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diff --git a/24717-h/24717-h.htm b/24717-h/24717-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..819f6f8 --- /dev/null +++ b/24717-h/24717-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,7894 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"> +<title>Danger! A True History of a Great City's Wiles and Temptations. The Veil +Lifted, and Light Thrown on Crime and its causes and Criminals and Their Haunts. +Facts and Disclosures</title> +</head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Danger! A True History of a Great City's +Wiles and Temptations, by William Howe and Abraham Hummel + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Danger! A True History of a Great City's Wiles and Temptations + The Veil Lifted, and Light Thrown on Crime and its Causes, + and Criminals and their Haunts. Facts and Disclosures. + +Author: William Howe + Abraham Hummel + +Release Date: February 29, 2008 [EBook #24717] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DANGER! *** + + + + + + + + + + +</pre> + +<div align=center> +<h1>DANGER!</h1> + +<br> +<br> +<h2><em>A TRUE HISTORY OF A GREAT CITY'S</em><br> +<br> +WILES and TEMPTATIONS</h2> + +<br> +<br> +<h3><em>THE VEIL LIFTED, AND LIGHT THROWN ON</em><br> +<br> +CRIME AND ITS CAUSES,<br> +<br> +<em>AND</em><br> +<br> +CRIMINALS AND THEIR HAUNTS.<br> +<br> +<em>FACTS AND DISCLOSURES</em></h3> + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h4>BY<br> +<br> +HOWE & HUMMEL.<br> +<br> +BUFFALO:<br> +<br> +THE COURIER COMPANY, PRINTERS.<br> +<br> +1886</h4> +</div> + +<br> +<br> + <br> +<h5><br> +(Scanned by someone at Lehigh University,<br> +OCRed/proofread/formatted by DIzzIE,<br> +Carriage return mule: Gaz,<br> +Direct all correspondence to DIzzIE,<br> +xcon0 @t yahoo d0.t c.0m<br> +Copy-text page scans available at:<br> + <a href= +"http://www.dizzy.ws/dangerscans.zip">www.dizzy.ws/dangerscans.zip</a> +and<br> +<a href= +"http://www.rorta.net/textfiles/dangerscans.zip"> +www.rorta.net/textfiles/dangerscans.zip</a>)<br> + + -</h5> + +<br> +<br> +<div align=center> +<h2>PREFACE.</h2> + +<br> +<br> +</div> + +<p>It may not be amiss to remark, in explanation of the startling and +sensational title chosen for this production, that logic has not yet succeeded +in framing a title-page which shall clearly indicate the nature of a book. The +greatest adepts have frequently taken refuge in some fortuitous word, which has +served their purpose better than the best results of their analysis. So it was +in the present case. "Danger!" is a thrilling and warning word, suggestive of +the locomotive headlight, and especially applicable to the subject matter of the +following pages, in which the crimes of a great city are dissected and exposed +from the arcanum or confessional of what we may be pardoned for designating the +best-known criminal law offices in America.</p> + +<p>So much for the title. A few words as to the <em>motif</em> of the +publication. Despite the efficiency of our police and the activity of our many +admirable reforming and reclaiming systems, crime still abounds, while the great +tide of social impurity continues to roll on with unabated velocity. Optimists +and philanthropic dreamers in every age have pictured in glowing colors the +gradual but sure approach of the millennium, yet we are, apparently, still as +far from that elysium of purity and unselfishness as ever. Whenever the wolf and +the lamb lie down together, the innocent bleater is invariably inside the +other's ravenous maw. There may be—and we have reason to know that there is—a +marked diminution in certain forms of crime, but there are others in which +surprising fertility of resource and ingenuity of method but too plainly evince +that the latest developments of science and skill are being successfully pressed +into the service of the modern criminal. Increase of education and scientific +skill not only confers superior facilities for the successful perpetration of +crime, but also for its concealment. The revelations of the newspapers, from +week to week, but too plainly indicate an undercurrent of vice and iniquity, +whose depth and foulness defy all computation.</p> + +<p>We are not in accord with those pessimists who speak of New York as a boiling +caldron of crime, without any redeeming features or hopeful elements. But our +practice in the courts and our association with criminals of every kind, and the +knowledge consequently gained of their history and antecedents, have +demonstrated that, in a great city like New York, the germs of evil in human +life are developed into the rankest maturity. As the eloquent Dr. Guthrie, in +his great work, "The City, its Sins and its Sorrows," remarks: "Great cities +many have found to be great curses. It had been well for many an honest lad and +unsuspecting country girl that hopes of higher wages and opportunities of +fortune, that the gay attire and gilded story of some acquaintance, had never +turned their steps cityward, nor turned them from the simplicity and safety of +their country home. Many a foot that once lightly pressed the heather or brushed +the dewy grass has wearily trodden in darkness, guilt and remorse, on these city +pavements. Happy had it been for many had they never exchanged the starry skies +for the lamps of the town, nor had left their quiet villages for the throng and +roar of the big city's streets. Weil for them had they heard no roar but the +river's, whose winter flood it had been safer to breast; no roar but ocean's, +whose stormiest waves it had been safer to ride, than encounter the flood of +city temptations, which has wrecked their virtue and swept them into ruin."</p> + +<p>By hoisting the Danger signal at the mast-head, as it were, we have attempted +to warn young men and young women—the future fathers and mothers of +America—against the snares and pitfalls of the crime and the vice that await the +unwary in New York. Our own long and extensive practice at the bar has furnished +most of the facts; some, again, are on file in our criminal courts of record; +and some, as has already been hinted, have been derived from the confidential +revelations of our private office. With the desire that this book shall prove a +useful warning and potent monitor to those for whose benefit and instruction it +has been designed, and in the earnest hope that, by its influence, some few may +be saved from prison, penitentiary, lunatic asylum, or suicides' purgatory, it +is now submitted to the intelligent readers of America,</p> + +<p>By the public's obedient servants,</p> + +<p>HOWE & HUMMEL.</p> + +<br> + + +<div align=center> +<h2>CONTENTS.</h2> +</div> + +<br> +<br> + <br> + <a href="#1">CHAPTER I.</a> <br> +Ancient and Modern Prisons—Some of the City's Ancient Prisons—How Malefactors +were Formerly Housed—Ancient Bridewells and Modern Jails, <br> +<br> +<a href="#2">CHAPTER II.</a> <br> +Criminals and their Haunts—The Past and Present Gangs of the City—How and Where +they Herd—Prominent Characters that have passed into History, <br> + <br> +<a href="#3">CHAPTER III.</a> <br> +Street Arabs of Both Sexes—The Pretty Flower and News Girls—The Young Wharf Rats +and their eventful Lives—How they all Live, where they Come From, and where they +finally Finish their Career,<br> + <br> + <a href="#4">CHAPTER IV.</a> <br> +Store Girls—Their Fascinations, Foibles and Temptations, <br> + <br> + <a href="#5">CHAPTER V.</a> <br> +The Pretty Waiter Girl—Concert Saloons and how they are Managed—How the Pretty +Waitresses Live and upon Whom, and how the Unwary are Fleeced and Beguiled—A +Midnight Visit to one of the Dives,<br> + <br> + <a href="#6">CHAPTER VI.</a> <br> +Shoplifters—Who they are and how they are made—Their Methods of Operating and +upon whom—The Fashionable Kleptomaniac and her Opposite—The Modern Devices of +Female Thieves,<br> + <br> + <a href="#7">CHAPTER VII.</a> <br> +Kleptomania—Extraordinary Revelations—A Wealthy Kleptomaniac in the Toils of a +Black-mailing Detective,<br> + <br> + <a href="#8">CHAPTER VIII.</a> <br> +Panel Houses and Panel Thieves—The Inmates—The Victims—The Gains—Complete +Exposure of the Manner of Operation, and how Unsuspecting Persons are Robbed,<br> + <br> + <a href="#9">CHAPTER IX.</a> <br> +A Theatrical Romance—Kate Fisher, the Famous Mazeppa, involved—Manager Hemmings +charged by Fast paced Mrs. Bethune with Larceny,<br> + <br> + <a href="#10">CHAPTER X.</a> <br> +A Mariner's Wooing—Captain Hazard's Gushing Letters—Breakers on a Matrimonial +Lee Shore—He is Grounded on Divorce Shoals,<br> + <br> + <a href="#11">CHAPTER XI.</a> <br> +The Baron and "Baroness"—The Romance of Baron Henry Arnous de Reviere, and "The +Buckeye Baroness," Helene Stille,<br> + <br> + <a href="#12">CHAPTER XII.</a> <br> +The Demi-monde,<br> + <br> + <a href="#13">CHAPTER XIII.</a> <br> +Passion's Slaves and Victims—A Matter of Untold History—The Terrible Machinery +of the Law as a Means of Persecution—Edwin James's Rascality,<br> + <br> + <a href="#14">CHAPTER XIV.</a> <br> +Procuresses and their Victims—Clandestine Meetings at Seemingly Respectable +Resorts—The "Introduction House,"<br> + <br> + <a href="#15">CHAPTER XV.</a> <br> +Quacks and Quackery—Specimen Advertisements—The Bait Held Out, and the Fish who +are Expected to Bite,<br> + <br> + <a href="#16">CHAPTER XVI.</a> <br> +Abortion and the Abortionists—The Career of Madame Restell—Rosenzweig's Good +Luck,<br> + <br> + <a href="#17">CHAPTER XVII.</a> <br> +Divorce—The Chicanery of Divorce Specialists—How Divorce Laws Vary in Certain +Slates—Sweeping Amendments Necessary—Illustrative Cases,<br> + <br> + <a href="#18">CHAPTER XVIII.</a> <br> +Black-mail—Who Practice it, How it is Perpetrated, and Upon Whom—The Birds who +are Caught, and the Fowlers who Ensnare them—With other Interesting Matters on +the same Subject,<br> + <br> + <a href="#19">CHAPTER XIX.</a> <br> +About Detectives—The "Javerts," "Old Sleuths" and "Buckets" of Fiction as +Contrasted with the Genuine Article—Popular Notions of Detective Work Altogether +Erroneous—An Ex-detective's Views—The Divorce Detective,<br> + <br> + <a href="#20">CHAPTER XX.</a> <br> +Gambling and Gamblers—The Delusions that Control the Devotees of Policy—What the +Mathematical Chances are Against the Players—Tricks in French Pools—"Bucking the +Tiger"—"Ropers-in"—How Strangers are Victimized,<br> + <br> + <a href="#21">CHAPTER XXI.</a> <br> +Gambling made Easy—The Last Ingenious Scheme to Fool the Police—Flat-houses +Turned into Gambling Houses—"Stud-horse Poker" and "Hide the Heart,"<br> + <br> + <a href="#22">CHAPTER XXII.</a> <br> +Slumming—Depravity of Life in Billy McGlory's—A Three-hours' Visit to the +Place—Degraded Men and Lost Women who are Nightly in this Criminal Whirlpool,<br> + <br> + <a href="#23">CHAPTER XXIII.</a> <br> +Our Waste Basket—Contemporaneous Records and Memoranda of Interesting Cases,<br> + <br> + <a href="#23a">Miss Ruff's +Tribulations,</a><br> + <br> + <a href= +"#23b">Astounding Degradation,</a><br> + <br> + <a href="#23c">Fall of a Youthful, +Beautiful and Accomplished Wife,</a><br> + <br> + <a href="#23d">A French Beauty's +Troubles,</a><br> + <br> + <a href="#23e">Life on the Boston +Boats,</a><br> + <br> + <a href="#23f">An Eighty-year-old +"Fence,"</a><br> + <br> + <a href="#23g">Shoppers' Perils,</a><br> +<br> +<br> + + +<div align=center> +<h2>AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL</h2> +</div> + +<br> +<br> + + +<p>It is to be presumed that the readers of this book will expect a few words on +a subject "on which," as Lord Byron somewhere remarks, "all men are supposed to +be fluent and none agreeable—self." However much the inclination and, I might +add, temptation may run in the direction of fluency and diffuseness in this +case, my utterance shall be as brief as possible. I, William F. Howe, founder of +the law firm of Howe & Hummel, was born in Shawmut street, in Boston, Mass., on +the seventh day of July, 1828. My father was the Rev. Samuel Howe, M. A., a +rather well-known and popular Episcopal clergyman at the Hub in those days. Our +family removed to England when I was yet very young, and consequently my +earliest recollections are of London. I remember going to school, where I +speedily developed a genius for mischief and for getting into scrapes. I +received a liberal allowance of the floggings then fashionable, and I can recall +the <em>hwhish</em> of the implement of torture to this day. We are all young +but once, and when memory calls up the lively pitched battles, and the +pummelings I got and gave at school, I am young again—only my waist is a good +deal more expansive, my step is not so elastic or my sight so clear. I could +recall the names of some of those boys with whom I fought in those happy school +days, and tell how one now adorns the British bench, how another holds a cabinet +portfolio, how another fell bravely fighting in Africa, and how several, +striving neither for name or fame,</p> + +<p> "Along the cool, sequestered vale +of life<br> + Pursue the noiseless tenor of their +way";</p> + +<p>but it would be useless, as would also my experiences at church, listening to +my good father's sermons, and falling constantly asleep.</p> + +<p>My youthful reminiscences of events which happened, and of which I heard or +read in my youth, are mostly chaotic and incongruous; but it is otherwise with +the murders. I remember with what thrilling interest I read the story of +Greenacre, who cut up the body of his victim, carrying the head wrapped up in a +handkerchief, on his knees in the omnibus, and who was supposed to have nearly +fainted with fright when, on asking the conductor the fare, received the answer, +"Sixpence a <em>head!</em>" Then there was the horrible Daniel Good, the +coachman at Roehampton, and the monster Courvoisier, the Swiss valet, who +murdered his master, Lord William Russell. These atrocities and the trials at +Old Bailey, no doubt, gave my mind the bent for the criminal law, not that I was +in any sense conscious of the possession of superior powers. It was merely the +selective tendency of a fresh and buoyant mind, rather vigorous than +contemplative, and in which the desire for a special field of action is but the +symptom of health.</p> + +<p>At the age of twenty, I entered King's College, London, with the son of the +great American statesman and historian, Edward Everett, and succeeded in +graduating with some distinction. Soon after, I entered the office of Mr. George +Waugh, a noted barrister. 1 had the good fortune to meet the commendation of Mr. +Waugh, and I was consequently placed at the head of his corps of assistants, and +frequently appeared in the English courts in place of my employer. My connection +with this office lasted about eight years, and then, in pursuance of an +intention long prior formed and never relinquished, I returned to the country of +my birth. My earliest essays at the American bar have been fairly and +impartially told by another pen, and, as the autobiographical form of narrative +has its limitations as well as its advantages, the reader will pardon me if in +this place I drop the "ego" and quote:</p> + +<p>"On arriving here, Mr. Howe entered the office of E. H. Seeley, Esq., one of +our oldest legal practitioners. Here he remained one year, studying American law +and practice with persistent assiduity, and frequently appearing in our courts, +'by grace,' until he was fully licensed. And it may be here stated that out of a +list of over one hundred candidates for admission to the bar only eighteen +passed, and in that number was included the young lawyer from London.</p> + +<p>"His first case of importance in this city was one of extreme delicacy, being +a test question as to whether Col. Walter W. Price, a wealthy brewer, was +entitled to the position of Colonel of the First Cavalry Regiment, N. G. S. N. +Y., he having received the +<em>second</em> highest number of votes. Mr. Howe took the ground that his +client was entitled to the office, being a resident of this city, while his +competitor, Smith, the founder of the great umbrella house, who had received the +largest number of ballots, resided in Brooklyn. This question was argued before +the Brigade Court, and, its decision being adverse, Mr. Howe carried the case to +the Court of Appeals, where a favorable decision was rendered, and Mr. Price +duly installed in the position. This was the young lawyer's first technical +victory of note, and it brought him almost at once into considerable prominence.</p> + +<p>"He soon after opened an office at the corner of Chambers and Centre streets, +devoted his entire time and energy to civil matters, was highly successful, and +soon achieved a considerable share of popularity. In 1859, finding himself +crowded with business, he removed to his present large suite of offices on the +corner of Centre and Leonard streets, which had formerly been occupied by the +late Judge Russell, and from that time down to the present he has made criminal +matters a specialty.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Howe's first appearance in the New York courts as a criminal lawyer was +in 1859. A man, by the name of Devine, had been tried and convicted in the Court +of Special Sessions on a charge of larceny. He took Devine's case to the General +Term of the Supreme Court, contending that the conviction was illegal, inasmuch +as the statute provides that <em>three</em> justices should sit, whereas at the +trial of Devine but <em>two</em> had attended. Many members of the bar laughed +at him, declaring his position untenable. In this he was opposed by Assistant +District Attorney, the present Chief Justice, Sedgwick. The Court decided the +point well taken and ordered the discharge of the prisoner, Devine.</p> + +<p>"In defending a German named Jacob Weiler, indicted for the murder of his +wife, by shooting, in 1862, Mr. Howe took the ground that the deceased shot +herself, a discharged pistol being found by her side. This case was very +thoroughly canvassed by the entire press of the city, and occasioned the +greatest excitement among the German population. The trial lasted eight days, +and resulted in a disagreement of the jury. At this stage of the proceedings, +owing to a misunderstanding (which it would hardly be in good taste to explain +at this late day), Mr. Howe withdrew from the defense. Other counsel were +substituted, when the case was re-tried, and the prisoner was convicted and +sentenced to state prison for life.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Howe has tried more capital cases than any six lawyers in America +combined. There has not been a murder case of note for the past twenty-five +years in which he has not appeared as counsel. The records of the Courts of Oyer +and Terminer and General Sessions show that he has tried more than three hundred +homicide cases since the year 1860. Mr. Howe, as a specialist in diseases of the +brain, is regarded by physicians as the peer of the most eminent alienists in +practice."</p> + +<p>The circumstances under which Mr. A. H. Hummel became associated with me, +first as an office boy, in 1863, at a salary of two dollars per week, and +subsequently, in May, 1869, as my partner, have been told more than once in the +public press. Mr. Hummel was born in Boston, July 27, 1849; came, with his +parents, to this city at an early age; attended Public School No. 15, on East +Fifth street, and made my acquaintance on a January morning before he was +fourteen years old. I have at hand a newspaper clipping, taken from the +Rochester, N. Y., <em>Democrat and Chronicle</em> of March 25, 1877, in which is +printed an elaborate notice of the law firm of Howe & Hummel, in which the +junior partner is thus characterized:</p> + +<p>"Soon after Mr. Howe opened his office, a bright lad, conversant with foreign +languages, applied on a cold January morning, in the year 1863, for employment, +and was accepted. His duties as office boy were to answer questions, make fires, +do errands, and do copying and translations. Such was his winning address, his +ready tact, his quick perceptions, his prudence and discretion, that he not only +performed his duties to perfection but, in his few spare moments, learned law. +While he grew but little in stature, he made great progress in his chosen +profession. As he had fluent command of the German language—a useful adjunct to +the practice of a criminal lawyer in New York—and gave promise of attaining a +high rank as an advocate, Mr. Howe made him his partner before he was admitted +to the bar. To-day, in stature, he is probably the smallest professional man in +America; but size is not 'the standard of the man,' and if Abe's stature were in +proportion to his merit he would be a veritable giant indeed."</p> + +<p>With this sentiment I most cordially coincide, and at the same time bring +these somewhat rambling and discursive reminiscences to an end.</p> + +<p>WILLIAM F. HOWE.</p> + +<br> +<br> + + +<div align=center> +<h1>DANGER!</h1> +</div> + +<br> +<br> + <br> +<br> + + +<div align=center> +<h2><a name="1">C</a>HAPTER I.</h2> + +<br> +<br> + + +<h3>ANCIENT AND MODERN PRISONS.</h3> + +<br> +<br> + + +<p><em>Some of the City's Ancient Prisons</em>—<em>How Malefactors were Formerly +Housed</em>—<em>Ancient Bridewells and Modern Jails.</em></p> +</div> + +<p>From old Dutch and Knickerbocker records it appears that as far back as the +year 1600 there existed a place for the confinement of malefactors in the City +of New York. At that early date in its history the town must certainly have been +restricted to a half dozen or so of narrow, crooked streets, in the immediate +vicinity of what is now known as the Bowling Green. The population did not, +probably, number more than a few thousands; but, nevertheless, we find from +these same records that, even in that small community, criminals were so +numerous and crime so rife that a jail or Bridewell had already been established +for the safe-keeping and punishment of evildoers, and a system of citizen-police +inaugurated for the preservation of the local peace.</p> + +<p>It was not, however, until some years later, 1642, that the "Staat Huys" was +built, a municipal building, with a portion of it erected especially for the +housing of dangerous criminals. Thus it would seem that for upwards of two +centuries crime and criminals have had their haunts in this city, and, it is +safe to say, while the more ancient cities of Europe have, unquestionably, +originated more felons of every grade, there are few places that can rival New +York in the number of actual crimes committed during its comparatively brief +existence on the earth's map.</p> + +<p>During the earlier history of the embryo city, the nature of the offenses +perpetrated on the then small community, and the type of men who boldly executed +the crimes, were undoubtedly of the same pattern as those which obtain among us +to-day, but with this difference, that with the onward march of Improvement, +hand-in-hand with the progress of Science and Civilization, have also grimly +stalked fashionably-clothed and modernly-equipped Crime and the +scientifically-perfected law-breaker, with his modern and improved methods. +Man's villainies, like his other passions, remain the same to-day as when the +murderous club of Cain crushed the skull of his brother Abel, and the maiden +earth was crimsoned with the first blood that appealed for vengeance. They +differ only in the manner of commission, and the commission would appear to be +assisted by modern invention and appliances.</p> + +<p>To expect large civilized communities dwelling together to be free from crime +would be to imagine an elysium on earth, for where poverty exists crime will +assuredly be found, and poverty will never be divorced from civilization. It +would also appear that, in accordance with the growth and expansion of the young +city in other respects, vice and crime kept pace, while youthful depravity early +began to trouble the good people then as it worries the same class of persons +to-day, for in 1824 we find that a House of Refuge, for the reformation of +juvenile delinquents, was built, ostensibly superseding the old "Society for the +Prevention of Pauperism." To follow in detail the history of crime in this city, +from so early a date, would be of very little service here, but a simple +chronicle, referring to the periods at which prisons were found to be necessary, +may be briefly touched upon as tending to show how crime increased and criminals +multiplied, as the city grew in wealth and population.</p> + +<p>The new "Staat Huys," before alluded to, was erected on the corner of Pearl +street and Coenties Slip, a locality then considered the most central in the +infant town, and as offering the best facilities for securely keeping prisoners. +It served its double purposes of jail and city hall until 1698, when it was +decided by the authorities to build another—a larger and more commodious +structure; while, in the meantime, the old military block-house in the immediate +neighborhood of the Governor's residence was conscripted and made use of, +additionally to the "Staat Huys," for the accommodation of the +constantly-increasing number of culprits.</p> + +<p>The new building—City Hall—was erected on Broad street, on the ground now +covered by the sub-treasury building, and was finished in 1699, but was not used +as a jail until five years subsequent. In the winter of 1704 the sheriff was +required to have the city jail prepared for the reception of felons. Crime, +however, would appear to have become a monster of terrible mien in those days, +far exceeding all the efforts of the authorities to restrict or even to limit +the number of malefactors, aside from the apparent impossibility of diminishing +them, for again, in 1758, another new jail was found absolutely necessary to the +needs of the inhabitants, and was erected on what was then known as "The +Fields," now City Hall Park, and where, tradition has it, the prisoners were +most barbarously treated. This new place of confinement, together with those +previously in use, served their purpose very well until 1775, when the new +Bridewell was erected, when all were converted into military prisons during the +occupancy of the city by the British. The frightful cruelties that were then +practiced upon the patriot soldiers, unfortunate enough to be inmates of those +prisons, are too familiar to every one to need mention here.</p> + +<p>Shortly after the Revolution, the Penitentiary was established at Bellevue. +In 1816, a portion of the almshouse was set apart for the punishment of felons, +by the institution of the treadmill. This was on Twenty-sixth street, near First +avenue, the present site of Bellevue Hospital, and its part occupancy as a +prison somewhat relieved the overcrowded condition of the jail. The city jail +still continued in City Hall Park, and was used as a debtors' prison, remaining +so until 1832, when it was entirely converted into the Register's Office, the +present Hall of Records, and is such to this day. It stands opposite the <em> +Staats Zeitung</em> building in old Tryon Row.</p> + +<p>The Penitentiary was soon found to be too small for the keeping of the +greatly-increased number of prisoners, and so, in 1836, the buildings on +Blackwell's Island were constructed, and two years later, again, the Tombs, the +sombre, miasmatic, Egyptian edifice on Centre street, was completed; which +latter had been in course of construction for some years.</p> + +<p>In addition to the prisons previously alluded to, there was begun, in 1796, a +state prison, which was erected in the Village of Greenwich, about West Tenth +street, near the North River, and which is still in existence to-day (1886), +being occupied by, and known as, the Empire Brewery. It was used as a state +prison until the completion of the present extensive buildings at Sing Sing, on +the Hudson.</p> + +<p>Such is, briefly, a history of the establishment of the prisons of this city, +but of the unfortunate class of criminals that have, from time to time, occupied +them, much remains to be said, and will be found in the succeeding pages.</p> + +<br> +<br> + + +<div align=center> +<h2><a name="2">C</a>HAPTER II.</h2> + +<br> +<br> + + +<h3>CRIMINALS AND THEIR HAUNTS.</h3> + +<br> +<br> + + +<p><em>The Past and Present Gangs of the City—How and Where They +Herd—Prominent Characters that Have Passed into History.</em></p> +</div> + +<p>New York, from being the largest city on the western hemisphere; in almost +hourly communication with every part of the known world; the vast wealth of its +merchants; elegant storehouses crowded with the choicest and most costly goods, +manufactured fabrics, and every kind of valuable representing money; with its +great banks, whose vaults and safes contain more bullion than could be +transported by the largest ship afloat; its colossal establishments teeming with +diamonds, jewelry and precious stones gathered from all parts of the known and +uncivilized portions of the globe; with all this countless wealth, these +boundless riches, in some cases insecurely guarded, in all temptingly displayed, +is it any wonder, then, that this city should always have proved the paradise of +thieves? The fact of its being the chief city of the New World, alone caused it +to be the principal magnet of attraction for all the expert criminals of the Old +World, in addition to those who were "to the manner born."</p> + +<p>What trouble they proved to the police of some years ago, and the frequency +with which crimes of every kind were committed, is best evidenced by referring +to the records of that time, when jails and prisons were crowded and courts and +judges were kept busy trying offenders against the laws, while the entire police +and detective force was unable and inadequate to successfully reduce the +occurrence of the one or diminish the number of the other. It was at that time +appropriately styled the "Thieves' Paradise," for even after some daring and +expert felon had been captured by the authorities and securely lodged in jail, +the meshes of the law, as it then existed, were so large, and the manner of +administering justice (?) so loose, that the higher class of criminal, possessed +of political influence, or, better still, of money, invariably escaped the +punishment his crime deserved. The very police themselves were, in many cases, +in league with the thieves and shared in the "swag" of the successful burglar, +expert counterfeiter, adroit pickpocket, villainous sneak and panel thief, or +daring and accomplished forger; hence crime, from being in a measure +"protected," increased, criminals multiplied and prisons were made necessarily +larger.</p> + +<p>But this was years ago, and under a far different police system than that now +in vogue, the merits and efficacy of which it will be both a duty and a pleasure +hereafter to fully mention. The collusion between the police and the criminals, +at the times of which we speak, became a very serious matter, in which the +public early began to exhibit its temper. So late as the year 1850 it was an +anxious question whether the authorities or the lawless classes should secure +the upper hand and possess the city, and this condition of affairs, this +triangular strife of supposed law and order on one side, protection to +law-breakers on the other, and the protests of an indignant, outraged and +long-suffering people on the third, prevailed until the year that Bill Poole was +murdered by Lew Baker on Broadway, which notable event marked an epoch in the +city's history, and to some extent improved the then existing state of affairs, +as it occasioned the dispersal of a notorious gang of swell roughs, whose power +was felt in local politics, and directed the attention of every lover of peace +and justice to the enactment of better laws and a sterner method of executing +them.</p> + +<p>About the year 1855, two classes of "toughs," or, as they were dubbed in +those days, "rowdies," appear to have had and maintained some control of the +city, overawing the regularly constituted authorities, intimidating the police +by their numbers, and carrying things with a high hand generally. One class +consisted of the individuals comprehended in the title of "Bowery Boy"—a term +which included that certain, or rather uncertain, element of New Yorker residing +in the streets running into the Bowery and adjacent to it, below Canal street, +and the other, a rival gang, called "Dead Rabbits," which unsavory distinction +was adopted by an equally questionable portion of humanity dwelling in the +Fourth and Sixth wards and streets in the vicinity of Catherine and Roosevelt. +There were among these two gangs of the city's representative "toughs," +materials of a far different kind from the actual felon, but who were none the +less dangerous, and among them may be classed many leaders of ward politics and +volunteer fire companies, and from which Lew Baker and his victim, Bill Poole, +"The Paudeen," "Reddy, the Blacksmith," and numerous others were afterwards +developed; but they were oftener far more guilty than the real criminals, for +they aided and abetted, and in cases of arrest befriended them, causing their +subsequent escape from the penalties justly due for their crimes.</p> + +<p>As a type of the veritable "Bowery Boy" may be taken the leader of that gang +of notorious "toughs," one who, from his well-earned reputation as a bar-room +and street rough-and-tumble fighter, has become a historical personage, under +the sobriquet of "Mose." His faithful lieutenant, "Syksey," of "hold de butt" +fame, will not soon be forgotten either, as both figured prominently in the +terrible pitched battles the two rival gangs frequently indulged in, to the +terror and consternation of all New York. Of the rival mob, known as "Dead +Rabbits," Kit Burns, Tommy Hedden and "Shang" Allen are names long to be +remembered by the terror-stricken citizens who lived in the days when the fights +between these notorious aspirants for pugilistic and bloody honors were often of +the deadliest and most sanguinary character, lasting for days at a time; when +entire streets were blockaded and barricaded, and the mobs were armed with +pistols and rifles. Even cannons were sometimes used, and the police, even when +aided by the military, were powerless to suppress these battles until many were +killed and wounded on both sides. In these desperate conflicts it was no unusual +sight to see women, side by side with men, fighting as valiantly as their +husbands, sons or fathers, and the records of the courts and prisons of those +days tell dreadful stories of murders, robberies and other crimes done under +cover of these periodical street fights.</p> + +<p>At this time the locality known as the "Five Points" was probably the worst +spot on the face of the civilized globe. In and around it centered, perhaps, the +most villainous and desperate set of savage human beings ever known to the +criminal annals of a great city. To pass through it in daylight was attended by +considerable danger, even when accompanied by several officers of the law. Woe +to the unfortunate individual who chanced to stray into this neighborhood after +dark. A knock on the head, a quick rifling of pockets, a stab if the victim +breathed, a push down some dark cellar, were frequently the skeleton outlines of +many a dreadful tragedy, of which the victim was never afterwards heard. The +name "Five Points," was given to that particular spot formed by the junction or +crossing of Worth, Baxter and Park streets, but nearly embraced all the +neighborhood comprised in the locality bounded by Centre, Chatham, Pearl and +Canal streets in the Sixth ward, and was frequently afterwards mentioned as the +"Bloody Sixth," from the many daily conflicts eventuating there.</p> + +<p>The "Five Points," from being the hiding-place and residence of the most +bloodthirsty set of criminals, vagabonds and cut-throats, has, through the +influence of the Five Points Mission House and the gradual encroachments of +business houses, become quite respectable, and while now sheltering a large +number of the foreign element, has ceased, to a great extent, to longer excite +terror in the community. Still, it has not entirely lost its former well-merited +title of "Thieves' Nest." It is comparatively a safe thoroughfare in daylight, +and after dark, if one is on constant guard, he may safely pass unharmed.</p> + +<p>In the Fourth ward, just beyond the locality written about, was another +terrible rendezvous for an equally desperate set of men. It was known as +Slaughter-house Point, and a criminal here was, for a time, safe from the +police, as its many intricate streets and tumble-down houses offered a safe +hiding-place for every kind of outlaw, even up to very recent years. Here the +terrible garroter dwelt for a long time; aye, and throve, too, until our +criminal judges began sentencing every one of them convicted before them to the +extreme penalty of twenty years in Sing Sing, which largely suppressed that +class of criminals in this city.</p> + +<p>The methods of the garroter were quick, sure and silent. At Slaughter-house +Point and its environs many a returned East India sea captain, whose vessel was +moored to one of the docks at the foot of a contiguous street, has either +strayed or been beguiled into this neighborhood, drugged and robbed. Others, +whose business or chance brought them within the reach of this set of +desperadoes, have fared similarly. Sad has been the fate of many an individual +unfortunately falling into the clutches of these murderous villains. A stealthy +step, an arm thrown under the chin of the unsuspecting victim, a bear-like +clasp, and total unconsciousness. To rifle the pockets of the unlucky +man—sometimes stripping him and throwing him off the dock—and escape into one of +the many dark and dismal passages abounding in the neighborhood, was but a few +minutes' work, and nothing remained to tell how the drama, perhaps tragedy, was +enacted.</p> + +<p>Another class of dangerous criminals haunted the precincts of Water and +Cherry streets, and that immediate locality. They were all frequenters of the +well-known establishments presided over by such eminent lights of the profession +as Kit Burns, Jerry McAuley, Johnny Allen, etc., but all three of whom +afterwards forswore their evil ways and died in the odor of piety.</p> + +<p>These various gangs inhabiting the portions of the city already indicated +were eventually succeeded by others in widely separated localities. The +succeeding gangs were quite as numerous, but not quite as ferocious or +formidable, so far as numbers were concerned, but more dangerous and daring +individually; for while the former type lived in communities by themselves, and +dwelt in certain well-known streets and houses, using their bloodthirsty +propensities occasionally against themselves in their street fights, the latter +at all times waged an indiscriminate and perpetual war on the respectable +element of society. To the latter and more modern gangs, which were really +worse, so far as the higher classes of crimes were concerned, belonged such men +as "Reddy, the Blacksmith," "Dutch Heinrich." Chauncey Johnson, "Johnny, the +Mick," and their favorite places were "Murderers' Row," and other notorious +localities on Broadway, Houston, Crosby and adjacent streets.</p> + +<p>The war did much to bring these latter into prominence. They made money when +money was in the hands of every one, when bounty-jumpers were as thick as +berries on the bushes, and the leading streets of the city were a blaze of light +at night, from the myriads of colored lamps displayed by the pretty waiter-girl +saloons and other notorious and questionable dives. When the war ceased these +and kindred gangs of "toughs" were again superseded by those at present to be +found in various parts of the metropolis, but which, thanks to an excellent +system of police, are all or nearly all under complete espionage of the local +authorities.</p> + +<p>It now becomes our duty, as faithful chroniclers, to point out the localities +at present occupied by that class of the population, and tell the secret of +their lives and how they exist. The region which most engrosses the attention of +the police is that conspicuously known as "Mackerelville," which for some years +past has borne rather an unsavory reputation. While there are many deserving and +worthy persons dwelling in the locality, quite a different type of humanity also +makes its home there. The neighborhood in question is comprised in Eleventh, +Twelfth and Thirteenth streets, and First avenue, and Avenues A, B and C. It +harbors a wild gang of lawbreakers, ready and willing to commit any kind of +lawless act, in which the chances of escape are many and detection slight. +Notwithstanding the decimation of its ranks by frequent and well-deserved trips +to the penitentiary of its members, for every crime from murder down, it appears +to survive, to the terror of the respectable poor living in the neighborhood and +the constant dread of the police officer. It is a locality and a gang much +dreaded at night, but not nearly so much now as formerly, for when a member +commits a crime of any importance now he is invariably ferreted out, arrested +and punished.</p> + +<p>The Tenth Avenue gang is a chance affair, owing its existence to the +successful and bold express robbery occurring some years ago, but which is still +fresh in the minds of most people from the skillful manner in which it was +executed, and from the number of prominent rascals participating in it. The +robbery referred to, at the time of its occurrence, was current talk, and +continued a subject of conversation for many weeks afterwards. A number of +ingenious, daring and highly-cultured train robbers, under the leadership of the +notorious Ike Marsh, among whom was one who has since attained celebrity as an +actor, boarded a train on the Hudson River Railroad, near Spuyten Duyvil, the +spot immortalized by Washington Irving, and, entering the express car, bound and +gagged the messenger in charge, threw the safe off and jumped after it. The iron +box contained a large amount of greenbacks and government bonds, which the +thieves succeeded in appropriating. Some of these daring robbers were +subsequently arrested and lodged in the White Plains jail, but on the day set +for the trial, the sheriff discovered that his prisoners of the night before, +whom he imagined quite secure, had left, without waiting to say good-bye. Some +friends and confederates came to their assistance, released them and drove them +down to the city, from whence they finally reached our sister Kingdom, recently +made famous as the abode of the fashionable defaulter.</p> + +<p>The successful perpetration of this bold robbery suggested to a number of +idle men the idea of robbing the freight cars as they remained apparently +unguarded on the tracks in the vicinity of the West Thirtieth street station, +and led to the formation of the notorious Tenth Avenue gang. The cars arriving +from the west and other points loaded with valuable goods and merchandise, +offered facilities of a most tempting kind to the members of this gang, and +large quantities nightly disappeared until, week after week, the goods stolen +aggregated thousands of dollars loss to the railroad company. The proximity of +the river aided the operations of this gang very materially, for much of the +goods were spirited away with the assistance of the river thieves and their +boats, both sets of thieves acting, of course, in collusion.</p> + +<p>It is a very difficult thing to map out just the precise localities where +criminals reside now, owing, in a great measure, to the efficiency of the +present police, who keep evil-doers under constant surveillance, preventing them +remaining long in any one place. Of course, such streets as are contained in +wards of the city where the poorest people dwell will invariably have their +quota of questionable characters; but the days when gangs of roughs, +"toughs" or thieves can flourish in one particular section, it is to be hoped, +are matters of the past.</p> + +<p>It is a matter of surprise to other nations, and of congratulation to +ourselves, that at the present such crimes against persons and property as +burglary, pocket-picking and highway robbery are much rarer in proportion than +in any other cosmopolitan city in the world.</p> + +<br> +<br> + + +<div align=center> +<h2><a name="3">C</a>HAPTER III.</h2> + +<br> +<br> + + +<h3>STREET ARABS OF BOTH SEXES.</h3> + +<br> +<br> + + +<p><em>The Pretty Flower and News Girls—The Young Wharf Rats and their Eventful +Lives—How they all Live, where they Come From, and where they finally Finish +their Career.</em></p> +</div> + +<p>To the wealthy resident of Fifth avenue and other noted fashionable +thoroughfares, the incidents of actual every-day life that are here revealed +will read like a revelation. To the merchant and the business man they may +probably read like romance. To the thrifty mechanic, however, who occupies a +vastly different social sphere, who hurries to his work in the morning, and with +equal haste seeks to reach his home at night, this chapter may, perhaps, cause a +tear to glisten in his manly eye when the facts, here written for the first +time, meet his gaze, and, may be, are associated with some young male or female +relation or friend who has "gone wrong." But to the officers of the Society for +the Suppression of Vice, and other kindred useful societies, newspaper men, the +police, and others whose daily vocations happen to keep them out late o' nights, +the truths here unfolded are of too frequent occurrence and are too familiar +sights to need any other corroborative evidence than is supplied by their own +experience and the exercise of their own observation.