The Press: Lonely Hearts

At the turn of the century, the New York Herald of the late James Gordon Bennett the younger ran a "Personal" column in which men and women advertised for companions. Specimen advertisements:

"LADY: loyal, lovable, loving with famished heart, craves devotion of but one man financially worth while. FAITH, HOPE, CHARITY."

"A WOMAN finds paddling own canoe dreary task, seeks manly pilot."

"JOLLY SPORTS desire acquaintance of witty, affectionate ladies possessing beautiful figures, hair, teeth."

"MASSEUSES with highly magnetic manners. . . ."

William Randolph Hearst cried out in his Journal that the Herald's "Personal" column was promoting immorality, obtained the indictment of Bennett for improper...

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