BURGLARS AND MATRIMONIAL ADVERTISEMENTS.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XV, Issue XXI, 23 November 1895, Page 634

BURGLARS AND MATRIMONIAL ADVERTISEMENTS.

• Many matrimonial advertisements,’ said an ex-inspec-tor of police to me one day (writes a contributor), ‘ are inserted in the papers by burglars. No one who has not advertised for a wife in some popular periodical can have any idea of the number of replies one such announcement calls forth. And a large portion of these emanate from domestic servants —generally young women between the ages of 25 and 35. To an enterprising burglar —particularly if he be young and good-looking or plea-sant-mannered — these fall an easy prey. He receives, say, 75 answers to his advertisement —and I am estimating the number moderately—and from these he selects the most promising—viz., those penned from fashionable and wealthy neighbourhoods, to which he sends a suitable reply. Thereupon ensues a constant correspondence, the warmth of which increases with each letter. At length a meeting is arranged, and should the young lady—and she almost invariably is—be favourably impressed with her lover, his path is easy. Introduced to her fellow-servants by the infatuated girl as her cousin, he very often gets the run of the place, not infrequently with the sanction of the mistress of the house, many of whom readily give their consent to their servants receiving visits from friends. A smart man is then soon in possession of the information he requires. The house in due course is ‘ burgled,’ the courtship comes to an abrupt termination, and the deserted girl, perhaps halfsuspicious of the truth, is afraid to say anything lest she should be deemed an accomplice. Struck by what the ex-inspector stated, and desirous of proving the truth of it, I shortly afterwards issued an advertisement for a wife in a well known London weekly. I received 89 answers. At least 60 of them were from domestics. From these 60 I picked out half a dozen, flinging the remainder into the fire. Here is what happened in one case. In a large house, not a hundred miles from Kensington Gardens Square, lived a parlourmaid, whom I will call Mary Smith. She had both a comfortable place and a good wage. Nevertheless, impelled by the universal desire of having a home of her own, she was foolish enough to reply to my advertisement. She took to me immensely, whether owing to my beauty or affability I am unable to say ; and soon we were on the most friendly terms. Now it happened that the family in whose service Mary Smith was, were out of town when mv acquaintance with her commenced, she and three other servants —two maids and a man—being the only residents in the house. Can it be credited, then, that within one short week of first seeing me. taking advantage of the temporary absence of her fellow-domestics, in answer to a request of mine, she unhesitatingly showed me all over the house ? Such, however, was the case. Here, then, is a great and, as far as I am aware, hitherto little-known danger that may result from matrimonial advertisements.