</p> + +<p>Youthful vice and depravity, of all grades, is, unfortunately, the natural +result of that civilization which finds its outgrowth in large and necessarily +closely-packed communities. Where ground is dear, poor people must seek rooms in +dwellings where the rent is cheap, and these dwellings are, for the most part, +erected in cheap neighborhoods—and cheap neighborhoods mean questionable +companionships and associations, and bad associations beget a familiarity with +immorality of all kinds. No one can question the truth of this. For instance, +the honest and industrious mechanic, receiving fair wages for his work, must +hire lodgings or rooms in some tenement; he goes to work during the day, leaving +his wife, if he happens to have one, at home to perform those hard household +duties which fall to the lot of her class; the children—and there are generally +several, for one of the chief luxuries within the reach of the poor is +children—are allowed to take care of themselves as best they can between times; +they naturally go to the streets to play; they have no gardens, with shady +graveled walks running between beds of bright flowers; no nursery, no +governesses, no nurses with French caps, and, shame be it said, hardly any +public parks; there are not even trees in this great city to cast a shade for +these little creatures in summer nor to help break the force of the wind in +winter—but they play in the streets just the same, and are under no restraint +whatever, and therein lies their temptation. What wonder that they afterwards +people the gilded palaces of vice "up-town," or fill the prisons of the city and +state?</p> + +<p>They may be approached by any one, and they are led away by many. Sometimes +the ever-watchful and lynx-eyed Chinaman singles out some pretty little girl, on +the pretense that he has some curious things to show her in his laundry. +Sometimes an old, eminently respectable gentleman (?) has a package of candy for +the little girls. Sometimes, again, bright-eyed young girls are attracted, like +butterflies to bright flowers, to the gaudy signs of the Bowery museums. +Sometimes there are other inducements, in the way of store windows, or a chance +acquaintance (and they are always around, too, these obliging acquaintances), +and the purchase of some trinkets, then a hotel, a room, and our little friend +has eaten of the apple. But this is premature.</p> + +<p>The unconstrained freedom of the street, therefore, is undoubtedly one great +source of danger to the young but there are many others which, in varying +degrees, conspire to ensnare and corrupt them. So that the wonder is that so +many escape rather than that so many are contaminated.</p> + +<p>The manner in which poor people—the very poor—live in this city is, of +itself, fearfully demoralizing in its effects upon their children. Oftener than +otherwise, a family, in some cases six or seven in number, will occupy but <em> +two</em> rooms; one, a kitchen, the other, a <em>sleeping</em> apartment. In the +latter room are sometimes the father, mother, one or two daughters, say ten, +twelve or fifteen years of age, and as many sons, younger or older, as the case +may be. Just think of it! think of the tender age at which these children are +familiarized with what should be as a sealed book. Think of—what frequently +happens—a drunken father reeling to the marriage bed in such a room! Think of +brothers and sisters of such ages lying side by side, and think of the mistakes +that might occur when—which is possible—the whole family may have taken liquor +and the floor is one common bed. There are hundreds of families living in this +big, charitable city in this degrading manner. Is it any surprise that children +here are bad and criminally vicious at five years of age and upwards?</p> + +<p>It not infrequently happens that the parents of families so circumstanced are +sent to the "Island," in which case the children are then, indeed, upon the +streets. Yet they are so precocious and resourceful that they generally are able +to take care of themselves, and so become flower girls, news girls, wharf rats, +etc.</p> + +<p>There are yet other causes which go to affect the lives of the children of +the poor. It sometimes happens that the happy and virtuous home of a +comparatively well-to-do mechanic is broken up by unforeseen circumstances, +against which no provident provision, except a life insurance policy, could +guard. The head of the family meets with some serious accident, incapacitating +him for labor, and straightway, instead of being the breadwinner and family +support, he becomes a care and a burden. The poor wife is thrown upon her +resources, and she naturally invokes the assistance of her children in the +desperate endeavor of maintaining a roof over their heads. In this way the ranks +of the flower and news girls are frequently recruited.</p> + +<p>Through the cursed effects of drink, the heads of many families are +frequently sent to the "Island" for from ten days to six months, and when the +sheltering arms of some beneficent society, or the kindly offices of some good +Samaritan, are not directed to the forlorn and destitute condition of the +children, the unfortunate young creatures are forced upon the streets to beg, +steal, sell papers, flowers, etc., and also visit the offices of bankers and +brokers, doing anything, in short, to get the means to live. They live in the +streets, sleep in hallways, alleyways, anywhere, a prey to the first +evil-disposed man that meets them. It is a common sight to see children on the +streets in all parts of the metropolis—boys and girls—aged from five to fifteen +years, selling papers, shoplifting, stealing, and,—worse. Have they parents? Who +knows, who inquires, who cares? Some of them are very pretty girls, too. All the +worse for them.</p> + +<p>The same causes which conspire to throw girls upon their own resources to +gain a livelihood, operate with the brothers; but the latter are more fertile in +means of accomplishing that end. Girls can only sell papers, flowers or +themselves, but boys can black boots, sell papers, run errands, carry bundles, +sweep out saloons, steal what is left around loose everywhere, and gradually +perfect themselves for a more advanced stage and higher grade of crimes, finally +developing into fully-fledged and first-class criminals.</p> + +<p>So much for the causes which help to create this class of street Arabs, whom +it is almost a labor of supererogation to describe, especially to those who +daily hear the familiar cries, "Telegram!" "News!" "Telegram!" "New-es!" "Mail +'n' Express!" uttered chiefly by young girls, all over the town. Pretty girls +they are, too, many of them, with large, lustrous eyes, long, well-oiled hair, +nice shoes upon their feet, short dresses, disclosing evidences of graceful +forms, ruddy complexions, and armed with many winsome little actions calculated +to conciliate patronage. They are to be seen on Park Row, the Bowery, Chatham +street, around the post-office, hotels, elevated railroad stations, the ferries +leading to Brooklyn, Jersey City and Staten Island—everywhere, in fact, where +there is a chance of disposing of the afternoon newspaper.</p> + +<p>The larger number of these little girls emerge from their hiding-places about +eleven o'clock in the morning. Their hiding-places may have been a hotel, an +assignation house, their parents' homes, some hallway, the News Girls' Lodging +House, resorts in North William, Bayard, Hester, New Bowery, or any other street +in which cheap rooms can be obtained. It is not to be presumed that all +news-girls are bad; on the contrary, many are very good, respectable little +things, but a few only remain so, for their associations are bad, and many men +who purchase papers from them are constantly tempting them, so that it is very +difficult for any of them to remain good for any length of time.</p> + +<p>Be that as it may, however, the news girl in this case arrives down-town +about noon. She strolls down among the brokers and bankers, and in many cases is +winked at, conversed with and asked to visit different offices, which invitation +is generally accepted, for a little money is to be made by the call, with which +the afternoon papers are purchased. Sometimes the selling of papers is merely a +pretext under which a better opportunity is afforded of conversing with men. The +papers are hawked in saloons, upon the streets, in cars, and other places. If +any one should chance to buy a paper and offers a nickel, the girl invariably +has no change; when the purchaser, nine times out of ten, tells her to keep the +change. They are extremely shrewd, smart, intelligent and wide awake.</p> + +<p>Their papers all sold, about nine or ten o'clock at night they saunter up +Chatham street, the Bowery and other thoroughfares; or, if it is the summer +season, they will be found in the City Hall park, playing, sitting on the +benches, or accosting passing pedestrians. The Battery, too, has its +frequenters, and the piers and docks at night are crowded with them. This life +they pursue until they engage regularly in a life of shame, by becoming regular +boarders in some one of the many dives in the cellars of Chatham street, the +houses of prostitution in Forsyth, Hester, Canal, Bayard and other streets. Or, +again, they may be found in the various pretty-waiter-girl saloons of the +Bowery, or such notorious resorts as Hilly McGlory's, Owney Geoghegan's, and so +on. The public parks, however, are favorite places, and they may be found even +in Union Square and Madison Square, and sometimes in Central Park. They enjoy +themselves, too, for they are often seen on picnics in summer and at balls +during the winter. They have their favorites among the opposite sex, too, just +as have more favored and aristocratic females. For the love of one of these +little girls—Mary Maguire—a member of the notorious Mackerelville gang met a +tragic end, at the hands of a jealous rival in City Hall park, by being stabbed +to death. Little Mary was only fourteen years of age. She was afterwards sent to +the House of the Good Shepherd.</p> + +<p>Newsboys are largely responsible for leading girls of this class into the +tempting paths of vice. In purchasing their papers at the newspaper offices, +generally in cellars, they are subjected to many indignities and familiarities, +which, at first resented, are gradually accepted as a matter of course. Once the +descent is begun, the journey is completed by outsiders, until the girls become +corrupt and unscrupulous, with a knowledge of the ways of the world that would +surprise many a matronly head.</p> + +<p>In many cases, girls of five and six years are sent out as decoys by the +larger ones to "rope in" customers; for detectives and agents of the various +societies, on the lookout for depraved girls, teach those young Messalinas +caution. When one of these smaller girls has secured a customer she pilots the +way to the place where the larger ones are to be found. In one instance this was +a cellar, under ground, not fifty feet from the corner of Chatham and William +streets; outwardly an oyster saloon, but a door opened in a wooden partition, +through which one entered another room, and in which, at one time, there were +actually no less than nine small girls, ranging in age from ten to sixteen +years.</p> + +<p>There are a few places where these girls resort in the day-time and remain +all day, and where they are visited by regular frequenters of the houses. Here, +also, may be found those young girls who, leaving home in the morning and +telling their parents they are going to work, remain all day; returning home +again in the evening with, perhaps, a couple of dollars in their pockets, and at +the end of the week hand their parents what the old people innocently suppose is +the week's wages of their daughters, honestly obtained.</p> + +<p>There are old-time procuresses, who, having once been news-girls themselves, +know just how to proceed to capture recruits for Hester street boarding-houses, +and they obtain them, too, from the ranks mentioned. Parents that drive their +children in the streets to get money, and beat them if they fail to fetch it +home, are generally sure to either make prostitutes of their little ones or have +them run away entirely, particularly when a tempting offer is made them by male +or female. There are thousands of men in this city, as well as there are in +London, who employ procuresses, whose efforts and operations, unfortunately, are +not confined to news-girls, but include the pretty daughters of well-to-do +mechanics and trades people.</p> + +<p>Many of these girls become closely identified with the lives of Chinamen, and +it is astonishing how fond some of these girls become of their almond-eyed +protectors.</p> + +<p>Should any observant individual pass through Elizabeth, Bleecker, Canal, +Hester, Bayard, Dover, Pell, Mott, Baxter, Rose, Chambers streets, and the other +localities mentioned, at night, he will see what becomes of the pretty +news-girls. But there are instances in which they have obtained work in various +factories and wholesale houses and remained respectable.</p> + +<p>Thus far, the news-girl. Of the pretty flower girl—she with the engaging +manner, and interesting face above a tray of flowers—not much remains to be +said, for she has almost become an institution of the past. Thrown upon her own +resources, from like causes affecting others of her sex, she was once to be met +with in the lobby of every theatre in town, every resort where gentlemen were +supposed to frequent, club-houses, drinking saloons, omnibuses, cars, and the +streets. Even houses of ill fame found her gently and firmly looking for trade. +Wherever there was a chance to intercept a gentleman, there was she, and her +importunities to purchase were redoubled when a lady accompanied a gentleman. +They did a thriving business in the pretty-waiter-girl saloons, for men could +hardly escape them, and nearly all bought bouquets for their favorites in those +places.</p> + +<p>It is safe to say that very few of the flower girls were virtuous. They +remained out until all hours of the night and plied a double trade, selling both +their flowers and themselves. There was one well-known house in Thirteenth +street which these little girls made a headquarters. It was between Broadway and +University place. The proprietress had no other "ladies" but flower girls, as +she found them more profitable, charged them higher prices for accommodations, +whether by the day or week, and as but few places would assume the risk of +harboring the waifs, they were compelled to pay her extortionate rates.</p> + +<p>Some time since a man could hardly pass along Fourteenth street or Union +Square, at night, without his being accosted by one of these girls, who, instead +of asking him to purchase flowers, would invariably remark, "Give me a penny, +mister?" by which term, afterwards, all these girls of loose character were +known to ply their trade. Many of these girls were so exceedingly handsome as to +be taken by gentlemen of means and well cared for, and one instance is known +where a flower girl married a very wealthy man of middle age.</p> + +<p>As a class, they were excessively immoral. They purchased their flowers, out +and out, from the florists and made handsome profits, amounting to as much as +two and three dollars a night when the weather was fine; but their habits and +immoralities became so patent that the societies put a stop to their selling, by +sending some to the House of the Good Shepherd, and arresting others for +soliciting and other unlawful acts; so that to-day it is very much to be doubted +if there are more than half a dozen in the city.</p> + +<p>"Wharf rats," street gamins, Arabs, and other euphonious terms are applied to +that class of boys, who, having no homes, make one for themselves in the +streets. They black boots—some of them—in the day-time, sell newspapers in the +afternoons, lie in wait for incoming travelers from the trains to carry +satchels, etc., and make a little money from all sources to supply themselves +with food and raiment. The balance, if any is left, they spend in going to the +gallery of some theatre, visiting some museum, or adjourning to their favorite +haunt—which frequently is a low beer-dive in some obscure street, play pool or +cards or dice for drinks, and otherwise contrive to kill time, until their +"business" of the next day begins.</p> + +<p>It used to be a familiar sight to see the saloons of Baxter, Mott and +Mulberry streets filled with these boys. It was only a few years ago that they +had their own theatre, yclept "The Grand Duke's Theatre," at 21 Baxter street, +in the cellar under a stale beer dive, where really clever performances were +given of an imitative character, by a company of boys; and which, by the way, +was the only theatre which for years defied the efforts of the authorities to +collect the license. The admission fee was ten cents, and curiosity seekers came +from all parts of the city to witness the really laughable and, in many cases, +meritorious character-sketches given within its damp walls. It was subsequently +broken up by the police.</p> + +<p>Boys and girls appear to be alike in one respect—the streets of the city are +full of them at all hours of the day and night. The water, however, would appear +to act like a magnet upon the needle, having peculiar attractions for them at +all times, and to which vicinity, at night in summer, they naturally gravitate. +On the piers which jut out into the rivers on all sides of the city, any one can +see troupes of gamins every warm, pleasant day. Some are fishing, others are +pitching pennies, others, again, playing various apparently harmless games, but +all with eyes for the main chance—an opportunity to steal anything come-at-able. +To the policeman who, from curiosity or to get a sniff of sea breeze, chances to +stroll upon the pier, he finds them all engaged as described. Ships are +unloading cargoes of assorted merchandise, which is being placed upon the dock. +Bags of coffee are in one place, chests of tea in another, hogsheads of molasses +and sugar, and various other kinds of goods are distributed all over the place. +Some boys are playing "tag," and they run around and over the bags of coffee, +behind the hogsheads of sugar, ostensibly in play, but all the while keeping a +sharp eye on the watchmen, police and people employed there. A favorable chance +occurring, a boy drops behind one of the bags of coffee and quickly and +expeditiously rips it open with a sharp knife and bounds away. The coffee thus +loosened freely discharges itself upon the dock in a little heap. In like manner +a knot in the wood forming a head in a barrel of sugar is knocked out, leaving a +round hole, into which the Arab thrusts a long, thin stick and, dexterously +withdrawing it, contrives to pull out considerable sugar. The bung of a molasses +barrel is burst in, a stick inserted, which, when pulled out, has some of the +contents thickly adhering to it. Thus much accomplished, every boy provides +himself with an old tomato or other can, and it would surprise anyone not +familiar with these things, to see how rapidly and ingeniously these dock rats +will fill those cans to overflowing with all kinds of goods, from the openings +thus made in the vessel containing them.</p> + +<p>These same tactics are employed by the street gamins in front of those +grocery stores where barrels, boxes and cases are placed upon the sidewalk, and +it is almost an impossibility for any one but the sharpest to catch them thus +stealing, so clever and adroit are they. One of their very neat tricks is for a +boy to place himself in view of the proprietor of a store, who, knowing the +youth is after some of the goods outside, keeps a sharp eye on him. Suddenly, +the boy makes a dash for some oranges and flies up the street, the proprietor in +full chase. At the distance of, perhaps, half a block, the boy stops, allowing +himself to be caught, when the irate shopkeeper roughly clutches him and, +looking for the oranges stolen, is considerably chopfallen to find the boy has +taken nothing. Upon being asked why he run away, the boy says he "thought he saw +his brother and ran after him to speak to him." It seems plain enough, and the +grocery man returns to find that, in his absence, twenty boys have plenteously +helped themselves to everything within reach. It is now too late to re-catch the +boy that he first ran after. It is a piece of strategic cleverness that rarely +fails to succeed; and if any one underrates the +<em>finesse</em> of the street Arabs of New York, he will stand a very good +chance some day of being a sufferer from them.</p> + +<p>The operations of these embryo professionals are not confined to any one kind +of theft. They are adepts in all the ways of petty thieving. Sometimes, a +drunken sailor or 'longshoreman will stagger out of a saloon and, unsteadily +navigating along, will fall, or seat himself on a door-step and, either falling +asleep or into a semi-conscious condition, will be surrounded by a gang of these +playful boys, while one, the leader, probably, will sneak up to the unlucky man +and relieve him of all he has about him, when they will scamper off.</p> + +<p>These boys are often taken in hand by professional burglars, who use them to +keep watch, posting one of them as a sentry, perhaps employing another to +squeeze through some small aperture and open the doors of the place to be +burglarized, for the fact of their whole lives being passed upon the streets +their education is of that character which tends to make them quick, bright, +smart and skillful in all things, and, when added to natural gifts of +intelligence, render them very dangerous as thieves or thieves' assistants. +Readers of Charles Dickens will recall, in this connection, the use to which +burglar Bill Sykes applied little Oliver Twist.</p> + +<p>Many of these gamins have houses under the docks. The floor is laid just +above high-water mark. It is boarded in on all sides with lumber stolen, day by +day, from adjoining yards. Here they pass their leisure time in comparative +safety and quiet, and considerable comfort, as the whole gang contribute to +furnishing up the club-rooms. Stoves, chairs, tables, benches, and other +evidences of taste, are to be found there, and an occasional cheap picture, +circus bill or flash theatrical poster ornaments the sides of this not +uncomfortable place. Here the members play cards, dice and other games, drink +beer, smoke and otherwise enjoy themselves. These houses sometimes exist for +years unknown to the police, and many a boy, detected in the commission of some +petty theft, has run along the pier, pursued by the policeman, when, suddenly +scrambling over the pier, he has disappeared, leaving the wondering officer to +guess what had become of him.</p> + +<p>In some portions of the town, garrets are made use of as club-rooms and +places of rendezvous, and are exceedingly well arranged. These places are used +as storehouses, too, for the safe-keeping of stolen articles of all kinds.</p> + +<p>An instance of the daring and ingenuity of these "wharf rats," as well as an +illustration of some of their methods, is furnished in the following: Procuring +a boat—loaned frequently with the owner's knowledge of what it is to be used +for—these boys will row, with muffled oars, under some dock having valuable +goods upon it. The only sound that disturbs the silence of the night is the dull +splash, splash and swish of the waters against the dock or some vessel moored +there. Everything is quiet, while the night watchman slowly paces along his +narrow beat, at the one end of which are the dancing, moonlit waters and at the +other the sleeping city. A favorable chance offering, the heads of the boys +appear above the string-piece, and a bag or sack is hurriedly lowered into the +boat. Other goods follow until, sufficient having been taken, the boat moves off +as silently as it appeared. Sometimes, a boat is rowed under the pier where +barrels of whisky or other spirits lie, and, by inserting an auger between the +planks of the dock, a hole is bored in the barrel, when the liquor which escapes +is guided into a barrel. In this way many goods are stolen right under the +noses, apparently, of the watchmen and guardians.</p> + +<p>Sometimes these wharf rats are captured in the act, when fierce fights ensue. +They know there is no escaping punishment, and they fight desperately. Having no +homes or parents there is no escape for them, for, even if not convicted of the +theft, they must go to the House of Refuge.</p> + +<p>After all, but little blame can be attached to these unfortunate boys and +girls, for they are just precisely what their associations have made them. They +learn to swear, smoke, chew, steal, before they can walk, and grow up to be what +they are. The House of Refuge only serves to confirm them in their viciousness +and evil propensities by herding them with other criminals; so that, by the time +they are released they are ready and willing to take greater chances in securing +larger results, when the end invariably is the State prison—probably for life.</p> + +<br> +<br> + + +<div align=center> +<h2><a name="4">C</a>HAPTER IV.</h2> + +<br> +<br> + + +<h3>STORE GIRLS.</h3> + +<br> +<br> + + +<p><em>Their Fascinations, Foibles and Temptations.</em></p> +</div> + +<p>Since the time when Mary Rogers, the beautiful cigar girl of Broadway, met +her sad fate over in Hoboken, the pretty shop girls of New York have contributed +more than their full quota to the city's contemporaneous history. They have +figured in connection with many of its social romances and domestic +infelicities, as well as with its scandals and its crimes—secret and revealed. +In Gotham's grave and gay aspects—in its comedy, its tragedy, and its +melo-drama, we are perpetually running across the charming face, graceful form, +and easy, gay demeanor of the pretty shop girl.</p> + +<p>As a rule, the temptress of the store is pretty—frequently quite beautiful, +and almost invariably handsomer than those fortunate daughters of Mammon whom +she is called upon to serve, and who often treat her with such top-lofty +hauteur. And how stylish she frequently is, and how difficult it is to describe +this incommunicable quality of <em>style,</em> which those artful setters of +baits—the dealers in ready-made fabrics—understand so well! Who has not noticed +how the tall, slender-framed girls, with their graceful movements and flexible +spines, their long, smooth throats and curved waists, are drafted off to stand +as veritable decoy-ducks? Who has not observed the grace and ease with which +they wear risky patterns and unusual <em>façons,</em> +and so delude the arrogant but ungraceful customer into buying, in the belief +that she will look just as well as the pretty model? The average well-to-do +woman, with some pretensions to good looks, sees a beautiful young creature with +Junoesque air parading before her in bold color-combinations and doubtful +harmonies, and she imagines she can venture the same thing with like effect. But +alas! what a travesty the experiment frequently is!</p> + +<p>Many of the New Yorkers who read this page will recall the Original Dollar +Store on Broadway and its fascinating young salesladies. Some of these were +perfect sirens with their loveliness of feature and delicacy of color; their +luxuriant hair, made amenable to the discipline of the prevailing fashion; the +gown stylish and perfect, and frequently not at all reticent in its revelations +of form; the countenance calm, watchful and intelligent—frequently mischievous; +the walk something akin to the serene consciousness of power which we are told +that Phryne exemplified before her judges, and accompanied with that grace which +is the birthright of beauty in every age and under any circumstances.</p> + +<p>For many reasons the tone of morality, in some instances, among store girls +in this city is not high. A variety of obvious causes contribute to this result, +among which may be mentioned their generally poor salaries: their natural +levity, and the example of their companions; their love of dress and display, +coupled with a natural desire for masculine attentions; long hours in close, +impure air; sensational literature; frequent absence of healthy or adequate home +influence; and the many temptations which beset an attractive girl in such a +position.</p> + +<p>Many of them enter stores as mere children in the capacity of cash girls. +They are the children of poor parents, and as they grow up to young maidenhood, +they acquire a sort of superficial polish in the store, and are brightened +without being educated. Some grow up and take their places as full-blown +salesladies, and begin to sigh for the gayety of the streets, for freedom from +restraint, and for amusements that are not within their reach. Naturally <em>au +fait</em> in style, with taste and clever fingers, they dress in an attractive +manner, with the hope of beguiling the ideal hero they have constructed from the +pages of the trashy story paper. It is a sort of voluntary species of sacrifice +on their part—a kind of suicidal decking with flowers, and making preparation +for immolation. Full of pernicious sentimentality, they are open to the first +promising flirtation. They see elegantly-dressed and diamonded ladies, and their +imagination is fed from the fountains of vulgar literature until they dream that +they, too, are destined to be won by some splendid cavalier of fabulous wealth. +Learning from the wishy-washy literature that their face is their fortune, and +so, reading what happened to others, and how perfectly lovely and romantic it +all was, they are ready for the wiles of the first gay deceiver. Waiting in vain +for their god-like ideal, they are finally content to look a little lower, and +favorably receive the immodest addresses of some clerk in their own store, or +succeed in making a street "mash."</p> + +<p>Sometimes the pretty girl rushes impetuously into marriage, repents and +separates from her husband. She is still good looking, and her marital +experience has given her an air of easy assurance, and she readily finds +employment as a saleslady. Her influence afterwards, among girls comparatively +innocent and without her experience, cannot but be pernicious, and at the same +time must exert a certain formative and shaping process in determing the +peculiar character of the whole class of girls in the store.</p> + +<p>Very frequently she does not attain even to the questionable dignity of a +marriage ceremony. Flattered by the attentions of some swell, the pretty shop +girl will be induced to accompany him to the theatre and to supper in a concert +saloon. Her vanity is kindled by his appearance. She rejoices in the style of +his clothes, in the magnificence of his jewelry, and she thinks her mission in +life is to walk beside the splendid swell, amid rose gardens, theatres and +supper rooms, for the remainder of her life. Finally she yields to his soft +solicitations, and her prospects are forever blighted. She becomes an +incorrigible flirt, meets her "fellows" on the corner of the street near the +store, spends a certain number of evenings and nights with them at hotels where +no course of catechism takes place at the clerk's desk. She goes to Coney Island +or local beer gardens on Sundays, manifesting a vivid animal pleasure in her +enjoyment, with little manifestation of gratitude towards her escort who is +supplying the money.</p> + +<p>Sometimes, again, an exceptionally pretty girl will fall a victim to the +proprietor, the manager or some of the superintendents of the store; and there +have been cases of this kind heard in the courts, in one of which the proprietor +not only seduced the girl, but married her, afterwards obtaining a divorce +because of her incontinence. Sometimes the lapse of these girls from the paths +of virtue is accompanied with exceptional hardships. The young lady is beautiful +as well as good perhaps, and the pride of her idolizing parents, who have taught +her that she is fit to be the wife of a duke. She attracts the eye of a man +about town, and the process of courting and flattery—of sapping and +mining—begins, with the result that he has had in view since the inception of +the acquaintance. He is not a bad fellow as the world goes; but providence and +society have made it very hard for single men to show kindness to single women +in any way but one. He is sorry at her situation; but she is hardly the person +for him to marry, even with her blooming, flower-like face. In such a +situation—and such situations are far too common with the class—Byron's lines, +slightly altered, seem peculiarly applicable to the pretty shop girl:</p> + +<p>"'Twas thine own beauty gave the fatal blow,<br> +And help'd to plant the wound that laid thee low."</p> + +<p>Sometimes it happens that the pretty girl, wearied of waiting for her +knightly deliverer, comes across the advertisement of a gifted seeress—the +seventh daughter of a seventh daughter, perchance, or "the only English +prophetess who has the genuine Roman and Arabian talismans for love, good luck, +and all business affairs;" or the wonderful clairvoyant who can be "consulted on +absent friends, love, courtship and marriage." Not infrequently she falls into +the toils of those advertising frauds, who frequently combine the vile trade of +procuress with the ostensible trade of fortune-telling. When the girl is drawn +to this den, the trump card offered her is, of course, the young gentleman, rich +as Crœsus and handsome as Adonis, with whom she is to fall in love. He is +generally described with considerable minuteness, and the time and place of +meeting foretold. This may be fictitious, and it is fortunate for her if it is +so. Rut the seeress too frequently needs no powers of clairvoyance or +ratiocination to make these disclosures, for some <em>roue;</em> who has +exhausted the ordinary rounds of dissipation, or some fast young fellow seeking +a change, has made a bargain with the prophetess for a new and innocent +victim—the amount of the fee to depend on the means and liberality of the +libertine and the attractiveness of the victim. The vain, silly girl is dazzled +with the wily woman's story, and readily promises to call again. At her next +visit the man inspects her from some place of concealment, and if she meets his +views, either an introduction takes place or a rendezvous is perfected. Thus the +acquaintance begins, with the result which every intelligent reader can see for +himself. Sometimes the picture of the scamp is shown, but in every case there is +but one end in view on the part of the seeress, and that end is almost +invariably achieved. The girl thus becomes clandestinely "gay," and spreads the +influence of her evil example and impure associations among her shopmates. Pope +has told us in four immortal lines the effects of a constant contact with vice. +In the second epistle of his Essay on Man, he writes:</p> + +<p>"Vice is a monster of so frightful mien,<br> +As, to be hated, needs but to be seen;<br> +Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face,<br> +We first endure, then pity, then embrace."</p> + +<p>In the case of the class of young girls under consideration this truth is +peculiarly applicable. In consequence of their associations they hear and see +things whose influence is almost wholly bad and pernicious. Those disguised +advertisements in the newspapers called "Personals" are of this evil character. +To young girls, with minds imperfectly disciplined, there is a fatal fascination +in the mystery of surreptitious appointments and meetings. Mystery is so +suggestive and romantic, and the young girl who, from piqued curiosity, is +tempted to dally with a "Matrimonial" or a "Personal," is an object of +commiseration. From dallying and reading and wondering, the step is easy to +answer such notices. She believes that she has a chance of getting a rich and +handsome husband, who will take her to Europe, and, in other respects, make her +life a sort of earthly paradise. The men who write such advertisements know this +besetting female weakness and bait their trap accordingly. And so a young girl, +too frequently, walks alone and unadvised into the meshes of an acquaintanceship +which leads to her ruin. It is perhaps as useless to ask the men who are base +enough to conceive these things to refrain from publishing them, as it is to +urge the mercenary proprietors of certain newspapers to refrain from printing +them in their columns. Yet it must be perfectly clear to all right-thinking +minds, that it is in vain for parents to warn, parsons to preach, friends to +advise, for the good to deplore, and the ignorant to wonder, at the increasing +deterioration of our metropolitan morals, while these tempting lures to feminine +destruction are so alluringly displayed.</p> + +<p>It would be doing very imperfect justice to this theme did we fail to record +our conviction that some of the salesladies and shop girls of the city are +thoroughly good, virtuous, honest and respectable. Many of them, amid unhealthy +influences and corroding associations, preserve the white flower of a blameless +life, and become the honored wives of respectable citizens. But these are a +small minority. At the same time it is useless to disguise the fact that there +are others whose character needs stronger colors for proper delineation than +have hitherto been employed. There are those among pretty shop girls who simply +give up their leisure time to surreptitious appointments. This is the worst and +most dangerous form in which this prevalent vice stalks abroad, and it more +clearly stamps the character of a community than does its more open and brazen +manifestations. Many causes may lead to a woman's becoming a professional +harlot, but if a girl "goes wrong" without any very cogent reason for so doing, +there must be something radically unsound in her composition and inherently bad +in her nature to lead her to abandon her person to the other sex, who are at all +times ready to take advantage of a woman's weakness and a woman's love. +Seduction and clandestine prostitution have made enormous strides in New York, +and especially among the young women and girls connected with stores, within the +last decade.</p> + +<p>Not long ago a woman, who then occupied a prominent position in a Sixth +avenue store, was met up-town in the evening. She is very good looking—strong +and lithe and tall, with a cloud of handsome hair that glistens like bronze; +large dreamy eyes that flash and scintillate witchingly; a handsome, pouting, +ruddy mouth; while her neck, white and statuesque, crowns the full bosom of a +goddess. She said that she came out evenings occasionally to make money, not for +the purpose of subsistence, but to meet debts that her extravagance had caused +her to contract. She said in substance: "You see my appetite is fastidious, and +I like good eating and drinking. I have the most expensive suppers sometimes. I +am engaged to be married to a young fellow who works on a daily newspaper and +who is busy at night. We shall be married some day, I suppose. He does, not +suspect me to be 'fast,' and you don't suppose I am going to take the trouble to +undeceive him. This is not a frequent practice of mine; I only come out when I +want money, and I always have an appointment before I come out. I always dress +well of course, and can pick up a gentleman anywhere when I like. Yes, I know I +have good feet, and I know how to use them. I have hooked many a fifty dollars +by showing a couple of inches of my ankle. Of course, I hate being in the store, +but my fellow is rather jealous, and I keep going there as a blind. Will I +reform when I am married? Perhaps so—if he gives me heaps of money. I am no +worse than thousands of girls, single and married, who put on airs of purity and +church-going. I know plenty of ladies who pay five hundred dollars at the store +for silks and finery, which they persuade their husbands they bought for +one-fourth of the price. And, for my part, I am going to eat well, dress well, +and enjoy myself as long as ever I can get the money, by hook or by crook."</p> + +<br> +<br> + + +<div align=center> +<h2><a name="5">C</a>HAPTER V.</h2> + +<br> +<br> + + +<h3>THE PRETTY WAITER GIRL.</h3> + +<br> +<br> + + +<p><em>Concert Saloons and how they are Managed—How the Pretty Waitresses Live +and upon Whom, and how the Unwary are Fleeced and Beguiled—A Midnight Visit to +one of the Dives.</em></p> +</div> + +<p>Readers of the works of Le Sage will recall the polite devil which the +ingenious novelist releases from his captivity in a vial, for the purpose of +disclosing to the world the true inwardness of society in Spain. Something of +the role of this communicative imp we purpose to enact in this chapter, the +subject matter of which, we may safely venture to assert, is new to at least +nine-tenths of the residents of this great city. And if people, to the manner +born, are unacquainted with the form and manifestations of this particular phase +of crime, how much more ignorant must be those casual visitors, who only, at +long intervals, are called by business, or impelled by anticipations of +pleasure, to visit the Empire City?</p> + +<p>The mode of life of the merchant or business man does not bring him in +contact with crime or the haunts of criminals. He may pass down Sixth avenue, or +Third avenue and the Bowery, on the Elevated railroad; or through Greene, +Wooster, and Bleecker streets, the Bowery, Fourth avenue, Forsythe, Canal, +Thirty-fourth, Houston, Twenty-third and Chatham streets, and other +thoroughfares, in a street car, knowing nothing about the inmates of the houses +lining either side of those same streets, or their manner of life, or anything +about those inhabiting the basement beneath. It is only when the startling +head-lines in his favorite morning paper call his attention to some frightful +crime committed, that he learns either of its character, or location, or the +causes which produced it. To this lack of knowledge on the part of the +respectable portion of the community of the location of questionable places and +the haunts of felons, is to be attributed many of the robberies which, from time +to time, are chronicled in the newspapers. In the case of "the stranger within +our gates" the danger of straying into the sloughs of vice and consequent +victimization, is of course greatly increased. And just here it is worthy of +remark that there appears to be some mysterious fatality by which strangers, +greenhorns and "innocents," generally, contrive to wander by unerring though +devious ways, straight into the talons of vigilant night-hawks.</p> + +<p>Concert saloons and pretty waiter girls are treacherous things to meddle +with. Neither can be depended upon and generally both have unsavory reputations. +The only thing pretty about the girls is a pretty bad record.</p> + +<p>During the war for the Union, when enlistments for the army were lively, and +bounty jumpers flourished, and money was nearly as plentiful as salt, concert +saloon proprietors made enormous fortunes. They were then a new sensation in +this country; indeed, it may be said the war brought them into being. Broadway, +from Fourteenth street to the Battery was literally lined on both sides with +them, and when at night the lamps in front of these places were lighted, it +rendered the street almost as bright as day. Then, as now, they were principally +confined to the basements or cellars of buildings, but while some of them were +known to be the rendezvous of thieves and other criminals, there were a few +which enjoyed a better reputation, and were frequented by people of comparative +respectability.</p> + +<p>The pretty waiter girl, of course, was the principal magnet used to draw +customers to these saloons. She was and is to-day, in fact, the only attraction. +Music of a coarse description is used to attract the passer-by, who, glancing at +the place from whence it proceeds, sees flaring lights, gaudy and brilliant +signs—generally the figure of some female in tights—and is allured in by the +unusual appearance, and the picture his imagination forms of a jolly time to be +had within. Still, the girl is the feature. It is a safe conclusion, that no +waiter girl in a concert saloon is virtuous, nor was there ever a really good +girl engaged in any such saloon. They are there to be bought by any one fancying +them, and therein lies the charm—if charm it can be called—of these places. A +stranger has nothing to do but walk down the steps, enter the saloon, seat +himself at a table, and he will immediately be besieged by a crowd of girls—if +that be what he is seeking. As the stranger knows not the locality of other +places of entertainment, he accommodates himself to circumstances and takes what +he sees before him. Hence concert saloons thrive—but chiefly upon out-of-town +people—countrymen, in fact.