“On the opposite side of the hall lived the Widow Gray, a dealer in oil cloth.”

Even if you can get $25 for your husband–and few women can–you still aren’t legally allowed to sell him. That was the lesson one young wife learned, according to an article in the August 10, 1897 Brooklyn Daily Eagle:

“Mrs. Hannah Robinson, 25 years old, sold her husband, John, for $25 to Mrs. Jennie Gray, a widow, last Thursday, and now she regrets it. The Robinson were married in Scotland on April 30, 1888, and they have a son 2 years old, who is being cared for by the grandfather in Jersey City.

For the past year the Robinsons have lived on the ground floor rear of 621 West Forty-fifth Street, New York. On the opposite side of the hall lived the Widow Gray, who is a dealer in oil cloth. Both Robinson and his wife peddle oil cloth from house to house that they bought from the Widow Gray. Recently Mrs. Robinson noticed that her husband and Mrs. Gray were infatuated with each other and on Thursday Mrs. Robinson made a proposition to sell her husband to the widow for $25.

The widow agreed to this and a bill of sale was made out by a notary. Mrs. Robinson finally repented of her act and told her neighbor about it. They all informed her that selling a husband was against the law and advised her to apply for the arrest of the couple in court. Yesterday she obtained a summons for Magistrate Wentworth at Yorkville Court, returning this morning, but the couple paid no attention to it.

She also called upon lawyer Benjamin F. Greenbthal of 805 Amsterdam Avenue and laid the case before him. He at once procured papers for absolute divorce against Robinson, which he managed to serve on him yesterday afternoon.”