LONE SPINSTERS

Evening Star, Issue 21835, 26 September 1934, Page 12

LONE SPINSTERS

PROTECTION FROM RASCALS “ We are determined to stamp out the menace of unscrupulous rogues who exploit the loneliness of spinster women,” said a member of the London Vice Squad to a ‘ Sunday Chronicle ’ representative. A campaign has been launched to round up men who run. bogus marriage agencies, and now it is possible to reveal the full story behind the matchmaking racket. Recently a middle-aged widow figured in a blackmail case against a debonair but callous young crook. She had met him through a matrimonial agency. Almost immediately he succeeded in compromising her and then began systematic blackmail, threatening to expose her to her husband’s relatives. The woman paid him £2OO before she told the facts to a solicitor, who informed the police. Another woman, a retired schoolmistress, recently met a suitor through a matrimonial bureau. A marriage was arranged, and she went through the ceremony; then the “husband’s” first wife turned up on the scene. The exschoolmistress later committed suicide. The bogus marriage agencies generally held out the bait of easy money, and consequently attract an undesirable class of aspirants. “ Civil Service official’s widow,” one advertisement ran, “ independent, wishes to meet man, between thirtyforty years, with a view to matrimony. Could supply comfortable home in return for companionship.” “ Well-bred lady, crippled and unable to walk, would give home and moderate allowance to prospective husband, aged twenty-five to thirty years.” Replies are guaranteed, and so strong is the financial temptation that there is no dearth of applicants—needless to say all of the wrong sort. The matrimonial sharks generally have a free hand. Their victims usually keep silent for fear of ridicule.