</p> + +<p>There are various causes which conspire to make pretty waiter girls. They +belong to three classes: First, the young girl who, but recently fallen into +sin, is placed there by "her friend," which appellation more frequently than +otherwise stands for "her seducer"; second, the young female who naturally seeks +a position as waitress, because it pays her best, the proprietors of some +saloons paying a weekly salary, in others a percentage upon the drinks sold; and +third, an older kind of female who, having run the gauntlet of nearly all forms +of feminine degradation, and losing most of the charms belonging to her sex, +sees a chance, upon the percentages allowed by the "boss," and the overcharge +squeezed from frequenters, of making a living, with a prospect of once in a +while finding a man so drunk as not to have any choice in a companion for the +night. To this sort of individual, all females are beautiful and the ancient and +faded siren has as good a chance for patronage as her younger and more favored +rival. Hence the concert saloon has its advantages for all kinds of women, as +well as its uses for all kinds of men. The price of drinks in these places +varies according to the tact of the pretty waiter girl, the sobriety of the +customer, or the "rules of the house." In all cases, however, drinks are higher +than at ordinary bars, for the musicians have to be paid, the girls to receive a +percentage, as well as the proprietor to reap his harvest. Besides, the smiles +of lovely women must be reckoned at something. In the Chatham street and Bowery +dives, the worst and cheapest of liquors and beers are dispensed to customers. +In many of these concert saloons "private rooms" have been arranged, where +anyone so disposed may choose his female companion and retire to quaff a bottle +of wine (?) at five dollars a bottle—a customer who indulges in such a luxury as +wine being too important and consequential to associate with the common +visitors. Money here as elsewhere has its worshipers.</p> + +<p>With this preface we shall now introduce the reader to the inside of one of +these concert saloons, and show him the pretty waiter girl as his fancy pictures +her, and as she really is: Chancing to walk along the street, the ears are +assailed by the clash of music emanating from some basement, down perhaps a half +a dozen steps. A number of red globes, surrounding as many gas jets, serve to +show the entrance, on either side of which are full length paintings of women in +short skirts. The door is of green leather or oil-cloth. Pushing this open, we +enter and seat ourselves at one of the many round tables with which the place is +plentifully supplied. In a second—not longer—several girls are beside us, and +some sit down at our table. One—perhaps two at once—will immediately ask if we +are not going to treat, and, in response, drinks are ordered. While one of the +girls proceeds to supply the order, and before the drinks are brought, we glance +around the saloon. On one side is the bar, at which several persons are +standing, drinking with some of the sweet-voiced houris. The barkeeper and +proprietor, both in their shirt sleeves, are behind it. On one side of the bar +is a slightly-raised platform, upon which is a piano-player, a violinist and a +shrill fifer. This is the music that charms and attracts. Around the room are +men of all kinds, sailors, laboring men, seedy individuals, lovers, thieves, a +few poor gamblers, fellows in hard luck and waiting for "something to turn up." +Sprinkled over the place, talking, laughing, joking and striving to induce them +to buy drinks, are a number of the waiter girls. The floor is plentifully and +generously covered with plain sawdust, which answers the double purpose of +effectually hiding the large cracks, and of absorbing the expectorations and +spilled beer. The time is yet early and business is not very brisk, so we chat +with the prettiest and youngest of the girls for a second only, when we are +again importuned to drink by another of the fair ones, even before the first +round is brought, for it must be understood that only the girl ordering the +drinks gets any percentage. The drinks brought, the price is asked and the +amount paid, as follows: Two beers, two lemonades with a stick in it for two +girls, and two brandies for two others; total, one dollar and forty cents. Now +the girls don't drink brandy, they have a little colored water, but they charge +for brandy all the same, and pay the proprietor in pasteboard tickets, which are +supplied by him to the girls in packages of five dollars worth and upwards. For +that which she charged one dollar and forty cents she pays in checks forty +cents, thus making a clear one dollar—five cents each for two beers, ten cents +each for lemonades, and five cents each for the colored water. The customer pays +ten cents for each glass of beer, twenty cents each for lemonade and forty cents +each for brandy. When the customer fails to call for drinks fast enough to suit +the girls, they will leave for some other table where they may be more liberally +patronized. It is getting later, and as we are about to leave, an unsteady and +heavy foot is heard descending the steps outside, the doors are pushed violently +open and a big, burly man reels into the place. He is not entirely intoxicated, +but just enough so not to care for anything or anybody, and as he shuffles +independently along he is approached by a couple of girls, who, taking an arm +each, affectionately guide him to a chair. Being seated, he smiles benignly upon +his fair captors and asks them to drink. He is evidently, from his dress, a +successful butcher or saloon-keeper and has plenty of money about him. The +drinks brought, he takes a roll of money from his pocket, and, thinking it is a +five-dollar bill, gives a fifty-dollar bill to the girl. She immediately leaves +and in a few seconds returns, giving him change for a five, saying quite +pleasantly, "Here's your change," and, as he is about to place it in his pocket, +asks him for "a quarter for luck." Several girls now gather around the man, and +by smiles, caresses, and other affectionate and flattering demonstrations, +finally persuade him into one of the private rooms, when he is lost to our +sight, but we distinctly hear the order, "bottle of wine."</p> + +<p>Soon another man enters very drunk, and, seating himself, is soon similarly +surrounded. In about a minute one of the girls leaves and whispers to the +proprietor, who, emerging from behind his rampart, catches the unlucky visitor +by the collar, and with the aid of a club compels him to ascend the steps again +to the street. The man not having any money was an unwelcome guest, and they had +no use for him.</p> + +<p>Several others now enter, many of whom are personally known to the girls, and +mutual glances of recognition pass between them. These pass on down to the +further and privileged part of the place and are lost to view. The den is now +pretty full and business is brisk. The bartender and proprietor are hurriedly +passing out ordered drinks. The girls are flying around, executing orders and +pocketing change. The piano-player bangs and thumps his hideously-wiry +instrument. Glasses are clinking, chairs and tables moving, and altogether there +is a discordant tumult well calculated to bewilder the coolest kind of a head.</p> + +<p>Suddenly there is a scream—a piercing scream. Everybody starts and looks +towards the spot from whence it proceeded. One of the girls quickly says, "Oh, +it's nothing, Jimmy is only licking Hattie." The lover has only beaten the poor +creature who is supporting him, and, strange as it may appear, she will think +all the more of him for this brutality. It is a pretty generally known fact, so +far as females of this class are concerned, that if a man occasionally severely +beats his mistress, she regards it as a proof that he entertains for her an +ardent affection. It is now getting late, and several of the girls are leaving +for home with their new-made male friends, and indications point towards the +place being closed for the night. The butcher comes forth from his "private +room," followed by a number of the girls who have been his companions, and is +led to the door and assisted out. We leave also, and as we ascend the steps to +the street we discover our butcher in the hands of a policeman who is dragging +him off to the station, where we shall leave him for the night.</p> + +<p>Now, most of these girls live in what are called furnished rooms, and it is +to those that they take their male friends when they leave the saloon, stopping +on the way, of course, for "supper." In some cases the girls are panel +thieves—but that is rare. In nearly all cases they have lovers and generally +provide home comforts for their masters, but in all cases they are for hire. The +nature of the business they follow demands their attention at night, so that +they sleep nearly all the day. The great majority of them are veritable thieves. +To drug a man who carries money, or ply him with liquor until he is unconscious +and then rob him of all he has, is a very common proceeding, particularly when +afterwards he is put out on the street and left, when the chances are more than +a hundred to one that he neither recollects the place where he was nor the girl +who stole his money or his valuables. The proprietor, if he can, divides the +stolen amount with the girl—with the lover always. Many instances are known of +half-intoxicated men leaving valuables with the bar-tender of some of these +places, for supposed security, but when requested to be returned were met with a +denial that the valuables were ever intrusted to him. With an air of insulted +innocence the bartender declares that he never saw the articles or the man +before.</p> + +<p>We shall now return to our butcher acquaintance, and follow the incident to +its ending. So we proceed to the Tombs the next morning, and there in the pen +with the other prisoners we find our man. Upon his arraignment in court he tells +the following story, which is the truth <em>verbatim:</em></p> + +<p>"I was wandering through Chatham street, when my attention became attracted +by a bevy of gaudily-dressed girls, who asked me to while away my spare hours in +a concert saloon. Smitten with the charms of the tempters I was loth to part +with them, and after some preliminary conversation they enticed me to their +lair. I had at this time about five hundred dollars in my possession, and after +some hours carousal, they robbed and sent me away penniless. This is how it was +done: I entered the saloon and was taken to a private room, when I called for +some wine, of which we all partook. I may say here that the wine, so called, was +really nothing but cider. The girls sat on the sofa in this room with me. We +continued to drink and I was the recipient of more caresses than I ever was +before in my life. After the lapse of perhaps three hours, some of the girls +left me, and when I called for more wine, I found that my money was gone. I was +not so drunk at this time that I could not understand that I had been robbed. I +asked for the girls that had left, and was told that they had gone home. I paid +ninety dollars for wine in this room, but they gave me sometimes cider and +whisky mixed, and then when I became really unconsciously intoxicated they put +me out, after having taken all my money from my clothes.</p> + +<p>"I had made an arrangement to go home with two of the girls, but I suppose +when they saw that some of their number had taken all my money, they left me. +There was a sofa in this room and one of the girls intimated to me that I had +assaulted her and wanted some money. Another said she could not afford to spend +her time there unless she was paid. Another induced me to give her money to buy +a hat, and then when I lost consciousness they robbed me of all I had, my watch +and chain, scarf-pin, ring and the remainder of my money. Many times during the +hours I was there, drinks and wine were brought in that I did not order, but the +girls would insist that I had ordered it. Once in a while the 'madame' of the +place would call in the room, and coming up to me would embrace me and tell me I +was a jolly fellow. I could not now recognize any of the girls and do not know +which saloon I went into. I live in this city."</p> + +<p>As a matter of custom, detectives were placed upon the case after the +discharge of the prisoner, but that was the last ever heard of the matter, as he +was unable to identify any of the parties arrested.</p> + +<p>The foregoing is only a sample of hundreds of similar cases constantly taking +place, in some of which the sufferer, if he is a stranger, and has no friends, +is oftentimes sent to the Island for ten days for being drunk, while the pretty +waiter girl who has drugged, robbed and finally discarded him is never even +arrested. There are many other cases, however, in which the pretty waiter girl +does not fare so well, and after conviction has to serve out her time, thereby +losing her lover and her liberty.</p> + +<p>What has been written applies more especially to the concert-saloon waiter +girl, and does not in the least pertain to that other class of girls who are +found in what are called dance houses, of which latter there are not a few in +this city. There are some very peculiar kinds of females to be found in dance +houses and not to be met with outside the abodes of Terpsichore. The term, dance +house, itself, is susceptible of various interpretations. It may mean anything +from Harry Hill's, at Crosby and Houston streets, to an Italian gathering in +Mott or Mulberry street. But the performances carried on are precisely alike in +all. In the sporting dance house, a series of boxing matches, small theatrical +sketches may be acted, a song or two interspersed, and some piano playing, +winding up afterwards with a dance, in which all so inclined may indulge, taking +either the regular girls employed in the house as partners, or others who have +strayed in from the streets.</p> + +<p>In the regular dance houses, such as the Haymarket on Sixth avenue, "ladies" +are admitted free, but "gentlemen" are charged twenty-five cents admittance, and +here regular dancing takes place, such as quadrilles, waltzes, etc. In the +French Madame's on Thirty-first street, which is ostensibly a restaurant, the +girls come in from the street, and while sipping black coffee, are ready to +accept an engagement to dance the <em>cancan,</em> which is performed up-stairs +in rooms paid for by those desiring to see the questionable performance. It is +not infrequently danced by the females in an entirely nude state, with various +other concomitants not to be mentioned here, but of such a nature as to horrify +any but the most <em>blasé roué.</em> There is also the well-known Billy +McGlory's, in Hester street, near the Bowery, where general dancing is indulged +in until an early hour of the morning, when a universal <em>cancan</em> takes +place upon the public floor, and where each female boldly exposes just enough of +her person to excite desire in the beholder. These girls dance in ordinary +street costumes, and in many cases are paid by the proprietor for their +services. It is a wild debauch, and needs but to be seen once, to be ever +afterward remembered with disgust and loathing.</p> + +<p>There are other places, not particularly dance houses nor yet concert +saloons, such as the Empire, Star and Garter, Gould's, etc., which are used as +general places of resort by all classes of males and Magdalenes. Here may be +found the professional prize fighter, men about town, gamblers, merchants, +clerks, politicians, bankers, officials of all kinds, and all classes of +females, mistresses, <em>nymphs du pave,</em> inmates of assignation houses, all +intent on fun and dissipation, and a desire to not only see the elephant, but +pull it by the tail. Some of the girls-haunting these places have been pretty +waiter girls, but find it more profitable to ply their trade as Cyprians. The +bars are the chief sources of profit in these as in kindred establishments. +Hence females are encouraged to visit them, for when they congregate in force +men will follow, and men who enter these places do so for the purpose of finding +congenial temporary mates and spending money for drinks.</p> + +<p>Of the females who make these places their resort for the best part of the +night, and participate in the recklessness and debauchery that has its ending +only in an early death and the "Potter's Field," nothing remains to be said, +except that they are the same as thousands leading similar lives in other cities +of the world. The victims first of man's perfidy, through a too-confiding +reliance on his promises, they become so afterwards as a matter of business and +livelihood. Each has her lover, of course—what woman of the town has not?—and if +she should happen to make a little money in the way of her questionable +business, she divides it with him, for generally he has his eyes upon her during +the entire course of the evening. Very few of them will leave any of these +places with strange men without first notifying their lovers of where they are +going and how long they will be away. In return for these services the lover +sees to her, helps her to customers, prevents her being imposed upon by others +of her sex when in the dance houses or concert saloons, and occasionally acts as +her +<em>cavalier servante</em> to various places for pleasure. There are many girls +to be seen in these dance houses who are not over fifteen years of age—and they +have lovers, too. In Billy McGlory's, one night, a desperate fight took place +there over two rival claimants for the regard of a girl not yet entered on her +teens.</p> + +<p>It is considered one of the sights of the great city to visit these up-town +resorts. Here all the young swells who desire to show country cousins the city, +commercial travelers, chaperoned by city salesmen of various business houses, +chorus girls from the theaters, and a mixed company generally, are to be found +sitting around the various tables, drinking. The atmosphere is foggy with cigar +smoke. The saloon is all ablaze with light. On the stage is some fourth-rate +performer rendering a popular song. There is a long lunch counter, upon which is +placed the materials for manufacturing all kinds of sandwiches. There is the +flower girl, with her tray of fresh pansies and roses, casting a reflected bloom +upon her otherwise pale face. There are the negro waiters ready to pounce upon +the first glass that is half-emptied of its contents, so that its owner seeing +no glass before him feels it incumbent to order again. There are crowds of +females—girls and women in street costumes—some smoking cigarettes sitting +poised on men's knees; others at the tables quaffing stimulants like their male +companions. There are voices loud, mingled with the constant succession of +orders for drinks shouted out unpleasantly by the waiters. There is the sound of +clinking and jingling of glasses, the constant rapping on tables, boisterous +laughter, an occasional oath, and once in a while an hysterical scream, as some +unfortunate woman succumbs to the influence of rum. Above all this is heard at +intervals, the sound of music, as it squeezes itself through the thick and +sticky air. Men and women are continuously going and coming, and all this drags +on until daylight appears, and the persons in the place, from sheer fatigue and +exhaustion, seek some place to sleep until the next night, when the females go +through the same scenes, with a new lot of the same kind of men. That is the +up-town place as it is to-day. The stories one hears are the same as those told +two thousand years ago. Woman's fall, man's perfidy, woman's frailty, man's +inhumanity form the themes, with drunkeness, depravity and debauchery thrown in +parenthetically.</p> + +<p>Most of the proprietors of these up-town resorts are very prosperous and +would not countenance theft of any kind, nor permit any woman guilty of it to +come into their saloons if they knew them to be thieves. Persons and property +are comparatively as safe here as they can reasonably be expected to be; but +there are lots of persons who visit these places who are known to be +professional thieves and pickpockets, and while apparently in the place for +amusement, are really watching for some unfortunate who, under the influence of +drink, attempts to find his way home alone. Such an individual is followed, and +by one pretext or another is robbed. Danger lurks in all these places for the +man who drinks. The temperate man is safe almost anywhere, but the temperate man +is not in the habit of visiting such places as have been described, except—once +in a while.</p> + +<br> +<br> + + +<div align=center> +<h2><a name="6">C</a>HAPTER VI.</h2> + +<br> +<br> + + +<h3>SHOP-LIFTERS.</h3> + +<br> +<br> + + +<p><em>Who they are and how they are made—Their Methods of Operating and upon +whom—The Fashionable Kleptomaniac and her opposite—The Modern Devices of Female +Thieves.</em></p> +</div> + +<p>Many persons contend that certain kinds of criminals inherit their +law-breaking propensities. There are others, less charitably disposed, perhaps, +who strenuously insist that all criminals, without exception, are simply born +with a natural desire to be bad, and would not be otherwise if they could; that +they are prone and susceptible to the worst influences because they incline that +way. There are others, again, who as strongly and vigorously urge that felons, +of whatever grade, class or character, are made so by circumstances, in which +poverty, idleness, inability to obtain work, temptation, and a thousand other +things, conspire to be either the direct or indirect causes of the individual +falling from the straight path and entering the crooked path of crime. But, from +whatever motive, by whatever temptation, whether forced or led, certain it is +that both male and female criminals have some peculiar ideas of crime, +entertained, perhaps, for reasons only known to themselves. The chances of +escape from detection are, no doubt, seriously weighed and carefully considered +by the persons bent upon committing felony as a mode of livelihood, and, +undoubtedly, some special line is selected, as the particular branch of the +profession to be followed, in accordance with the physical and mental fitness of +the man or woman to succeed in it.</p> + +<p>In other words, they gradually become "specialists," like other professional +persons in the respectable walks of life. It may be safely said, however, that a +thief in one thing is a thief in all things. He would be callow, indeed, who +would predicate that a professional burglar would hesitate to commit highway +robbery because his weapon was a jimmy, or that a panel thief would turn up his +nose at picking an inviting pocket. It is all in the line of business, and +neither professional would lose caste. No doubt both men and women select the +peculiar line of crime for which they imagine they are physically and mentally +best adapted, and which, in each particular case, seems to offer the most +facilities and immunities. For these considerations, shop-lifting has its +obvious attractions and temptations for women.</p> + +<p>For years past, the newspapers of our large cities almost daily have +chronicled the arrests of men and women, in stores, who have been caught in the +act of appropriating articles that have been temptingly displayed on the +counters. Yet it is very doubtful if there has yet appeared one published +account of the exact manner in which such goods have been stolen, or an +explanation given of the +<em>finesse</em> by which, in spite of the Argus eyes of the watchers, clerks, +visitors and customers, the thief generally contrives to escape detection. It +goes without saying that there are adroit and dexterous shop-lifters of both +sexes, while the manner of conducting their operations is as diverse as can well +be conceived.</p> + +<p>The annual thefts of goods from the retail stores of this city alone +aggregate an almost fabulous sum. It is very difficult to reach a reliable +approximation of the total amount thus stolen, because store-keepers are +naturally averse to having their losses from this source known. As a prominent +Sixth-avenue gentleman once remarked, "If I should tell how much I annually lost +through thieves, or suffered by shop-lifters, I would have the entire band +occasionally paying me visits, thinking I had not provided myself with the usual +safe-guards against them." Nevertheless, it can be stated as an absolute fact +that not less than half a million dollars' worth of goods yearly disappear from +the stores through shop-lifters, embracing all kinds of articles, from diamonds +to penny fans.</p> + +<p>The professional diamond and jewelry thief, however, is not to be confounded +with the shop-lifter, for the former employs quite a different <em>modus +operandi</em> +in capturing his illicit goods. The diamond thief has been known to display the +most fertile ingenuity in devising schemes to rob the unwary though generally +alert jeweler. An instance is recorded of a thief entering a jewelry store, +leaving his "pal" outside to look in through the window, asking to see some +diamond rings. While pretending to examine them with severe criticism, and +keeping the salesman engaged, he cleverly attached one end of the string, held +by his confederate outside, to several of the most valuable, and quietly dropped +them at his feet. His "pal" then quietly pulled them along the floor, out +through the door, into the street and decamped. A search of the thief who +remained behind disclosed nothing and, as proof was thus wanting, he had to be +discharged.</p> + +<p>The female shop-lifter is generally a woman well known to the police, as her +picture will, in nearly every case, be found in the Rogues' Gallery at Police +Headquarters. Usually, when she discovers that her actions are watched and her +movements shadowed, she quietly folds her tent and proceeds to some other city +where she is comparatively a stranger, and where, unsuspected, she can ply her +nefarious occupation with less risk of detection and capture. She is often +either the wife of a gambler, professional burglar, forger or other criminal; or +she may be the wife of some reputable mechanic whose income is insufficient to +supply her with the furbelows her vanity craves; or, again, she is one of those +women who, having a natural aversion to labor, seek to support themselves by +petty thefts.</p> + +<p>The fact is notorious, and easily demonstrated by the records of the police +courts, that "a shop-lifter once, a shop-lifter always." It is a lamentable +psychological idiosyncrasy that, despite the most earnest and apparently sincere +resolutions to lead an honest life, the female shop-lifter, intent on making a +legitimate purchase, is incapable of withstanding the temptation offered by a +display of fancy articles. She will usually attempt to purloin some trinket or +other and be caught again. Perhaps the leniency with which crimes of this +character have been treated by the authorities has tended to increase the number +of persons engaged in committing them. For, heartless as man is at times, he +detests the idea of prosecuting a woman for the commission of a petty theft, +when the end, for her, means the penitentiary. In very many, perhaps the +majority of, cases he will be satisfied if his goods are recovered, and permit +the thief to go unpunished. This is very frequently the case with that class of +shop-lifters called, by courtesy, the "kleptomaniac,"—the wealthy lady who +steals what she could easily have purchased. This is a phase of female character +only accounted for upon the Christian hypothesis that her thieving propensities +are a disease, while they are really a manifestation of the same base desires +which actuate less fortunate women who expiate their misdemeanor in the +penitentiary.</p> + +<p>Most of the rich kleptomaniacs are well known to the various store-keepers. A +woman of this kind is watched from the moment she enters an establishment until +she leaves it. Usually, a trusty employee or detective follows her from counter +to counter, unobserved, noting all the articles purloined. When the fair and +aristocratic thief enters her carriage and is driven to her palatial residence a +bill of the goods so "lifted," addressed to the husband, follows her and, in +nearly every case, is paid upon presentation and without questioning. Thus the +transaction ends, until another visit from the lady occasions another bill. If +the "blue-blooded" thief enters a store, however, where she is not known, and to +the proprietor of which her "disease" is unsuspected, she often escapes with her +"swag," like the unfortunate female who adopts stealing as a means of +subsistence. There should be no distinction made between the wealthy and +aristocratic female thief and her less fortunate sister, for the crime is the +same in both cases; the only difference being that the latter cannot claim the +possession of riches in extenuation of her guilt.</p> + +<p>The frequency with which thefts by shop-lifters occur, and the amount of +valuable goods stolen, has rendered store-keepers more suspicious and cautious, +probably, than any other class of men in the world. Nearly all the large stores +on Sixth avenue, Twenty-third street, Broadway, Fourteenth street, and others, +where ladies do most of their shopping, and which are perfectly jammed with +people nearly all day long, employ either male or female detectives (and in some +instances both are used), who are constantly on the alert for the detection of +female shop-lifters. Such stores as McCreery's, Lord & Taylor's, O'Neill's, +Macy's, Simpson, Crawford & Simpson's, Hearn's, Altman's, Koch's, Kaughran's, +Ehrich's, Denning's, Stern's and Le Boutillier's are examples. Some stores have +had seats erected near the ceiling, where, secreted among shawls and other +pendant goods, the detectives are securely hidden from the sight of all persons, +and can thus watch the actions of every woman making a purchase. Other +detectives are posted at the different entrances; while still others, having the +appearance of buyers, are constantly walking and circulating through the various +departments, on the lookout for thieves. During the holidays all these +precautions are doubled, and some officers are even posted on the sidewalk, in +front of the windows.</p> + +<p>Before Christmas these stores carry enormous stocks of every kind of fancy +goods, and their lavish display, added to their crowded condition at all times, +renders theft easier than usual. So that, try as they may, the proprietors +cannot prevent a certain amount of thieving, and thousands of dollars worth of +goods are annually lost to each store by the depredations of shop-lifters. Even +the small shops of Third and Eighth avenues, and Avenues A and B, are not free +from the visits of this class of thieves, and no stores are exempt from the +imposition of their tribute.</p> + +<p>Before leaving home on a thieving excursion to the stores the female +shop-lifter carefully and systematically prepares her clothing, and sees that it +is in proper form and ready for business. This she does by first putting on a +corset made especially for the purpose, with broad, strong bands which pass over +the shoulders. Between her legs she arranges a large bag or receptacle made of +some extremely strong cloth, which is suspended from the corset by a stout band +running around the waist. Her dress or frock covers this, and in front of the +dress is an opening or slit, nicely arranged in the folds so as not to be +noticed, which leads into the suspended bag. Over this, in winter, is worn a +sealskin sacque, cloth cloak, fur circular, or other garment, according to the +means of the wearer. In summer she wears a light shawl, which completely hides +the slit in the dress from view. She now takes her muff, which, to the +uninitiated eye, has nothing to distinguish it, outwardly, from thousands of +other muffs, but which is a master-piece of ingenious contrivance. It is covered +with any kind of fur, just as honest muffs are, with the significant exception +that, instead of being padded with cotton, the fur rests upon a framework of +wire. Between the fur covering and the wire supporting frame, the space usually +filled with cotton is left vacant, thus providing accommodation for quite a +stock of valuable lace, articles of jewelry, gloves, or anything small and +valuable. In the bottom of the muff there is a small slide, on the inside, +worked by the hand of the wearer, who, after introducing the stolen article into +the muff, presses back this slide and drops the plunder into the cavity between +the frame and the fur.</p> + +<p>With one of these muffs, shop-lifting is so easy as to be successfully +practiced by novices, as not one store-walker in a thousand would suspect that +his counters could be worked through a muff worn as these are when in action. +Thus equipped, the expert female shop-lifter sallies out. Generally, she dresses +rather expensively. Sometimes she uses a carriage, but more frequently walks, +stopping to gaze in the store windows as she saunters along; and in no +particular can she be distinguished from others of her sex, except, perhaps, +that in some cases she is rather more richly and attractively clothed. Upon +selecting a store that suits her, she walks boldly in, going at once, and +without noticeable hesitation, to the lace or other department, before the +counter of which she seats herself, adroitly arranging her dress and the slit. +Asking the saleswoman to be shown some kinds of lace, she examines it +critically, and, laying it down upon the counter, asks to see another kind, or +some feathers, or something else, and so contrives to have several articles just +before her, one covering the other, if possible. Having accumulated a number of +articles upon the counter in an eligible position, she points to some things +high up on a shelf behind the counter, thus getting the saleswoman's back turned +towards her for an instant, when, with soft dexterity, she conveys anything that +happens to be handily in the way through the slit in her dress into the bag +between her legs. The goods examined and priced, "not suiting" her, and other +customers coming up, she takes the opportunity of moving to another counter, +where the same tactics are repeated, and so on, till she is satisfied with her +haul or exhausted her stowage capacity.</p> + +<p>The muff is worked in this way: The operator rests her hand, with the muff on +it, on the goods which she proposes to sample, and a moment of diverted +attention on the part of the salesman or saleswoman is ample for her to transfer +to her ingenious warehouse such samples as she can conveniently and quickly pick +up with one hand. The movement of concealing the stolen articles is +instantaneously executed, and, however well the muff may be stuffed, it cannot +be bulged out to attract attention. It is surprising to know the vast quantities +of material these bags and muffs will contain. At police headquarters, once, in +examining the contents of one of these bags, it was found to actually hold a +piece of satin, several cards of lace, a camel's-hair shawl, two large china +ornaments, a number of spools of silk, several elegant fans, expensive ostrich +plumes, and numberless smaller articles, feathers, artificial flowers and some +minor trinkets. Shop-lifters are the terror of the shop-keepers, for the thefts +embrace everything of convenient character lying about. With one dexterous sweep +they will frequently put out of sight a dozen small articles.</p> + +<p>All the articles stolen are carried home, the trade-marks upon them +destroyed, and then subsequently sold to some "fence" for about one-third their +value, to finally be resold again over the counter of some other store in +another city. It is seldom the female shop-lifter uses a male confederate, but +it frequently happens that they travel in couples, one engaging the attention of +the seller while the other fills her bag or muff, taking turn about until both +have stolen sufficient for the day. Sometimes several trips are made to the same +store, but generally one is enough.</p> + +<p>It often happens that store-keepers make mistakes and wrongfully accuse +respectable ladies of shop-lifting, and in such cases the over-zealous vender +suffers greatly, both in loss of custom and, oftentimes, in heavy damages in a +court of law. All stores are provided with what are called examination rooms. +When a person is suspected of being a thief, some of the attaches of the store, +or a detective, as the case may be, taps the person lightly upon the shoulder, +and politely invites them into this examination room. Here their bundles and +packages are searched and, if warranted, their clothing is personally inspected +by some female attendant. Here is where some very curious scenes are enacted. +The professional thief will resort to tears, expostulations, explanations, +excuses of all kinds, finally begging to be allowed to depart. The discovery of +the bag or the muff, however, invariably settles the case and the offender is +marched off to jail.</p> + +<p>In the case of a mistake, as stated, the store-keeper generally makes the +explanations, excuses, and so forth, supplementing them afterwards by payment in +a suit for damages.</p> + +<p>Men shop-lifters—or, more properly, store thieves—pursue an entirely +different method, and confine their operations to a far different kind of store. +They go into the thieving business to make it pay, and are not tempted by the +display of merely pretty things. They prefer to operate in the wholesale stores, +and how ingeniously and systematically they accomplish their object, under the +very eyes of people, borders on the marvelous.</p> + +<p>It has often been said that the same amount of ingenuity, thought, care and +planning, which is bestowed by criminals upon the perpetration of felony, if +directed properly upon some legitimate business would render them successful and +rich. Undoubtedly, this is true. What inventive faculties they must have to +devise such a convenient contrivance as the shop-lifter's muff, the various +burglar's implements, the safe-robber's tools, their delicate files, saws, etc., +made from the best of steel, and thousands of other things used in various ways, +including the store thief's satchel, must be manifest to the most ordinary +comprehension.</p> + +<p>As this latter article is used by the class of thief about to be spoken of, a +short description of it will not be amiss. To all outward appearance it is a +very unpretentious traveling-bag. It looks honest, and does not differ, +apparently, from any other bag of its kind. A careful scrutiny hardly discloses +any variation from the ordinary valise; but, nevertheless, it has a false side, +so ingeniously arranged as to open and close noiselessly, being caught with a +well-oiled spring or fastening. The hinges of this false side are made on the +iron which, in ordinary satchels, contains the lock, and it opens upwards, when +placed in the usual manner upon a table, instead of downwards—just the reverse +of the honest one. It is the simplest thing in the world, then, for an expert, +carrying a valise of this description by the handle, to place it over a piece of +valuable cloth, open the slide, which works with a spring; at the precise moment +slip the goods in, and, taking his valise by the handle, walk off undiscovered. +To any one who may be watching, the action of the thief is the most natural one +in the world, and if the goods themselves are not missed no one would ever +suspect they were in the valise carried by the gentleman who merely let it rest +for a second on the table. But it is captured all the same, although you cannot +see it. It has changed from one place to the other under the magical "presto" of +the thief.</p> + +<p>The store thief saunters down-town to the dry goods district, watches the +wholesale houses, notes the interior of the stores, and carefully makes his +selection of some one suitable to his purpose. The next morning, bright and +early, he attires himself like a country store-keeper, and, taking his satchel +in his hand, he makes haste to reach the store he intends to work, appearing to +the quietly-observant porter like an out-of-town buyer, just come off some early +incoming train. Asking the porter or clerk, who, probably, about this time, is +sweeping out, in expectation of the arrival of some of the salesmen or +proprietors, if Mr. Smith, a salesman, is in, he is informed that none of the +clerks or salesmen are down yet. Remarking in answer that he will wait a moment +or two, as he has just arrived from Schenectady, he deftly places his gripsack +upon the counter, over some valuable piece of goods, and saunters around the +store, coming back to where his valise is, when, embracing a favorable +opportunity, he slips the one, two or three pieces of cloth through the false +portion of the valise, and, taking it by the handle in the usual careless +manner, "guesses he will go to his hotel and have a wash and return later," and +leaves the store not only undetected but entirely unsuspected. Very probably the +theft remains undiscovered until the next taking of stock, when it is impossible +to tell how the goods were lost, and in many cases some attache of the store is +discharged, never knowing for what sin of omission or commission he was +suspected. The success of this mode of theft is best shown by the infrequency +with which such cases are ever brought to light or its perpetrator ever caught +and arrested.</p> + +<br> +<br> + + +<div align=center> +<h2><a name="7">C</a>HAPTER VII.</h2> + +<br> +<br> + + +<h3>KLEPTOMANIA.</h3> + +<br> +<br> + + +<p><em>Extraordinary Revelations—A Wealthy Kleptomaniac in the Toils of a +Black-mailing Detective.</em></p> +</div> + +<p>In the issue of the New York <em>World,</em> bearing date Saturday, May 11, +1867, appeared a long article criticising, exposing, and severely condemning the +methods of the city's detective police. "A detective," said the writer, "is +presumed to be alike active, capable and honest, and were he such, he would be a +public benefactor; but as he is too often either ignorant, indolent, or +positively dishonest, he becomes a public pest. That detectives are in league +with thieves; that they associate with them publicly and privately on the most +intimate terms; that they occasionally 'put up' jobs with them by which the +people are alike fleeced and astonished; that although the perpetrators of great +robberies are generally known to them, the said perpetrators almost invariably +escape punishment; that far more attention is paid to the sharing of the +plunder, or the obtaining of a large percentage on the amount of money +recovered, than to the furtherance of the ends of justice—all these statements +are undeniably true."</p> + +<p>Coming to specific charges, the writer said further on: "A handsome female, a +Broadway shop-lifter, recently testified that although she had been desirous of +reforming her life for a year past, she had been totally prevented from so doing +by the extortions of certain members of the detective force, who threatened to +reveal her former history unless she 'came down handsomely,' and in order to +'come down,' as they styled it, she was obliged to resort to her old disgraceful +business."</p> + +<p>The foregoing reference to a concurrent incident was presented to the reader +as coldly and curtly as a historic hailstone, striking him but to glance off, +and not like a real, breathing story, as it was, appealing strongly to his +heart. The following facts, which have been kept inviolate in this office for +nearly twenty years, and only brought to light here because those most concerned +have passed away, will show what a stirring and pathetic narrative lay beneath +the newspaper chronicler's dry words.</p> + +<p>Early in the spring of the year above named, an elderly gentleman of +undoubted respectability was shown into our private office. He was exceedingly +nervous and flurried, and his wan, colorless face looked like an effaced page. +In a tortuous, round-about way, he intimated that his married daughter was in +great trouble, in consequence of the operation of a great weakness or defect in +character which was apparently hereditary. Her mother, his wife, he said, an +excellent, kind-hearted, conscientious, truthful woman, had occasionally +manifested the kleptomania impulse and had been detected. Happily the crime had +been committed under circumstances which obviated exposure; it had been +charitably overlooked upon his paying the bill for the purloined goods. Up to +the date of her marriage, he had not observed or otherwise become cognizant of +the development of the unfortunate trait in his only daughter. Her husband was a +noble-minded man who devotedly loved her, and whom she idolized. Two years after +her marriage she was caught shop-lifting in an establishment where she was +known. By a merciful stroke of fortune, the information and the bill were sent +to the father instead of the husband. Great moral and religious influence had +been brought to bear on her, and for several years there was cause to believe +that she had overcome her weakness. Unfortunately there had been another lapse +into temptation. At present she was suffering the tortures of the damned, but in +what particular respect she had refused to explain to him. "Father, find me an +active, bold and energetic lawyer," she had said in a paroxysm of tears, "and I +will tell him what I <em>cannot</em> tell you."