Berwick.
* * * * *
Minor Queries.
_Smock Marriage in New York._--In a curious old book, entitled _The
interesting Narrative of the Life of Oulandah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa,
the African, written by himself_, and published in London, by subscription,
in 1789, I find the following passage:
"While we lay here (New York, A.D. 1784) a circumstance happened which
I thought extremely singular. One day a malefactor was to be executed
on a gallows, but with a condition that if any woman, having nothing on
but her shift, married the man under the gallows, his life was to be
saved. This extraordinary privilege was claimed; a woman presented
herself, and the marriage ceremony was performed."--Vol. ii. p. 224.
Perhaps some of your New York correspondents can say whether the annals of
that city furnish evidence of so extraordinary an occurrence.