Correspondence Courtship Scam

The Long Victorian Era

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The following newspaper article was published in January of 1905. This happened to be four years to the day after Queen Victoria died. The Victorian era (1937 to 1901) is often called The Long Nineteenth Century. When King Edward, son of Victoria, ascended to the throne, the short Edwardian Era (1901 to 1910) began. Lines between the Victorian and Edwardian Eras blur and were not regarded as remarkably different. Many of the same attitudes and challenges of the late Victorian Era are identical to those in the brief Edwardian period. Correspondence courtship Scam

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1905 Clothing Styles

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Kristin Holt | Image: photograph of 1902 Ladies' Fashion [ladies' white shirtwaist blouse with collar, mannish necktie (in navy blue) and walking shirt (A-line) in navy blue.]. Image from Pinterest.

1902 Ladies’ Fashion. Image: Courtesy of Pinterest.

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Kristin Holt | Photograph, vintage: illustrating men's fashion in the early 1900s. Image: Pinterest.

Men’s fashion in the early 1900s. Image: Courtesy of Pinterest.

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Correspondence Courtship Scam

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Kristin Holt | "Swindler Got $1000 From Innocent Girl"; Sad Climax to a "Correspondence" Courtship---She "Met" a Physician Through a Matrimonial Agency Who Turned Out to Be a Scoundrel. Published in The Courier of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on January 22, 1905.

“Swindler Got $1000 From Innocent Girl”; Sad Climax to a “Correspondence” Courtship—She “Met” a Physician Through a Matrimonial Agency Who Turned Out to Be a Scoundrel. Published in The Courier of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on January 22, 1905.

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A transcription of the article follows, with original spellings [sic], capitalization, paragraphs, and punctuation. Correspondence courtship Scam

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A certain section of Harrisburg is all agog over the awful experience of a pretty, brown-eyed maiden, who is bewailing the loss of a generous sum of money, through the machinations of an admirer whose acquaintance was formed through a matrimonial agency advertisement.

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This girl, like scores of others, in this city, had admirers galore, but, not content with their honeyed words, she sought to seek her quarry in other fields. Picking up a paper one day, about a year ago, she saw an advertisement of “Correspondents wanted, object matrimony,” the signature being that of a well-known matrimonial agency in New York City. Her eyes fairly danced as she read this notice, and before her rose the vision of a handsome man with ebony locks and soulful eyes. To see was to act, and forthwith she wrote a letter to the agency. A reply came prompt and to the point: “Send us ten dollars and we will forward your name to the most eligible and handsome men on our list, several of them millionaires and mine owners. The money was sent and then came the letters: in single and double file, by bunches and bundles, the tender missives filled with honeyed words, poured in. So extensive became her mail that the brown-eyed girl sat up, night after night, to read them. Then she made her choice.

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Physicians Her Ideal

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The man who represented himself as a rising young physician, was selected as her ideal. His photograph was placed on her dresser, and many a night she fell asleep gazing on the classic features of her lover. His letters were read and re-read, and his tender love messages burned deeply into her heart. “Some day,” he wrote, “we will live in a vine-embowered cottage by some limpid stream, happy in each other’s love. And the soft-hearted girl dreamed of him and even went to far as to prepare her wedding garments. She was not well-to-do in this world’s goods and she belonged to the ranks of the world’s workers. As a dainty seamstress, she made a fair livelihood. Then, too, there was a little nest-egg laid by, which had come to her from a relative at the latter’s death. It was only a matter of a thousand dollars, but, it served to keep up her spirits, when she felt weary of the day’s toil, to know that there would be something to fall back on some day, when sickness might come.

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But since the advent of her new lover, the thousand dollars were looked upon as a snug sum with which to furnish the final wedding outfit. Woman-like she had told her “Willie” that she was poor and earned her bread by her needle, imprudently, too, she mentioned the fact that she possessed a thousand shining dollars, and he had answered and told her that she should carefully guard it and not squander it, as he would some day give her another thousand to add thereto–“just for pin money,” as he expressed it. And she, silly girl, believed her smooth-tongued correspondent.

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Letters By The Score

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Day by day the letters came, sweeter and sweeter in tone. His practice was increasing and he was rapidly accumulating enough for the cosy home which was to shelter his “darling.” Meanwhile, the wedding gown had been purchased and was almost finished. Then came a letter announcing that the wedding ring a solitaire diamond was on its way, but begging “Darling” not to wear it until he came to take her away to his far-a-way Western home.

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The ring was a sparkler, and every night before retiring she placed it under her pillow and dreamed of “Willie.” Dear boy, he was a jewel, and she felt as if she’d like to go through fire and water for him. She prayed that something might happen so that she could show her devotion and love. The opportunity came. “Willie” wrote a letter, a pleading, pathetic message, and this is how it ran:

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“Darling, I am ill: not only in mind, but in heart; the bank in which my money reposed has failed and I am in dire distress. A thousand dollars would seem like a fortune to me just now. I went to bed last night thinking how could get out of my dilemma and I dreamed that you came to me and handed me a thousand dollar check. Oh, dearest, if you could only help me.”

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She Gave Him $1,000

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And she did. Straightway she sought the bank and withdrew the money. It was sent to “Willie” with the words: “I wish it was more.” Then she waited for an answer, but none came, and now after four weeks’ silence on his part, the love-sick maiden feels that she has been cruelly deceived. When seen a few days ago, by a COURIER reporter, she wept bitterly and begged that her name be not disclosed. Her wish has been sacredly regarded, and owing to the high standing of the girl’s relatives, her identity will not be made known. Amid her sobs she murmured: “Oh, warn the girls of Harrisburg to keep away from the wiles of the matrimonial agencies. I trusted “Willie” so much, and I did not think he would go back on me like this. My money is gone, the money that my poor grandmother saved.”

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And still the girls of this city are going along in the same old way. It is known to a certainty that several hundred girls here in Harrisburg are corresponding with men whom they never saw.

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What cost $10 in 1905 would cost $270.91 in 2016 (latest year available).

What cost $1000 in 1905 would cost $27090.91 in 2016 (latest year available).

~ Westegg Inflation Calculator