</p> + +<p>The lady came to the office next morning, alone. She was pale as a lily, and +she bore on her forehead that shadow of melancholy which tells all the world +that a woman is suffering and unhappy. Her eyes were dark and soft as the +darkest and softest violet, and she was dressed with the utmost simplicity. She +was in a most desponding mood. She said nothing was worth striving for any more. +There was no good under the sun for her. The splendor had gone from the +grass—the glory from the flower. Life, affection, family ties, love of good +name—all these had ceased to appeal to her.</p> + +<p>In the <em>sanctum sanctorum</em> of a criminal lawyer's office the extremes +of mental agony and poignant suffering are sometimes revealed in all their +phases; but it would be hard to imagine any one suffering more than this fair, +prepossessing woman, as she told how that sleepless and merciless vulture of +remorse, aided by the machinations of a licensed fiend in human form, dogged her +steps by day and made night horrible. The recital recalled the picture suggested +by the lines:</p> + +<p>"Lean abstinence, pole grief and haggard care,<br> +The dire attendants of forlorn despair."</p> + +<p>With pale, quivering lips, she told the story of her humiliation. Primarily, +some two years after she became a happy wedded wife, she was impelled by an +irresistible impulse to take some article, almost valueless in itself, from the +counter of a dry-goods store. She had been making several purchases and had +plenty of money in her pocket at the time. Afterwards, as opportunity offered, +the wretched larceny was repeated. Then came discovery, and her father's +awakening to the realization that his daughter was a thief. He summoned a +minister and some worthy Christian women—relatives of his—to talk to her and to +urge her to seek strength from that source where it is never withheld when +earnestly and penitently invoked. She became a church-member, zealous and +earnest in the path of righteousness, partaking regularly of the Sacred +Elements, visiting the sick, relieving the distressed, and comforting the +afflicted. To use Milton's language,</p> + +<p>"Such a sacred and homefelt delight,<br> +Such sober certainty of waking bliss,"</p> + +<p>she had never felt till then. Under these happy conditions five years passed, +and then again during the holiday season, temptation assailed her and was +stronger than she. The person who discovered her theft was a detective. He did +not arrest and expose her. He did worse. He followed her, obtained an interview +and promised to keep her secret if she made it worth his while. She willingly +gave him a sum of money, and expected to hear no more of him or of her +transgression. But this newer edition of Fagin, who was as vile as the sewers, +and who lied like a prospectus, dogged her movements and systematically shadowed +her wherever she went, again and again demanding money and threatening her with +newspaper publicity. She gave this rapacious vampire all the money she could +procure, even borrowing from her father. The pawnbrokers had in safe keeping her +diamonds, jewels, and some of her furs and laces. They had been pledged to +furnish this licensed black-mailer with money, and still he was insatiate and +unappeased. Her husband's suspicions meanwhile had been aroused. She spent so +much money in occult ways that he had been impelled to ask her father what he +thought L—— was doing with so much money. Fettered thus, with the torments both +of Prometheus and Tantalus—the vulture gnawing at her vitals, and the lost joys +mocking her out of reach—she had at last in sheer desperation been driven to +request her father to procure her the assistance of a fearless lawyer.</p> + +<p>It is not expedient to reveal the <em>modus operandi</em> used in +emancipating this unfortunate lady from her worse than Egyptian bondage. But the +reader may rest assured that through the co-operation of the police +commissioners the shameless scoundrel was dismissed from the police force. +Afterwards, he served a term in a Western state prison, and up to this hour has +been heard no more of in New York.</p> + +<br> +<br> + + +<div align=center> +<h2><a name="8">C</a>HAPTER VIII.</h2> + +<br> +<br> + + +<h3>PANEL HOUSES AND PANEL THIEVES.</h3> + +<br> +<br> + + +<p><em>The Inmates—The Victims—The Gains—Complete Exposure of the Manner of +Operations, and how Unsuspecting Persons are Robbed.</em></p> +</div> + +<p>Some years since respectable New York was startled and horrified by the +recitals of criminal life, which, in the fulfillment of a disagreeable public +duty, the daily newspapers printed in their news columns. The stirring appeal +for the suppression of the evil then made by the press to the moral sentiment of +the community, was backed by the judiciary, by the money and influence of +wealthy and patriotic citizens, by the various charitable organizations, and by +the whole police force. Consequently, the foul Augean stable of vice and +iniquity, for the time being, at least, was in a great degree cleansed and +purified. The leaders of that foul army of vicious men and women were gradually +rooted out and driven away from their noxious haunts. Some found a congenial +haven in the State prison, a few reformed, and many died in want. The plague +being temporarily stayed, and popular indignation a matter of record, New York, +as is its invariable custom, permitted its vigilance to go quietly to sleep, +with a fair prospect of it being rudely awakened to find history repeating +itself. That this awakening cannot safely be much longer deferred, it is partly +the mission of the present chapter to show. For it is useless to deny that we +have in this city to-day, a condition of affairs very similar to that which +aroused the indignation and called for the severe repressional measures of our +immediate predecessors. Up-town, in many instances closely contiguous to the +dwellings of people of the highest respectability, there are dens as vile and +infamous as ever disgraced any civilized community. Hardly a street, however +apparently exclusive and fashionable, can boast that it is free from gambling, +prostitution or panel houses.</p> + +<p>Some time since, a journalist connected with a prominent morning paper, took +great pains to collect statistics concerning houses of prostitution in New York. +The article in which the results of his investigation were given, estimates that +over $15,000,000 was invested in that business, and that the yearly amount spent +in those houses averaged over $10,000,000. In this chapter, however, the +reader's attention is more particularly invited to the class of assignation and +prostitution bagnios, known as panel houses.</p> + +<p>The name "panel house" was originally derived from a false impression +prevalent in the community, that the rooms occupied by the inmates were fitted +with sliding panels in the walls and partitions, through and by means of which +most of the robberies were committed. But, as will be seen hereafter, the term +is a misnomer, so far as the fact is concerned. But they had to have some +distinctive appellation, and "panel house" is a convenient generic term.</p> + +<p>The proprietors of panel houses, in years gone by, were nearly all +professional gamblers, a fact which is more or less true to-day, where the real, +genuine house of that character exists, but there are hundreds of women who work +the "panel game" upon their victims, who hire a simple room in some +furnished-room house. If detected the entire house has conferred upon it the +name of panel house, and is ever afterwards described and known as such in +police and court records.</p> + +<p>The real, Simon-pure panel thief is generally a young and pretty female, who +has been initiated into the mysteries of the game by either a gambler or a +lover, and of whom she is the mistress. It is the conception of a man's brain, +needing the assistance of an attractive woman to carry out the scheme, and was +probably originally devised by some broken-down gambler to secure enough funds +wherewith to resume play. No woman would ever have dreamt of practicing such an +intricate and bold robbery, for she could never have carried it out. There are +many women engaged in these robberies who are neither young nor handsome, but +they are adepts and make up in knowledge and experience what they lack in +charms; but the most successful are young and attractive. They succeed better +when they are winsome, for reasons which require no explanation.</p> + +<p>Strange as it may appear, there are instances on record in which some of the +professional females engaged in this panel game have preserved intact their +virtue, so far as men generally were concerned, and have remained steadfast and +true to their lovers, through all vicissitudes. They have solicited and +accompanied men to their rooms, yet still have so contrived and maneuvered, as +to have their male companion robbed without indulging in any of the other +apparently necessary concomitants to the success of the undertaking. But these +women are rare—very rare indeed. The fact of their occasional existence merely +proves that the sole object of all women engaged in the nefarious game of panel +thieving is robbery—first, last and all the time.</p> + +<p>From the well-known dislike of the victims of this game to making their names +and losses known by figuring prominently in a court of justice, panel-house +thieves escape the punishment they justly deserve and thrive more successfully, +perhaps, than other professional robbers. Besides, the game is practiced more +particularly upon the most respectable element of the community. Men of +families, strangers visiting the city, men of advanced years, and even clergymen +are sometimes caught in the net. As may be imagined, people of this class prefer +to lose their money rather than have their names made public, and so long as +such victims are to be found, panel houses will thrive and thieves become rich. +Instances are on record where as much as eight thousand dollars have been +secured from a single victim, who, from his prominence in social and business +circles, allowed the matter to drop, although he was acquainted with the thief.</p> + +<p>A man and a woman are essential to the execution of the panel game. The +woman's part consists in "cruising," a term applied to walking the streets to +pick up men. The man has two parts to enact, as "runner" and "robber." The first +role consists in being on the street watching his female decoy. If he sees a man +partially under the influence of liquor, he informs the decoy, who places +herself in the way of the obfuscated citizen. Or, in the event of the woman +securing a customer herself, the "runner" observes it, and when she and her +new-found friend proceed towards the house, the "runner" rapidly goes ahead and +unobserved slips in first to make arrangements for the second role in the drama, +and which in some cases has ended in a tragedy.</p> + +<p>The foregoing more particularly concerns panel thieves, that is, "couples" +who adopt the business on their own account. There are regular panel houses, by +which is meant houses of ill-fame, with perhaps from ten to twenty girl inmates, +where nearly every room in the house is perfectly arranged for systematically +pursuing this kind of robbery, and where the moment a girl retires to a room +with a gentleman, the proprietor is notified, and when the chance occurs, +completely cleans the unconscious victim of every cent he may have about him. +These houses, however, are not now as plentiful as they were immediately after +the close of the war. The victims of these houses were many, for outwardly they +did not differ from ordinary gilded palaces of sin, and, being situated in +streets well known to contain respectable seraglios, were frequently visited in +the orthodox way by gentlemen in search of the "elephant."</p> + +<p>The game, however, is played in precisely the same way in all cases, whether +by a "loving couple" on their own account or by one of the many girls in a +regular house instituted for the sole purpose. And this is the way it is done: A +pretty female, young, with entrancing eyes, an elegant form, richly and +fashionably attired, is noticed daintily picking her steps on a street crossing. +She is more frequently noticed in the act of crossing a street, as it affords +her an opportunity of rendering herself still more attractive and seductive by +practicing those apparently aimless little feminine arts that prove so +fascinating to the coarser sex. The skirts are just lifted high enough to +discover a beautiful foot; perhaps a glimpse of an ankle bewitchingly smothered +in lace frills is revealed; while a warm scintillant glance of invitation is +thrown at the interested beholder, who, perhaps, follows and engages her in +conversation. More than likely he is agreeably surprised to find how lady-like +and attractive her manners are, and by his own suggestion or her invitation he +readily accompanies her to her home; not, however, without being previously +warned that she is married, that her husband is very ugly and jealous, and a +big, strong, quarrelsome fellow, to boot.</p> + +<p>The room to which she conducts him is apparently an ordinary room, furnished +in an ordinary way. It is, however, usually a front room, separated by folding +doors from the room in the rear. It is in connection with these folding doors +that mystery and danger lurk. These folding doors are a study. Some are so +constructed that instead of opening in the center, one of them opens upon hinges +which are placed on that portion of the doors where the lock is usually +situated, so that it opens at the woodwork on the side. If a chance visitor to +one of these rooms should have his suspicions aroused by any act of his +companion, and should closely examine the doors, he would find a bolt on the +inside securely fastened, but he would not be likely to see that it barely +rested in the socket, and thinking everything was all right, his suspicions +would be disarmed. As there would be but one other door in the room—that by +which he entered—and as he locked that himself, privacy would apparently be +insured.</p> + +<p>In the folding doors are several minute holes, through which a person behind +them can watch all that goes on in the front room. These holes, however, are +frequently dispensed with, and a cough or other understood signal by the female +gives the thief warning when all is ready for his entrance.</p> + +<p>After the lapse of perhaps five minutes the female coughs or makes some +understood signal, the door noiselessly opens at the side, a man enters unseen, +secures the victims clothing, disappears into the next room, takes the money out +of a pocket-book or pocket, replaces the pocket-book in the clothes, takes the +watch, the studs out of the shirt, everything, in fact, of any value, and +replacing the clothing, softly closes the door again. Now comes the scene: A +knock is heard on the other door—that by which the victim entered. With a slight +scream the female remarks, that the person knocking is her husband, and with +great haste proceeds to dress, all the while telling her now frightened +companion that he will kill him if he sees him, hurriedly assists him to dress +and half pushing him, forces him out of the room, down the stairs into the +street.</p> + +<p>Another phase of this trick is when, in the absence of folding doors, the +lock or bolt is so arranged that socket and bolt are both upon the door. Another +is to fill the socket with some substance, a cork for instance, so that when the +bolt is pushed forward, it fails to enter the socket.</p> + +<p>An instance is related of an elderly man coming into one of these rooms, and +casually remarking to his female friend, "I hope I won't be rapped out of this +room by anyone, for I have been in two places to-night and was rapped out of +both." That gentleman was robbed in the first house he entered, and must have +remarked in the second one that he was "rapped out" of the first, for his +companion in this last affair knew what had happened in the other cases, and +that he would not have been treated in that manner unless they had secured his +money. And so his remark being again overheard, he was unceremoniously "rapped +out" of this third and last house. Here is acase from the records which probably +illustrates the method as well as any other:</p> + +<p>An elderly man, about sixty years of age, entered a panel-room with a +dark-haired, flashily-dressed woman, who immediately requested him to bolt the +door. This he did, but he might have saved himself the trouble, for the door was +no more closed then than it was before. These bolts are very ingenious. The +catch on the jamb of the door into which the bolt slides has three false +screw-heads in it. In reality it is not attached to the door-casing at all, but +is fastened to the body of the bolt by an unseen plate. Consequently, when the +door is opened, the catch goes forward with the remainder of the bolt. This, of +course, was not noticed by the man, as the gas was not turned up by the woman +till after the door was closed. While the man was bolting the door the woman +hurried to the dressing-table and hastily laid her hat on one chair and her +cloak on the other. This action compelled the man to place his clothes on the +couch or on one of the chairs by the folding doors. When all was ready, one of +the operators scratched lightly on the door with his finger-nail, to warn the +woman he was about to enter the room. The next moment the man boldly opened the +door wide, removed the chair out of his way, and glided rapidly to the other +chair, on which the man's clothes lay. At this moment the woman redoubled her +fascinations, for the purpose of distracting the attention of her companion, in +which intent she was eminently successful. The work of going through the man's +pockets, and what is technically known as "weeding" his pocket-book, was quickly +over, the chair was quietly replaced, the panel-door closed, and the thief +appeared with a roll of bills in his hand. The whole thing was done in from +twenty to twenty-five seconds. Immediately after the closing of the door the man +went outside, and, knocking on the passage-door of the bedroom, said in a loud +whisper.</p> + +<p>"Jenny, here's Joe; hurry up."</p> + +<p>"My God!" exclaimed the girl, jumping up, "you must get away as fast as you +can. That's my lover. He's dreadful jealous, and would shoot you as soon as look +at you."</p> + +<p>It is needless to say that the victim required no urging. He jumped into his +clothes as fast as possible, only too glad to get out of the way before the +appearance of the terrible imaginary lover, and apparently without the slightest +notion that he had been robbed.</p> + +<p>The victims of these thefts have really no redress. It is so hard to find the +guilty woman afterwards, or even to locate the house, for unless the pleasure +hunter suspects some trap he pays no particular attention to the kind of house, +its situation, or its number. In the case of a stranger he never seeks the +thieves again, but "pockets his loss." If an elderly man, he does likewise. But +if he be really an obstinate man, determined upon catching the thieves and +prosecuting them, he will invariably be approached and his money and valuables +will be returned to him upon condition that he withdraws his complaint. +Convictions are very rarely obtained in any case from the difficulty of +identifying the parties.</p> + +<p>Many of these women never see a penny of the plundered money, the man, in +most cases, retaining the whole of the loot. It sometimes happens that a victim +discovers that he has been robbed before he leaves, and makes what is called in +the vernacular a "kick"; if so, it also sometimes happens that he is +unmercifully beaten by the lover and his pals, but it has occurred that when +"the kicker" was a man about town, that he has gotten away with his assailant in +a manner calculated to make the heart of a Sullivan beat with pleasure.</p> + +<p>There is quite a different feature of this panel-game, but which more +properly belongs to black-mail, in which, through the peep-holes in the doors, +the face of the man or woman in the adjoining room is studied, waited for on the +outside, followed to his or her home, and in a few days threatened with +exposure, if the sum demanded is not forthcoming.</p> + +<p>Couples have been known to ply the panel-game very successfully in some of +the most prominent hotels in the city. The lady would make her conquest upon the +streets in the ordinary manner and the game would be worked in two rooms of the +hotel as already described. This enterprise was carried on successfully by a +scoundrel and his wife at one time in one of the best hotels, and although it +was generally known, there never was any one to complain against them. It was +only by the proprietor specially employing several detectives that they were +finally discovered, arrested and punished.</p> + +<br> +<br> + + +<div align=center> +<h2><a name="9">C</a>HAPTER IX.</h2> + +<br> +<br> + + +<h3>A THEATRICAL ROMANCE.</h3> + +<br> +<br> + + +<p><em>Kale Fisher, the Famous Mazeppa, involved</em>—<em>Manager</em> <em> +Hemmings charged by Fast-paced Mrs. Bethune with Larceny.</em></p> +</div> + +<p>A good many years since, at a fashionable boardinghouse in Philadelphia, a +handsome Adonis-shapen young man, well and favorably known by the name of George +Hemmings, became acquainted with a member of the fairer sex who had scarcely +passed "sweet sixteen," and was accredited with a bountiful supply of beauty, +named then Eliza Garrett. An intimacy at once sprung up between the two, which +at length ripened into a mutual attachment.</p> + +<p>A series of journeys were undertaken by Miss Garrett and Hemmings, and for +some time they lived together enjoying all the pleasures and sweets of love; but +for some cause the pair separated, and for a number of years saw nothing of each +other. Meantime, many changes had occurred in the circumstances of both. Eliza +had been transformed into Mrs. Bethune and lived in a fashionable part of +Gotham, her reputed husband, John Bethune, Esquire, being a gentleman of wealth +and sporting proclivities.</p> + +<p>George Hemmings, who, by the way, was very respectably connected, had +migrated from the "City of Brotherly Love" to "Gotham," and filled a position as +superintendent in a dry-goods establishment.</p> + +<p>It was whilst in this city, when "walking down Broadway" one afternoon, +Hemmings' attention was attracted by a lady who seemed to have been previously +pleased with his acquaintance, and in whom he recognized his former inamorata, +Miss Garrett. A grand recapitulation of the pleasantries of by-gone days ensued, +and the damsel informed her "once dear George" that she was now Mrs. Bethune, +but prevailed upon him to accompany her to her home. Here a hearty welcome was +accorded him, and, if his statement be correct, it is said that the intimacy of +former times was renewed.</p> + +<p>Matters continued in this manner, and Hemmings was induced to leave his +former situation and take up his abode at the residence of Mrs. Bethune as +general superintendent of that household, inasmuch as Mr. Bethune himself was +occasionally absent from the city.</p> + +<p>On one occasion, as Mr. Hemmings alleged, the beauteous Mrs. Bethune was +violently assaulted by her better-half for some alleged indiscretion, and it was +her early lover who played the part of Good Samaritan on the occasion, +comforting her as well as he was able himself, and calling in a physician to +bind up her wounds. During her sickness, the relationship between Hemmings and +the lady seems to have been of the most intimate character. She gave him a pair +of diamond ear-rings to pledge for four hundred dollars, which money was a +portion of an amount which was to be called into requisition for the necessary +engagements and other expenses incurred at the opening of a theatre in +Pittsburg, the management to be assumed by Miss Kate Fisher, the well-known +"Mazeppa" and equestrienne actress, and George Hemmings. A troupe was thereupon +engaged, and the entire company, including Miss Fisher and Hemmings, started for +Pennsylvania, where they intended to delight the inhabitants with the drama of +the "fiery, untamed steed" order.</p> + +<p>Soon after "Cupid George" departed for the West, Mrs. Bethune became a prey +to the "green-eyed monster." She realized the temptations that would surely +beset George as he basked in the smiles of the alluring and classically modeled +equestrienne. Other troubles beset Mrs. Bethune at this juncture. Her husband +asked her one day what had become of her diamond ear-rings, and she was seized +with confusion and dismay. To disclose the truth would be to incur Bethune's +jealousy, natural indignation and too probable violence, and so the convenient +idea seems to have occurred to her that by accusing Hemmings of the theft of the +jewelry, she would achieve a two-fold success; namely, the one of concealing her +own frailty, and the other of snatching her beloved one from a hated supposed +rival. Bethune, believing her story, obtained a requisition from Governor Fenton +and procured Hemmings' arrest in Pittsburg, and he was accordingly brought to +this city. The services of Howe & Hummel were called into requisition, and +Hemmings brought into court for trial.</p> + +<p>The greatest excitement was aroused amongst theatrical and sporting +celebrities, and long before the opening of the court every seat was filled by +eager and expectant spectators, and when the prisoner was called to the bar an +immense throng surged to and fro to obtain a glimpse at his features, and those +of the accusing beauty.</p> + +<p>City Judge Russel presided, and the Hon. Robert C. Hutchings, afterwards +Surrogate, conducted the prosecution.</p> + +<p>Mr. Hutchings opened the case for the people in a fair and temperate speech, +stating that he was instructed that he should be enabled to establish a clear +case of larceny against the defendant, who then stood indicted for having, on +the 19th of October, 1868, at the city of New York, feloniously stolen, taken, +and carried away, one pair of diamond ear-rings of the value of $400, the +property of one James A. Lynch.</p> + +<p>Mr. Hutchings then called Mrs. Eliza Bethune, who, amidst breathless silence, +was sworn, and testified that Hemmings was observed by her daughter purloining +the ear-rings from her boudoir drawer on the day in question, and that +immediately she was informed of the larceny she had sought out Hemmings and +ascertained that he had fled to Pittsburgh. On inquiry, she had also traced the +missing jewelry to a pawn-office kept by Mr. Barnard, at No. 404 Third avenue, +where the articles were pledged by Hemmings. She also went to Pittsburg with +Detective Young, and the pawn-ticket of the ear-rings was found on Hemmings, +which she took from him. Mrs. Bethune further stated that the officer then +handcuffed the prisoner and brought him on to this city.</p> + +<p>The witness was then subjected to a rigid cross-examination by Mr. Howe, who +propounded questions as follows:</p> + +<p>Mr. Howe: Are you married to Mr. Bethune?</p> + +<p>Mrs. Bethune (imploringly to Judge Russel): Am I compelled to answer that +question?</p> + +<p>Judge Russel: Mr. Howe, I have already ruled that these kind of questions are +improper.</p> + +<p>Mr. Howe (with pertinacity): Your honor, I desire to show that this witness +is not the wife of Mr. Bethune; and I contend that, in justice to my client, the +question should be answered.</p> + +<p>Judge Russel: I rule it out.</p> + +<p>Mr. Howe: I take exception to the ruling of the court, and will now put +another question, namely:</p> + +<p>Is Mr. Bethune your husband? (Sensation in court.)</p> + +<p>Judge Russel ruled the question inadmissible, and exception was taken.</p> + +<p>Detective John Young, of the Eighteenth Precinct Police, was next called, and +deposed: I am connected with the Metropolitan Police of this city; I was sent +with a requisition issued by Governor Fenton to Pittsburgh to arrest George +Hemmings for grand larceny; I went there with Mr. and Mrs. Bethune; I took +Hemmings into custody at the Pittsburgh Theatre; he made a violent resistance, +and scuffled with me; I was necessitated to handcuff him in the cars; he became +very abusive and threatening; in fact, so much so, that I was compelled to hit +him on the head with the butt-end of my pistol; at the time of his arrest he had +upon him the ticket of the ear-rings.</p> + +<p>Alexander Barnard, a pawnbroker at No. 404 Third avenue, was the next +witness, and said: I know the prisoner at the bar; he pledged me with two +diamond ear-rings on the 20th of last October, which Mr. Lynch subsequently +identified as his property.</p> + +<p>Cross-examined by Mr. Howe: Hemmings has frequently pawned articles of +jewelry with me; he pledged them in the name of Mrs. Bethune.</p> + +<p>Mr. Howe here requested that the pawnbroker should be directed to produce his +book in order that the jury might see the dates, the production of which the +counsel insisted would entirely contradict Mrs. Bethune's testimony.</p> + +<p>The book was subsequently produced, and Mr. Barnard testified, on further +cross-examination by Mr. Howe, that Hemmings had pledged with him a watch +belonging to Mrs. Bethune on the 17th of November, being <em>nearly one month</em> +after the date the ear-rings were pledged.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Lynch proved that the ear-rings were her property, and that she had +loaned them to Mrs. Bethune.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Bethune now took the witness stand, and she was asked by Mr. Howe how +long she had known Hemmings, the prisoner at the bar?</p> + +<p>Mrs. Bethune: About twelve years.</p> + +<p>Mr. Howe: Where did you first become acquainted with him?</p> + +<p>Mrs. Bethune: At Philadelphia; I was employed in the United States Mint, and +we boarded together in the same house.</p> + +<p>Mr. Howe: Did you subsequently come on to New York with him?</p> + +<p>Witness (hesitatingly): I did.</p> + +<p>Mr. Howe: Were you on terms of peculiar intimacy with him?</p> + +<p>Mrs. Bethune: I was not (sensation in the court): we were friends.</p> + +<p>Mr. Howe: Was it not at your solicitation that he was taken to live in the +same house with yourself and Mr. Bethune?</p> + +<p>Mrs. Bethune: Yes, it was; but I merely took him in out of charity, as he was +poor and had no clothes (sensation in court).</p> + +<p>Mr. Howe: Did you ever stay at the Washington Hotel in this city with him?</p> + +<p>Judge Russel here interposed, and informed Mrs. Bethune that she need not +answer that question.</p> + +<p>Mr. Howe: Did you not visit him when he was employed at A. T. Stewart's store +in this city?</p> + +<p>Mrs. Bethune: I did; but I got him employed there.</p> + +<p>Mr. Howe (aside): Compassionate woman (laughter). Now, Mrs. Bethune, through +whom did you get him employed at that store?</p> + +<p>Mrs. Bethune: Through Mr. Griswold, a gentleman of my acquaintance.</p> + +<p>Mr. Howe: Did you not know at the time you had Hemmings in your house that he +was a married man?</p> + +<p>Mrs. Bethune: I did. (Sensation.)</p> + +<p>Mr. Howe: Have you not been to the Whitney House with Hemmings?</p> + +<p>The court also decided that witness need not answer that question, whereupon +counsel took exception.</p> + +<p>Mr. Howe: Have you not frequently been to the Chanler House in this city with +Mr. Hemmings?</p> + +<p>Question overruled.</p> + +<p>Mr. Howe: Did you not receive visits from Hemmings in East Fourth street, in +this city?</p> + +<p>Mrs. Bethune: Am I bound to answer that question?</p> + +<p>Judge Russel: I overrule that question, and you need not answer it.</p> + +<p>Mr. Howe: Did you ever live in a house in Lombard street, Philadelphia, kept +by a Miss Graham, and did you ever meet Hemmings there.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Bethune (indignantly): I did not.</p> + +<p>Mr. Howe: Did you ever introduce Hemmings to any person at Saratoga as your +brother?</p> + +<p>Mrs. Bethune (reluctantly): Yes, I have. (Sensation.)</p> + +<p>Mr. Howe: How many times have you given Hemmings your jewelry to pledge that +he might have money?</p> + +<p>Mrs. Bethune: I never gave him permission to pledge any of my jewelry.</p> + +<p>Mr. Howe: Do you mean to swear that he has never pledged any of your jewelry +prior to the present occasion?</p> + +<p>Mrs. Bethune: Yes, he has, but not with my consent. (Sensation.)</p> + +<p>Mr. Howe: Was that whilst he was living in your house?</p> + +<p>Mrs. Bethune: It was.</p> + +<p>Mr. Howe: Why did you not have him arrested for so doing?</p> + +<p>Mrs. Bethune: Because he cried, and I forgave him. (Sensation.)</p> + +<p>Mr. Howe: Yes, you forgave your "BROTHER" (roars of laughter). Now, madam! +will you swear that you did not give Hemmings your watch to pledge on the 17th +of November last, nearly one month after he pledged the ear-rings?</p> + +<p>Mrs. Bethune: I did not; I will swear that I never gave him anything to +pledge after he pawned the ear-rings; I did not give him the ear-rings; I paid +Kate Fisher the money with which to open the theatre, and not to Hemmings; I did +not pay her in the Chanler House, in Hemmings' presence; I paid her on the +street, the reason Hemmings went to Saratoga with me, was to take care of Mr. +Bethune's horses (immoderate laughter); I will swear that I had not seen +Hemmings since he took the ear-rings until I had him arrested; I did not arrest +him right away, because I was sick; the ear-rings were not mine, they belonged +to Mr. Lynch; I borrowed them from Mrs. Lynch.</p> + +<p>Mr. Howe: What was your name when you became acquainted with Hemmings?</p> + +<p>Mrs. Bethune: Eliza Garrett.</p> + +<p>This closed the case for the prosecution, and Mr. Howe, for the defense, +called Dr. J. Kennedy, who testified as follows:</p> + +<p>I am a physician, and reside in East Tenth street in this city; I have seen +the prisoner before. In October last, I saw him in a house in East Fourth +street.</p> + +<p>Mr. Howe: What were you doing at that house?</p> + +<p>Dr. Kennedy: I was attending a lady there, professionally.</p> + +<p>Mr. Howe: Would you know that lady again?</p> + +<p>Dr. Kennedy: I should.</p> + +<p>Mr. Howe (to Mrs. Bethune): Madam, will you oblige me by standing up and +raising your veil?</p> + +<p>The lady complied with Mr. Howe's request, and amidst breathless silence Mr. +Howe, addressing Dr. Kennedy, said, "Doctor, is that the lady?"</p> + +<p>Dr. Kennedy: It is. (Flutter in the court-room.)</p> + +<p>Mr. Howe: How many times did you visit her?</p> + +<p>Dr. Kennedy: Eight or ten times.</p> + +<p>Mr. Howe: Was Hemmings in the room with her?</p> + +<p>Dr. Kennedy: He was. (Sensation.)</p> + +<p>Mr. Howe then applied for attachments against two witnesses who had been +subpoenaed to prove that Mrs. Bethune had been at the Whitney House and the +Washington Hotel with Hemmings, but Judge Russel declined to grant any time, and +peremptorily ordered Mr. Howe to proceed with his defense to the jury.</p> + +<p>Mr. Howe then arose and addressed the court. He said:</p> + +<p>Gentlemen of the Jury: I approach the consideration of this case with some +degree of embarrassment, which is necessarily forced upon me, from the fact, +that whilst discharging, as I shall endeavor to do, to the best of my ability, +my duties as an advocate to the young man accused of this larceny, I regret that +I am called upon to animadvert in terms of censure and reproach, upon one who +leaves a name which is dear and hallowed to us all—the originator of our being—a +name that we all revere and respect when we view it in the beauteous and lovely +purity which is thrown around it. But I think, gentlemen, it is not unfair when +that name is divested of its purity, and becomes shrouded with that which is +base and vile—when the guard which we naturally and intuitively throw around it +is dispelled, and, instead of the beauteous statue of monumental alabaster, we +see a black, fœtid, loathsome thing before us, from which we shrink with +indignation and horror, knowing it is that which drags our young men down to +degradation, disgrace and death—I say, in entering upon this prisoner's defense, +such is the distinction between pure and hallowed and virtuous women (against +whom none dare point) and her who forgets herself—forgets the holy ties due to +her sex, and her own self-respect: and who assumes the place of wife to a man +without that sanction which God has instituted and commanded, and who, +entrapping others, comes to court to-day—not the pure being to demand your +respect—but one whom we can but contemplate with loathing and disgust, and who +has proved herself utterly unworthy of belief. Gentlemen, I simply wish to +direct your attention to the proven facts. I have thus ventured to allude to the +distinction I have endeavored to draw, not for the purpose of warping your +minds, or in any degree throwing an unfair prejudice around this case; but, in +view of the solemnity of the oaths you have taken, to do justice between the +People of the State of New York and the prisoner at the bar, and to see upon +what testimony you are asked to consign an innocent, but foolish young man, for +a long term of years to the state prison.</p> + +<p>I find in the book before me, gentlemen, to my surprise—and when it will be +handed to you I think you will agree with me and share my astonishment—that on +the first day of October last Mr. Lynch has sworn that <em>his</em> diamond +ear-rings were stolen. I find that from the first day of October until the 8th +day of December—a long lapse of nearly two months—no steps are taken by those +who are alleged to have sustained the loss, and nothing is done until the latter +date. I will show you why this demand is made upon the Executive—a novel +proceeding altogether, without any indictment being preferred in this office—and +a journey is made to Pittsburgh, not by the officers alone, but as we have it on +the sworn testimony of the woman in this case, that she, without her protector, +without the man Bethune (who is with her now as her husband, and who professed +to be so then), proceeded alone to Pittsburgh, and is subsequently followed by +Mr. Bethune. That is the first era, the first of October. We next find Mrs. +Bethune detailing to you that these ear-rings were taken (how she does not +know), but only what she was told by a little girl whom we have not seen. So her +story runs. It is pretty for the present; but I hope to destroy the poetry of it +very shortly. That this man stole, not on the first of October, but on the 19th +of October, and subsequently corrected to-day, by the lady of treacherous +memory, to the date of the 20th. At all events, it is perfectly clear, now, +according to her last amended allegation, that on the 20th of October she claims +a larceny to have been committed. But a Mr. Lynch is supposed to be the owner of +the earrings, and not Mrs. Bethune! It transpires that she had merely borrowed +them for a while, as she tells you; and then on the 20th of October she learns +the loss. Why, gentlemen, did not Mrs. Bethune tell you, that nearly a month +after that and in November, she had met this man on the street with Miss Kate +Fisher? That they had business transactions, that she knew him—the theatrical +manager—that he was to open a theatre—that money was supplied by her for that +express purpose? Did not she know within one month after this transaction the +same state of facts which she deposes to-day? Why not have had the prisoner +arrested on the street then?</p> + +<p>No, gentlemen, I will give you my theory of this case; I will render to you +what this man has told me, and if it be not a common-sense view of it, no +logic—no metaphysics—then discard every word uttered and condemn this man. The +pawnbroker throws additional light upon this transaction, and, gentlemen, if you +will refer to the date in his book of the 17th of November (a month after his +alleged larceny), you will find an important fact which I beseech you to hold, +pointedly, in your own estimation. You will remember that she contradicts +herself, and stated that she had had no transactions with Hemmings after the +alleged larceny. One of the gentlemen on the jury put the very pertinent +question (seeing the force of this), whether she had transactions with the +prisoner after this alleged stealing. You will remember for yourselves, +gentlemen, and I point to it without fear of contradiction, that at first she +stated the ear-rings were taken on the 19th of October, but, seeing, with a +woman's keen perception, the fatal error she had made in stating that admission, +seeing that you, as common-sense men, would have at once said: "Why not have had +him arrested then?" she quickly drew back, like a snail when the crashing foot +is coming upon it, and drew the horns within the shell which covered it; and, +yesterday, corrected the date. She changed the date and put it back from +November to October. I congratulate her upon the change! For all the trickery +and malice which were embodied in it, only enured to the prisoner's benefit. It +was here sworn, to-day, that on the 17th of November last, her watch and chain +(her watch and chain, gentlemen) not Mr. Lynch's, but Eliza Bethune's, was +pledged in New York at Mr. Barnard's, the identical pawnbroker with whom the +earrings were pledged. By whom? By Mrs. Bethune? Oh no! gentlemen! but by +Hemmings, the man here. If he accomplished this ubiquitous feat, like the ghost +in Hamlet, to be in two places at one time, he is one of the most wonderful +performers of the modern day. (Laughter.) He could not be in Barnard's pawn-shop +in New York pledging Mrs. Bethune's watch on the 17th of November, a month after +the larceny, and be, as she would have you believe, with Kate Fisher performing +in Pittsburgh. Why, look at that contradiction! I invoke that book (pointing to +the pawnbroker's record), as in other temples I appeal to the Holy one, for my +protection. In your hands I place it. Upon your altar do I offer it up; and I +believe that you will grant my prayers, that this will be taken as the strongest +evidence of the prisoner's innocence. Records cannot lie here. The testimony is +that this man had subsequent transactions with Mrs. Bethune, supporting, beyond +a doubt, my theory that she gave him the ear-rings to pledge. Now let us see. +She tells you (and there are other circumstances of greater peculiarity still +around this case)—she tells you that she became acquainted with this man some +twelve years since; and although I was prohibited (perhaps properly) by the +court from putting other questions, I think I am not saying too much, when I +urge that I did elicit from that lady sufficient to justify any one of you in +forming an opinion as to the immoral terms of intimacy subsisting between +Hemmings and that lady who was upon the witness stand. I can only say that I +think there is not one of you composing that jury who would be pleased to have a +wife of yours detailing circumstances in any way similar. I think that not only +jealousy, but indignation of the strongest character, would be aroused in each +of you, and you would unhesitatingly brand her as an adulteress.</p> + +<p>Now, gentlemen, we find they have known each other for twelve years, and what +besides? Why, she takes him into her house; she gives him an apartment there. +Nay, she does more, according to her confession. She saw that he was poor and +had no clothes (to use her own expression.) I do not think, gentlemen, that she +exactly meant that, when she said it, in its literal signification (laughter), +but she certainly said that he had no clothes, and that she clothed him and she +"took him in" (loud laughter). She went to A. T. Stewart's (kind-hearted +charitable woman!) and saw Mr. Griswold. She interceded with Griswold and got +Hemmings a situation in A. T. Stewart's. What relation was Hemmings to her, at +this time, to induce her to take this kind and charitable interest in him? I, +gentlemen, am not so charitable as she professed to be; neither do I think you +will be, gentlemen. I apprehend that the motive which actuated the taking in, +the clothing and the obtaining a situation at Stewart's, was another motive +altogether (immoderate laughter). What it was, I will leave you to conjecture. +Look a little further. Hemmings is no relation to her, and yet we find her +taking him to Saratoga! In what capacity? Why, she tells you, to attend +Bethune's horses at Saratoga (laughter). Yes, gentlemen, and this hostler, this +stable boy, in the same breath, is introduced by this lady as what—a lover! oh, +no, she dare not do that—but as a relation—a blood relation! She makes him, for +that occasion, her brother at Saratoga! Well, so far, there is no impropriety, +you will say; but coupled with several other facts—coupled with the act that +that book (the pawnbrokers book) teems with the name of Bethune, as pledging +jewelry pledged by Hemmings, and belonging to the lady, you must see the +intimacy which unquestionably existed. She admitted to you that time and again +he had pledged what? Why, he had pledged her studs, her brooches and God knows +what all! What did she? Why not have him arrested then? Oh! well, she says, "he +cried—my brother cried." (Loud laughter.) "I did not like to hurt my brother." +She forgave him, and I will tell you why.