A few days ago, Sheriff Matson forbade the wedding of Mr. Spies and Miss Van Zandt in Cook County.

Sheriff Matson reached this decision (to forbid the wedding) only late on Tuesday evening, after having declared in the afternoon of the same day that he would interpose no obstacle to the marriage. According to the report, it was the Scandinavian religious influence which caused this change of mind in the Sheriff.

The statement in regard to the Sheriff's sudden change of mind we think is wholly unfounded, and will hardly be credited to such by anyone who knows Sheriff Matson. Be this, however, as it may, it is the extraordinary fact that the Staats Zeitung accords all the credit for saving 2Chicago and the world from the tragi-comic scandal of a wedding under the gallows to "Scandinavian religious influence" which startles us.

The Scandinavians are not an irreligious people, and are pleased to have this fact recognized, but that a plain act of common sense and good judgment in the government of Cook County is attributed to this source alone does great injustice to the people of Chicago and the well-known good sense of Mr. Matson. We are not indifferent to the opinion of our German neighbors, and are pleased with a compliment from the Staats-Zeitung, but when that compliment on its very face is insincere and stupid, and, moreover, is intended as a slur on the character of a respected citizen, we decline with thanks.