"Death Strikes After Nuptial At Las Vegas"

Betty Eloise Brownell was my 3rd cousin 1x removed, a great granddaughter of William Penn Hartley, one of my 3rd great uncles  The newspapers reported her as being 19, but I believe she was actually 17.

I found my great uncle William Penn Hartley's obituary the other day.  He had lived a long, full life, and those types of obituaries are bittersweet, but not usually heart-wrenching.  The obituaries I dread are the ones for young people.

The San Bernardino County Sun (San Bernardino, California)
03 Dec 1939, Sunday
Page 13, col 7
from Newspapers.com 

Death Strikes After Nuptial At Las Vegas 

Bridegroom, Friend Seriously Injured as Auto Blows Tire On Desert, Overturns
A bride of but a few hours and a companion were fatally injured yesterday when their automobile crashed as they were returning to Los Angeles from the wedding ceremony in Las Vegas. 

In serious condition at the county hospital were the bridegroom and a friend.
The accident, occuring on highway 91 (Arrowhead Trail) three miles west of Halloran Springs, 15 miles east of Baker, at 2:30 p.m., resulted in the death of Betty Brownell Bromley, 19, the bride, and Beatrice Suddeth, 26, who with her husband accompanied the two young people on their wedding trip. 

Mrs. Bromley died in an ambulance en route to the county hospital and Mrs. Suddeth died at the hospital at 9 o'clock last night. 

At the county hospital are the bridgegroom, Brooks Bromley, 24, and his friend, B. E. Suddeth.  Bromley suffered shock and injuries to the head, while Suddeth incurred a fractured hip, attendants said. 

The young people had been married in Las Vegas in the morning and were on their way back to Los Angeles when the accident occured. A blown tired caused the accident, said Deputy Coroner William J. Weller. 

Mrs. Suddeth Driver 

After the tire blew out, the car careened along the highway for 253 feet, then plunged down a 16-fout embankment, Weller reported.  He said Mrs. Suddeth was at the wheel at the time. 

The party had left Los Angeles at 4 a.m., Weller reported.  Bromley resided with Mr. and Mrs. Suddeth at 2315 South Hill street and Mrs. Bromley, Betty Brownell before her marriage, on the Eighty-seventh street, he said. 

Mrs. Bromley's death was attributed to shock and internal injuries, while Mrs. Suddeth died of shock and head injuries, the deputy cornoner[sic] said. 

Both bodies were taken to the Mark B. Shaw mortuary, where an inquest is pending, said Coroner R. E. Williams.

I suspect Betty and Brooks married in Las Vegas because it was a Gretna Green place, and perhaps she didn't have her parents' consent (she was 17, despite the newspaper account that she was 19).  According to the FamilySearch article "Gretna Greens in the United States":

A Gretna Green is a favored marriage place. When a couple runs away from their home area to get married in a place with fewer marriage restrictions, the place they go is often called a "Gretna Green."[1] They may want to marry at a younger age, want to wait a shorter period after obtaining a licence, want to marry without parental consent, want to avoid procedures such as blood tests, want less paper work, want to avoid paying a marriage bond, want to keep the marriage a secret, want a less expensive marriage, or want to marry a closer cousin than their home district will allow. Or there may be a special romantic place to elope. Some couples wanted to wed in the same place their friends got married. When enough couples resort to a particular place it may gain a reputation as a Gretna Green.
In common law, a "Gretna Green marriage" means a marriage transacted in a jurisdiction that was not the residence of the parties being married, to avoid restrictions or procedures imposed by the parties' home jurisdiction.[2]

Or maybe they just didn't want to wait, or deal with the expenses of a formal wedding?


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