MATRIMONIAL ADVERTISEMENTS.
In almost any New York journal you will find such advertisements as the
following:
"An honorable gentleman, established in business, desires for a wife a
lady of means and respectability. Address M. J. P., Station D, New
York."
"A gentleman of the highest respectability, who has lately come into
possession of a large fortune, desires to make the acquaintance of a
lady with a view to matrimony. Must be handsome, accomplished, amiable,
healthy, and pious, and not over twenty-five. Address Husband, Herald
office."
It is probable that some of the parties thus advertising may be in
earnest, but it is very certain that matrimony is the last intention of
the majority of them. There are not many persons who will care to marry
a woman won through the columns of a newspaper. Such simpletons would
deserve whatever trouble or shame such an alliance would bring about.
Many young men and women insert these advertisements for the sake of
"having a little sport," though, as we shall show, the sport thus
produced is of a very dangerous character.
A DANGEROUS PLEASURE.
A young man, not long since, advertised for a wife through the columns
of a city paper, merely designing the affair as a piece of sport. His
communication was answered by a woman, whose handwriting was that of an
educated person. Several letters passed between the parties, and the
young man, wishing to see his unknown correspondent, asked an interview
with her. She demanded to know if he really meant to marry her. She
would not see him without a positive answer on this point. She enclosed
him her photograph. The picture was that of a young and beautiful
woman, and of course inflamed the young man's desire to see the
original. It would have been well for him if he had dropped the
correspondence at once, but he foolishly allowed himself to be led on
farther, and wrote to the woman, declaring that he was serious in his
intentions, and would marry her if she would have him. He consoled
himself with the thought that he had signed a fictitious name to the
letter. The next day he received a communication from the woman, asking
him to call upon her at her residence, which was given. He did so. He
found that her picture had not deceived him--that she was both young
and beautiful.
She received him graciously, and in the course of the conversation
asked him if the letters she held in her hand, were his. He glanced at
them, and assured her that they were. After a short interview, he took
his departure, promising to visit her the next day. Judge his surprise
when she saluted him, upon his return, by his proper name. In great
confusion, he denied his name, but she quietly told him that he had
been followed from her house by friends of hers on the previous night.
She had taken good care to establish his identity. Besides that, she
had had two witnesses concealed behind the heavy window curtains during
the previous day, who had overheard his acknowledgment of his written
offer of marriage. She told him frankly that she had no wish to marry
him, and would surrender to him his letters, and leave him in peace, if
he would pay her five thousand dollars. If he refused, she would bring
suit against him for ten thousand dollars damages for a breach of
promise. He refused her demand, and left the house. He went immediately
to a lawyer and laid his case before him. The lawyer consented to see
the woman, and report the result of his interview. He did so, and the
result was that, finding the woman to be one with whom no man's name
ought to be associated in such a matter, and seeing that her case was
so strong, he advised his client to comply with her demand, and receive
back his letters. This advice was taken, and the young man, who was,
fortunately for him, quite wealthy, and able to pay the money, secured
his letters and lost his money. He has not advertised for a wife since
then.
Men, however, are not often caught in this way. The victims are chiefly
young girls, who think it a fine thing to answer an advertisement. One
of these foolish girls, living in a neighboring State, once answered an
advertisement for a wife, thinking it would be fine fun to carry on
such a correspondence. She received and replied to several letters, but
as she signed her true name to none of her own, considered herself
safe. She was surprised one day by being summoned into the parlor by
her father. She there found a villainous looking fellow, who announced
himself as her correspondent. He had come from New York with his last
letter, and had watched the post-office, until he heard the young girl
call for it, and had followed her home. He had all her letters with
him, and demanded five hundred dollars as the price of them,
threatening, in case he was refused, to make the matter public in the
town. The girl was overwhelmed with shame and confusion at her folly,
and her father was very angry with her. He threatened to have the man
arrested for endeavoring to extort money in such a manner, but the
fellow reminded him that such a course would only make the scandal
greater. There was no help for it. The girl had been foolish, but had
done nothing to merit the scandal which would ensue if the matter were
made public, so the father bought back the letters at the scoundrel's
price, and the affair was hushed up. The girl was cured of her folly,
and will never again commit so thoughtless and foolish a blunder.
By far the greatest number of advertisements of this kind are inserted
by persons who wish to levy black mail upon those who are foolish
enough to reply to them. Persons unaccustomed to these wretches cannot
imagine how patiently and persistently they will work to discover the
names of their correspondents. Distance is no obstacle to them, for
they can follow a letter anywhere. The best plan is not to notice
matrimonial advertisements at all.
MATRIMONIAL BROKERS.
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.