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Man Divorces Wife 50 Years Younger Than Him Because She Charged Him For Kisses
In the 1920s, a May-December romance turned sour after money came into play
May-December romances often invite uninvited scrutiny from outsiders who are fascinated by romantic couples who have significant age gaps. Sometimes, such relationships are strong and successful, while others fall apart and are based on other factors besides love. Such appears to be the case when an elderly and wealthy Iowa farmer married a woman 50 years his junior but ended up divorcing her after he found out she was going to charge him $5 to $10 every time he wanted a kiss.
In 1924, Morgan Sheeley was a well to do 82-year-old farmer from Shellsburg, Iowa. A little earlier, he had met 32-year-old Lillian Richardson when she was working as a cigar sales girl at a local train station. He had been married twice before, and his second wife, Alice, had just passed away in 1922 after they had been married for 37 years.
Sheeley and Richardson quickly decided to elope despite the age difference. Several of his six children were more than 20 years older than his new bride but that didn’t appear to factor into their decision to further their romance. The new husband bought her and her young daughter a large home for them all to live in. He had made so much money during his farming days that he was also able to provide her with a large allowance, which she reportedly enjoyed spending on clothes.
Unfortunately, the marriage was not to last long. Sheeley filed for divorce after his wife turned on him. He accused her of threatening to kill him, telling the court, “Mrs. Sheeley threatened to kill me with an ax and beat my brains in with a club.”
Perhaps even more egregious were his assertions that any time he asked for a kiss, his wife refused unless he paid her between $5-$10 for each peck. It was said that during their time together, the old farmer spent a hefty sum paying his wife in order to secure the affections he sought.
The divorce was granted and the ill-fated union was severed. Sheeley lived less than a year more, passing away in the winter of 1925. Meanwhile, Richardson’s obituary indicates she passed away in 1961 in Los Angeles. She married again to a man only seven years her senior. Hopefully, it was a more suitable relationship where there was no required pay for play.