</p> + +<p>You know the quotation that "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned." Mr. +Hemmings, who is a fine, healthy, fashionable, well-rounded and vigorous, and, +some women might say, good-looking young man, had migrated from the city of New +York to spend some time in Pittsburgh, and he was in dangerous proximity to a +very enticing and attractive actress, Miss Kate Fisher. (Loud laughter).</p> + +<p>Gentlemen, in the play of Othello, which many of you have doubtless seen and +read, you will find the episode of the handkerchief, which you will remember +belonged to Desdemona; being the gift of her husband, the Moor. You remember +Iago (in that case it was a man, however,) instigated his wife to purloin the +handkerchief, and to deposit it in the chamber of Cassio, if I am correct; and +Cassio, unfortunately, not seeing the little trap that was prepared for him, +wound that spotted piece of cambric around his knee to stop the blood flowing +from the wound he had received in a drunken brawl. Upon Othello seeing that, he +states, that not being jealous, he "was perplexed in the extreme," and the +sequel was the murder about which we have so often heard. I say, gentlemen, if +ever there was the play of Othello reduced to private life and reacted, it is +here. These ear-rings are the handkerchief, and Mrs. Bethune is the Iago. +(Laughter.) This young man tells me, that in accordance with ancient usage and +time-honored customs existing between this gentleman and lady, she had given +him, as she narrated here, money to enable Kate Fisher to open a theatre at +Pittsburgh, and that Hemmings was to be the manager. She had given them, from +time to time, money obtained from Barnard's pawn office, through the +instrumentality of the unfortunate Hemmings.</p> + +<p>That is the history; that is all before you, and it cannot be gainsayed. Then +why the arrest this time more than at the others? It explains itself. You have +it in testimony that these ear-rings were the property of Mr. Lynch, and that +Mrs. Lynch had loaned them to Mrs. Bethune. Hemmings alleges, and I believe with +truth, that Mrs. Bethune, whilst riding in a coach with him, and after a "love +encounter" (laughter) gave to him these jewels to hypothecate in the place to +which he had been a frequent visitor for Mrs. Bethune. He goes to this +pawnbroker's not in his own name, but, as the pawnbroker tells you (and I point +to that fact as one of the strong points in the defense), that he panned them +with him, telling him at the time that they belonged to Mrs. Bethune. Would a +thief who stole your property or mine go to a place where he was known, that is +if he stole them with the intention of keeping them? There was no larceny here, +no dishonest motive about the transaction. Would he go to the pawnbroker to whom +he was known and say, "Here is some property; it is not mine, it is Mrs. +Bethune's?" On the contrary, you know, gentlemen—you must know—that there are a +thousand other pawnbroker's establishments in New York City; and if this had +been a felonious taking of these ear-rings, Hemmings could have gone to +Simpson's across the way from this court house, or to another place at the +Battery, or east, west, north or south, upon any corner in New York to a strange +pawnbroker, who did not know him, had there been any felony about the +transaction. Another point is, that a felon who steals invariably covers up his +crime. The Prosecution brought out this fact, and I appeal to it as their own +destruction, why in the name of Heaven did this man, if he intended to +appropriate these ear-rings to his own use, carry about him the evidence of his +guilt? Why, they told you when they got to Pittsburgh, after the altercation, +that he produced the pawn-ticket! Did that look like stealing?</p> + +<p>But to revert to the ownership. Mr. Lynch, in a moment of kindness, loaned +these ear-rings to his wife. Mrs. Lynch again loaned them to Mrs. Bethune; and, +as Hemmings says, whilst riding in a coach, she (Mrs. Bethune) gave him those +ear-rings to pledge. He did so pledge them. Mind you, gentlemen, there has been +no dispute about that since the commencement; he has never denied the pledging. +Having pledged them, as he represents, a request was made to Mrs. Bethune for +the return of the ear-rings. She could not produce them, and for the best +possible reason; and not until nearly two months after the occurrence is the +complaint made before the police magistrate. She wished to hide from Mr. Bethune +(the gentleman who sustained the relation of husband to her) what had become of +the ear-rings; and, necessarily, she had no resort but to turn round and say: +"It is not very pleasant to tell my husband (or the man who stands in that +capacity) that I have given those ear-rings to a lover! I cannot, without +offending you, tell you the true cause of this affair, but I must, in order to +save myself, say, O, this George stole them, and he is in Pittsburgh with Kate +Fisher." This is <em>two months</em> after the occurrence! And then, on the +first of December, a requisition is gotten out, and the more marvelous part of +it is, that she goes on alone in the first instance while Mr. Bethune followed +subsequently. Now see what occurred in Pittsburgh. She told you she did not know +whether he was arrested or not. She "believed" there was a form gone through of +getting out some papers. She "believes" she was taken before the mayor; and what +became of the case she did not know. But Mr. Bethune, who could not shield +himself in this way, very promptly answered that he was arrested at the suit of +this man; and Hemmings could not make idle charges there. He was a theatrical +manager in Pittsburgh, a public man! and, as they told you, boasted that he was +intimate with the members of the press and police force, who were dead-heads at +his theatre, and who witnessed the performance gratuitously; so that you +perceive he was very well known. Do you believe, will any sane man of common +sense credit the statement, that a man who was as well known in Pittsburgh as G. +L. Fox is in this city, could afford to arrest a citizen and have the matter +made public unless he had reasons to do so?</p> + +<p>I say, gentlemen, that the entire case, from the commencement to the end, +abounds in doubts suggestive of this man's innocence, especially the fact which +cannot be denied, that this lady, <em>she is not like Cæsar's wife,</em> above +suspicion, shields herself, as no honest woman would, behind that protection +which the judge afforded.</p> + +<p>Good God, gentlemen, in a court of justice, where jurors are empanelled to +decide upon the future prospects and the life of this young man, would your wife +or mine refuse to answer such a question? Is it a <em>shame</em> for us to +acknowledge that the holy bonds of matrimony have united us with a being—the +mother of our offspring? Would you deny that you were the husband of a lady, +placed upon the witness stand to support a charge against a thief for having +stolen your watch? Why, I think, gentlemen, that honor, affection, duty and +every obligation known to society, demands, in imperious tones, that instead of +denying the wife of your bosom, you stand forward as her champion and say, +"Thank God, she is my wife and I am proud of it!" That is what you or I would +have answered. But the gauzy curtain that was covered over this foul tableau, +has been lifted up, and you see it in all it hideous deformity. As I have before +stated, you have seen, gentlemen, the flimsy evidence upon which is attempted to +predicate a conviction for grand larceny. I am confident that in spite of all +the attempts that have been made by a shameless wanton and her pretended +husband, to crush this man, despite the meretricious trickery and villainous +conspiracy which instigated, concocted and carried out this <em>persecution,</em> +relying as I do, on your sense of justice, your strict integrity, and the +independence of an American jury, that you will not permit our temples erected +to justice, to be prostituted to the accomplishment of the designs of the +polluted and the infamous and that innocence will triumph, and your verdict be +"Not guilty."</p> + +<p>At the conclusion of Mr. Howe's address, Mr. Hutchings summed up for the +people. Judge Russel proceeded to charge the jury. After recapitulating very +carefully the whole of the testimony, told them that if they were satisfied that +the prisoner Hemmings had taken these ear-rings from Mrs. Bethune, and had +pledged them without her consent, then they should convict; but if they had any +well-founded doubt arising from the testimony itself, and not engendered by the +eloquent speech of the prisoner's counsel, then they should give the prisoner +the benefit of the doubt and acquit him.</p> + +<p>The jury then retired, and after a quarter of an hour's absence returned into +court and rendered a verdict of NOT GUILTY.</p> + +<p>Hemmings was accordingly discharged, and he quitted the court amidst the +congratulations of his friends.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Bethune also brought a charge of theft against Kate Fisher, which was +heard at Essex Market Police Court. The New York +<em>Herald</em> reported the proceedings next day as follows:</p> + +<p>Essex Market court-room was this afternoon densely crowded with theatrical +personages of all grades, apparently deeply interested in the progress of the +case which concerns the position and honor of an actress so well known as Kate +Fisher. The seats of the court would not contain more than half the number of +the persons present, the remainder being compelled to stand around against the +walls and in the nooks of the doors, etc. Among those present were W. B. +Freligh, manager of the Bowery Theatre; John Jones, the treasurer; Clark, the +stage manager; Deane, leader of the orchestra, and others. The court-room was at +last found to be too small, and the whole party adjourned to examine the room on +the second floor of the building, which was also found to be rather small, but +yet more convenient for the purposes of an examination.</p> + +<p>Justice Shandley then took his seat on the bench, and the parties concerned +appeared in court. Mrs. Bethune was rather flashily dressed, and evidently +intended to make a show. Kate Fisher was quietly dressed in black, and was very +modest in her demeanor; attracting no attention, except from those who were +acquainted with her. Mr. Bethune accompanied the complainant, and Messrs. Howe +and Hummel, appeared for Miss Kate Fisher.</p> + +<p>Having taken their respective seats, the case of Eliza Bethune, of +Centreville, Long Island, against Kate Fisher, for the larceny of a gold watch +and chain, valued at $200, was then called on.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Bethune, the first witness, was then examined by her counsel. She stated +that her name was Eliza Bethune, and that she resided at Centreville, L. I. She +knew Kate Fisher, and knew her on the 16th of last November. She was then living +in East Fourth street. On that day she missed her watch, and her daughter told +her that Miss Fisher had taken it. Acting on this information, she sent for Kate +Fisher on the afternoon of that day. Mrs. Bethune then asked her where her watch +was. Kate Fisher was very much intoxicated at the time, but understood all that +was said to her. She answered that she had taken it, and had given it to +Hemmings. The watch and chain was worth $200. Mrs. Bethune subsequently learned +that the watch had been pledged. Some time after, she, Mrs. Bethune, caused the +arrest of Kate Fisher at Pittsburgh, but the case was dismissed for want of +jurisdiction.</p> + +<p>Mr. Howe then asked if the counsel had closed his case, but received an +answer in the negative, as there were more witnesses to be examined. Mr. Howe +stated that he was sorry that the case was not closed, as before he desired to +commence a cross-examination he would take all the evidence to be exhausted. His +case was a revival of one which had already been settled at the General +Sessions, and bore on its very face the evidence of a malicious prosecution to +injure the character and spotless reputation of a lady whose profession brought +her constantly before the public, and whose good name became thereby part of her +business capital. He regretted it, therefore, that the counsel for the +complainant would not exhaust his case, as it made it necessary to adopt a +course of procedure in his cross-examination that he should have preferred not +to have done.</p> + +<p>The counsel for Mrs. Bethune persisting that the cross-examination of each +witness should go on in regular order as each witness appeared on the stand, Mr. +Howe then proceeded by asking the witness her name.</p> + +<p>My name is Eliza Bethune.</p> + +<p>Are you married?</p> + +<p>I am.</p> + +<p>To whom?</p> + +<p>Mr. Bethune.</p> + +<p>What is his first name?</p> + +<p>That is not your business.</p> + +<p>Counsel appealed to the court, when the magistrate said the question was a +proper one, and she answered:</p> + +<p>My husband's name is Bethune. His first name I do not choose to give.</p> + +<p>After further questioning, she at last replied:</p> + +<p>My first husband's name was John Bethune.</p> + +<p>What is the name of your present husband?</p> + +<p>That is not your business.</p> + +<p>Is he here in court.</p> + +<p>He is. He represents me here.</p> + +<p>What is his first name?</p> + +<p>After a great deal of cross-firing the answer was elicited that it was George +Bethune.</p> + +<p>Were you ever married to George Bethune, the one who is now in court?</p> + +<p>Objected to by counsel.</p> + +<p>Justice Shandley: That is a proper question, and must be answered.</p> + +<p>That is my business. He has been my husband for over ten years.</p> + +<p>Were you ever married to him?</p> + +<p>Objected to. Objection overruled.</p> + +<p>I have answered already. I have answered all I am going to do.</p> + +<p>Justice Shandley insisted that she must answer the questions, but when she +still refused, almost in a defiant manner, he rose from the bench, and declared +the case dismissed. His action was received with rounds of applause from the +persons assembled.</p> + +<br> +<br> + + +<div align=center> +<h2><a name="10">C</a>HAPTER X.</h2> + +<br> +<br> + + +<h3>A MARINER'S WOOING.</h3> + +<br> +<br> + + +<p><em>Captain Hazard's Gushing Letters—Breakers on a Matrimonial Lee Shore—He +is Grounded in Divorce Shoals.</em></p> +</div> + +<p>Aforetime, when the mariner was entirely dependent on the winds and the tides +to make his voyage, he was, as everybody knows, a peculiarly impulsive, +generous, faithful and credulous mortal in his love affairs. Once ashore, he +spliced the main-brace, sneered oathfully at land-lubbers, hitched up his +trousers and ran alongside the first trim-looking craft who angled for his +attentions—and his money. These fine salt-water impulses, begotten of a twelve +or fifteen-months' voyage, have mostly vanished. Steam has greatly +revolutionized Jack's sweet-hearting. He comes to port every fortnight, or so; +he wears dry goods and jewelry of the latest mode; and he marries a wife, or +divorces a wife, with the same conventional <em>sangfroid</em> of any mercantile +"drummer" who travels by railroad. The conjugal history of that distinguished +son of Neptune, Captain Oliver Perry Hazard, now to be related, haply has a +delectable smack of mercantile jack's old-time methods, mingled with the +shrewder utilitarianism of the steamship Jack of to-day.</p> + +<p>Up in the estuary called the Y, and at the mouth of the river Amstel, lay, +some years ago, the good American ship which had safely borne young Hazard +across the Atlantic. He was a handsome, a tall, and a lively young man of five +and twenty; and, with a vivacious young mariner's curiosity, he went ashore to +sample the "Holland," for which the Dutch are so famous, to stroll across the +two hundred and ninety-odd bridges, and to take an observation of the pretty +girls that loomed up in sedate but ample old Amsterdam. There, in a saloon where +the gin was a most divine Hippocrene, and the cigars fragrant, Oliver beheld a +tight little craft, and straightway ran up his flag as a salute. She was a +brunette, with as pretty a form as the sun had ever kissed. Her dark, dark eyes +were large, lustrous and superb. Oliver shares Lord Byron's weakness for +handsome eyes. He's very fond of them. The name of the Amsterdam divinity was +Marie. He resembled the same illustrious poet in his predilection for the name +of Mary or Marie. He thought there was a sweetness in it. And so he sank into +the quicksands of Eros, right over his tarry toplights, and, nothing loth, Marie +accompanied him in the Avernian descent. Every morning that he lay in the Dutch +port our mariner squared his yard-arms and trimmed himself for bringing-to +alongside Marie. Every night the tics were getting tauter, and when he proposed +that she should cross with him to England there was no pitching on her part +worth speaking of. And so they voyaged to Albion and to several ports in Gaul; +and there was no lee-way in their love, but still the tics were getting tauter, +evidencing strong probabilities of a life cruise together.</p> + +<p>A year or two after, both Oliver and Marie were in New York, and, according +to the affidavit of Captain Hazard's mother, Marie called upon the matron and +told her "that she had been living with her son Oliver; that she had first met +him in Amsterdam, and had traveled with him as his wife in England and in +France, and that he had brought her to America." Marie assured the old lady that +she loved him dearly, that she had been faithful and true to him ever since +their intimacy, and hence she was anxious that Oliver should marry her and make +her an honest woman in the eyes of the law and of the world. Whereupon, the +mother persuaded the son to marry the pretty, young, gazelle-eyed girl, who +could speak American and write like a born citizen.</p> + +<p>Oliver's own account of this momentous event, as chronicled in his affidavit, +is not materially different. He affirms that he first met Marie in a liquor +store in Amsterdam, "which she was in the habit of frequenting. At this time she +was of loose character;" she "lived with him and traveled to England and France, +and he was going to send her back to Holland, when his mother urged him to marry +her, which he did reluctantly."</p> + +<p>In what way or to what extent, if any, the relations between the young +mariner and his wife were affected after Hymen had stepped in and chained them +together, there are data for determining. If we are to unqualifiedly accept the +averments of the captain's affidavit we should come to the conclusion that +Marie's nature and disposition were woefully transformed when she could legally +designate herself, "Mrs. Captain Oliver P. Hazard." She then discovered "a +jealous disposition" and "an ungovernable temper." When he returned from his +various voyages she "did not receive him kindly;" but, contrariwise, sometimes +received him on the side of "a poker," on the end of "a dirk" or at the muzzle +of "pistol." Moreover—and this is dolefully comic—"she repeatedly left this +deponent imprisoned in the house for hours under lock and key!" What a situation +for a foaming mariner, accustomed to roam the vastness of the majestic, the +free, the uncontrollable deep! Probably the next arraignment is still more +exasperating. "She kept a servant to act as a spy and treat this deponent with +disrespect." With the lapse of years, and with the peculiar hue which strife +assumes in its backward prospective, his once happy-home and connubial comforts +wore a jaundiced and sickly aspect. He ceased to recall the days when his heart +was linked unto Marie's as a rosebud is linked to its stem.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Hazard possessed some letters, written to her by her whilom amorous +husband, which will enable the reader to form a pretty correct idea of the +estimation in which, until quite recently, the captain held his pretty wife. For +example, one Fourth of July, he writes from "On board the U. S. Steamer John +Rice," from Fortress Monroe to "My own dear and precious wife," informing her +that the ship has been landing troops, that he feels rather seedy and +low-spirited, and wishes he was at home to spend "the glorious Fourth" in her +company. In a postscript he blazes into amorous enthusiasm and exclaims, "Write +your dear Olly!" and in the bottom left-hand corner, within a sort of fairy +circle, about the size of the orifice of a quart-bottle neck, appeared the +gushing invitation, ("Kiss me.")</p> + +<p>Nearly a year afterward he writes from Havana, "On board the steamer Liberty, +May 6, 1865," to "My own dear precious wife," informing her that he is safe from +New Orleans, with other personal matters not necessary to rehearse. He +subscribes himself, "Your affectionate and loving Olly." Over ten years +afterward we find the captain writing another letter from on board the same +steamer, October 13, 1875, lying in Savannah, to "My darling beloved wife," in +which he graphically tells her the sort of dog Jocko is. "Jocko came on board +all serene," writes the captain, "He is asleep under my sofa all the time when +he is not hunting beef, and I keep my room very warm. So that is the kind of dog +Jocko is. If he was a half decent dog I would keep him on board, but he is +asleep all the day under my sofa, and hates to be on deck. So he is good for +nix, the worse cur I ever saw. I will leave him with a good keeper, and glad to +lose sight of him."</p> + +<p>At this period Mrs. Captain Hazard was in the habit of sub-letting a portion +of her house; and in the tail-end of the letter from which we have just quoted +reference is made thereto. "Have you advertised in the <em>Tribute</em> yet? Try +fifty cents' worth for two days, you may catch a sucker. May God, in his +infinite mercy, ever bless, protect and make you well and successful, my darling +wife, is the prayer of your ever-loving and affectionate husband, Oliver P. +Hazard." In the usual corner appears the magic circle, with the imperative +("Kiss me.")</p> + +<p>In the early portion of the year 1876, he had so persistently coaled up the +fires of his love boilers that he couldn't wait until the steamer sailed, but +plunges into glowing correspondence as soon as he reaches "Pier 2." He is now +the captain of the Ocean Steam Navigation Company's vessel, San Jacinto, and on +April 22 he writes, "My own darling good wife," before sailing, advising her to +take good care of herself. The usual circular, hieroglyphic and osculatory +invitation appears at the lower left-hand corner.</p> + +<p>Four brief days afterwards our Strephon has reached Savannah. Again he +writes, April 26, 1876, "On board the steamship San Jacinto." To "My blessed +good darling wife," informing her that he has "no aches, no pains," and assures +her that he is "growing stronger." Then he rushes into particulars in the +following unique manner: "I still keep my oatmeal diet and Pepson. God's +blessing and infinite mercies on you, my darling. . . . I have had all kinds of +horable imaginations about you. . . . I hope Mr. C. K. Garrison will permit you +to make next trip with me. Eat no salt smoked meats or fish, or drink no strong +tea, but cat oatmeal and what will easily digest, to keep your bowels open. . . +. I will, with God's help, be with my dear Marie on Tuesday. I have the Harriet +Beecher Stowe and Crane family to bring North this trip, about the last of the +crowd. I wish they were landed in New York, as I don't like any of them, but +will fight through in a quiet way." This epistle occupies six closely-written +and carefully-numbered pages of note-paper, and the lip sign-manual is +emblazoned in the usual corner. It ought to be remarked that the captain is an +admirable penman, moderately seaworthy as to syntax, but in need of overhauling +in an orthographical aspect.</p> + +<p>While we are busy with the correspondence, it may be +<em>apropos</em> to quote the last amorous letter he penned to his Marie before +a cyclonic storm from the nor'east struck the Hymeneal ship, and carried away +her masts and rigging, leaving a pair of plunging, leaky bulk-heads on the weary +waste of the censorious world's waters. The envelope of this letter is indorsed +in a female hand—evidently the forlorn hand of Marie: "Last letter received from +my husband." It purports to have been written "On board the steamship Herman +Livingston, Savannah, Jan. 5, 1878." It begins, in a modified form, thus: "My +darling wife," and takes a flatulent turn almost immediately, "we had a fair +wind all the way; a few passengers, and only one lady, which was Lydia. She was +very pleasant and no trouble, as she was not sea-sick, and sat in the +pilot-house most of the time. I am feeling very well now. . . . It is not +necessary to say that I have not drank any strong drinks; that, of course, is +finished. I am all right now, you know. . . . I hope, my darling good wife, that +you are feeling much better than when I left you, and that your sore throat is +quite well by this time. . . . I hope you will take good care of yourself and +not get cold. I shall take good care of myself. Little Maria sent me a pretty +mug for my New Year's. I will not use my new napkin ring, as it is too nice to +be lost or broken here. May God ever bless and protect you, and ever make you +well and happy, is my ever prayer of your loving husband, +OLLY."</p> + +<p>Let not the reader imagine that Olly's love was all of the lip-and-epistolary +cheap style. Even as faith without works is dead, being alone, so professions of +affection without exemplification would be simply worth "Jocko," and that +worthless creature, according to the mariner, was good for "nix." No; the +captain had presented his darling with diamonds—a cross, for example, which cost +$1,000, and a watch and chain and other jewelry, amounting in the whole to +$2,800.</p> + +<p>The impartial reader, therefore, from the excerpts of his correspondence and +the summary of the jewelry, will be enabled to form a pretty fair idea of the +esteem in which the captain formerly held his wife. Ah! but then the reader is +not aware that Olly is very handsome, and so very, very gay! Olly's immaculate +shirt-bosom was in the habit of bristling with diamonds, in the midst of which, +like a headlight at the mizzen-top, coruscated a diamond cluster pin.</p> + +<p>Marie was not jealous without a cause. Of this, every lady who has read thus +far is morally convinced. Marie and her "spy" had discovered the cause, just +sixteen brief days after Olly had penned that remarkable letter, with a +benediction and a "kiss-me" lozenge at the end, Mrs. Hazard and her maid, Esther +Doerner, hied them down and across town until they reached a boarding-house on +West Ninth street. What happened in this high-toned hash dispensary let Miss +Margaret Gilman, an eye-witness, proclaim by her affidavit:</p> + +<p>"At half-past eight in the evening, Mrs. Hazard came in and went to a hall +bed-room in the front, and knocked at the door of said room. She was accompanied +by her maid, Esther Doerner. After she knocked, the door was opened from within +by Lena Kimball. Lena attempted to close the door, but Mrs. Hazard's superior +strength forced an opening, and she and her maid entered." Now let lynx-eyed +Esther take up the narrative for a brief space: "Lena was but slightly clothed, +having only a skirt and a sacque on. Lena asked: 'Who is this woman?' Mrs. +Hazard replied, 'I am his lawful wife—you are his mistress!'" Then ensued a +scene which Margaret and Esther are in accord in describing: "Lena attacked Mrs. +Hazard, slapped her in the face and pulled her hair, said captain, meantime, +holding his wife's hands and thus preventing her defending herself!"</p> + +<p>Let us hear Miss Margaret C. Gilman, who is a dressmaker, a little further: +"About the following Thursday I visited No. 106 West Sixteenth street, at +request of said Lena Kimball, to arrange about a dress for her, when I saw said +Captain Hazard enter the room of Lena. I left them together, alone. Lena told me +that the captain would commence proceedings for a divorce from his wife."</p> + +<p>Progressing chronologically onwards, we come to another day when Olly and his +wife were quarreling at a great rate in their home up-town. It appeared that the +captain had between $4,000 and $5,000 deposited in the Seamen's Savings Bank, +and his wife was anxious that the money should be drawn and be equally divided +between them. To this Olly demurred, whereupon the irate wife locked her +faithless lord in the house, and kept him a close prisoner till he threw up the +sponge and promised to accede to her demands. He obtained his liberty, and +ostensibly left the house for the purpose of drawing the money and transferring +$2,000 of it to his wife's account. What he did do was to draw the cash, go to +his brother-in-law's, pay some debts, and then hand $3,000 to Lawrence Phillips, +an insurance broker, at 85 Beaver street.</p> + +<p>Of course, Olly did not return to his "blessed and darling wife" that night, +nor the next, nor ever again. He had, no doubt, an attack of the old "horable +imaginations," and deemed it advisable to put himself on an oatmeal diet +somewhere in New Jersey. What he did do, as Marie's detective discovered, was to +proceed with Lena to Taylor's Hotel, Jersey City, where they registered as Mr. +and Mrs. James Peake, of Philadelphia. While enjoying this voluptuous seclusion +with the fascinating young blonde, Olly was plotting mischief and otherwise +conspiring against the forlorn Marie's peace and happiness. The following +documents disclose the form their unchaste deliberations assumed. On the +eleventh of February, the ill-used Olly sent a freezing letter to his wife, from +which we quote:</p> + +<p>"In view of the unhappy relations which exist and have for many years existed +between us, I have reached the conclusion that it is impossible for us longer to +live together as man and wife. Your manner of treating me has been so outrageous +that it is necessary, in order to live with you that I should sacrifice my +manhood, my independence and my self-respect, as well as the respect of all the +members of my family and of my friends. While I believe your conduct would, in +the eyes of the law and society, warrant me in refusing you all support, still I +am inclined to deal liberally with you, and I have clothed Mr. Stanton, my +counsel, with power to arrange the details of a separation." He then goes on to +state that, in such an arrangement, certain considerations should have full +weight, to wit: "That I am at present suspended from my situation, and that you +assert you brought about my suspension; that you have a very comfortable home, +for which I pay the rent, with about $5000 worth of furniture, which I would be +willing to turn over to you; that you have valuable diamonds, and that I have +given you a great deal of money of late."</p> + +<p>Marie was, no doubt, pondering over her frigid Olly's proposal, and making up +her mind how to proceed, when another letter reached her. It was written in a +bold, clear, round hand. It bore no date or superscription, but the envelope is +stamped: "New York, Feb. 12, 12 o'c." The letter might have been written by a +love-crazed Cassandra. It was as follows:</p> + +<p>"You imagine me in Philadelphia. Not so. I am in the city, and will remain +here until I accomplish the ruin and destruction of the old fool, your husband, +and yourself. I have sworn revenge on you and I shall keep my oath. I do not +care a damn for the old man. You expect him home to-night, but you will be +disappointed. The old fool is trying to get a divorce from you now. My vengeance +being accomplished I will leave the city, and not until then.</p> + +<p>"With hatred and revenge, I am your enemy until death, +LINA KIMBALL."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Hazard had been acting under legal advice, so far as the discovery and +proof of her husband's unfaithfulness were concerned. But determining upon a +more active and aggressive warfare, she was prudently advised to intrust her +interests to Messrs. Howe & Hummel. The conflict was speedily begun. On February +16th the first papers in the case were served upon Captain Hazard at his +lawyer's office, 198 Broadway. On the same day Mr. Henry Stanton promptly gave +notice of his appearance in Olly's behalf. On the twentieth of February, on the +application of Howe & Hummel, an order of arrest was granted by Judge Donohue, +on the ground that the defendant intended to leave the city, and that any order +for alimony would thereby be ineffectual. On the following day the captain did +leave the city for Boston, and registered at the Parker House. It is alleged +that he was seen with Lena Kimball in the Hub; but the captain explained +afterwards that he had not vamoosed on purpose—he had gone to inspect a ship, +with the possible intention of buying a captain's share.</p> + +<p>On February 28th, Mr. Stanton served upon Messrs. Howe & Hummel a copy of a +petition and notice of motion returnable the third Monday in March. On the same +day the complaint was served upon defendant's lawyer. Meantime, detectives were +on the <em>qui vive</em> for Olly. They had his portrait on tin imperial size, +and they had a lock of his hair in an envelope. There were certain lager-beer +saloons in the vicinage of Sixth avenue and Sixteenth street he was said to +frequent. A sharp lookout was kept on his brother-in-law, Bradbury, as well. On +March 19th the sheriff tapped the distinguished son of Neptune on the shoulder +and exhibited a momentous piece of paper. The captain took an observation and +hauled down his colors as a free man. He was a prisoner and put himself promptly +in tow. After a short run and a few tackings they ran into Ludlow Harbor, and +all was made taut for the captain.</p> + +<p>Next day the petition and motion was argued for the prisoner, by Mr. Stanton, +before Judge Lawrence. Mr. Hummel opposed on behalf of Mrs. Hazard. It was +argued that the alleged acts of adultery had been condoned; that the defendant +had no intention of leaving the state; that when he separated from the plaintiff +he went to live with his brother-in-law and mother; and that he went to Boston +for the purpose already stated. The alleged pokerings and dirkings and +pistolings were dilated upon. Esther, the spy, was denounced. It was affirmed +that "on one occasion, when he returned," with the odor of the sea fresh upon +him, "plaintiff had a baby." It has never been claimed that he was the father of +it. Nor does he know who is the father. He has never been able to find out the +paternity of that babe, "nor does he know who the mother is." Notwithstanding +that he has been suffered to swell almost to bursting with ignorance of these +bottom facts, he "has been forced to support it." He showed that Mrs. Hazard +possessed diamonds and furniture and twenty-one building lots on Long Island; +that she had been extravagant as to crayon portraits and carriage hire; that for +the last-mentioned item alone her expenses for February had been about +eighty-seven dollars. Wherefore, counsel argued, the court ought either to +dismiss the arrest or reduce the bail from $6,000, at which it had been fixed. +Mr. Howe had an equally affecting story to rehearse. He showed that Mrs. Hazard +had been compelled, through her husband's neglect to provide her with money, to +pay several visits to a relative of hers, to whom the adage "Blood is thicker +than water" does not apply. With this personage she had left, for pecuniary +considerations received, her diamond cross and other valuables.</p> + +<p>The judge took the papers and, a few days afterward, ordered the parties to +the suit to appear before a referee, who was instructed to take proof as to the +defendant's ability to pay alimony, and to determine what amount should be paid. +On the evidence taken before the referee, Lamberson, who died before the +testimony was all in, both sides agreed on the question of alimony.</p> + +<p>Thus far Mrs. Hazard's lawyers had carried all before them like an +irresistible flood. They now turned their attention to Lena Kimball. Mrs. Hazard +had not forgotten nor forgiven that face-slapping and hair-pulling in Ninth +street. Lena's maledictory epistle had added brimstone to the fire. And so it +came to pass that Messrs. Howe & Hummel brought an action in the Supreme Court +against Lena for the assault and battery of their client. An order of arrest was +promptly issued by the court, holding the ravishing young blonde in bail in the +sum of one thousand dollars. After she had enjoyed the hospitalities of the +warden for two days, the captain planked down a thousand dollars in the hands of +the sheriff, and Lena was free.</p> + +<p>Behold, now, how tribulation followed tribulation!</p> + +<p>Two days after Lena had breathed the air of freedom, Mrs. Hazard and her +lawyers went before a police magistrate, and had the fair creature arrested +criminally for the same offense of assault and battery. Being produced, Mrs. +Kimball gave the required bail to answer at Special Sessions. A fortnight +afterwards the case came up. Lena pleaded guilty, and was fined.</p> + +<p>After a good deal more litigation, an order was entered in the Supreme Court +referring the many issues of the case to James P. Ledwith, Esq., to take +testimony and report thereon to the court. Many hearings were had before the +referee, and finally his report was in favor of the plaintiff, Mrs. Hazard, who +was awarded an absolute divorce, with a liberal allowance of alimony and costs.</p> + +<br> +<br> + + +<div align=center> +<h2><a name="11">C</a>HAPTER XI.</h2> + +<br> +<br> + + +<h3>THE BARON AND "BARONESS."</h3> + +<br> +<br> + + +<p><em>The Romance of Baron Henri Arnous de Reviere, and "The Buckeye Baroness," +Helene Stille.</em></p> +</div> + +<p>During one October, our offices were visited by a lady who had achieved +considerable distinction, as well as notoriety, in Parisian society. This was +Mrs. Helene Cecille Stille, otherwise the "Baroness de Reviere," and sometimes +designated "The Buckeye Baroness," She came for the purpose of prosecuting a +charge against the Baron de Reviere of "wrongful conversion and unlawful +detention of personal property," arising from circumstances which will appear +further on.</p> + +<p>The "Baroness" was then, as she still is, a handsome woman. She was then +somewhat on the youthful side of thirty. Highly attractive and fascinating, her +every movement and gesture bespoke a vigorous physical organization and perfect +health. While the curves of her fine form partook more of Juno's majestic frame +than Hebe's pliant youth—while the full sweep and outline of her figure denoted +maturity and completeness in every part, the charming face, the large, gazelle +eyes, the voluptuous ease of her attitude, the gentle languor of her whole +bearing, constituted a woman which few susceptible young or even mature men +could have looked on without misgivings that they might but too soon learn to +long for the glances, the smiles, the witcheries which had made Helene Cecille +Stille, in many respects, a counterpart of Helen of Troy.</p> + +<p>We were not acquainted with the lady's antecedents nor with her remarkable +history; but she told a plausible story, and was very fluent and indignant, as +may be gathered from the following extract from the affidavit which was drawn +under her instructions at the time:</p> + +<p>Superior Court of the City of New York: Helene Stille, plaintiff, against the +Baron Henri de Reviere, defendant. City and County of New York, ss.—Helene +Stille, of said city being duly sworn, says that she is the above-named +plaintiff, and that she has a good cause of action against said defendant for +wrongful conversion and unlawful detention of personal property, arising on the +following facts, namely:</p> + +<p>In the summer of 1865, in the French empire, the above-named defendant, +giving himself out to be a French nobleman of princely fortune, and then +representing himself to deponent as an unmarried man, but being in truth, as +deponent has since discovered, then a married man and a common plebeian, +swindler and common <em>chevalier d' industrie;</em> by divers arts, devices, +false pretences and allurements, gained this plaintiff's affections and +confidence, and did, by false, wicked and fraudulent devices, debauch this +plaintiff and induce her to live with him as his wife; and having thus basely +obtained ascendancy over her and won her confidence, did, by trick and device, +induce this plaintiff to deposit with him for safe keeping on the tenth day of +September, at the city of Paris, in France, the sum of twenty-seven thousand +five hundred francs in gold coin, and of the value of seven thousand five +hundred dollars of American money, belonging to this deponent; and said +defendant then and there promised and agreed to return the same property to this +deponent on request.</p> + +<p>And this deponent says, that having ascertained the defendant's real +character, she demanded the restoration to her of said money by said defendant, +when said defendant absconded from France and is now in this City and wholly +refuses to return said amount of seven thousand five hundred dollars to +deponent, or any part thereof; but said defendant has wrongfully converted said +property to his own use, and now unlawfully detains the same from this deponent, +at said city of New York, and is now, as deponent is informed and verily +believes, about to quit this city, said defendant being only a transient boarder +at the New York Hotel in this city.</p> + +<p>Judge Freedman granted the application for an order of arrest; the warrant +was placed in the hands of Sheriff O'Brien; and Deputy Sheriffs Laurence, +Delmore and the present elegant police court clerk, John McGowan, proceeded to +the New York Hotel, and just as the guests were assembling for dinner, the +haughty aristocrat was made a prisoner, despite his indignant protests.</p> + +<p>In the newspapers of the day Mrs. Stille was described as "a beautiful woman, +twenty-eight years old, who has seen more life all over the globe than any woman +of her age now living." She was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, the daughter of +respectable and well-to-do parents. Superbly developed and precocious, at a very +early age Helene began to sound the chords of feeling and to taste the Circean +cup that promises gratification and excitement, mingled with so much +after-bitterness. When she was yet seventeen, she was married to George Stille +at Philadelphia, after the briefest kind of an acquaintance. With him she came +to New York, living in a style of careless gayety. Early in 1867, she gave birth +to a child, named George after his father, and in June of that year Mrs. Stille, +and Georgie, and his nurse, Mrs. Demard, were living in Saratoga. The dashing +young wife's flirtative proclivities led to a quarrel with her husband, and he +left her in a huff. His desertion did not perceptibly disturb the serene +elasticity of her mind. She possessed expansive tastes and a capacious heart, +and she was speedily consoling herself by the attentions of George W. Beers in +the gay watering-place. When Helene, Mr. Beers, the baby and the nurse returned +to New York in September, they occupied a suite of rooms at the Prescott House. +Not unnaturally, the presence of the dashing woman in the hotel created a +sensation, as such a presence always will, as long as men continue to be the +weak, erring, susceptible creatures they are. So Helene was flattered, and +courted, and admired; and as usual, some she fancied, some she liked, some she +laughed at, and some she reserved for her more precious favors. Then, of course, +Beers mounted up on his ear, and there was a quarrel, which resulted in the +party leaving the Prescott House for quarters over the club house at the corner +of Prince and Mercer streets. More quarrels for the same cause eventuated here, +and then Beers left her for a while. Not at all disconcerted, she took the child +and his nurse to the St. Denis Hotel, where Beers again returned, magnanimous +and forgiving. But alas, it was no use. Helene's craving for admiration, +masculine attention and money were insatiable. So Beers became wildly jealous +and indignant, and left her for good. When next heard of, she was in Paris, +where she had succeeded in making the acquaintance of the Due de Morny, and +sometimes figured as <em>la Duchesse.