From This Day Forward Part II
At quarter of noon the couple, along with their escorts of course, rolled into Harlan, Kentucky. Harlan at that time was a coal mining town, no more than two blocks all together. Quickly constructed buildings and rundown shanty houses bordered the streets. On this particular day, August 2, 1941, it was Election Day for Harlan County! All the miners were off from work and the streets were lined with most of the citizens of Harlan.
Once again followed by Mother and Lois, Becky and James got out of the car. Walking up the sidewalk to the courthouse a gentleman approached the couple and asked, “Are you folks lookin’ to get married?”
“Well, yes sir, we are,” Becky answered, calmly countering his previous question. “Can you help us?”
“Well, ma’am, I’ll help ya any way I can. I’m Reverend Toliver of the Church-a-God. Now furst thang you gotta do is go over yonder and get your bloodwork done. After that, meet me back here and I’ll take ya over to the clerk’s office.”
An hour or so later the couple returned to the courthouse with a receipt from their blood tests. Lois and Mother rose from the bench under the old Oak Tree at the edge of the town square, fanning themselves as they made their way to meet Rev. Toliver once again. As the group walked briskly through the courthouse doors, they entered a large anteroom with with a balcony surrounding it on all sides. Now, it being Election Day, all the miners, farmers, and moonshiners had gathered to shoot the bull in the courthouse. Harlan’s finest took turns spitting tobacco from the balcony into the decorative spittoons below on the first floor. Lois wasn’t paying a bit of attention to where she was going and she happened to kick one of the full spittoons across the room. The amber-colored tobacco juice splattered all over Becky’s beige shoes and travel dress! “Oh, for heaven’s sakes Lois, look what you’ve done! Would you please watch where you’re going!”
Lois slapped her hands over her mouth in horror at the scene, “Becky I am so sorry; please forgive me!” James, who had stepped to the side, narrowly escaping the slimy substance, laughed out loud and slapped his knees in spite of himself. His flapping jaws quickly closed as Becky shot him a wicked glance of disgust, “Oh, shut up, James!” Mother stepped in between her two daughters and James to prevent any fists from meeting face while Rev. Toliver clasped his hands and rolled his eyes towards heaven.
After pushing through the riotous crowd, the group assembled themselves in a crescent shape around the clerk’s door. Two men stood guard at the oak paneled door with shot guns in hand. Two other gentlemen in dirty overalls and yellow teeth brushed past carrying the overstuffed ballot boxes. One of the men standing guard stopped the group in their tracks. “You folks picked the wrong day to come and get hitched; this is one helluva rough town on ‘lection day.”
Lois just couldn’t understand how a county election could be so important that men hand to stand guard with shotguns. The look of confusion on her face provoked the guard to continue, “we don’t want no riots here, or no shootings neither. We watch this here door to Ms. Allen’s chambers so nobody will try to permanently remove her from her duties.”
Becky was rather anxious to be wed and she was determined that all of the previous setbacks were going to end here. “Well, I don’t care if she’s the Queen-a-England,” Becky said, “I’m gonna get married. TODAY!”
Well then, the guard, who seemed to have forgotten he was a man with a rifle, took a step back at her abruptness and stammered, “Come on, I’ll let y’all in.”
Within fifteen minutes, Becky, James, Mother and Lois, along with Rev. Toliver, had met with the clerk and found their way back through the boisterous crowd of spittoon shooters to the sidewalk. “Awright, I can marry you folks here in the square, in your car, or out at my place,” the preacher offered.
Mother interjected at this time, “We’ll go to your house. We are Christian people. We’re not supposed to get married on a lawn or in a car.” Alright then, the Reverend agreed, “Let’s go. It’s about two miles outta town.”
***To Be Continued***