Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1883-01-25
A Rich Harvest. ssss

Actions for breach of promise of mar
| rage are among the most entertaining
and profitable of feminine pursuits.
Men are unjustly debarred from the
4 privilege of obtaining damages from
women who, after having promised to
marry them, decline to carry out their
| PROMISES 1t is true that no statute or
decision forbids 8 man to sue woman
for breach of promise, but inasmuch as
fsno jury would give the plaintiff In such
"A suit q verdict for more than SIX and a
quarter cents, no manyentures. 70 sub
! iect himself to such slight. If the day
ever comes when the oppressed male sex
begins an agitation in favor pf mems
rights, one of the grievances of which
men will most Justly complain will be
that they are shut out from the priv
ilege of making an honest living by
bringing breach of promise actions.
In the far West the action for breach
of promise is nearly as popular IS that
for divorce. The former is, considered
the proper occupation Of unmarried
women, Just as the latter is the exclusive
amusement of matrons. In some local
tiles girls are expected TO earn their
dowries by bringing actions for breach
of promise, course which naturally
meets the views of the intended husband.
| Maiden ladies and widows who prefer
single life to matrimony often make
very handsome living with the help OF q
| breach of promise action every two
| years; and as the average amount OF
| damages recovered from each defendant
| is a little more than 1000, it is easily
seen that a really enterprising and at
tractive widow can, by proper manage
ment, amass a competency in very few
years. 49,.
But of late the game is growing shy,
and even the aDlest women find 1t diff
cult to procure evidence upon which to-
institute suit. So many men have
been ruined pecuniarily by writing let
tiers which were afterwardr introduced
as evidence against them that no man
of any intelligence can now be induced
to write letter to, any woman which
contains ANYTHING that could be used to
show that he had made a promise of
marriage.
In these circumstances women DESTROYS
to earn an honest living have been COM
PEELED to resort to all sorts of measures
to procure profitable evidence. The
plan of secreting small brother under
the back parlor sofa so that he can over
hear eliminating language on the part
of the victim was for a time very sue
cessful, and almost as much success at
tended the concealment of a mother or
aunt in the back parlor closet. These
measures have, however, been aban-
doned, owing to the fact that Western
men have made it a rule to explore the
closet and to thrust a stick under the
sofa before sitting down to discuss the
weather or any other topic of interest
with a marriageable member of the OPP
posite sex. The telephone and the old
fashioned speaking tubes have also been
employed in the collection of evidence,
but for long time the cautious man has
made it a point to cork up the speaking
tube and disconnect the telephone be-
fore addressing himself to the business
of the evening. In spite of these fail
ures, the ingenuity of woman is not to
be baff1ed, and Miss Sarah Wilkins, of
Indiana, has lately introduced o new
method of facilitating breach-of-promise
suits which promises to be brilliantly
successful. t.ts ssstezsH
A year ago Miss Wilkins, who is re-
markedly pretty girl, arrived in Bloom
ingGeld, Ind, and promptly became a
popular favorite with men, She was in
every respect a most admirable young
woman, and, regarded as candidate
for matrimony, she had tine unspeakable
advantage of being both,dumb and deaf.
At least she represented herself as
deaf-mute and no one doubted her
word.
AS a matter of course she was sought
in marriage with the utmost enthusiasm
by nearly all the unmarried men in the
town. AS she could neither hear an
avOwal of affection nor return an answer
by word of mouth, her suitors conversed
with her solely with the aid of her little
ivory tablets and her lead-pencil. Ev-
erything that was said to her and every-
thing that she wished to say in reply
was written on the tablets, and re-
manned in the possession of the astute
Miss Wilkins.
At the end of six months that enter
prising young woman began to'reap her
harvest. She brought an action for
breach of promise, and put in evidence
her tablets, by which the defendant was
instantly convicted, the jury not even
leaving their seats. A like result was,
reached in every one of seven other
Wilkins successfully brought. Her ag-.
gregate earnings were $4,000, the evil
dence being Overwhelming against two
the plaintiff making such an eloquent
plea in behalf of the poor afflicted deaf
and dumb girl that verdicts of $4,000
and 200 respectively, were OBJ.
tanned.
From Bloomingfeld Miss Wilkins re-
moved to another town in a remote part
OF the State, where she is now occupied
in preparing for new campaign. There
are many manageable men in the
town, and as they only read an occa-
sional weekly newspaper, none of them
have heard of the grand harvest reaped
by Miss Wilkins in Bloomingield. By
this time she probably has dozen or
two victims securely caught in her tab
will sweep most of the floating capital
of the place into her pockets.
Such an example will soon bear its
fruits. Already numbers of young Ia
dies in Indiana and other Western