</em></p> + +<p>Baron Henri Arnous de Reviere was the eldest son of Baron William Arnous de +Reviere, Counsellor-general of the Department of the Loire Inferior. The title +is hereditary; the family estate is situated at Varades; and the +ancestral records are kept in the archives of the ancient city of Rennes in +Brittany. The Baron first cropped up in this country about the outbreak of the +rebellion, when people here and in England were in great excitement over the +steps taken by the general government in securing the arrest of Messrs. Mason +and Slidell. He had apparently made one of the elder Dumas' heroes his exalted +ideal, for at the period we speak of he had set the fashionable world of Gotham +agog by making a romantic conquest of a Mobile belle, who, after becoming +thoroughly infatuated with him, eloped to a prominent watering-place. The +interference of her friends prevented the consummation of a wedding; but his +escapade formed the subject of a book, afterwards dramatized, and acted at +Wallack's Theatre. Subsequently the Baron married Miss Blount, the daughter of a +rich Southern lawyer.</p> + +<p>When he returned to Paris, his fame had preceded him. Society in the gay +capital under the empire was of the kind to appreciate his exploits and to exalt +him into a sort of rivalship of Monte Cristo. He assiduously attended the +theaters and salons, receiving homage everywhere-even from the emperor himself. +Finally he mounted the rostrum, and his lectures on <em>L'Amour</em> were the +talk of the gay city.</p> + +<p>Among those who had rushed to listen to the Baron's impassioned eloquence was +Helene Cecille Stille, now the proprietress of the handsomest hotel on the Rue +Mont-martre. It need scarcely be premised that the wandering and appreciative +eyes of the lecturer had rested on the beautiful American, as she sat before him +in an attitude expressive of dormant passion, tinged with an imperious coquetry +which was one of the most alluring of her charms. The Hotel Montmartre was then +the fashionable resort of Louis Napoleon's dissolute nobility, and the Baron de +Reviere soon found himself a worshiper in the luxurious retreat. He was not a +man who courted by halves. He fell madly in love with the voluptuous Helene, and +yielding to an irresistible penchant, the soiled beauty threw herself and her +accumulated francs into his arms.</p> + +<p>The Baron was one of those few men whose manners were perfect and whose dress +never strikes the eye, but which seems to have developed on them as the natural +foliage of their persons. He had a high appreciation of the enjoyments of +life—vanity, ostentation, good eating, and even the austere joys of the family. +At home with his wife he illustrated the tender assiduity of the young husband; +abroad he was the personification of a youth just freed from parental +discipline. While his wife was the happiest woman in Paris, he was rendering +Miss Stille equally felicitous. The dinners he gave at home were unexcelled +except by those banquets which he gave at the hotel in the Rue Montmartre.</p> + +<p>So complete had become the Baron's infatuation with the fair Helene in +September, that he took her to Biarritz, and, according to her own story, +introduced her to the Emperor Napoleon. "Then," to use her own language when +examined under oath, "I came back to Paris; stayed there about a week, and then +went to London with de Reviere. After spending ten days in London, we went back +to Paris and stopped at the Hotel de Louvre. We then went to Bordeaux, where I +remained a few days, and whence I went to Lisbon, Portugal, staying six weeks, +and went back to Paris by way of Marseilles, traveling part of the distance in +the yacht of the Bey of Tunis. From Paris, I went with de Reviere to Nantes, +thence to Nazarre, where I stayed two days with de Review's sister."</p> + +<p>At this time the lady described her possessions as follows: "I had two +hundred thousand francs worth of furniture, fifty thousand francs of <em>objects +de vertu,</em> nine horses, five carriages, a hundred thousand francs worth of +jewelry, many India shawls, twenty thousand francs worth of furs of every kind +and description known in the world, any quantity of laces, twelve velvet dresses +of different shades, and a toilet-set worth eighty-thousand francs, besides an +income derived from my family in America of sixty thousand dollars," received +regularly through the hands of her banker Mr. John Monroe of 5 Rue de la Paix.</p> + +<p>Helene Stille then disposed of her <em>maison</em> and started with the Baron +de Reviere on a trip to South America. A full account of that trip would read +like a supplement to the Arabian Nights. For the purposes of this tour the lady +became the Baroness de Reviere, and the pair traveled through the land of Cortez +and Pizarro like some fabled Eastern conquerors. A courier rode ahead, and +engaged nearly the entire apartments of every hotel at which they condescended +to stop. Postilions and outriders accompanied their entrance. In the hotels the +Baron and "Baroness" had their magnificent court dresses unpacked to impress and +bewilder and confound the guests, while the gaping domestics would spread the +news abroad until the entire population of the town would be assembled +open-mouthed in front of the Baron's hotel, watching his movements and admiring +in no stinted terms the statuesque beauty of the "Baroness." This extensive +triumphal procession cost a lot of money, every cent of which is said to have +been paid by the infatuated woman.</p> + +<p>It was during their progress through Peru that she seems to have first made +the discovery that the Baron already possessed one legal wife. From that hour, +it is related to her credit, she stopped all marital relations. She parted from +her companion then and there, and returned to Paris. She had two children by the +Baron, as she testified in the legal proceedings brought by her. The eldest, a +boy, was named "Monsieur le Comte Edmond Viel d'Espenilles; the girl, Santa +Maria Rosa de Lenia—names given them by the Baron; for," added the lady, "he is +fond of long and sonorous names."</p> + +<p>After the separation the Baron and Helene Stille were at daggers drawn. They +had some virulent litigation in Paris, and when the Baron came to New York with +his family, consisting of his wife, two children, two men servants and three +maid servants, she quickly followed. The Baron and his establishment were +sojourning at the Clarendon Hotel, when he received the following letter:</p> + +<br> + + +<p>"MONSIEUR HENRI DE REVIERE:</p> + +<p>I wish to know whether you intend doing anything toward the support of your +child? She is a poor, delicate little thing, being afflicted with curvature of +the spine. I have had her under treatment of Dr. Taylor for the last three +months and his charges are five hundred dollars, which for me, with my other +expenses, is a great deal. I hope you will consider my claim a just one and act +accordingly. Rosa de Lenia is one of the most beautiful children in the world, +and I love her with such a love as you could never dream of.</p> + +<p>Reply by bearer, or send reply later in the day, just as you feel disposed; +but a reply I must have. I should think your +<em>amour proper</em> would not allow you to abandon your child, as you have +done for nearly three years.</p> + +<p>Hoffman House, Sept. 26 HELENE DE +STILLE"</p> + +<br> + + +<p>The rejoinder was insulting, and so she had him arrested in order that "he +might disclose those dreadful things he pretended to know about me."</p> + +<p>There was a hearing of the lady's case before Judge Jones of the Superior +Court, when most of the foregoing particulars of Miss Stille's history was drawn +from her in cross-examination by the defendant's counsel. At a subsequent +hearing the Baron contributed an affidavit containing many startling assertions +accompanied by big figures.</p> + +<p>"I left Paris in April for Madrid," he began, giving exactly the same route +already described by Miss Stille. Continuing, he said, "Further, I have had an +office as government contractor for artillery and ships of war. I also +contracted with a Liverpool ship-builder (Laird) for two iron-clads and four +steam corvettes for twelve million francs. I acted as agent and partner of L. +Arman of Bordeaux and Vous of Nantes, and received in one year for my share +eleven hundred thousand francs profit. I sold forty guns to the Danish +government, receiving as my commission forty-five thousand francs. I sold in +1884, to the Prussian government, an iron-clad and two steam corvettes for seven +million five hundred thousand francs, and received five per cent, commission." +Then he professed to have had gigantic contracts in Chili, Peru and other parts +of South America for artillery and guano. Altogether his story was of the +Brobdingnagian type.</p> + +<p>The case, however, never came to trial, the friends of both parties to the +action suggesting an amicable settlement of their differences, which being +adjusted to everyone's satisfaction, the Baron went his way, lecturing on +"Love," a theme on which he was most conversant, and the fair Helene spent her +time flitting between this city and gay Paris, in both of which cities she is +thoroughly at home. And so the somewhat famous episode ended, so far as the +office of Howe and Hummel was concerned.</p> + +<br> +<br> + + +<div align=center> +<h2><a name="12">C</a>HAPTER XII.</h2> + +<br> +<br> + + +<h3>THE DEMI-MONDE.</h3> + +<br> +<br> +</div> + +<p>Reader, did you ever try to estimate the malign influence upon society of one +single fallen woman? Did you ever endeavor to calculate the evils of such a +leaven stealthily disseminating its influence in a community? Woman, courted, +flattered, fondled, tempted and deceived, becomes in turn the terrible +Nemesis—the insatiate Avenger of her sex! Armed with a power which is all but +irresistible, and stripped of that which alone can retain and purify her +influence, she steps upon the arena of life ready to act her part in the +demoralization of society. As some one has remarked, "the <em>lex talionis—</em>the +law of retaliation—is hers. Society has made her what she is, and must now be +governed by her potent influence." Surely the weight of this influence baffles +computation! View it in shattered domestic ties, in the sacrifice of family +peace, in the cold desolation of once happy homes! See the eldest son and hope +of a proud family, educated in an atmosphere of virtue and principle, who has +given promise of high and noble qualities. He falls a victim to the fashionable +vice, and carries back to his hitherto untainted home the lethal influence he +has imbibed. Another and another, within the range of that influence, suffers +for his lapse from moral rectitude, and they in turn become the agents and +disseminators of fresh evils.</p> + +<p>This promiscuous association is tacitly regarded as a necessary evil, the +suppression of which would produce alarming and disastrous effects upon the +community at large. The passions, indolence, and the love of dress and display +are the main agents in producing the class of women we have under consideration. +It is a vulgar error and a popular delusion, that the life of a fallen woman is +as revolting to herself as it appears to the moralist and philanthropist. +Authors of vivid imagination love to portray the misery that is brought on an +innocent and confiding girl by the perfidy and desertion of her seducer. The +stage presents the picture with all its accessories of light, color and morbid +emotion. The pulpit takes up the theme and howls its evangelical horrors, +picturing those women as being a continuous prey to "the long-beaked, filthy +vulture of unending despair." Women who in youth have lost their virtue, often +contrive to retain their reputation, and even when this is not the case, +frequently amalgamate with the purer portion of the population, and become, to +all outward appearance, good members of society.</p> + +<p>The love of woman is usually pure and elevated. But when she devotes her +affections to a man who realizes her ideal, she does not hesitate to sacrifice +all she holds dear for his gratification. Actuated by a noble self-abnegation, +she derives a melancholy pleasure from the knowledge that she has utterly given +up all she had formerly so zealously guarded, and she feels that her love has +reached its grand climacteric when she abandons herself, without redemption, to +the idol she has set up in the highest place in her soul. This heroic martyrdom +is one of the recognizable causes of the immorality that insidiously permeates +our social system.</p> + +<p>The crime of prostitution can be witnessed in New York in every phase in +which it invites or repels the passions of men. There are the splendid parlor +houses distributed in the most fashionable parts of the city; there are the bar +houses; there are the dance houses; and there are the miserable basements where +this traffic is seen in its hideous deformity, divested of the gaslight glare +and tinsel of the high-toned seraglios. The internal arrangements of the +palatial bagnios are in many instances sumptuous, magnificent and suggestive. +The walls of these seductive arsenals, too, are frequently of a color calculated +to throw the most becoming shade over the inmates, while the pictures on the +walls usually suggest resplendent sensuality. Many of these gilded palaces are +patronized by prominent citizens, officials in the government, state and civic +employ. Many of them, already married, keep mistresses in these establishments, +while others are content to be recognized as "lovers" of the inmates. Many of +the country merchants who periodically visit New York insist on being taken the +"grand rounds," as it is termed, before they will order goods or attend to +business at all. The salesmen in our leading houses are expect to be posted, and +to act as escorts sad chaperones in this wine-guzzling tour. Indeed, so much is +this disgraceful feature recognized in some large business houses, that the +proprietors make an allowance to their salesmen for this purpose.</p> + +<p>The proprietresses of these houses are all impervious to shame, and carry on +their trade with the sole ambition of realizing money. Many of them have summer +establishments and suburban villas at the watering-places, and carry on their +nefarious business at Saratoga, Long Branch, Coney Island, Newport and Cape May +during the summer mouths. Many of them own handsome equipages, in which, +gorgeously attired, with liveried menials, they show themselves in Central Park +to the envy of the virtuous and honest of womankind. It is in the places kept by +these women, where the inmates are usually handsome young girls between the ages +of fifteen and thirty, that the precocious and well-to-do young men of this city +fall an easy prey to vice, and become in time the haggard and dissolute man of +the town, or degenerate into the forger, the bank defaulter or the swindler.</p> + +<p>The bar and basement brothels, profusely scattered over the lower portions of +the city, present the most miserable phase of this disgusting evil. Nearly all +these places are kept by men, though nominally under control of their mistresses +and wives, who are generally hideous specimens of womanhood, and whose features +present the traits of sensuality, cruelty and avarice as clearly expressed as if +traced there by Belial himself. The men, flashily dressed and bejeweled, their +flabby features decorated by a huge dyed mustache, frequent race courses and +other places of public resort, and loud in appearance as they are obscene in +talk, are, in the estimation of every self-respecting man, eminently fitted by +Lucifer for laboring in the State-prison quarries for the term of their natural +lives.</p> + +<p>The inmates of these basement brothels invite the pencil of a Hogarth. Their +bloated forms, pimpled features and bloodshot eyes are suggestive of an Inferno, +while their tawdry dresses, brazen leer, and disgusting assumption of an air of +gay abandon, emphasizes their hideousness and renders it more repulsive. Most of +them have passed through the successive grades of immorality. Some of them have +been the queenly mistress of the spendthrift, and have descended, step by step, +to the foul, degraded beings of those human charnel-houses. In some instances +fresh-looking girls will be seen, and careful inquiry will discover the fact +that they were either emigrant or innocent country girls, who have been +inveigled into these dens by the arts of procuresses or brought there by their +seducers. Unsophisticated and unacquainted with life in a great city, without +money or friends, they have been entrapped and compelled to submit to a life of +shame by the coarse words and frequently the brutal violence of their captors.</p> + +<p>Between the two extremes of unfortunates already described, there is another +class nomadic in their habits. Some of these are street-walkers, some frequent +dance houses like The Allen's, Billy McGlory's, Owney Geoghegan's and Harry +Hill's, while others circulate around such up-town, west-side houses as the +French Madame's, the Haymarket and Tom Gould's. They usually live in furnished +rooms, in houses owned by wealthy and respectable citizens, let to them by +agents who lease them at exorbitant rents, paid in advance. In both the eastern, +western and central portions of the city they may be found occupying rooms on +the same floors with respectable families. These women seldom conduct the prey +that they have allured to their home, but to some assignation house or +fourth-rate hotel, of which there are a large number scattered over the city.</p> + +<p>Most of this class of unfortunates have a "lover"—a gambler or pimp, who +occupies their room and assumes the role of husband and protector for the nonce, +with the privilege of spending the girl's blood money in drink or dissipation, +and unmercifully beating her when he feels inclined that way. The pair call this +place their home, and as they are shiftless in their habits, and careless of +sickness, they are frequently in a condition of chronic impecuniosity and are +thus liable to be "fired out" by the heartless agent. Many of these girls, from +their association with vicious society, become thieves, and ply their +light-fingered privateering while caressing their victim. It is a favorite dodge +of some of the more comely and shapely of this class, especially the frequenters +of such places as Gould's, the Haymarket, the French Ma-dames, the Star and +Garter, and the Empire, to ask gentlemen on whom they have been unavailingly +airing their becks and nods and other fascinations to put a quarter into the top +of their hosiery "for luck." They usually get the quarter, and sometimes the man +as well.</p> + +<p>The assignation houses are usually located convenient to the great arteries +of travel, and, as we have already hinted, they are largely patronized; while +the number of "flash hotels" which are frequented by the "soiled doves" and +their mates, is also numerous and scarcely less notorious than the assignation +houses. The proprietors of these "convenient" hotels invariably keep the hotel +register required by law, but agreeably fail to ask their lodgers for the time +being to chronicle either their own or even a fictitious name, thus, day after +day, violating a specific statute.</p> + +<p>Besides these, there are assignation houses of a far different character. By +these we mean the introducing houses, such as ostensible millinery +establishments and the like in fashionable but retired streets, where ladies +meet their lovers. Married women of the <em>haut ton,</em> with wealthy, +hard-working husbands courting Mammon downtown, imitating the custom of +Messalina, not uncommonly make use of these places. Sometimes the lady will even +take along her young child as a "blind," and the little innocent will be regaled +with sweetmeats in the parlor while the mother keeps her appointment up-stairs.</p> + +<p>Liberally, every woman who yields to her passions and loses her virtue is +what Tom Hood would have called "one more unfortunate," but many draw a +distinction between those who live by promiscuous intercourse, and those who +merely manifest, like the ladies referred to above, a <em>penchant</em> for one +man. There is still another denomination of this latter kind, whom all the world +has heard of as kept mistresses. These women exercise a potent influence upon +society and contribute largely to swell the numbers of well-to-do young men who +manifest an invincible distaste to marriage. Laïs, when under the protection of +a prince of the blood; Aspasia, whose friend is one of the most influential +noblemen in the kingdom; Phryne, the <em>chere ami</em> of a well-known officer, +or a man of wealth known on the stock exchange and in the city—have all great +influence upon the tone of morality, while the glare of their dazzling +profligacy falls upon and bewilders those who are in a lower condition of life, +and acts as an incentive to similar deeds of licentiousness, though necessarily +on a more limited scale.</p> + +<p>The prevalence of the kept mistress surpasses the wildest imagining in this +city, although in many a home her dire influence has extinguished the Hymeneal +torch, and left nothing but ashes and desolation. It is a great mistake to +imagine that these kept women are without friends and debarred from society. On +the contrary, their acquaintance, if not select, is numerous. They are useful, +good-looking, piquant, tasteful and vivacious. Many of them have more than one +lover, and conduct their amours with singular +<em>finesse,</em> generally escaping detection. They are rarely possessed of +more than a smattering of education, because their ranks are recruited from a +class where education is not in vogue. They are not, as a rule, disgusted with +their mode of living—most of them consider it as a means to an end, and in no +measure degrading or polluting. Most of them look forward to marriage and a +certain state in society as their ultimate lot. Many of these women reside in +the most fashionable apartment houses up-town, and successfully conceal their +shame from the inquisitive eye of the respectable matron. They may also be seen +in the most fashionable hotels and boarding houses, while they have even crept +in as members of institutions and organizations which were incepted solely for +the benefit of high-toned and virtuous women. Moreover, they are to be seen in +boxes at the theatre and the opera, and in almost every accessible place where +wealthy and fashionable people congregate. In point of fact, through the potent +influence of their more or less wealthy protector, they possess the open sesame +to all places where admittance is not secured by vouchers, and in many instances +those apparently insuperable barriers fall before their indorser's tact and +address.</p> + +<br> +<br> + + +<div align=center> +<h2><a name="13">C</a>HAPTER XIII.</h2> + +<br> +<br> + + +<h3>PASSION'S SLAVES AND VICTIMS.</h3> + +<br> +<br> + + +<p><em>A Matter of Untold History—The Terrible Machinery of the Law as a Means +of Persecution—Edwin James's Rascality.</em></p> +</div> + +<p>Our practice has furnished many illustrations of Thackeray's shrewd remark, +that "Most men have sailed near the dangerous isles of the Sirens at some time +of their lives, and some have come away thence wanting a strait-waistcoat." The +following is a case in point, which occurred in the time of the Tweed +<em>régime.</em> The position, wealth and influence of the somewhat mature +Lothario, backed by the more or less corrupt judiciary of those days, prevented +the ventilation of this most remarkable and sensational scandal of our times in +the newspapers. Begun as a piquant flirtation, the intimacy, so far as the +principal actor was concerned, traversed all the stages between bliss and +rapture on the one side, and fear and remorse on the other—between garlands of +roses and the iron link, forging a clanking manacle of the past. A man of +singularly graceful presence and attractive mien; a leading member of the bar, +whose Corinthian taste and princely hospitality nominated him as a fitting host +of the Queen of England's eldest son, when he visited this city; a prominent +figure in the returning board that conferred the Presidency on Hayes; and +finally his country's representative at a leading European court; he now sleeps +the sleep which sooner or later comes to all—to victim as well as to victimizer.</p> + +<p>It was about sundown of a beautiful evening in the early autumn of 1865, that +the aristocratic lawyer first beheld the lady with whom he was to become so +insanely infatuated. But slightly advanced in the thirties, the widow of a +leading officer of the Confederate Army Medical Staff, and formerly a leading +Baltimore belle, she was a fascinating and beautiful woman, when meeting the +lawyer that evening on Fifth avenue, near Delmonico's old place, she met Fate. +It seems to have been a mutual infatuation—a case of love at first sight, and in +a moment of delirium, under an impulse which was perhaps uncontrollable, she +sacrificed her virtue and her self-respect.</p> + +<p>The story of her infatuation reads like the distempered dream of an +opium-eater. It was a case of fervent love on both sides. They met on the +avenue, looked, spoke and, without more ado, proceeded to Delmonico's to sup. +The amour thus begun soon assumed a romantic intensity. When she left the city, +he dispatched ridiculously "spoony" telegrams to her in Baltimore, and in his +daily letters indulged in a maudlin sentimentality that might have inspired the +envy of a sighing Strephon in his teens.</p> + +<p>During the summer of 1866, while his wife was in the country, he brought his +Baltimore inamoretta to New York, and established her in his splendid mansion on +the Avenue. With an impudence and infatuation perfectly astounding in so shrewd +a man, he took no pains to conceal his conquest. Jauntily would he pace down +Broadway with her on his arm in the morning, and in the evening she would be in +waiting to accompany him home.</p> + +<p>Tidings of this open <em>liaison</em> reached the lawyer's wife in her +retreat among the Vermont hills, and she promptly came to New York and dislodged +the mistress <em>pro tem.</em> Relatives of the infatuated widow also appeared +at this juncture and strongly urged her to conquer her mad infatuation, while a +like appeal was made to the lawyer. But he was deaf to reason. He refused to +give up his idol, and the widow declared her intention, to use her own language, +"of sticking to him as long as he had a button on his coat."</p> + +<p>Time sped on. The lawyer's passion began to be exhausted, and the unending +insistence of her's began to excite his repugnance. As Ouida happily remarked, +"A woman who is ice to his fire, is less pain to a man than the woman who is +fire to his ice." There is hope for him in the one, but only a dreary despair in +the other. In the latter part of 1867, the lawyer began to realize the force of +this philosophy. The amorous widow was then boarding at the Metropolitan Hotel, +and he began to take the initiatory steps to be rid of her. After two years of +madness, during which she had sacrificed the respect of every relative she had, +including her own daughter, a pretty girl in her teens, it was hardly likely +that he would evince the moral courage to declare openly and straightforward to +her that their relations must end. On the contrary, he invoked the aid of three +lawyers—two of them her own cousins, the other bearing an historic name—to +kidnap and spirit her out of the city. First they forcibly conveyed her to +police headquarters. Then, in spite of tears and protestations, she was kept all +night in a dark room. Her screams and entreaties might have moved a heart of +stone, but they were unavailing. In the morning she saw Superintendent Kennedy, +and demanded the cause of the outrage. He informed her that she had been brought +there on a charge of being insane about the lawyer. A physician was summoned, +and by his direction, after he had submitted her to an examination, she was sent +back to her hotel. During the same afternoon, the lawyer called and emphatically +denied having had any hand in her contemplated imprisonment, and secured her +release, conveniently imputing the conspiracy to the jealousy of his wife.</p> + +<p>Meantime, however, the lawyer and his fellow-accomplices of the law were +plotting to get the wretched woman placed in some private asylum. Bloomingdale +and Flushing asylums were full, and as she continued to follow her whilom lover +and importune him to visit her, he found it politic and convenient to renew his +attentions and to feign a revival of his passion. In a certain sense, he was to +be pitied. Love of this kind begins as a gift; but a woman of this temperament +does not leave it so. She promptly turned it into a debt, and the more she loved +the debtor, the more oppressively and inexorably did she extort the uttermost +penny from him. About this time she was introduced to an eminent medical +specialist in mental diseases, who, by some inexplicable means, was induced to +give a certificate of her insanity. Then her cousins took her before a justice, +and swore that she was an indigent lunatic, upon which showing the court issued +an order of committal to an asylum. A few days before her contemplated +abduction, the lawyer induced her to board at the Astor House, and on the +morning of February 26, 1868, he being engaged in the Federal court, while she +was leisurely sauntering along Broadway looking for him, as was her wont, she +was suddenly seized by three hired ruffians, hustled into a carriage, gagged and +driven rapidly up-town to Central Park, when the bandage was removed from her +mouth. For four mortal hours she was driven about the park in the company of her +brutal captors, and afterward placed on board the afternoon train for Albany at +the old Hudson River depot. "All along the road," as she subsequently told the +writer, "I implored the conductor to furnish me with paper and pencil so that I +might telegraph to New York, but it was only when we reached the end of the +journey that he did so. I gave him money to pay for the dispatch, but he +probably never sent it. When I reached Utica I was placed in a pretty bad ward, +and when the physician, Dr. Kellogg, saw me he went and reported to Dr. Gray, +the director of the place. When he came up he said I must not be treated so, and +I was at once removed to the well ward; I remained there two weeks, when I was +discharged." Yes, she was discharged, and was received with crocodile +congratulations by the lawyer and one of her lawyer cousins, and triumphantly, +as it were, transported back to New York.</p> + +<p>She was now placed in elegant apartments in the Hoffman House, and her lawyer +lover resumed his visits as formerly. During the summer she went to the country +at his expense, and when, in September, 1868, she returned to the city, he +finally ceased to visit her. She was frantic with disappointment, and her insane +infatuation led her into all manner of indelicate demonstrations. She dogged him +in the streets; she followed him into court and interrupted him in his +pleadings. Sometimes she sat on the stoop of his elegant mansion all night. Once +she dressed herself as a soldier, and tried to gain access to him. Frequently +she waylaid him, and sunk upon the pavement in real or assumed paroxysmal fits +when he approached. There were other demonstrations that no decent pen could +describe, except in a medical book for purposes of science. Naturally the +unfortunate lawyer was driven to the brink of desperation, and at this time he +never went out of doors without being accompanied by two detectives to protect +him from her indelicate approaches.</p> + +<p>On November 16, 1868, he caused her to be arrested for disorderly conduct and +thrown into the Tombs. The lawyer with the historic name appeared against her, +and, to use her own language, "without any examination, I was committed by Judge +Dowling." Her gentle bearing and lady-like address again stood her good stead, +however, and in a few days she was released.</p> + +<p>She now consulted the late James T. Brady, the greatest lawyer who ever +practiced at the American bar, and after listening carefully to her statement, +he promised to see her "righted." Pending legal action that eminent advocate +died, and in the beginning of February, 1869, she took the opinion of Edwin +James, the English barrister, and a suit was immediately instituted against her +whilom lawyer lover in the Court of Common Pleas, damages being laid at +$100,000. When the defendant received notice of the suit he hastened to see Mr. +James, and during several conversations offered any reasonable compromise to +procure a stay of proceedings. The lady's version of the suit and the subsequent +negotiations is as follows: "The suit was never placed on the calendar. It was +arranged with Mr. James to allow the case to proceed a certain length and then +obtain a release. Mr. James got no retainer, but took my case on speculation, +with the understanding that he was to have one thousand dollars at the end of +the suit, if there were any proceeds from the same. He continuously urged me to +go to Europe with my daughter for two years, and they would advance the money; +but I declined. An order was obtained by the defendant's lawyer to examine me; +whereupon Mr. James advised me to leave the city in order to avoid the +examination. On my return Mr. James advised me to release the suit on the +payment of a certain sum by the defendant, he, the defendant, at the same time +to make an apology for what he had done and to express regret for my +sufferings."</p> + +<p>Accordingly, on May 27, 1868, she wrote a letter by advice of her counsel, +authorizing him to withdraw the suit on these conditions, and early in June she +signed a "general release," professing afterwards to be entirely ignorant of the +nature of the instrument. Indeed the unhappy woman cared more for an expression +of regret from her enslaver than for any pecuniary solace, and she received no +money, although her lawyer did, when the general release was signed. When she +discovered the nature of the instrument she was extremely indignant and demanded +from Mr. James the telegrams and letters in his possession which had been sent +to her by her worshiper in the heyday of their passion. The lawyer hesitated and +delayed, and finally, being pressed by a friend and kinsman of the unhappy lady, +said, "I won't give them up unless I have an order from the court." Subsequently +he claimed that he had destroyed these tell-tale documents, and that the +"general release" authorized the proceedings.</p> + +<p>She now consulted another law firm, but her case came to nothing, and +meantime her former adorer, now grown fiercely hostile, instituted proceedings +in the Supreme Court, for the purpose of procuring a perpetual injunction to +forever restrain her from harassing him with such suits. This was in 1870, in +the early days of March, when the writer saw her last, and conversed with her on +her wrongs. Her picture lives in his recollection yet: The soft, large brown +eyes, half sad and half voluptuous in their tenderness; the soft, pleading face, +with a refinement—even a sort of nobleness—that had outlived the sacrifice of +her virtue and reputation. To the last she was a lady of extreme sweetness of +manner, and a fascinating and interesting conversationalist.</p> + +<p>Another notable man, now also a member of the "great majority"—a renowned +Shakespearean critic, author and censor in the domain of <em>belles-lettres—</em>brought +great trouble and humiliation upon himself by an amour with a ridiculously +plain-looking and by no means young woman. He had naturally, perhaps, a <em> +penchant</em> in that direction, for on the appearance of the Lydia Thompson +troupe of original British blondes in this city, he wrought himself into a +fervor of passionate folly over the statuesque Markham, and designated her in +his Erosian outpourings as "she of the vocal velvet voice." There may have been +some excuse for this passing delirium, and many others were touched by it, +Pauline Markham was a singularly beautiful girl, and she never looked so well as +when she sang; it sent warmth into her lips and took the hardness from her face. +But the lady with whom he became involved in a scrape, with the attendant +litigation, payment of damages, danger of publicity and total ruin of reputation +in the exclusive places where his character was respected and his judgment +esteemed, was in every respect different from the lady of burlesque opera. +Bitterly did he regret his follies, for the facts were given to a newspaper +famous for its sensations, and the great +<em>littérateur</em> was compelled literally to go down on his marrow bones to +induce the editor to withhold the particulars of his seduction of the lady from +publication. The sword of Damocles was suspended for weeks, during which the +high-toned censor's condition was sometimes pitiable to see. His entreaties +finally carried the point, and the case became one of those scandals of the +existence of which the public never dreams.</p> + +<br> +<br> + + +<div align=center> +<h2><a name="14">C</a>HAPTER XIV.</h2> + +<br> +<br> + + +<h3>PROCURESSES AND THEIR VICTIMS.</h3> + +<br> +<br> + + +<p><em>Clandestine Meetings at Seemingly Respectable Resorts—The "Introduction +House."</em></p> +</div> + +<p>The revelations not long since published in the London <em>Pall Mall Gazette</em> +revealed fashionable aristocratic depravity in the British metropolis in a +shamefully disreputable light, and disclosed the services of the professional +procuress in all their repulsive loathsomeness. Although we do not possess +titled libertines at elegant leisure here, there can be no manner of doubt that +the procuress plies her vocation among us, and thrives on a liberally perennial +patronage. Whatever may be her characteristics in other respects, she is +invariably an elegantly-dressed woman, with persuasive address, suave speech and +attractive mien. In most cases procuresses possess houses of their own, where +they procure desirable ladies for their patrons. Sometimes these establishments +are termed "Introducing houses," and, as may be imagined, are exceedingly +lucrative to their proprietors. Sometimes ladies are boarded and lodged in the +house; but they are usually "independent," or, in other words, living under the +protection of some patron of the establishment. Some of these procuresses +possess a list of ladies whom they can send a messenger for on demand. Take the +case of a well-known establishment in one of the most fashionable quarters +up-town, for example:</p> + +<p>A wealthy broker, speculator, or attache of Uncle Sam, calls upon the lady of +the house at a fashionable afternoon hour, orders wine, and enters into +conversation about indifferent matters, until he is able delicately to broach +the subject he has in view. He explains that he wishes to meet with a quiet +lady, whose secrecy he can rely upon, and whom he can trust in every possible +way. He intimates his preference for an elegantly-formed, young and fairly +good-looking acquaintance, and would like her, in addition, to be vivacious, +witty and a little gay. The lady of the house listens complacently, and replies +that she is acquainted with a lady who will suit him to a nicety, and offers to +send a message for her at once, if he wishes; but he must take his chance of her +being at home. Should she be out, she intimates an appointment will be made for +next day. In the meantime, a messenger is dispatched to the lady in question, +and more wine is ordered and drank. When the lady arrives, the introduction +takes place, and the business is transacted, as far as the procuress is +concerned. Sometimes the gentleman pays the professional fee, and sometimes the +lady gives half the money she receives from the patron to the madame of the +house.</p> + +<p>Not infrequently these procuresses will write to men of means of their +acquaintance, informing them in some cipher or slang phrase that they have a new +importation in their house awaiting eligible disposition. Large sums are often +paid under such circumstances, and the fresh importation is usually sold in this +way five or six times. In other words, she is represented as a maid and imposed +upon men as a virgin; which fabrication, as it is difficult to disprove, is +believed, more especially if the girl herself be well instructed.</p> + +<p>To the house up-town, to which reference has been made above, both married +and unmarried ladies repair, in order to meet with and be introduced to +gentlemen. This sort of clandestine meeting is greatly on the increase in New +York, as it is also in Paris and in London. Some curious facts have come to us +in a professional way, to which we can only refer in a general manner here. The +following is a case in point:</p> + +<p>A brilliant and handsome lady, belonging to the best society in Gotham, +married to a man of wealth, found herself unhappy in his society, and after some +time unwillingly came to the conclusion that she had formed an alliance that was +destined to make her miserable. Her passions were naturally strong and her +education had -not been of the kind calculated to enable her to control them. +She had been, pampered and petted, and had been accustomed to have every desire +gratified. One day the name of the "Introduction-house" madame came up in +conversation at a lady friend's house, and the naughtiness of the topic was +discussed with the freedom characteristic of progressive society ladies, safe +from intrusive masculine ears. A few days after, she ordered a cab and drove to +the house in question. She was received with +<em>empressement,</em> and informed that it was not necessary to explain the +nature of her business. That, she was assured, was understood. She was shown +into a handsome drawing-room, elegantly furnished and upholstered, and requested +to wait a few minutes.</p> + +<p>After waiting, in uneasy suspense, a little time, the door opened and a +gentleman entered. The heavy curtains of the windows and the thick blinds caused +only a "dim, religious light" to pervade the apartment, preventing the lady from +seeing distinctly the features of her visitor. He approached her with well-bred +politeness, and, in a low tone of voice, began a conversation with her about the +beautiful weather New York was then enjoying. She listened for a brief moment, +and then, with a cry of astonishment, recognized her husband's voice. He, +equally confused, discovered that he had accidentally met in a house of ill-fame +the wife whom he had sworn to love and honor, but whom he had condemned to +languish at home while he enjoyed himself abroad. This remarkable rencontre had +a happy termination, for, after a little legal sparring, it ended in the +reconciliation of husband and wife, who mutually admitted that they were both to +blame.</p> + +<br> +<br> + + +<div align=center> +<h2><a name="15">C</a>HAPTER XV.</h2> + +<br> +<br> + + +<h3>QUACKS AND QUACKERY.</h3> + +<br> +<br> + + +<p><em>Specimen Advertisements—The Bait Held Out, and the Fish who are Expected +to Bite.</em></p> +</div> + +<p>The vile practices, the monstrous impudence, the cruel rapacity and enormous +gains of the obscene tribe of quacks, together with the mischief they do, and +the ruin they work, would require much more space to adequately ventilate than +we can devote to it here. The healing art is a noble one, and duly qualified +men, interested in their profession, are public benefactors; but the despicable +race of charlatans not only rob their victims, but frequently ruin their health, +and drive them to the verge of insanity. There is probably hardly a reader of +this page who has not met, within the circle of his or her acquaintance, some +unfortunate individual whose hopes in life have been wholly or partially +blighted by the adroitly-worded insinuations of those advertising quacks. We all +know that "fools are the game that knaves pursue," and no well-informed member +of the community needs to be informed that the victims captured by quack +advertisements are not among the wiser portion of the community. Many of them, +however, lie open to be allured into the quack's net, not by mere congenital and +absolute folly, but because of the inexperience of youth or lack of knowledge of +the world, or perhaps in some cases from a natural deficiency in the faculty of +deciphering characteristic expression. There are some who fail to recognize a +quack advertisement when it meets their eye, from a defect in perception similar +to that which incapacitates certain persons from distinguishing a pocket-book +dropper, or a bunco steerer, or a billiard sharp, or a sporting "gent."</p> + +<p>Of course, there are degrees and varieties of quacks, as well as in the +character of their announcements. The street-vender of a "magic pain-reliever," +who, by dint of talk and manipulation, convinces some credulous sufferer that +his rheumatism is banished, is a quack. So are those who advertise such +preparations as sarsaparilla, blood-mixtures, and a variety of pills, potions +and lozenges too numerous to mention. So also are those marvelous discoverers of +"hair restorers," "removers of freckles," and so on. Most of these do little +harm beyond lightening the purses of the purchasers, and in some cases the +administration of an inert substance, by exciting the victim's imagination, +produces a cure. But the great injury, so far as these innoxious preparations +are concerned, lies in the fact that they prevent the sufferer from seeking +proper professional treatment. Still this class of quacks is rather to be +reckoned among swindlers who obtain money under false pretences, than among the <em> +bona fide</em> medical quacks that we have in view. The great aim of this +pernicious class is to get people in fair, ordinary health to consult them by +means of newspaper advertisements, almanacs, pamphlets and circulars filled with +details of the character and symptoms of various diseases, scattered broadcast +through the land. We will not contaminate our pages in giving samples <em>in +extenso</em> of this prurient and abominable literature, but a few of the +typical advertisements to be met in even respectable newspapers, can hardly be +omitted if the exposure is to be thorough:</p> +<br><br> +<p><strong>MEN ONLY</strong>. A quick, Permanent Cure for Lost Manhood, +Disability, Nervousness and Weakness. No Quackery.