There are several women in the city who advertise to introduce strangers
into the best society, and to procure wives and husbands from the same
element for their customers. As a general rule, these women are simply
procuresses. If, however, a man desiring to marry a woman in this city,
seeks their aid, they will always find some means of assisting him. The
charge for their services is either a percentage on the lady's fortune,
or a certain specified sum. The woman, or broker, will devise some means
of making the acquaintance of the lady against whom her arts are to be
directed, and will proceed cautiously, step by step, until she has caused
her victim to meet the man for whom she is working. The arts used vary
according to circumstances, but they rarely fail of success. Men who
wish to accomplish the ruin of some innocent girl, also seek the aid of
these brokers, and frequently, through their assistance, effect their
purpose. If it is necessary, the victim, after being allured to the
broker's house, is drugged. These women are the vampires of society. It
is very difficult for the authorities to make a case against them, and
they generally go unpunished.
The offers of these wretches to procure wives for men wishing to be
married, are often accepted by simpletons living in country districts.
The fool is induced to come to the city, where he is introduced to a
woman who is perhaps a prostitute, or a servant girl, or one who is
willing to marry any man who will support her. She readily enters into
the arrangement proposed by the broker, and marries the silly fellow, who
goes back to his rural home with her, thinking he has married a lady.