BUYING A HUSBAND

Hawera Star, Volume L, 25 October 1930, Page 16

BUYING A HUSBAND

jyTISS MAY JOYCE JONES, a. London typist, advertised in a matrimonial paper for a husband. She was introduced, she told the magistrates, to a mam who said that however much she ioved him lie must have £SOO. lie got the money—and 'turned out to be a married man with children. There was ai police court '.sequel. William .Tones Caldwell (JO), was charged with obtaining £524 by false pretences from the typist, Miss .Tones, Who, lives ait Camden Road.

■Mr Clayton, prosecuting, saidi that the false- pretences were that Caldwci' pretended to be a single man when he iwas married, and had children.' The woman, in the belief that he was single, let him have £524.

Caldwell advertised in a matrimonial paper in February, 1929, that he was looking for a wife. At the same tin:. Miss Jones- was ad vertising, joo. I ear she wished to marry. At the end of (March the editor of the matrimonial paper supplied her with Caldwell address.

Mr Clayton said that the woman became entitled to £I,OOO on her father’s death. By the time she reached 21 the sum standing to her credit ha 1 dwindled to £7OO. In reply to her letter Caldwell wrote that he was a business man, very affectionate, and -wanted to settle down! quickly. Am appointment was made, and he called to see her at her homo. He then said he manufactured herbal medicine, and that he would be well able to maintain her.

Miss Jones, giving evidence, said that Caldwell told her lie did not, want anyone with less than £3OO. He did not believe in a husband keeping a wife if she had niomw.

“We wore to go 50-50,” said Miss .Tones.

Tn the course of conversation, he mentioned that- ho had been in communication with two other women, a

Typist-Victim Faces Court

nurse at Lancaster Gate, and a widow at Hampstead, but he preferred her. The iivi<low had an income of £6 a week and the nurse £IOOO. The nurse had 'offered hint £SOO. Miss Jones add*ed that on April 13 lie proposed to her, and was accepted, at a West End hotel.

The marriage was fixed to .take place oni August Baink'Holiday, and he made it a condition of the engagement that she should give him £SOO. He said: However much I love you I cannot marry you unless you have this money. '’ Miss Junes said that she first gavet Caldwell £SO and then £250.' Out ofr the £250 he bought the engagement ring, and paid £2O to the matrimonial paper, £lO to the man and £lO t-o the woman as intro-duetion fee.

They' went to Bexley Heath and decided on a. house. When he was asked for a: deposit of £25 he induced her to lot him. have a further £3O.

On his plea of his being hard up, she gave him other sums. When she pressed him to complete the house, he said he was not buying a house, but a plot of land for a bungalow. He required, another £SO. She suggested -an overdraft at liis bank. Tie replied that he had no security, and she deposited the security on which lie obtained £45.

ITe remained hard up, and she gave him another £lB. So hard up did he become that he induced her to let him live at her homej while there he borrowed £7 Ids from her mother. £2 of which he had returned. In answer to Mr Eastwood, for the defence, Miss Jones said that she wrote to three other men whose addresses were furnished by the matrimonial paper, and met. all three up to the rime she met Caldwell.

Asked to explain why the marriage was postponed. Miss Jones said that trouble occurred in Caldwell’s company. Caldwell, who pleaded not guilty, was remanded. Bail was refused.