BRIDE REFUSED AT THE ALTAR

Taranaki Daily News, 4 June 1935, Page 14

BRIDE REFUSED AT THE ALTAR

A YOUNG and charming bride, whose happiness was snatched from her on the steps of the altar, was the central figure in an astonishing wedding drama at West Hendon Baptist Church, London, recently.

The organ was hushed to silence. The ceremony had reached its crucial point. Before the altar, radiant in her white silk wedding gown, filmy veil, and orange blossom, stood Miss Eva Mary Horton, aged 22, of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire. Beside her was her bridegroom! Leslie Francis Kitching, aged 21, of Sturgess Avenue, Hendon. “Wilt thou have this woman to be thy wedded wife?’? came the solemn question of the minister, the Rev.-H. S. Rudge. In the quiet of the church, all eyes were on the bridegroom, who stood silent with bowed head. Again came the question, again there was no answer. t Then the bridegroom slowly shook his head, and the bride, ' tears staining the whiteness of her face, staggered back into her mother’s arms. Half an hour later a motor-car drove up to the church with Miss Horton’s going-away costume. Tearfully she took off her bridal dress in an ante-room, and with her bridesmaids left the church. “Mr Kitching and Miss Horton originally arranged to be married a fortnight ago,’’ said one of the persons present, “but there was a hitch and the parties did not arrive at the church. The ceremony was rearranged to take place at 2.30 p.m. to-day. ' “Mrs Kitching, the bridegroom’s mother, told me that she had impressed Leslie with the seriousness of the undertaking and urged him to be quite sure he wanted to go on with it. “He replied that while he wanted to get married, he was. anxious about having to leave home. “Another worry was that he did not feel he could provide for his intended wife as well as he wished. But he apparently had finally made up his mind to carry on.” Mr Kitching, seen at his mother’s home at Burgess Avenue said: • “There was a hitch over certain matters which I cannot discuss at present, and it is probable that I shall arrange a meeting with Miss Horton shortly. She has gone back to her parents’ home at Mansfield. I cannot make any comment about my action, but I hope that Miss Horton and I will be able to come to an agreement very soon. I think there is every prospect that we may.’Miss Horton said: “When I saw Mr Kitching to-day and asked him for an explanation, he answered, ‘I don’t know what made me say what I did.’ *‘l asked him if his affections were engaged elsewhere, and his answer was ‘No. He could not give me any reason, and I cannot think oi any to account for it.” It was also revealed during the investigation that £600,000 L being spent yearly in teaching eurhythmic dancing to people on relief. And £400,000 was spent last year in a property survey of the city. A deputy tax commissioner told the committee that the same information could be obtained .from commercial maps at a cost of £327 yearly. ‘