Leon Reporter, Leon, Iowa
Thursday, July 29, l897

A special telegram to the Chicago Record last Thursday gives an account of the elopement and marriage of ROBERT ZERK, well known to many of the residents of this locality, having on several occasions "tuned" pianos in Leon, making his headquarters at Alexander's Drug Store. The Dispatch says:

St. Louis, Mo., July 22 -- The marriage of ROBERT ZERK, of Chicago, and MISS MAMIE SHOCKEY, of Warrensburg, closes the incident of a sensational elopement of a few days ago. ZERK, who gives his home as Jackson Park, is a traveling piano tuner, and Sunday he ran away with the daughter of the richest man in Johnson County. The father and brother of the girl started in hot pursuit, announcing that a funeral or a wedding would result shortly. The couple was married this morning at Sedalia, before the pursuers arrived. The father then endeavored to have them return to Warrensburg, but ZERK refused.

Copied by Nancee (McMurtrey) Siefert
"With permission from the Leon Journal Reporter"
November 23, 2002