"Mrs. Schneppf was fat, fair and 40."

Here’s a lurid tale of a young tailor in a May-December relationship who grew too close to his stepdaughter, from the leering pages of the July 7, 1888 Brooklyn Daily Eagle. An excerpt:

“A case of youthful depravity in which a stepfather figures as a conspicuous character was unearthed yesterday in the Twenty-sixth Ward by Officer Frank Folk, of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. In a neat little house on Sheppard Avenue, near Blake Avenue, live William Delasco, a tailor, his wife whose second husband he is, and the 15 year old stepdaughter, Caroline Schneppf. About five years ago the girl’s father died and a year later Mrs. Schneppf discarded her widow’s weeds and became Mrs. Delasco.

The marriage was a great surprise to the gossips of the neighborhood. Mrs. Schneppf was fat, fair and 40, while her second husband was slender, good looking and had not yet reached his 20th year. Under the management of this second alliance , the girl Caroline, a well developed child for her age, was brought up. She had but few outside companions. and attended strictly to her household duties. Lately ugly stories began to float about the neighborhood and the tales reached the ears of Officer Folk. He learned that Delasco had grown extremely fond of his stepdaughter. About two weeks ago the girl went to her aunt, Mrs. P. Wessler, who loves at 971 Flushing Avenue, and the sharp eyes of that lady at once took in the situation. She questioned her niece and was horrified to learn that her suspicions were correct. The girl accused her stepfather. All this information was gained by Officer Folk and yesterday, in company with William Randolph, the girl’s uncle, he called at Justice Schiellein’s Court and obtained a warrant for Delasco’s arrest. Shortly after 5 o’clock the accused man was taken into custody and arraigned in court.

Although warned he was not compelled to say a word about the case he persisted, on his way to court, in making a clean breast of the affair. He claimed that the girl was to blame. Just there comes the strangest part of the story. The girl admitted in court that her stepfather’s account was correct in every detail, and said that their intimacy had existed for many moths. A plea of not guilty was entered for Delasco and he was remanded to jail pending examination. The girl was taken in charge by Officer Folk.”