"Aug. 25th, 1905: The alleged attempt to blackmail Count
Franz Joseph Maria Von Larisch Monnich out of 200,000 marks
on a pre-nuptial note alleged to have been signed by the
count, and the implication of army officers and members of
the aristocracy in the marriage brokerage business, has
caused more talk in high circles than anything which has
happened since the elopement of Crown Princess Louise of
Saxony."
It is said the Kaiser had to take a hand in the matter, and insists
that this business shall be stopped finally and effectively on the
ground it is bringing the army and nobility into disrepute and
ridicule.
The harm done by these agencies is almost incalculable. Foolish women
having money at their disposal fall easy victims to the many scheming
scoundrels who make a practice of subscribing to the matrimonial
agencies for the purpose of securing the addresses of prospective
victims.
As instances of the harm done by these matrimonial agencies the case
of Johann Hoch, who married fifty women, and after securing all their
money, either poisoned or deserted them. He was captured in New York
City, January 30, 1905, after he had married a woman in Chicago, Mary
Schultz, alias Brees, alias Bauman, poisoned her, then made love to
her sister, married her, secured what money she had and deserted her.
Hoch was brought back to Chicago, tried for murder, convicted and hung
February 23 1906. This is a glaring example.
[Illustration: IN CUPID'S WORKSHOP.]
[Illustration: ROUTING HER THROUGH
"Ten dollars extra, cabby. If you catch the train with her. She's my
mother-in-law."]
The case of Fredrick Carlton, indicted on two charges of grand larceny
in Brooklyn, New York, July, 1905, is another.
It is stated on what seems to be reliable authority this man made the
acquaintance of women in various parts of the country through the
medium of matrimonial advertisements, married them and decamped with
their money at the first favorable opportunity. Still another:
Dr. George A. Witzhoff, champion bigamist, arrested in Bristol,
England, October, 1905, for bigamy and given a long term in prison. He
was wanted in many cities in the United States.
Witzhoff confessed to marrying and robbing thirty-two women. Most all
of the women he married lived in the United States, and were secured
through the matrimonial agencies.
WITZHOFF'S CONFESSION--BOUGHT FIFTEEN WIVES FROM ONE AGENT--TAKES
$4,000 FROM HIS FIRST WIFE.
"Then, one night, after indulging in plenty of wine, she
confessed she had a child in Pittsburg. I left her there,
telling her I was going to bring her child, which was nine
years old. Instead, I went to New York with her money
($4,000), and paid my friend part of his money, and started
a practice as a dentist in Fourteenth street as Dr. A. R.
Houser. I went to see a matchmaker. He introduced me to a
widow of means. We got married in two weeks at the City
Hall, New York.
"She had all her money loaned away, so I was compelled
to seek another one, as Sig. Badillo was hard after his
balance of $1,000.
"I went, to Philadelphia and got a Jewish matchmaker again
on Fifteenth street and Fairmount avenue, and he introduced
me to a Miss Jocker as Dr. A. Houser.
"I got $800 from her. I paid Badillo $500 and left for
Springfield, Mass., where a woman answered one of my ads. I
inserted an 'ad.' as follows:
"'A professional gentleman of nice appearance, aged
thirty-two, desires the acquaintance of a sincere,
affectionate lady, with some means; object, matrimony;
triflers ignored. Give particulars in first letter. Address
Busy Bee, the Journal.'
[Illustration: (Man with many wives inside heart)]
"I had about twelve answers to this advertisement, and I
picked out a boarding house mistress, and ten days after
she was Mrs. Westfield, and as she was a vulgar woman,
I left her two days after. She had given me $500 before
marriage.
"I returned to New York to wife No. 2, and a week after I
went to St. Louis and inserted an 'ad.' as previously, and
got fifteen answers. There I selected a farmer's daughter
and married her as Dr. Doesser. I married and left her all
within a week.
"I came to Detroit, and with her money, $350, I started
a dental practice as A. Houser. In answer to my
advertisements in a German paper, Mrs. Piser came.
"We went to Toledo, O., five days after our first
interview, and we got married. I left her six days after.
"I came now to Pittsburg, as Dr. Wolfe, got a furnished
room in Allegheny. In answer to an 'ad.' in a German paper
a sexton's daughter answered, the ugliest I ever had. Three
days after we went to the justice of the peace and got
married."