all in fancy dress, then headed a procession along the room. The man was attired as an Indian Prince and the girl was dressed as an Arlesienne. Together the couple stood before'a justico who had suddenly been called away from a banquet to unite, the couple. He duly wedded them arid the ball continued. The couple received much chaff from tie other dancers, who all thought that the affair was just another “stunt” to amuse them. Next day, however, tho wedding was duly announced, and was followed up by a religious ceremony. A more exciting incident interrupted a danco in greatly differing surroundings from this fashionable club. It was at, a small dance-hall in Paris, where half a dozen couples—workmen in velveteen trousers and rod sashes, and girls enjoying their evenings “off”— v were dancing to the music of a makeshift orchestra. Suddenly a newcomer who had just started dancing left his partner as they drew level with another couple, the man of whom was a dangerous-looking fellow with a scarred face. The newcomer sprang upon the other man, and simultaneously three police came in with drawn revolvers, ready to use them should the man resist his attacker. It was an arrest, for the man with the scarred face was an apache who, an hour previously, had been engaged in a revolver duel with the police. The dancer who attacked him was a detective disguised as a workman. GUESTS LOCKED IN A ROOM. Dancers at a West End private house received a thrill one night when an agitated servant burst into the room and exclaimed to an Italian noblewoman: “Madame, your house is on lire I” Tho lady found that while she had been dancing two floors of her mansion had been burned out, with the consequent loss of thousands of pounds in extremely valuable antiques and old Italian furniture. Probably that was one of tho most expensive dances on record for, had tho lady been at nome, tho fire might possibly have never occurred. Fashionable dances, where much valuable jewellery is worn, are sometimes marked by sinister incidents. Hotels have their own private detectives, who keep an eye open for possible jewel thieves, or even for otherwise respectable people who may succumb to sudden temptation. On one occasion, at a dinner dance, tho guests including foreign royalty, were locked in a room while the waiters were searching for valuable jewellery which had been missed by one of the guests. HANDCUFFS ON LOVERS. Even at private dances hostesses sometimes employ a detective to safeguard against “swell” thieves, who may obtain entry to the houso in the guise of guests. An amusing incident enlivened one fashionable danco where such a detective was employed. A pair of lovers got tired of dancing, so sat out in tho room where the family safe was kept, shutting the door behind them. The detective, with an eye to the safe, became suspicious, and when tho couple paid no attention to his repeated knocks at the door, ho was quite sure that they were trying to rob the safe. When he got tho door open he would listen to no explanation, but handcuffed tho two dancers and marched them downstairs. Luckily tho daughter of tho house met the trio and secured tho captives’ release.