One might be cautious about online matchmaking now, but back in the day, answering a "matrimonial" ad in a newspaper could be just as dangerous. Luckily, Mrs. Steiner was suspicious of the Sherwood, Ohio, fast-talker, Mr. M. F. Munson.
The Lima News reported first in August 1892 that Mrs. Stella Steiner answered this ad in The Advertiser, a marriage paper printed in Toledo, Ohio:
"A good business man, with some means, wishes to correspond with a rich and handsome widow. Object, matrimony. Address "M", Sherwood, Ohio."
Stella Steiner was the widow of Henry Steiner of Lima, Ohio. Mrs. Steiner was of French, origin, well off, having been left property worth $12,000 - $15,000, according to the paper, and she was, apparently, lonely. Mr. Munson and Mrs. Steiner met at the home of her sister, Mrs. F. Bushey, and they felt a mutual attraction, so much so that a marriage license was procured on Monday, April 11, 1892.
The Lima, Ohio paper reported that "Squire Becker was called in and the twain were made one before leaving the Probate Judge's office." Half an hour later, Munson left her and she didn't see him for three weeks, at which time he sent for her to come to Sherwood, which she did.
The story below appeared in The Parsons Daily Sun, Parsons, Kansas, on September 14, 1892. Stella Steiner eventually found out that not only was Munson a bigamist, but also a swindler who was part of an organized gang who supplied him with letters confirming his stable economic status.
She spent a month in Sherwood, but never saw Munson again, soon returning to her home in Lima, Ohio. Hopefully, the marriage was annulled!
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