</p> + +<br> + +<p><strong>TO WEAK MEN,</strong></p> + +<p>Suffering from nervous debility, weakness of body and mind, loss of memory, +mental and physical exhaustion. On receipt of stamp we will send you a valuable +treatise upon the above diseases, also directions for home-cure. <br> + +Address<br> +* * * * * *</p> + +<br> + +<p><strong>ANY PART OF THE BODY</strong></p> + +<p>when deprived of growth, weak and undeveloped, lacking in proper size, form +and vigor, may be enlarged, developed and strengthened by simple scientific +self-treatment. We will prove this free to any honest person. Write for sealed +circulars, description, references.</p> + +<br> + +<p>NERVOUS DEBILITATED MEN.</p> + +<p>You are allowed a free trial of thirty days of the use of ———'s Celebrated +Voltaic Belt with Electric Suspensory Appliances, for the speedy relief and +permanent cure of nervous debility, loss of vitality and manhood, and all +kindred troubles. Also for many other diseases. Complete restoration to health, +vigor and manhood guaranteed. No risk is incurred. Illustrated pamphlet in +sealed envelope mailed free by addressing Voltaic Belt Co.</p> + +<br> + +<p>NERVOUS DEBILITY, weakness of body and mind, loss of memory, nervous and +physical exhaustion permanently and quickly cured. I will send you a valuable +treatise upon the above diseases, also directions for home-cure, free of charge.</p> + +<p> + +Address * * * * * *</p> + +<br> + +<p><strong>WEAK MEN</strong></p> + +<p>Can be promptly and lastingly cured, secretly and without nauseous drugging, +by the</p> + +<p>FRENCH HOSPITAL TREATMENT.</p> + +<p>Board of six regular physicians. Consultation free. Full restoration to vigor +and strength, however lost.</p> + +<br><br> + +<p>The list of lewd and brazen manifestoes might be indefinitely extended, but +as they all bear the same disgusting ear-marks, the foregoing must suffice. As +for the pamphlets sent through the mails in "sealed envelopes" by these harpies, +the following titles will sufficiently indicate their character: "The Friend in +Need;" "A Medical Work on Marriage;" "The Tonic Elixir;" "The Silent Friend;" +"Manhood;" "A Cure for All;" "The Self Cure of Nervous Debility;" "The +Self-adjusting Curative;" "New Medical Guide;" "Debility, its Cause and Cure;" +"A Warning Voice;" "Second Life," and scores of others of a similar stamp. This +disgusting literature corrupts and pollutes the mind and morals of a large class +of people who have not the courage to disbelieve its monstrous exaggerations, or +the good sense to despise its revolting indecencies. Nor is this strange, when +we reflect that the reading of even a standard medical work has a tendency to +excite belief in the reader that he is afflicted with the malady whose grim +description he is perusing. His apprehension being alarmed and his imagination +excited, he has no difficulty in detecting all or a great many of the symptoms +in himself, although at the same time none of them may exist. The quack, in his +advertisements and publications, frequently warns the reader against quacks and +quackery, as, for instance, take the following cheeky extract:</p> + +<p>"The object in writing these pages is to teach the public at large to +discriminate between the legitimate, duly-qualified practitioner and the legion +of charlatans who infest every important city and town of the United States, and +particularly New York. That this is a subject of the gravest importance cannot +for a moment be doubted when it is considered that, dating from our entrance +into the world, 'from the cradle to the grave,' we too often require the +valuable services of the accoucheur, doctor, surgeon, or physician, in +consequence of departing from Nature's laws, increased state of civilization, +and overtaxed condition of the mental and bodily systems, necessitating from +time to time the knowledge and attendance of the medical man. Under these +circumstances it behooves each individual to be placed on his guard, so as to be +made cognizant of the means to detect the nefarious, unqualified, and dishonest +charlatans, in order to save the one in search of health from falling in their +meshes, and thus jeopardize the welfare of his nearest and dearest objects. The +laws of the country, public opinion, and private information, have and are doing +much to save the reputations of those who have made choice of the medical +profession, thereby exposing themselves to be placed on a level with some with +whose names we will not soil our pages, <em>nor indirectly offer the advantages +of publicity,</em> for it has well been remarked that to be mentioned with +disparagement is to these preferable to not being mentioned at all, and thus it +very often happens that the veil to hide a motive is so flimsy that even the +uninitiated are unable to catch a glimpse at the mystery within."</p> + +<p>Here are the strains of another disinterested Mentor in the same field, who +once had an office on West Twenty-second street in New York City:</p> + +<p>"Country patients are informed that they can have the necessary remedies sent +to any address, or directed to be left at an Express Office <em>till called for</em>, +in a portable compass. The medicines are carefully packed, <em>and free from +observation;</em> and may be taken without confinement or any restraint. +Patients should be as +<em>minute</em> as possible in the details of their symptoms, age, general +habits of living and occupation in life. <em>The</em> +<em>Communication must be accompanied by the usual</em> CONSULTATION FEE OF FIVE +DOLLARS, which may be sent in bank note, or by Post-office order, without which +no notice can be taken of the application. In all cases <em>secrecy is to be +considered as inviolable,</em> all letters being, if requested, either returned +to the writers, or destroyed.</p> + +<p>"Dr.—— begs to impress upon patients the importance of ONE personal +interview, even when resident at a distance. The advantages are manifold, when +compared with mere correspondence. A single visit will, in most cases, enable +Dr.—— to form an instantaneous and accurate judgment, <em>and thus expedite the +patient's recovery.</em> In the first place, many important questions affecting +the patient are likely to be suggested by a personal interview, which might be +lost sight of in correspondence. Secondly, more correct diagnosis of the +disorder and a better appreciation of the patient's constitution can be arrived +at, +<em>whilst a microscopic examination of the urine, where necessary, will render</em> <em> +any mistake impossible,</em> especially in cases of Spermatorrhœa. And thirdly, +where the patient is laboring under urethral discharges, which may or may not be +produced by impure connection, one personal visit with a view to a urinary +examination is eminently advantageous. In a word, the correspondent will be more +than repaid for the trouble and expense of his journey by the increased rapidity +of the cure. * * * * * * * *</p> + +<p>"Such patients, although they may be reaping the rewards of their own folly, +are, nevertheless, the very ones who have special need of correct counsel, and +are, for the most part, in just the frame of mind to appreciate advice fitly +rendered by a judicious medical man. In my experience, it has always appeared +strange to me why the treatment of this affection should remain abandoned by +respectable members of the profession to the benefit of quacks and those vile +harpies who play on this class of victims.</p> + +<p>"Medical men are too apt treat the complaints of such patients lightly, +making no effort to allay their anxiety—a course which often leads them to apply +for aid in illegitimate quarters, and to become the victims of unprincipled +men."</p> + +<p>In some instances it is a clergyman who is the reputed advertiser, who, as in +the following unabridged "Ad," widely circulated in the country papers, wishes +to communicate to suffering humanity "the recipe that will cure you free of +charge":</p> + +<div align=center> +<p><strong>A Card.</strong></p> +</div> + +<p>To all who an suffering from the errors and indiscretions of youth, nervous +weakness, early decay, loss of manhood, etc., I will lend a recipe that will +cure you, FREE OF CHARGE. This great remedy was discovered by a missionary in +South America. Send a self-addressed envelope to the Rev. * * * * Station D, New +York City.</p> + +<p>Then there are the "Retired Philanthropic Physicians," and the "Patients Who +have been Cured," <em>et hoc genus omne,</em> who, with such rare +disinterestedness, incur large weekly expenses in advertising their willingness +to forward to sufferers the means of self-cure "on receipt of two postage +stamps." In a word, one and all of these pirates have only one common aim and +aspiration—to fleece the fools who are credulous enough to seek their aid.</p> + +<p>The main point to attain in this business is to decoy the victim to the +advertiser's den or office. Once there, he is impressed with the multifarious +engagements of the human decoy-spider who is probably appraising his prey +through a peep-hole. By and by, the patient's anxiety is dissipated by the +appearance of the pretended Medicus, and he proceeds to give all the painful +details of his case, while the listener, by looks and words, does everything to +increase his alarm. The history finished, questions will be asked him as to his +avocations, position and income, all apparently with the view of elucidating the +points of his case, but in fact for the purpose of estimating the "size of his +pile," with the object of ascertaining to what extent he can be "bled." This +essential information obtained, the quack at once sets his moral rack to work. +Everything will be said not only to confirm the patient's fears, but to increase +them. A pretended examination of urine will be made, and he will be gravely told +that the quack's worst fears are confirmed, ocular demonstration being offered +the dupe. The effect of this ordeal may be imagined. The unfortunate victim +believes that he has received "confirmation, strong as proof of holy writ," of +his dangerous condition. Glibly the quack discourses on the consequences of +neglecting the terrible symptoms, and the great difficulty of combating them. He +is told that he will be liable to spinal disease, softening of the brain, or +insanity. Sometimes a collection of plates, containing hideous representations +of dreadful eruption, and sores covering all parts of the body, are submitted to +the patient's horrified inspection. Frightened by the hideous pictures before +him, and at the same time soothed and charmed by the high-flown encomiums which +the quack pronounces on his particular "non-mercurial mode of treatment," the +patient becomes anxious to submit himself to the process. The quack is equally +ready to take the case in hand, and the only stumbling-block likely to be in the +way, may be the patients' inability to pay the large fee demanded. When the +victim, however, is manifestly pecunious, the remedy employed in the treatment +is correspondingly expensive. In some cases "a preparation of gold" has been +used, and the patient has been instructed that it would be absolutely necessary +for him to remain in bed for the six weeks during which he would have to take +the remedies, and that he must have a nurse to sit up with him at night, in +order to wake him and give him the medicines regularly!</p> + +<p>We presume no intelligent person need be told that the pretensions as to the +"golden" and other "secret and valuable medicines" which these quacks boast +themselves to possess, are absolutely without foundation. They no more possess +such remedies than they possess any legitimate right to the names and medical +titles which they too frequently assume.</p> + +<p>In cases of indiscretion, the quack treatment is always with +mercury—notwithstanding denials. Sometimes serious mercurial poisoning results, +and not unfrequently, through the charlatan's ignorance of proper treatment in +complicated diseases, irreparable injury ensues.</p> + +<p>The quack advertisements and pamphlets are the source of incalculable evils +to youths between the ages of seventeen and thirty. They are impelled by fear to +visit the quack's den, where they are "played" as long as practicable. Sometimes +exciting drugs, like cantharides, are given in the medicine, and thus intensify +the evil. The quack, of course, ascribes the result to the patient's alarming +condition, who is growing worse, in spite of his medicines, and who can only be +cured by more powerful and costly drugs. Sometimes a seemingly candid but +equally misleading offer of "no cure no pay" is offered. In this case the +patient is usually required to sign a statement of his condition, in which his +symptoms and his previous bad habits are fully set forth. It is stipulated that +the "doctor" is to be paid a certain round sum when a cure is effected, and +while the case is under treatment the patient pays for the medicines. If no pay +is asked for the "stuff," the quack is seldom or ever a loser. Such a document +few persons, with characters to lose, would care to run the risk of publishing, +and hence they generally acknowledge themselves cured, or pay the doctor +handsomely to redeem the document.</p> + +<p>While wading through this dark morass of deception and fraud, the "anatomical +museums" must not be overlooked. These Priapean establishments, in which is an +exhibition of wax models of different organs and parts of the human body, are +too vile for description. "Lectures" are delivered with the design of furnishing +patients to the quack practitioners in whose interest the place is run. +Thousands—we might have said millions—of copies of disgusting little books on +"Marriage," or the "Philosophy of Marriage," or some cognate obscenity are +distributed gratis, and it is no unusual sight to see a score of nervous, +hollow-eyed patients waiting for treatment.</p> + +<p>We have endeavored to speak plainly and to the point in dealing with quacks +and quackery, because it is a topic of sovereign importance and urgency. +Hundreds upon hundreds of our population are plundered and poisoned by these +medical pests of society, and if we have not made it plain that it is dangerous +to have anything to do with the advertising doctors of New York or any other +place, we have failed in our purpose. Their advertisements, their pamphlets, and +their rascally little books, penetrate the remotest corners of the land. +Curiosity leads the farmer's son or the apprentice to send for some advertised +book to satisfy a craving for information, or to pander to an already diseased +imagination, and the bad seed is sown. He is surprised, startled, and finally +alarmed; and he writes. He is told in the reply that "I seek my remedies in +far-off climes; some in the distant prairie, some in the ever-blooming balsam; +in the southern climes, where eternal summer reigns, and on the top of the +snow-clad Himalayas." Accompanying the reply is a recipe calling for articles +having no existence, or for decoctions from plants unknown to botanists. But in +whatever form the response comes, the result is uniform. Plunder, always +plunder, in the first place; sometimes this is supplemented by murder; whole +families are destroyed, insanity is engendered, and the victims of these vile +knaves are driven headlong to destruction and an early grave.</p> + +<p>It has always been the dearest wish of a quack doctor to possess a diploma of +some sort, no matter where or how dishonestly procured. Sometimes it was forged; +sometimes second-hand; but however or wherever procured it was framed and +conspicuously displayed in the "consulting" room. By the recent and entirely +wholesome amendment of the law, however, those beguiling documents are no longer +available. It is now imperative that the certificate of every physician must be +filed with the County Clerk. Until this provision is observed, no doctor—no +matter how eminent or well-qualified—can practice in New York. Many a quack, +flourishing like a green bay-tree, was summarily brought to the "end of his +tether," by this most wise legislative enactment.</p> + +<p>We would be derelict to the duty we owe to the public did we not here, and in +this connection, state our emphatic opinion that the editors and proprietors of +newspapers, as a rule, have hitherto looked too leniently on this subject of +quackery and its baleful announcements. Happily some of our journals will not +publish such advertisements, and no editor can excuse himself by saying that he +is ignorant of the character of such announcements. It must be known to every +man of experience that such advertisements are unfit for the perusal of young +men or women, and it is surprising that the heads of families should permit +newspapers containing those advertisements to enter their houses. As a +well-known English author some-time since wrote:</p> + +<p>"It is pregnant with matter for grave reflection, and this not only in +reference to patients themselves, but also in regard to the reprehensible +conduct of parents who so recklessly admit into their family circle newspapers +which insert the obscene advertisements of the quacks. As I have said before, +these advertisements are traps for their sons and an offense to the modesty of +their daughters. Well assured am I that many cases of unaccountable suicide in +youths and young men, which cause so much surprise and misery in families, are +due to these unfortunates having become the dupes of quacks."</p> + +<p>This is a very terrible picture of the evil wrought through the abuse of the +advertising columns of the press, but experience has shown us that it is not by +any means overdrawn. The responsibility of the health and comfort—even of the +lives—of many of the rising generation thus rests with the newspapers. How +careful, then, ought publishers to be that the columns of their journals should +in nowise assist in disseminating that which pollutes the minds of the young, +renders them unfit to fulfill the duties of society, or to enjoy its pleasures, +and, in short, makes their whole life a burden and a misery.</p> + +<br> +<br> + + +<div align=center> +<h2><a name="16">C</a>HAPTER XVI.</h2> + +<br> +<br> + + +<h3>ABORTION AND THE ABORTIONISTS.</h3> + +<br> +<br> + + +<p> <em>The Career of Madame Restell—Rosensweig's Good Luck.</em></p> + +<br> +</div> + +<p>"Such is the fate of artless maid.<br> +Sweet flow'ret of the rural shade!<br> +By love's simplicity betrayed,<br> + And guileless trust.<br> +Till she, like thee, all soiled, is laid<br> + Low in the dust."<br> +<br> + —<em>Burns, "To a Mountain Daisy."</em></p> + +<p>Love's young dream—the dream of the ages—has sometimes a fearful awakening. +In her "guileless trust" and unsuspecting ignorance, a young woman weaves a +light web of folly and vain hopes, which one day closes around her like a +poisoned garment, instantly changing all her fluttering raptures into a wail of +the deepest human anguish. All at once the whole force of her nature is +concentrated in the effort of concealment, and she shrinks with irresistible +dread from every course that would tend to unveil her miserable secret. +Overshadowed by a misfortune that is worse than death, in her half-benumbed +mental condition, she hears of the professional abortionist, and braces herself +for one of those convulsive actions by which a betrayed woman will sometimes +leap from a temporary sorrow into the arms of Death.</p> + +<p>The dark crime of abortion abounds in New York, as it does in all great +cities. Yet this crime is conducted with so much care that rarely a case comes +to light. Even when one of these ghouls is arrested and put on trial it is but +seldom that conviction follows, because it is an offense extremely difficult to +bring home to the perpetrator. Many indictments, for inexplicable causes, from +time to time have been pigeon-holed; but as the transaction is committed in +private, the victim is the only witness, and she is naturally averse to +exposure.</p> + +<p>It is only when the remains of some beautiful victim are found packed in a +box, or jammed into a barrel, that the imagination realizes the imminent peril +dishonored women incur by trusting themselves to the mercy of those sordid +butchers. The author of her wrong usually makes the arrangement, under cover. +The wily practitioner talks blandly and soothingly. If the operation succeeds, +all is well; if not, the poor victim's body is secretly disposed of. She is +chronicled among the mysterious disappearances, because every precaution had +been taken that her friends should know nothing whatever of her condition, or of +her whereabouts.</p> + +<p>Naturally, the practice of child-murder hardens the hearts and petrifies the +feelings of those systematically engaged in it. The tortures inflicted on the +patient are, no doubt, in many cases unavoidable if the end is to be achieved; +but many of these operators are cruelly ignorant and unscrupulous, and +barbarously brutal and reckless. The mind shrinks from contemplating the +thrilling honors of some of the scenes enacted within those deadened walls. +Despite the tears and protestations of the suffering woman, the operation will +sometimes be repeated two or even three times. But helpless and unprotected as +she is, she is compelled to submit, because she is terrorized by her +inquisitor's threats to send her to some hospital at once, to expose her +condition to the world and to die.</p> + +<p>When death appears only too probable, the abortionist generally has the +victim either sent to a hospital or to some regular physician's premises, and +leaving her before her condition or their connection with the case has been +discovered. If the death occurs on their own premises, a certificate from some +doctor called in at the fast moment, and deceived as to the cause of death, may +enable a quiet little funeral to take place. And again, the fact cannot be +denied that from time to time regular, diplomated physicians have been found who +would not hesitate, for a consideration, to give "crooked" certificates. Should +it be found impracticable to dispose of the body in such a convenient and +regular way, in some cases it is shipped by rail to a distant and fictitious +address, without any clue by which it can be traced back to the "shipper."</p> + +<p>The pitiable case of Miss Alice Augusta Bowlsby will occur to many readers +just here. The facts in her case were simply these: One Saturday night towards +the end of August, 1871, a trunk containing the remains of a young and beautiful +female was found at the depot of the Hudson River Railroad, checked for Chicago. +The remains were subsequently recognized as those of Miss Bowlsby of Paterson, +New Jersey, and the trunk was traced, by means of the truckman employed to carry +it, back to the residence of Dr. Jacob Rosenzweig. It was soon discovered that +the death of the unhappy girl was caused by an operation tending to produce +abortion. Rosenzweig was a burly fellow, with a forbidding aspect, and a bold, +confident look. His large, bullet eyes looked defiantly from behind the +deep-intrenched line of wrinkles that care or conscience had gradually drawn +around them. He had, in fact, a forbidding aspect, and when he was placed on +trial before Recorder Hackett, according to a newspaper reporter present,</p> + +<p>"one eye was devoted to watching the Grecian bend of his vulture-hooked nose, +while the other was on duty over a precocious lock of his curling red hair, +which clung to the verandah of his left ear like a Virginia creeper."</p> + +<p>Rosenzweig was convicted of manslaughter while treating a woman for abortion, +and was sentenced to state prison for seven years—a sentence so obviously out of +proportion to the enormity of the crime that a howl of public indignation went +up to the skies. However, Recorder Hackett had awarded the utmost penalty of the +then existing law, and Rosenzweig was sent to Sing Sing. Soon after, a law was +enacted by the state legislature, making the penalty of crimes like Rosenzweig's +twenty years in the state prison, with hard labor. After this law was passed, +and when the abortionist had served about a year of his sentence, another charge +of abortion was found against him, and he was brought down the river, again put +on trial and sentenced. Mr. Howe, for his defense, in appeal, raised the natural +objection that it was unfair and improper to try Rosenzweig in two cases at +once. Consequently, he got a new trial, in which he was acquitted, because the +old law under which he had been previously convicted had been repealed. Here was +a manifest miscarriage of justice effected by a wise change in the laws. This +prisoner escaped, but such a result could hardly, within the range of +possibility, occur under the same law again.</p> + +<p>In the majority of cases, the victims of abortion are gotten rid of by the +practitioner before they die. The operation once over, they are hurried from the +premises with all possible dispatch, even though the fatigue and exposure may +imperil their lives. Many die a few days after reaching home, in which case the +name of the abortionist is never known, and many more linger for a few months or +years, mere physical wrecks of their former selves, till merciful Death folds +them in his leaden arms.</p> + +<p>Before the recent laws were passed, making it a punishable offense to offer +to produce abortions, either by medicine or instruments, there were many +nostrums, in the form of pills and powders, covertly advertised for the alleged +purpose of producing miscarriages. When a person called on one of those quacks +and explained the purpose for which the medicine was needed, he was told that it +was very dear—from five, ten, to fifteen dollars a box. At the same time he +would be assured that his lady friend was merely suffering from "an obstruction +arising from cold." If he insisted on explaining, the hard face of the quack +would grow darker and harder, and a mysterious gleam of intelligence would shoot +from the speculative eye as he was told:</p> + +<p>"I will not sell medicine for anything else but a cold; nor will I treat any +lady for anything else. Your young friend has only taken cold, and if she is not +relieved by these pills she had better come and see me herself."</p> + +<p>No doubt most of those medicines were deceptive, fraudulent and futile. But +they had the intended effect of advertising the person who sold them, whose +"professional" services were generally brought into request when the pills +proved inoperative. This was the secret of Madame Restell's reputation and +immense accumulated fortune. Her occupation was that of a midwife, and in that +assumed capacity she advertised her "Female Pills." As all the world knows now, +her real vocation was the ante-natal destruction of unwelcome babies. To her +gorgeous palace at the corner of Fifth avenue and Fifty-second street went for +years some of the most wealthy and fashionable women of this metropolis. It is a +dreadful admission, and a sad commentary on our boasted civilization, but the +truth must be told. Some of her patrons were married ladies who, finding +themselves likely to become mothers, and being too heartless and frivolous to +desire the pains and cares of maternity, sought this woman's aid and, in some +instances, paid her fabulous sums to have their innocent offspring destroyed +before they saw the light. Others who sought her services were unmarried girls, +who, having sacrificed their honor were prepared to pay any price to conceal +their shame, by the destruction of the little life which would blazon it to the +world.</p> + +<p>Madame Restell's clients were all, or nearly all women of the higher orders +of society, and of liberal means. Of this disgraceful fact there can be no +manner of doubt. Her scale of charges was so extravagant as to positively +prohibit her employment by any one unable to pay a handsome fee for the +gratification of their murderous project. Sometimes a poor girl, ruined by some +wealthy libertine, would be supplied by him with funds to pay for the terrible +operation which would conceal her folly; but in the great majority of cases they +were ladies of wealth and social standing who went dressed in elegant apparel, +loaded with jewelry, and double veiled, to her palatial mansion to obtain her +aid.</p> + +<p>Madame Restell, whose name was a scandal and her Fifth-avenue house an +outrage upon New York for years, was a native of Painswick, Gloucestershire. She +was the daughter of a humble laborer named Trow, and first saw the light in +1813. Her educational facilities—as indeed were all those similarly or even +better circumstanced in England seventy years ago—were of the humblest kind. But +she was made to work, taught to use her needle, and "sent out to service" in her +early teens. And so it came to pass that, at the age of sixteeen, she was "maid +of all work" for a butcher in her native town. She was quite good-looking, with +piercing black eyes and thick, luxuriant black hair, and shapely form. She had +many candidates for her young affections among the young weavers of the place, +but a journeyman tailor named Henry Somers was the successful wooer. A year or +two after the wedding, Mr. and Mrs. Somers emigrated and came to the city of New +York, settling over on the east side, about Oliver street. Somers was lazy, +improvident and a tippler, and after a short sojourn in America Mrs. Somers +found herself a young and blooming widow, with one child, a girl, to provide +for. She had all along industriously supplemented her husband's earnings by her +needle. She was now wholly dependent upon it for the subsistence of herself and +child.</p> + +<p>It was while in these pinched circumstances that she made the acquaintance of +Charles R. Lohman, a printer poor as herself, and became his wife. There was no +immediate improvement in their condition. Both were impatient of the pinchings +of poverty. Neither was constitutionally disposed to work hard and patiently for +an honest competence. The celebrated "Female Pills" formed the philosopher's +stone which released them from this condition of chafing discontent and brooding +unrest. From what source a knowledge of the ingredients requisite for the +composition of a pill for such a diabolical purpose was derived, or whether, +indeed, the pill was effective or diabolical at all, remains a mystery, inasmuch +as none of her medicine seems to have been subjected to chemical analysis. +Suffice to say that the couple rented a small room, and the first advertisement +of the female physician was printed in the old <em>Sun,</em> and paid for with +borrowed money.</p> + +<p>Under such auspices the abortion business dawned upon this city, and in more +than one of the daily newspapers, between the years 1836 and 1840, appeared +glowing puffs of "the beautiful young female physician," as she was termed, +accompanied by elaborate advertisements setting forth her specialty. No wonder +this Upas tree flourished by the river of crime on whose banks it was fed. No +wonder that her brother Joseph, who had been imported from madame's native +English town, was kept busy in putting up medicines and compounds for the ladies +of New York. No wonder that the Lohmans, +<em>alias</em> the Restells, waxed fat and insolent, or that, with only thirty +years actual existence, madame informed the public that she had been for "thirty +years physician in European hospitals"!</p> + +<p>By and by her boldness attracted the attention of the Albany Solons, and in +1846 a law was enacted which was intended to prevent the dark crime which Madame +Restell had helped to make so fashionable. In September, 1847, a minion of +justice invaded her Gehenna, then at No. 146 Greenwich street, and, upon an +affidavit, she was arrested and put in prison. On the tenth of that month she +was arraigned and, pleading "Not guilty," was sent back to jail to await her +trial. At this preliminary proceeding it appeared that Dr. Samuel C. Smith had +been called upon to attend professionally a young woman of Orange County, by the +name of Mary Bodine, and, upon discovering evidences of foul play, communicated +with the Mayor of New York, and Madame Restell's arrest followed. Public +excitement rose to an intense pitch. A spasm of morality shook the city to its +foundations. Nothing was talked of but the hideous crimes of the woman +abortionist. People lost sight of the war, then raging in Mexico, while +listening to the stories of imaginative people about heaps of babies' skulls +supposed to be mouldering beneath the floors of the Greenwich-street Golgotha. +There were threats of mob violence, and of incendiary proceedings. It was +necessary to guard the premises, and Lohman kept himself religiously secluded +from public observation.</p> + +<p>On the twentieth of October, 1847, the abortionist was placed in the dock of +the Court of General Sessions, before Recorder Scott and two aldermen. For the +prosecution there appeared Ogden Hoffman, John McKeon and Jonas B. Phillips; for +the defense, James T. Brady and David Graham, Jr. The prisoner was charged in +the indictment with manslaughter in the second degree. Considerable difficulty +was experienced in obtaining a jury. Mary Bodine, herself, was the first +witness. She described her engagement as a servant with a person of the name of +Cook; her seduction three days after entering upon her duties, and the +consequences that followed her visit to Madame Restell's establishment; the +conversation that took place; her sojourn in an apartment of the dreadful den; +her diet and treatment, and all the revolting details were given with a +pre-Raphaelite sharpness of outline that carried the conviction of truth. It was +a long trial, and not before November 12th did the Recorder sum up, when the +jury, after a brief retirement, found the prisoner "Guilty."</p> + +<p>She was sent to the penitentiary on Blackwell's Island, and popular +excitement was allayed, while the spasm of public morality, with a soft sigh, +fell asleep. When Madame Restell's term of imprisonment expired she came back to +the city and, purchasing a new property on Chambers street, hung out her +"Midwife" shingle, and carried on her business with nearly as much effrontery, +and with quite as much success, as before her prosecution and sentence.</p> + +<p>A craving for pomp and ostentation was one of the peculiar phases of Madame +Restell's character. To gratify this kind of ambition, she purchased, through a +real estate agent, ten lots on Fifth avenue, between Fifty-second and +Fifty-third streets. They cost at that time $1,000 each—$10,000 for the ten. +When it became known that this woman was the purchaser of the ten lots, a +movement was at once made by reputable citizens interested in the respectability +of New York's leading avenue to repurchase the property. Five thousand dollars +were offered for her bargain without avail. When, many years later, the +horrified residents of the fashionable thoroughfare beheld ground broken and the +abortionist's mansion gradually raising its brazen front, their indignation knew +no bounds. Large sums of money were offered the woman to forego her intention, +but she haughtily answered that "there was not money enough in New York" to +prevent her. No expense was spared, either in the construction or decoration of +this palace of infamy. The frescoed ceilings were works of art. Two Italians +worked at them for a twelve-month, at an expense of twenty thousand dollars. The +carpets and upholstery, ordered through the house of A. T. Stewart & Co., were +manufactured specially in Paris. The paintings were selected from the +productions of the greatest artists of the period. Her stable was erected at a +cost of twenty-eight thousand dollars. The Osborne House, another of her +investments, erected on the ground adjoining her own residence, cost about two +hundred thousand dollars.</p> + +<p>In February, 1878, evil days again fell upon Madame Restell. On the eleventh +of that month she was arrested by Anthony Comstock, of the Society for the +Prevention of Crime, and taken to Jefferson Market Police Court, before Justice +Kilbretli. She desired her release upon bail, pending examination. The bail was +fixed at $10,000, and although she offered to deposit with the court that amount +in government bonds, Judge Kilbreth refused. Satisfactory bail not being +forthcoming, she was committed to the Tombs, and assigned to a cell on the +second tier of the women's prison. By and by, she was released on bail and, +pending her trial, some time early on the morning of April 1, 1878, she +committed suicide, by cutting her throat from ear to ear, in her bath-tub. The +scene was described in that morning's <em>Herald,</em> as follows:</p> + +<p>"Mme. Restell's chambermaid, Maggie McGraw, went to her mistress' room at +about eight o'clock this morning, but not finding her there she went to the +bathroom, which is on the second floor. There, hanging on the door, she saw her +mistress' clothes. Thinking that she was taking a bath the girl went +down-stairs, but soon returned and, seeing the clothes still there, she looked +in. Not seeing the madame, she became alarmed. A peculiar smell then attracted +her attention and, looking in, she saw that the bath-tub was filled with bloody +water, and at the bottom of the tub lay the body of her mistress, with her +throat cut from ear to ear. The instrument of death, a large carving-knife, was +lying at her side. The bath-room is fitted up with Oriental splendor, being +frescoed and decorated handsomely."</p> + +<p>The suicide was buried next day, being conveyed from the Fifth-avenue mansion +to the Grand Central Depot, and thence to Tarrytown, the place of interment. The +funeral procession consisted merely of the hearse carrying the body and one +carriage. It is a strange, revolting story, carrying its own warning and moral, +besides furnishing an admirable instance of the unexpected forms in which the +great Nemesis manifests herself.</p> + +<br> +<br> + + +<div align=center> +<h2><a name="17">C</a>HAPTER XVII.</h2> + +<br> +<br> + + +<h3>DIVORCE.</h3> + +<br> +<br> + + +<p><em>The Chicanery of Divorce Specialists—How Divorce Laws Vary in Certain +States—Sweeping Amendments Necessary—Illustrative Cases.</em></p> +</div> + +<p>A large proportion of the marital infelicity now so alarmingly prevalent in +this country is no doubt caused by the mal-administration of our divorce laws, +and by the demoralizing discord between the legislative statutes of the various +States on the subject of divorce. While in the middle and a portion of the +Eastern and Southern States, the conditions legally imposed, before a +dissolution of marriage can be judicially obtained, are wholesomely exacting and +in accord with the strict Scriptural standard, in certain of the Eastern, +Southern and Western States the most trifling alleged causes of disagreement or +"incompatibility" are sufficient to secure the law's disseverance of the +marriage tie. The divorce business of certain courts in Illinois, Iowa, Utah, +and some of the territories, enjoy an infamous notoriety all over the world; +while even staid old Connecticut offers a positive reward to connubial +infidelity by at once granting a full or absolute divorce upon comparatively +slight pretexts, leaving both parties legally free to marry again as their +altered fancies may elect.</p> + +<p>He who, in New York,</p> + +<p> "Reads the in image act with pride<br> + And fancies that the law is on his +side,"</p> + +<p>may soon be taught, to his dismay, that some backwood's court in the West has +privately given his artful better-half a divorce, and authorized her to wed at +her earlier pleasure with the Lothario whom he—the cast-off husband—had not even +begun to suspect of treachery. Or, again the lord and master whose preference +has wandered from his lawful wife to some designing female poacher on her +rightful domain, may openly give that wife the fullest justification in law for +a New York divorce, and, after the petition has been granted, go with his +paramour to any State outside the jurisdiction of the State of New York, and +there be legally joined to her for whom he has forsworn himself. One might infer +from these dangerous and disgraceful possibilities that but few of the married +ones who, from whatever cause, were discontented with their domestic relations, +would be long restrained by any other than the highest exceptional moral +considerations from availing themselves of the relief so variously attainable. +It must be borne in mind, however, that an honorable action for divorce, openly +and honestly undertaken in any State, involves more or less public exposure with +considerable pecuniary outlay. These two considerations, in the present lax +tendencies of our divorce laws, constitute the chief bar against a wholesome +"popular" adoption of the legal remedy for domestic troubles; while their +potency has invoked a class of fraudulent practitioners whose insidious business +it is to procure dissolution of marriage for any or no cause, "without +publicity," and at a cost suited to the most limited means. In other words, New +York has been, and still is, the headquarters of a villainous divorce ring, by +the audaciously fraudulent practices of which the solemn marital covenant is +made a despised and brittle toy of the law—to be broken and discarded at the +will of the vicious and depraved.</p> + +<p>Lord Howell, for fifty years a judge of Doctor's Commons, pointedly said: "A +knowledge that persons uniting in marriage must continue husbands and wives, +often makes them good husbands and wives; for necessity is a powerful master to +teach the duties it imposes."</p> + +<p>These sinister traders in domestic infamy, secret libel, and suborned perjury +announce their business and addresses in advertisements in which "success is +guaranteed," "no fee required till divorce is granted," "no publicity," etc., +while the decree is warranted to be "good in every State,"—in confirmation of +which last assertion the divorce specialist's private circular frequently +contains the following extract from Article IV, Section I, of the Constitution +of the United States: "Full faith and credit shall be given in each State to the +public acts, records and judicial proceedings of every other State."</p> + +<p>The question may arise, and it is pertinent, who employ these divorce +specialists? We answer: All sorts of people. They may be dissolute actresses, +seeking a spurious appearance of law to end an old alliance, and to prepare for +a new one. They may be frivolous, extravagant, reckless, misguided wives of poor +clerks or hard-working mechanics, infatuatedly following out the first +consequences of a matinee at the theatre, and a "personal" in the daily +newspaper. They may be the worthless husbands of unsuspecting faithful wives, +who, by sickness, or some other unwitting provocation, have turned the unstable +husband's mind to dreams of new connubial pastures and the advertising +divorcist. They may be the "lovers" of married women, who come to engage +fabricated testimony and surreptitious unmarriage for the frail creatures whose +virtue is still too cowardly to dare the more honest sin. They are <em>not</em> +the wronged partners of marriage, who, by the mysterious chastising providence +of outraged hearts and homes are compelled, in bitterest agony of soul to invoke +justice of the law for the honor based upon right and religion. The manufacture +of a case of the contrabandists of divorce is often such a marvel of +unscrupulous audacity, that its very lawlessness constitutes in itself a kind of +legal security.</p> + +<p>Another question naturally arises: What are such divorces worth? We reply +that the whole business is unblushing fraud upon the dupes who are entrapped +into patronizing the business. Not one of those divorces has ever yet held good +when ultimately contested in open court, by the parties against whom they have +been secretly obtained. Many of them, however—perhaps thousands!—have served the +whole purpose of those purchasing them, because the husbands or wives so cruelly +wronged have either lacked the means, or the heart to take public legal measures +for exposing the fraud, and setting the divorce aside. How is the poor clerk, or +mechanic, the invalid or unfriended wife, to raise hundreds, perhaps thousands, +of dollars necessary for such a purpose?