Rev. Sawyer Marries Couple, Gives Them Dinner. In Return, They Give Him a Bad Check, June 21, 1921

Marries Couple, Gives Them Dinner, Sends Them Away With Blessing

Rev. F.F. Sawyer of Elizabeth City is probably the most accommodating and poorest paid preacher in northeastern North Carolina and he is not bemoaning the fact, but he does protest when he obligingly marries a couple, gives them a feast, takes a check from the groom and then has to pay protest fees on the check. That’s what happened to him the other day. The Rev. Sawyer was called from the office of the Elizabeth City Iron Works and Supply Company where he is employed as chaplain or bookkeeper or something, asked to go to his home and marry an out-of-town couple. He left his work, trudged home and performed the solemn ceremony. It was near the dinner hour and the good man of God invited the bride and groom to take dinner with him. They did. The grateful groom then tendered his host a check on an out-of-town bank as a fee and an expression of his gratitude. A few days later Mr. Sawyer received notice from the First and Citizens National Bank that the check had been protested and he was called on to pay the protest fees. The camel’s back is broken.

From The Elizabeth City Independent as reprinted on the front page of the Dunn Dispatch, June 21, 1921