Elopers Brave Howling Gale in an Open Auto and Defy Blizzard to Defeat Irate Parent, 1914

From the Friday, March 6, 1914, issue of the Washington Herald (Washington, D.C.)


First Story of Battle Against Wind and Snow by Miss Myrtle Wilson and Roger E. Craley and the Final Wedding.

Braving a 60-mile gale in an open auto, Miss Myrtle Wilson, pretty 20-year-old daughter of Harry G. Wilson, contractor, eloped to Baltimore through the storm of Sunday last, was wedded to Roger E. Craley, chief clerk of the Potomac and Chesapeake Steamboat Company, and was snowbound for seven hours shortly after she started on her honeymoon, according to the story of the romance that was told last night.


Miss Wilson left her home at 4004 Georgia Avenue Northwest for Rock Creek Episcopal Church, but instead of going to church she walked to the corner and jumped into an auto which held Roger Craley. The auto also held a suit case, which Miss Wilson had packed and spirited from her home Saturday night. The elopers were off in a jiffy, paying little heed to the high wind, and with no fear of bad roads.

They drove to Craley’s home at 49 W Street Northwest, where they were joined by Craley’s father, Raymond Crayley, a brother, Samuel, and the mother of the bridegroom-to-be. John P. Phillips, an official of the steamboat company, also joined the wedding party. The auto passed out of Washington shortly before noon and at 2 o’clock Miss Wilson and Roger Craley were pronounced man and wife in Baltimore.

At 4 o’clock the bride sent the following telegram to her father:

"Daddy Dear: We are married and happy. Please forgive me."

At 4 o’clock the couple boarded the train for New York, but were snowbound between Philadelphia and New York for seven hours. They left New York yesterday for Jacksonville, Fla., on a Clyde steamer, and after a brief stay in the South will return to Washington. They will be at home at 48 W Street Northwest.

The telegram sent by the former Miss Wilson did not reach her father until Monday, and when he was told Sunday night by a reporter for the Washington Herald that the girl had eloped he said, "Why, that can’t be true. Craley has been in our home but once." The telegram convinced him that the wedding was true, and he then refused to talk to newspaper men.