Old Print Article: “The Balloon Wedding,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle (1865)

October 7, 2010 in Old Print Articles, Urban Studies | Permalink

"There was some difficulty about gas inflating the balloon...Professor Lowe had to 'make his own gas,' a feat he is very competent to perform."

Journalists at the Brooklyn Daily Eagle in the latter half of the 19th-century weren’t exactly bleeding hearts, but I don’t think I’ve ever come across a more insulting article than this story from the November 9, 1865 edition. It recounts a wedding ceremony in Central Park that revolved around the betrothed signing their marriage contract while taking a ride in a hot-air balloon. Apparently this was an outrage at the time and everyone involved needed to be mocked. An excerpt:

“The balloon wedding came off yesterday according to announcement, and appears to have been a rather comical affair. The bridegroom was a fat old widower of about 50, his bride a lady of 25. There was some difficulty about gas inflating the balloon, which delayed the ascension, and the public are informed that Professor Lowe had to ‘make his own gas,’ a feat he is very competent to perform. Owing to the deficiency of the gas, or the weight of the bridegroom, the regular bridesmaid (a stepdaughter of the bride) could not be taken up, and a lighter damsel had to be substituted.

The marriage ceremony was not performed up in the air, the officiating clergyman objecting to venture in the flesh so near Heaven. The marriage was done on terra firma, only the marriage contract was to be signed in mid-air. The balloon ascended from Central Park, in the presence of a group of gaping idlers, who amused themselves with making vulgar remarks and jokes at the expense of the bride and groom. The party descended in Yonkers in half-frozen condition. The affair would have been simply ridiculous were it not for the association with a holy ordinance which made the exhibition disgusting to every right-minded person; but as there were none such present on the occasion, excepting, perhaps, for reporters, no feelings may have been outraged.”

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