THE ROXBURHE-GOELET WEDDING.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1665, 27 January 1904, Page 23

THE ROXBURHE-GOELET WEDDING.

Ten thousand people, most of them women wearing expensive clothing, swarmed round St. Thomas’s Church, in New York, on 10th November, the day that the Duke of Roxburghe- and May Goelet. the immensely rich - American heiress, were married. This uninvited host slaked its fierce curiosity with unashamed abandon. Mobs of women swept away the police lines, reached the bride in her carriage, and fingered her finery through the window® of the vehicle. Out of the coal-hole leading into the cellar beneath the church chancel fifteen women were dragged, and inside t-lie building 150 were found lying flat beneath tlio pews o-r hidden in the dark corners of the gallery. They were turned out. The treatment of the bride by the horde of women in the street was almost .brutally coarse. Fighting frantically .for a position, they stopped the horses, surrounded her; j carriage, pushed open the windows, opepe?!'the door, and some of

those in front reached in and began clawing at Miss Goelet and feeling her clothing. A force of 125' policemen was powerless to hold them back. Mr. Robert Godot, the bride’s-brother, who was in the vehicle, called to the police, who, after same little time, were able to temporarily clear the way. But a second time they overwhelmed, the guardians of tlie peace and glutted their, curiosity at closer range. The police were then rerntforced, and Miss Goelet at last reached the church. But even as- she was walking into the edifice, half a dozen women, once more eluded the police, stooped down, lifted the canvas of the canopy, and- srawied half way under. • They Crawled to their positions notwithsfeanding all the efforts of the police to pull them away, and several of them luantaged to Keep their heads under tne canvas until the bride had passed up. A patrolman caught one very well-dressed! woman uy one of her ankles ana dragged her along the walk, she still clinging to the canvas until she was forced to loose her hold. She was lifted up smiling and satisfied: she had seen the bride. A brilliant assembly of 200 people witnessed the ceremony. The colour scheme or tne wedding was green and) white and! pink. The bride wore a Worth gown of white satin, covered with tulle and chiffon, as well as Point d’Alenoon lace. A tulle veil caught with a coronet of orange blossoms completely enveloped the costume. The bride received a fortune in presents from the Goelet and Boxnurghe families. The gifts are said to have been worth something like £2OO,OIKJ. It need hardly be said that the "dollar power” represented at the ltoxhurgheGoelet wedding was not overlooked in th® published accounts of that carefully rehearsed ceremony. The eight bridesmaids all doubtless aspiring to be duchesses themselves—owned "at least <£lß,ooo- - between, them. But this was a trifle compared with the combined wealth of all those who took an official part in the wedding, including the bride and bridegroom. The grand total is estimated at <£150,000,000. and surpassed even that which auded to the notoriety of Mr. Reginald Vanderbilt’a marriage in April last. Thepnoney element appears to have been the chief interest of the Roxburghe ceremoney. Instead of "Oh Perfect Love” the choir, if their sentiments had been in keeping with those of the congregation, would) have sung "Oh Perfect Trust.” But when the American people reflect upon the financial aspect of such events they get more and more discontented. The “drain of the dowries” iias indeed become a settled grievance with them. It is! found! that the; American brides of foreigners have within a comparatively short period taken out of the United States 2-08,005,000d0l. —about £41,000,000. The new Duchess of Roxburghe is said to be possessed of a fortune of £5,000,000.