The San Francisco call., 1898-02-04
A Marriage Personal Lures a Guileless East
 erner to This Coast.
The Woman sAccomplice in the Scheme Well Known in
 Certain Circles.
But tho Plans Miscarried and the Prospective Groom Will Depart
 for Home.

There arrived in this city on the oVerland train last night a gentleman py the name of H. c. Franks, who had travelled all the way from Bradford, Pa., and Judging from the motive that actuated him in coming such long distance 1t would seem that marriage able ladies are few and far between in his locality, for he braved the discom- iorts of an overland journey with the intention of marrying lady whom he had never seen and to whom he had pnghted his troth by mail This would appear to be a romantic courtship on the surface, but the romance fades away when the true inwardness of the facts become known.
 The preliminary bait that lured this unsophisticated individual to this coast was the appearance on January 5, 1887, of two personals in a local journal of recognized saffron tinge which read as follows:
 DOES any good honest man want e good hon.
 est Wl1e1 Address box 5SS2, Examiner office WIDOW, aged 34, owns large ranch, wishes
 10 hear from gentleman capable of man
 aging the ranch; object matrimony. Box 5O24
 Examiner.
 It is not known which one of these attracted the attention of Franks nor to which one he responded, but prooably 1t was the second, because the inducements were greater. Suf- flee 1t to say that he did open up correspondence, and considering that he had never met the lady he wrote in tender, loving strain something in the following style:
 My Dear Unknown: Although you are invisible to me something tells me that you are my affinity, and long to tell voI1 or my love for you. am very weary of for companionship. and it will only be necessary to tell me where to find you and l will go to you as quick as steam will take me. will say that money is for without love life is dreary and deso- late. Answer this as soon as you receive 1t and l will immediately make arrange ments to go to you, as long to clasp you In my arms.
 P. S.-I have always had a liking for widows and l have matter of 5000, which will accompany me on my trip so our honeymoon may be made a pleasur- able one.
 Now the little matter of the $2000 evidently had an uncommon attraction for the widow, who desired to take an- other whack at the matrimonial lot tery, for she hastened to respond. In her correspondence she said that she was little diffident about meeting strangers, but nothing would give her greater pleasure than to make the ac- Quaintance of the writer. As to her physical accomplishments, she weighed 135 pounds, was of medium height, of good form, had large, expressive eyes, golden brown hair, small feet and hands and her friends called her good looking. She added "by way of no harm that she was possessed of $35, 900, which her lately deceased husband had left her before making his exit to an other and happier sphere
 This settled the business, and the courtship which commenced less than a month ago was to have had its culmi- nation on the arrival of the prospective groom last night, but it Is to be hoped that when he learns how he was cruelty imposed upon by two schemers he will lose no time in hieing himself away