Member-only story
The Mortally Wounded Man Whose Deathbed Wedding Was Faked So He Could Die Happy
In 1905, a 22-year-old Chicago rail worker made a last-ditch effort to marry his sweetheart a she lay dying
When people are unexpectedly on death’s door, shock is replaced by a desire to do what’s possible to make the doomed person as comfortable and at peace as possible. Often some kind words and expressions of love are sufficient but in one unusual case a century ago, an entire unofficial deathbed wedding was performed so a dying man could pass on believing he had married the woman he loved.
A tragic and non-legal wedding took place in Chicago in 1905 to placate a young man who found himelf unexpectly about to take his final breaths. Edward L. Boardman was a 22-year-old railroad switchman whose future was looking bright. He had a good job, was studying to be an engineer at night and was engaged to Ms. Edith Bruzer, who he called the love of his life.
Things took a sudden and horrible turn on September 27th of that year when Boardman was crushed between two rail cars while in the commission of his work. Mortally wounded, he was transported to a hospital, but his significant injuries were well beyond anything the medical establishment could treat at the time.
