Every person who shall be convicted of being married to another, or of cohabiting with another as husband and wife, having at the time a former husband or wife living, shall be fined not exceeding one thousand dollars ($1,000); provided, that this shall not extend to any person whose husband or wife shall be continually remaining without the limits of this state for the space of seven (7) years together, the party being married after the expiration of the seven (7) years, not knowing the other to be living within that time, nor to any person who shall be divorced at the time of the second marriage, nor to any person by reason of any former or prior marriage made when the man was less than fourteen (14) and the woman less than twelve (12) years of age.