State of California, County of San Joaquin, Stockton

Nashville Franklyn LESLIE, native of Virginia, age 55 resident of San Carlos, Territory of Arizona, to
Mrs Belle STOWELL, native of Warren Co, Illinois, age 39 resident of Warren Co, Illinois

on 1st December, 1896, Otto Grunsky, County Clerk by R.G.W. Fife, Deputy Clerk

Witness: Percy Kenyon, resident of Stockton, Julian Secord, resident of Stockton
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Stockton Daily Independent, Wednesday, Dec 2, 1896, Page 8, column 1 (top)

THE MATRIMONIAL TRAIL. A Chivalrous Scout Weds a Pretty Widow.
Although from the Frontier He Had a Great Appreciation for the Proprieties of the Occasion.

Bleak December casts no shadows strong enough over the matrimonial sea to deter the venturesome barks of the lovelorn candidates for wedded bliss.

Two couples, aged or past the prime, started out yesterday, and one in particular was highly elated over his prospects. He was an old government scout and there is no American frontier far enough removed to make his wedding trip lay among new scenes. He solved this difficulty by mapping out a trip to China. The parties to this marriage were N.F. LESLIE of Arizona, aged 55, and Mrs Belle STOWELL of Illinois, aged 39.

Mr LESLIE appeared at the county clerk's office yesterday afternoon and soon had the ear of Cupid Fyfe. Aside for his weather-beaten face there was nothing to indicate his wild life. He looked though he had come from Broadway, New York, by airship line. His linen was perfection and even the crease on his nobby pantaloons were from the hands of a tailor artist.

Cupid Fyfe, in his winning way, soon learned considerable of Mr LESLIE's story. He was a widower and the lady who was to meet him here was a widow. This was the agreed meeting point, she coming from her home in Illinois and he from Arizona. Their wedding trip was to be China, the start to be made by the next steamer. He wanted a justice who would tie the knot good and strong and soon made the acquaintance of Justice Parker.
The justice avers that he thought he had met a society man who had at
some time delighted the Paris salons. He wished "this ceremony promptly at the hour of 7, and in eminently proper form." If there were any arrangements to be made before hand he would "be please to see that they were attended to, so that there would be no embarrassing delays when the momentous occasion arrived." He asked the justice to "examine this document, which I believe is the license required for presentation to the magistrate who is to perform the marriage rite."

Justice Parker was on hand promptly, and like the great Fogg, the groom and the bride entered the chambers at the tick of the clock, when the hand pointed to the hour of 7. Justice Parker put his best touches on the simple civil service provided for the occasion, and the groom with a medieval chivalry gave his bride a kiss of wedlock on the forehead. The bride, who was a pretty little woman, seemed to harbor a profound regard for her husband.

Before he left the groom did not fail to remember the justice and leave good wished for his health and that of his family. More that this, he took the Justice's address and asked him, not to name the poison, but some article in China, say an Oriental walking stick which would be forwarded to him by the first steamer from the Orient.
The justice named his wish and expects to see it arrive with the clock-like punctuality which characterized the demeanor and conduct of the groom. The couple announced they would go to San Francisco by last evening's train and would sail for Chang's land on the first steamer.

From the San Francisco Chronicle
"Stockton- On December 1st, last, Nashville F LESLIE, giving his residence as San Carlos, A.T. was married by Justice Parker to Mrs Belle STOWELL whose residence was put down upon the license as Warren Co, Illinois.
Leslie was an Indian scout, but he came here direct from the Territorial prison in Yuma county, Arizona Terr. He exchanged the stripes for wedding clothes. He was released after serving eight years for a sentence for murder.

Three years ago [1893] the Chronicle wrote up Leslie's exploits. In the course of the biography of the prisoner they published a picture of him. Mrs Belle Stowell, who then lived in San Francisco, and was the ex-wife of a man in the employ of the Southern Pacific company, read the narrative of the scout's adventures and, it is said, fell in love with him.

She had just been divorced from her husband, and she began to correspond with the murderer. Flowers followed and letters and then fruit was sent. The murderer reciprocated, and the only hindrance to their marriage was the prison bars.

Mrs Stowell obtained a railroad pass to Yuma, Arizona. The prisoner was pardoned and he and his bride-to-be came to this city [Stockton, Ca] and the marriage took place.

Mrs Stowell has been and still is drawing $40 monthly alimony from her husband. The husband is now tired of paying her and sent a detective here to investigate"