</p> + +<p>It seldom happens that the so-called divorce specialist applies to any of the +courts in the States of New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Maryland or South +Carolina, because in those States the testimony given in divorce proceedings +becomes part and parcel of the written court record. The names, residences, and +occupations of the witnesses, and all the testimony they offer, is carefully +taken down by the referee, and reported upon by him to the court. The judge +takes all the papers, and grants the decree or refuses it, upon the report and +the testimony, and the record is perpetually on file, and accessible. +Consequently when a husband or wife unexpectedly finds that their hymeneal bonds +are severed, they have the right and privilege of inspecting the record of the +case, in the court archives, and of examining the evidence upon which the decree +adverse to them was granted. These are what is termed "dangerous States," in the +parlance of the specialists; for there is always a chance of the disbanded mate +feeling aggrieved and pugnacious, and of the cat coming with portly stare from +the bag with a lively prospect of the perjured witnesses and the specialist +having to "scoot" for parts unknown, or run the risk of dignifying the inside of +the State prison. Many readers of this page will no doubt remember with what +precipitation the notorious Monro Adams made himself "scarce" in January, 1882, +upon the discovery of the irregular Chase divorce, and others of the same kind +fraudulently procured in Brooklyn.</p> + +<p>In the Western and Southwestern States, on the other hand, where the +population is sparser, and where no such press of business is before the courts, +divorce proceedings are mostly under the immediate control of the court itself. +The presiding judge hears the testimony as it is presented, and decides the case +on its merits, there and then. There is no necessity for employing a referee, +and there are no written records of the case. The decision, the date, and the +abstract records appear on the court books, and that is all. And yet, by the +section of the Constitution, already quoted, this decree is regarded,—by the +court that grants it, at least,—as perfectly legal and operative all over the +Union. Although this is not the case, there are almost insuperable obstacles to +such a divorce being set aside. For there are no names of witnesses and no +records. There is the name of the lawyer; but if a "muss is raised." he is +either <em>non est inventus,</em> or his memory is paralyzed. He has no +recollection of the names of the witnesses, of the date of the hearing, or +indeed of the case. No matter what evidence the injured party might be able to +produce, he cannot get an iota of satisfaction nor make the least progress until +he knows what evidence was presented against him when the decree was granted. +Daniel McFarland found this in Indiana, and so have scores of others. These +Western and Southwestern States are therefore not unadvisedly deemed "safe," and +hence they are very largely patronized.</p> + +<p>In Iowa, Indiana, and Rhode Island, again, the court possesses what is termed +"discretionary power" in divorce cases. The State Constitution, after specifying +the usual prime ground—adultery—goes on to specify: "And for any other cause for +which the court shall deem it proper that a divorce should be granted," or "when +it shall appear to the satisfaction of the court that the parties can no longer +live harmoniously together." It requires no elaborate reasoning to perceive that +a decree granted under such conditions remains tolerably secure. For the +testimony has been taken <em>vive voce,</em> and the decree pronounced in open +court, after the judge has been "satisfied" that the complainant "can no longer +live harmoniously" with her Johnny or his Jenny.</p> + +<p>A case illustrating this point came under our notice some years ago. A +wealthy young Frenchman eloped from Bordeaux with the girl-wife of a middle-aged +wine exporter. The runaways came to New York, and in a short time, through a +specialist, the lady obtained, in an Iowa court, a divorce from her deserted +husband. The deferred rite of matrimony was then solemnized between the pair.</p> + +<p>About twelve months afterward, business called the happy husband back to +France. It was not deemed advisable for his charming wife to accompany him. +Neither, as a matter of fact, did she wish to undertake the voyage. But she +accompanied him on board the steamer and bade him a touching, emotional and +affectionate adieu. Mark what followed! Hardly had he got twenty-four hours +beyond Sandy Hook than she proceeded to the same specialist, who had severed her +former bonds, and employed him to procure her another divorce. It was applied +for, and duly granted by the presiding judge of the Fourth District Court of +Iowa. When this decree came to hand, with its flash heading and big red seal, +the lady was married to a handsome young dry-goods man.</p> + +<p>Meantime the absent husband in Paris kept up a fervent correspondence with +his wife, anathematizing his ill-luck in being so long kept from her side. She +replied regularly and kindly to these letters until her wedding with the young +dry-goods Adonis was consummated, when she abruptly ceased to write. The +Frenchman remonstrated, adjured, cursed and cabled, but receiving no response +finally hurried across the ocean to find that he was a divorced man, and to be +reminded, in the choice phraseology of his supplanter, that "what was sauce for +the goose, was sauce for the gander."</p> + +<p>With true Gallic impetuosity he sought for VENGEANCE! He employed lawyers and +spent considerable money in the expectation not only of setting the divorce +aside, but in bringing the lady and her paramour to condign punishment. His +efforts, however, proved perfectly impotent. The lawyer, resident at the court, +remembered nothing of the evidence, and the court remembered the case only so +far as that it was perfectly regular and satisfactory.</p> + +<p>Thus it will be seen that</p> + +<p> "Domestic happiness,<br> + That only bliss of Paradise which has survived the fall,"</p> + +<p>when once perverted by cunning treachery like this, leaves the betrayed with +little chance to cover its poor grave with the ostentatious monument of legal +justice.</p> + +<p>There are some aspects of this divorce specialist business which would be +amusing did they not furnish such a cloak and encouragement to depravity and +licentiousness. The following narrative of actual facts illustrates a phase of +the kept-mistress ethics, and shows how the Western bogus divorce operates in +lowering the tone of society and in sapping the foundations of morality:</p> + +<p>A few years since a young stock broker of this city, spent his summer +vacation in the sylvan glades of the country surrounding Lake Champlain. He +possessed an appreciative eye for feminine beauty, and a soul burning for +adventure. Like most men of this type, he was not apt to be disturbed by qualms +of conscience where the gratification of his passions was concerned. In an evil +hour, he made the acquaintance of a handsome Vermont girl, just merging upon the +full meridian of exceptionally voluptuous charms. Without any special claim to +mental endowments, Sadie F—— was a superb animal. Her, our frisky broker saw, +and wooed. The girl fell madly in love with him, and, before long, ceased to be +a virgin of the vale. Lothario was much attached to her, and by his persuasions +and ornate representations of city life, backed by aureate promises, she was +induced to fly from her once happy rural home and to live with her seducer in +this city. He began by treating her well, placing her in handsome apartments in +a boarding house on the west side, and for nearly a year the ardor of his +attachment knew no abatement. Gradually, however, the affection on his side +began to wane. She awoke from her delusive dream to the consciousness that she +was alone in a great city without friends, money, or virtue. Whither could she +flee? She could not return to her country home to look into the sorrowful depths +of her mother's tender eye, or face the stings and sneers of the people of her +native village. "A life of pleasure"—as it is sarcastically termed—seemed her +only resource. In her terrible extremity, she made a last appeal to her +deceiver, and succeeded in touching a tender spot in his heart. Perplexed as to +what disposition he could possibly make of the girl who had loved him "not +wisely but too well," he consulted an acquaintance notorious for the number and +variety of his amours. "Oh, my dear boy, that's easily settled,"' said the +friend, "get a Western divorce through one of those advertising fellows." The +broker didn't "catch on"—he couldn't see why he should obtain a divorce, and +said as much. "But she wants the divorce!" replied the adviser. "Let her be +divorced from Frederick Brown, or Augustus Smith, or Maximilian Johnson, and +then, you see, her character will be restored, her virtue whitewashed, and she +will be corroborated and sustained as a respectable member of society; an object +of envy and emulation on the part of her sex, and of interest, admiration and +honest courtship by ours." So a decree was duly applied for through one of those +"divorce lawyers" wherein the petitioner, Mrs. Sadie Johnson, sought to be +severed from the hated yoke of her husband, George Frederick Johnson, who, as +the petition set forth, not only treated her with habitual brutality but +continually violated the purity of the hymeneal couch, to wit, etc., etc. The +papers were duly served upon the defendant, who assumed the name of George +Frederick Johnson for the purpose of the suit. At the expiration of the time +allowed in such cases for an answer to the petition, no defense had been set up. +The lady's lawyer thereupon moved for the appointment of a referee, as well as +for counsel fee and alimony. All went smoothly, of course, for the petitioner, +and in due course the decree of absolute divorce was granted to this unmarried +lady, with permission for her to marry again, while the disreputable George +Frederick Johnson was absolutely debarred from any such privilege.</p> + +<p>When the decree was recorded, Sadie returned to her family by the peaceful +waters of the lake, and was received with open arms. She was an object of envy +to the unsophisticated young ladies of the neighborhood, and of open and +unbounded admiration to the young men. She had learned to dress and to put on +flash airs, and her experience in vice, gilded over by this divorce sham, +rendered her much more attractive metal to matrimonially-disposed Strephons than +any quiet, retiring Daphne of the rural district. She soon became the wife of a +well-to-do country store-keeper, and made his home a pandemonium, which ended by +him employing a regular lawyer to procure a divorce, when the foregoing facts +were elicited.</p> + +<br> +<br> + + +<div align=center> +<h2><a name="18">C</a>HAPTER XVIII.</h2> + +<br> +<br> + + +<h3>BLACK-MAIL.</h3> + +<br> +<br> + + +<p><em>Who Practice it, How it is Perpetrated, and upon Whom—The Birds who are +Caught and the Fowlers who Ensnare them—With other Interesting Matters on the +same Subject.</em></p> +</div> + +<p>There is a class of crimes prevalent in the metropolis, which, from its +secret character and the apparent respectability of those engaged in it, rarely +ever sees the light of exposure. Some of these offenses are hushed through the +influence or prominence of the operators. In others the facts are never +divulged, because the victims prefer to suffer loss rather than have their names +dragged into a publicity which, to say the least, would reflect on them +discreditably. For these, and other obvious reasons, many kinds of secret crimes +flourish and abound in the esoteric life of great cities. In New York, where +money is often rapidly acquired, and where little curiosity is manifested as to +the mode of its acquisition, there are naturally many facilities for putting +black-mailing schemes into successful operation. Scores of persons, apparently +respectable, are constantly on the alert to discover compromising facts in +connection with persons of wealth. Words dropped from ordinary conversations, +hints and allusions overheard, form a clue, which, followed up and reported in a +broadly compromising form to the pecunious person concerned, will, in the +majority of instances, induce him to imitate the <em>role</em> of the coon that +preferred to "come down" rather than be shot at.</p> + +<p>Experienced New Yorkers need not be told that there has existed among us for +years a class of individuals whose only source of revenue is black-mail. Ever on +the <em>qui vive</em> for real scandal or its counterfeit presentment, these +cormorants levy tribute upon both sexes. The high and haughty dame, with a too +appreciative and wandering eye; the wealthy banker, with a proclivity for +"little French milliners;" the Christian husband, with a feminine peccadillo; +the pew-owner at church, with a disposition to apply St. Paul's "holy kiss" a +little too literally; and the saintly pastor with a skeleton in his closet, are +all alike fish in the tribute net of this insatiable toiler of the turbid sea of +scandal.</p> + +<p>No uninitiated person can form an idea of the large number of such cases that +are yearly silenced by the payment of hush-money in this city. Sometimes the +victim and the victimizer meet, the money demanded is paid over, and there the +matter ends. More frequently the negotiation is conducted by means of a "go +between" with the same pecuniary result. In some cases, again, the trouble +receives settlement in the office of a lawyer, when a receipt and full release +of past and future claims is taken by the legal gentleman, who thus secures his +client immunity from further demands. It is a well-accepted axiom that under +like circumstances the same cause produces the same effect. And so the causes +which lead to black-mailing in this city are precisely similar to the influences +operating in Paris or London to produce the same ignoble crime. A married lady +may become too familiar with some gentleman who has not the pleasure of being +known to her husband; she may have been tenderly sentimental and gushingly +confidential with him, and may even have confided her arduous imaginings to +paper, when a rupture occurs—and be sure that a rupture always does occur in +such cases—the cavalier may not only threaten to talk and "tell," but refuse to +return the amatory correspondence, unless under substantial pecuniary +inducements. This is the return she gets for what may be termed her privateering +experiences, and there are numbers of creatures, whom it were sacrilege to call +men, who make a regular business of becoming acquainted with married women for +this special purpose. Instances are on record where a certain stipulated sum of +money has been paid for years to a professional black-mailer, who held letters +written to him by a lady whose acquaintance was made at a matinee. We were +cognizant of a case in which the bird of prey, not content with his own +extortions, handed over the lady's letters, on his death-bed, to a confederate, +who continued successfully to maintain the payment of hush-money until death +removed the weak and persecuted victim.</p> + +<p>Ladies have no idea what risks they run when making chance acquaintances, nor +how such intimacy may end. They may be successfully fortified against all the +arts and blandishments brought to attack their honor, and yet be seriously +compromised. The handsome and fashionably dressed street-lounger is very +frequently a resourceful rascal. He may invite the lady to take a carriage-ride, +and, as has sometimes happened, an accomplice acts in the capacity of hackman. +The drive selected is through the principal streets. Some hotel or fashionable +restaurant is visited, and if she still successfully resists wine and wiles, it +is more than likely that she will be visited the following day by a "detective" +who will calmly inform her that he "shadowed" her yesterday. Of course he is +after money, and she pays his demand rather than permit him to carry into +execution his threat of telling her husband.</p> + +<p>Young girls, too, are frequently compromised by the professional "masher." +This vile species of the <em>genus homo</em> affects the fashionable streets +where he saunters in solitary splendor, waiting for an opportunity to make the +acquaintance of some young girl on her way to or from school. If her parents +happen to be wealthy, the extraction of a neat sum follows this undesirable +association; far an exposure in which her name would in any way be associated +with the adventurer's, would forever stigmatize her in society. In some +instances the immature acquaintance has developed into an elopement, and when +parental interference followed, it was discovered that the scalawag husband was +not only ready but willing to relinquish his bride when the money agreement was +made sufficiently potent. Sometimes, again, a man is sufficiently infatuated to +marry a lady with a soiled or shady reputation, and if that circumstance becomes +known to the Knight of Black-mail, it is morally certain that potential +hush-money will be extorted. In point of fact every kind of "skeleton," social +or criminal, if once its whereabouts be discovered and its individuality +established, becomes a source of revenue to those unscrupulous pirates of +society.</p> + +<p>It occasionally happens that black-mailers will systematically weave a web +whereby they may entangle a wealthy person. The possession of wealth confers no +exemption from the weaknesses and frailties of human nature, and in many +instances indeed the unwise use of money only brings the obliquities of its +possessor into greater prominence. It is not long since an affluent and +well-known elderly merchant of this city, walking in the neighborhood of the +Fifth Avenue Hotel, had his attention attracted by a beautiful woman of graceful +carriage and voluptuous symmetry of form, who seemed to keep just abreast of him +on the inner sidewalk, and maintained this relative position block after block. +He was not insensible to the charm of the situation, and, before he exactly knew +how, was engaged in conversation with the fair unknown. She was an admirable +conversationalist and spoke with that expressive pantomime which gives +probability to the blackest lies. Thus conversing, he accompanied her to the +residence she had been describing. The "residence" proved to be an assignation +house. He entered, unconscious of the character of the house, and, as he had +been on his way home, remained within only a few brief moments. Bidding the lady +politely "good-day," he took his leave. As he walked rather briskly up the +street he was accosted by a gentleman, who brusquely said:</p> + +<p>"So, sir! I have got you at last. I have had my suspicions excited for some +time past concerning the probity of my wife, but until to-day have failed in +discovering proofs of her infidelity. Now, however, I have them! You have just +left the house. I saw you and her meet on the street and I followed you."</p> + +<p>The respectable elderly gentleman protested with all the indignation of +maligned innocence, and was fluent and resourceful in explanation. He had, he +said, simply been doing an act of politeness that any gentleman deserving the +name would have as readily discharged, and so forth. His interlocutor didn't see +it in that light, and told him so. The following day he was waited upon by the +much-injured husband, who informed him that he was about to institute divorce +proceedings against his wife. To demonstrate that he was dead in earnest he +produced a formally drawn complaint in which the wildly astonished and indignant +merchant figured as co-respondent. The result of this cunning maneuver may be +foreseen. The old gentleman paid a large sum of money to the "injured" husband +on the condition that he would withdraw the legal proceedings against his wife. +When the money had been spent, the leech again renewed his black-mailing effort, +and with success, although the respectable gentleman had been guilty of no +further crime than the indiscretion of accepting the woman's invitation to step +inside for a minute or two. With the second payment, however, he obtained a +promise from the "husband" that on the receipt of the money he would start for +California and importune him no more. It is perhaps needless to state that the +scoundrel never left, but soon after made further demands, always holding over +the victim threats of exposure in divorce proceedings. This system of extortion +continued until as much as eight or nine thousand dollars had been paid. He was +then impelled, in sheer self-defense, to consult a lawyer, when further +extortion at once ceased and determined. It subsequently transpired that the +"lady" and her "husband" were two of the most notorious panel thieves in the +city.</p> + +<p>The "anonymous letter" dodge is also sometimes successfully operated in +levying black-mail. The conspirator becomes acquainted with real or alleged +facts, and dispatches an artfully-worded communication for the purpose of +frightening the intended quarry. Very frequently silence is obtained by the +payment of a lump sum of money, especially where the victim lacks backbone and +decision of character.</p> + +<p>Another form of black-mail is practiced by women who run fashionable +assignation houses and bagnios in this city. Gentlemen well known in public +life, fathers of families, and even clergymen, are occasionally found in these +gilded palaces of sin. It is a simple matter for the madame of the house to +inform "her friend" that Mr. This, or the Reverend Mr. That, has been numbered +among her recent visitors. The usual machinery is set in motion +forthwith—threats of exposure and importunate demands for money. When the +intended victim refuses to be black-mailed, his family—his daughter, +perchance—is notified of her father's transgression and informed that the affair +will be made public. Under such circumstances she is very likely indeed to pay +hush-money rather than have her family's honored name dragged through the dirt +of public scandal.</p> + +<p>It is not so long ago that a regular business of blackmail was conducted in +connection with the leading assignation houses. Ladies, as well as gentlemen, +who visited them by appointment were "shadowed" and "spotted"; sometimes +followed home and their standing and character in the community carefully +determined, preparatory to the application of the financial thumbscrews.</p> + +<p>A noted black-mailer of this city at one time maintained his wife in a +private house, conveniently within call of a woman who kept a house of ill-fame. +The wife promptly responded to any summons from the madame, and when she +subsequently made the acquaintance of some wealthy visitor she would inform her +husband of the gentleman's name and position. If, as probable, he was a person +of ostensible respectability and advanced in years, with everything to lose by +exposure, he "came down" promptly and liberally. On other occasions this +high-toned husband would procure, through the offices of a mutual friend, an +introduction for his wife to some prominent member of the Stock Exchange. The +lady, who was a remarkably handsome, fascinating and wily woman, usually +entangled the intended victim in the snare. Then the Husband appeared on the +scene, boiling with indignation and "breathing threatenings and slaughter" until +money was paid. The gentleman so entrapped might afterwards complain to his +friend who introduced him to the siren, but he would never dream of associating +him in the "crooked" transaction.</p> + +<p>We are not alarmists by any means, but simply relate facts as they have come +within our personal knowledge. The weakness of human nature, combined with the +play of the passions, especially the passion of love, renders the existence of +the black-mailer possible and often profitable. In a city like ours, where such +freedom is accorded to young wives and demoiselles, it is not surprising that +machinations against their virtue and their honor are planned and executed.</p> + +<p>The picture has still another side. What does the reader think, for example, +of a mother who has three daughters,—bright, beautiful little girls, with long +braided hair hanging down their shapely backs, large, lustrous, melting eyes; +childish, innocent-looking lambs, aged respectively thirteen, fifteen and +seventeen,—and sends them on the street in the afternoons, exquisitely and +temptingly dressed, in order to capture susceptible elderly gentlemen? Yet these +bewitching little girls have been often seen in the neighborhood of Madison +Square, on Broadway, Fifth Avenue, and even down on Wall street. Their mother +would follow them at a distance, keeping them in view all the time. When +accosted by a gentleman, which happened every day, their mother would follow +them, watch the man when he came out of the house or hotel with one of her +daughters, and the next day visit him, saying he had destroyed her young and +beautiful daughter, and so on, and that she was going to have him arrested. This +species of black-mail is not so uncommon as it would seem, even the fathers of +young and prepossessing girls are partners in these affairs.</p> + +<p>As a fact there is nothing that devilish ingenuity can devise to entice men +and women into committing every kind of crime that is not practiced by the +blackmailers of this city, and many are the fish that are landed and great the +booty that is secured.</p> + +<br> +<br> + + +<div align=center> +<h2><a name="19">C</a>HAPTER XIX.</h2> + +<br> +<br> + + +<h3>ABOUT DETECTIVES.</h3> + +<br> +<br> + + +<p><em>The "Javerts," "Old Sleuths" and "Buckets" of Fiction as Contrasted with +the Genuine Article—Popular Notions of Detective Work Altogether Erroneous—An +Ex-Detective's Views—The Divorce Detective.</em></p> +</div> + +<p>We are told that "all the world loves a lover," and it is, perhaps, equally +true that most people like to read the details of clever detective exploits. The +deeds of criminals naturally awaken the emotions of horror, fear, curiosity and +awe in proportion to their heinousness and the mystery by which they are +enveloped. Consequently the detective officer who pierces the mystery—unravels +it thread by thread, and by unerring sagacity penetrates its innermost depths +and lays his hand on the criminal—is at once invested, in the popular mind, with +qualities approaching the preternatural. The vivid and fertile imagination of +the literary romancist magnifies the illusion. The detective of the successful +novel resembles the Deity in his attributes of ubiquity and omniscience. In +whatever city his functions are exercised we may be sure that he knows every +man-Jack of the criminal classes, their past and present history, their +occupation and their residence. He knows all their names, their aliases and +their soubriquets, just as Julius Cæsar, as tradition tells, knew all the +soldiers of his army. Moreover, they are invariably individuals of remarkable +personality. While endowed with a strong spice of the world, the flesh and the +devil, they are at the same time clothed in a sort of white robe of social +immaculacy. They are half lamb and half wolf, if such a paradoxical being were +possible.</p> + +<p>Take, for instance, the Inspector Javert of Victor Hugo: A tall man, dressed +in an iron-grey great coat, armed with a thick cane, and wearing a hat with a +turndown brim; grave with an almost menacing gravity, with a trick of folding +his arms, shaking his head and raising his upper lip with the lower as high as +his nose, in a sort of significant grimace. He had a stub nose with two enormous +nostrils, toward which enormous whiskers mounted on his cheeks. His forehead +could not be seen, for it was hidden by his hat; his eyes could not be seen +because they were lost under his eyebrows; his chin was plunged into his cravat; +his hands were covered by his cuffs, and his cane was carried under his coat. +But when the opportunity arrived there could be seen suddenly emerging from all +this shadow, as from an ambush, an angular, narrow forehead, a fatal glance, a +menacing chin, an enormous hand, and a monstrous rattan. When he laughed, which +was rare and terrible, his thin lips parted and displayed not only his teeth but +his gums, and a savage, flat curl formed round his nose. When serious he was a +bulldog, when he laughed he was a tiger. His guiding principles—or perhaps +instincts is the more appropriate word—were respect for authority and hatred of +rebellion. In his eyes all crimes were only forms of rebellion. Give a human +face, writes Hugo, to the dog-son of a she-wolf and we shall have Javert. No +wonder that his glance was a gimlet, or that his whole life was divided between +watching and overlooking. And, as if all this analytic rodomontade was not +enough, we are told in characteristic rhetorical vagueness that he was a +pitiless watchman, a marble-hearted spy, a Brutus contained in a Vidocq.</p> + +<p>Readers of Dickens will remember that Mr. Bucket appears on the scene in +Bleak House in a weird and mysterious way, which suggests that Inspector Byrne, +of New York, had been a student of lawyer Tulkinghorn's methods when he +undertook to pump Alderman Jaehne. The sly lawyer is plying Snagsby with rare +old port in the dim twilight and evolving his story, when suddenly the victim +becomes conscious of the presence of "a person with a hat and stick in his hand, +who was not there when he himself came in, and has not since entered by either +of the windows." This composed and quiet listener is "a stoutly built, +steady-looking, sharp-eyed man in black, of about middle age," and he looks at +Snagsby "as if he was going to take his portrait." When the poor, hen-pecked +wretch, who has thus been drawn into the legal confessional, learns that Mr. +Bucket is a detective officer, "there is a strong tendency in the clump of +Snagsby's hair to stand on end."</p> + +<p>The method of Bucket consists partly of gross flattery and of being "all +things to all men," as Saint Paul somewhere advises. "You're a man of the +world," he says to Snagsby; "a man of business and a man of sense. That's what +you are, and therefore it is unnecessary to tell you to keep QUIET." He flatters +the gorgeous flunkey at Chesney Wold by adroitly commending his statuesque +proportions, and hinting that he has a friend—a Royal Academy sculptor—who may +one of those days make a drawing of his proportions. Further, to elicit the +confidence of the vain and empty-headed Jeames, Bucket declares that his own +father was successively a page, a footman, a butler, a steward, and an +innkeeper. As Bucket moves along London streets, young men, with shining hats +and sleek hair, evaporate at the monitory touch of his cane. When there is a big +job on the tapis "Bucket and his fat forefinger are much in consultation +together. When Mr. Bucket has a matter of this pressing interest under +consideration the fat forefinger seems to rise to the dignity of a familiar +demon. He puts it to his ears and it whispers information; he puts it to his +lips and it enjoins him to secrecy; he rubs it over his nose and it sharpens his +scent; he shakes it before a guilty man and it charms him to his destruction. +The Augurs of the Detective Temple invariably predict that when Mr. Bucket and +that finger are much in conference a terrible avenger will be heard of before +long." Furthermore we are told that "Mr. Bucket pervades a vast number of houses +and strolls about an infinity of streets, to outward appearance rather +languishing for want of an object. He is in the friendliest condition toward his +species, and will drink with most of them. He is free with his money, affable in +his manners, innocent in his conversation—but through the placid stream of his +life there glides an undercurrent of forefinger."</p> + +<p>Sergeant Cuff, of The Moonstone of Wilkie Collins, is "a grizzled, elderly +man, so miserably lean that he looked as if he had not got an ounce of flesh on +his bones. He was dressed in a decent black with a white cravat. His face was +sharp as a hatchet, and the skin of it yellow and dry like a withered autumn +leaf. His eyes, of a steely, light gray, had a very disconcerting trick, when +they encountered your eyes, of looking as if they expected something more from +you than you were aware of yourself. His walk was soft, his voice was +melancholy, his long, lanky fingers were hooked like claws. He might have been a +parson, or an undertaker, or anything else you like, except what he really was." +Then as to Cuff's methods: He is introduced to the reader with the usual air of +mystery. He makes no allusion whatever to the business he had been hurriedly +summoned to investigate, but "he admired the grounds, and remarked that he felt +the sea air very brisk and refreshing." To the gardener's astonishment Cuff +proved to be quite a mine of learning on the trumpery subject of rose gardens. +As in the case of Bucket, the effective armor of Cuff is flattery. "You have got +a head on your shoulders and you understand what I mean," is his typical style +of address.</p> + +<p>It is unnecessary to remind the reader that the detective of the novelist +cannot be foiled or turned aside by false scents from the unerring pursuit of +his lawful prey. If by <em>malice prepense</em> +Javert or Cuff is temporarily beguiled, it is simply for the purpose of showing +that the writer himself is in reality a very much more ingenious person than +even the subtle detective he depicts for the delectation of his readers. These +tricks resemble those feints of failure common to professional gymnasts and trapezists, purposely perpetrated with the object of magnifying in the mind of +the excited spectator the difficulty or danger of the performance.</p> + +<p>In our American literature the most popular detective stories are not +composed of the imaginary performances of fictitious characters. We have made a +great advance on that unsatisfactory and +<em>effete</em> style. To satisfy the exacting palate of our reading people, we +require a real flesh-and-blood detective, with a popular name and reputation, to +pose as the figurehead, while an ingenious scribbler does the romancing. There +is something thrilling and realistic in this method, and it carries an air of +veracity which is irresistibly attractive and convincing. The French people did +something of the same kind for Vidocq and Lecocq; but, as in most everything +else, there is a pervading breeziness and expansiveness of horizon about the +American product that is totally lacking in the <em>blazé,</em> frouzy, +over-geometrical, Gallic detective romance.</p> + +<p>No doubt the popular conception of the detective has been derived from the +flash literature in which the "Old Sleuths" have formed the pervading figure. +Concerning them, a clever ex-member of that particular branch of the force +recently said:</p> + +<p>"Now that I'm out of the business I don't mind telling you what you perhaps +already know—that the usual stories of detective work are the veriest bosh. +There is not one officer in ten thousand, for instance, who ever disguises +himself for any work he may be bent upon. The successful detective is the man +who has the largest and most accurate knowledge of a particular class of +criminals. For instance, in a counterfeiting case there are one or two United +States officers who will look at a bill, and after a scrutiny will say, 'Now, +let's see; there are three men in the country who are capable of such work as +this. Bad Jack is doing a ten-year stretch in Sing Sing, Clever Charley is in +hock at Joliet, and Sweet William is the only one who is at large—it must be +William.' So he proceeds to locate William, and when they get him they have the +man who did the work."</p> + +<p>As to those very interesting newspaper reports about how Detective So-and-So, +while strolling down Broadway, saw a suspicious-looking individual whom he +"piped" to the east side of the city, and eventually arrested in possession of +property supposed to have been the plunder from a certain burglary, they are +equally misleading. As the ex-officer, quoted above, said:</p> + +<p>"Ninety-nine out of a hundred cases are worked through the squeal of some +thief, or ex-thief, who keeps posted on the doings of others of his class in the +city. He knows some officer intimately; goes to him and tells him that the night +before One-Thumbed Charley turned a trick on Church street, and the stuff is +'planted' at such and such a place. Acting on this information, the officers +visit the place indicated, and just sit around and wait till their man shows up. +Lots of ability about that, isn't there? Some people have an idea, you know, +that after a burglary the detectives visit the house where it occurred, and, +after examining certain marks on the window where the man got in, immediately +say: 'This is the work of Slippery Sam; he is the only fellow who does this sort +of work in this particular style.' Nothing of the kind. It's just as I've told +you in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred. In the other cases, some citizen +gives the officers information that leads to the capture of the man."</p> + +<p>If the foregoing illustrations serve no other purpose, they at least +emphasize the point which might have been made at the outset of this chapter, +that detectives are a recognized necessity of our civilization. Crime and vice +permeate every rank and every profession, and just as surely as crime and vice +will always exist, so will detectives be employed to discover wrong-doers and +hand them over to justice. Crime and vice are two terms used for the infraction +of different kinds of laws—social and moral—and detectives may be conveniently +classed in the same way. The detectives who deal with the transgression of +social laws, including such crimes as counterfeiting coin and notes, railroad +bonds, scrip, etc., forgers, embezzlers, swindlers, and the wide class of +criminals generally, are exceedingly useful members of the community when they +are inspired by a high sense of duty, and guided by principles of truth and +integrity. The other class of detectives who enact the role of Paul Pry on +breaches of the moral law, as, for example, the working up of testimony in +divorce cases, is mostly a despicable, unreliable, corrupt being, whose methods +are villainous, and whose existence is a misfortune.</p> + +<p>Concerning our New York detectives, a writer of some note said, as recently +as 1879:</p> + +<p>"It is claimed that in about eight years the district attorney's office in +New York has not known of one conviction of a criminal through the +instrumentality of their detective police. And in those years the city has been +overwhelmed and startled over and over again by depredations of almost fabulous +magnitude. Still, although the scoundrels are known, and their haunts familiar +to what are called 'the detectives,' they are never brought to justice unless +they stagger up against the representatives of some of the many detective +organizations in New York. Instead of surrounding the thieves with a net-work of +evidence to convict them, the New York headquarters' detectives furnish them +with all the facilities for escape known to modern criminal practice."</p> + +<p>No doubt this deplorable condition of affairs was very largely due to the +prevailing practice of the victims of robberies compromising with the felons. In +this way detectives eagerly seize the opportunity of acting as go-betweens, and +hence their relations with the criminal classes are established and maintained. +They are thus largely interested, not in the prevention and discovery of crime, +but in its perpetration and concealment. By this method they thrive, and their +large incomes and accumulated property are no doubt largely attributable to the +success of these delicate negotiations.</p> + +<p>We are glad to bear testimony to the fact, however, that there is a great +improvement in the detective force of this city, noticeable during its present +administration. The men now engaged on the local detective force are as a class, +those who have kept their eyes open, and have formed a wide acquaintance among +criminals in the district, and are therefore able to obtain information from +these crooks about the movements of those suspected of having been mixed up in +certain criminal work. For when the reader reflects how easily criminals keep +out of the reach of the police in St. Petersburg, Paris and Vienna, where every +concierge, every porter, every storekeeper, every housekeeper, is required to +report to the police at least once a week all the details of strangers with whom +they may have come in contact, it should be no wonder that criminals can elude +the police in New York and other American cities.</p> + +<p>Concerning the private detective agencies, it has been said by one of their +number:</p> + +<p>"They are no better than the regular officers so far as skill is concerned. +The only real difference is that there is a superior intelligence in the +make-up—their disguise—of the agency people. They are first-rate at shadowing a +man, but any man with ordinary good sense, who knows how to keep his mouth shut, +will make a good shadow. If you will watch the private agency men carefully you +will find that they associate largely with the high-toned criminal class. They +are solid with one or two leaders and all the gamblers. All thieves of any +prominence are gamblers, and as soon as they turn a big trick, they are sure to +turn up here or in some other city and 'play the bank' a little. The agency men +who are associating with the gamblers hear of this as soon as the crook strikes +town, and a little inquiry set on foot will show where the crook came from. If, +then, in the course of a few days, a complaint is lodged with the agency people +from the town where the suspected party has been that a big confidence game has +been played, or that a forged or raised check has been worked on some bank or +other institution, it is not very hard to imagine that the thief who was +recently so flush is the one who turned the trick."</p> + +<p>There are a great many private detective organizations in New York City, some +of which are located in elegant and commodious quarters, with a net-work of +agencies covering the whole country and extending even to Europe. Between these +reliable firms and the guttersnipe operator there are among detectives, as among +other professions, every grade of reliability and respectability, some making a +handsome living and some earning a bare existence. There are some thousands of +them, and they all occasionally find something to do which pays. It may be +watching some money-broker's exchange down-town, for the dishonest boy of some +establishment clandestinely selling the postage stamps of his firm. It may be +shadowing a confidential clerk, whose blood-shot eyes and generally "used-up" +air have attracted the notice of his employers, who thereupon desire to learn +where and how his evenings are spent. It may be some bank clerk, hitherto +enjoying the confidence of the directors, but who now, in consequence of certain +rumors, desire to have him watched. Or it may be any of a thousand instances in +which an employee ceases to retain the full confidence of his employer, and the +convenient private detective's services are at once put in requisition. +Undoubtedly it would greatly surprise the army of clerks, cashiers and +assistants of this and every great city to learn how many of them are thus under +detective espionage. The young fellow may have fallen into the web of the siren. +He may be down at Coney Island or at the races enjoying himself; utterly +unconscious that a pair of watchful eyes is observing every motion and +chronicling every act. Some fatal morning the reckoning comes. He may be a bank +teller, and he is requested by the board of directors to show his books and give +an account of the situation and prospects of the bank. Despite his proficiency +in bookkeeping, he will be unable to figure up and cover the money he has +squandered in gambling houses, on the street, or at the race-course. <em> +"Crimine ab uno disce omnes,"</em> says Virgil. From a single offense you may +gather the nature of the whole.</p> + +<p>The detective who accepts employment for the purpose of procuring testimony +in divorce cases is undoubtedly at the nadir of his profession. No +self-respecting member of the private detective organizations will undertake the +service even when the pecuniary inducement, as is frequently the case, is large +and tempting. For testimony so procured is regarded by the courts with +suspicion. The veracity of a person who would crawl into a house, peer through a +key-hole or crane his head through a transom window for the purpose of +witnessing an act of immorality, can hardly be considered higher than his sense +of honor, decency and self-respect. When he stoops to this kind of business he +will hardly manifest any remarkable zeal for truth-telling, and he will be quite +likely to offer to sell his evidence to the other side—a course which invariably +transpires when the other side is willing to pay for the information.</p> + +<p>Violations of conjugal faith are, unfortunately, not unknown, but in the +majority of cases the intrigue progresses in secure secrecy until some wholly +unforeseen accident brings it to sudden and relentless publicity. The recent +case of a Brooklyn lady, who was carried into the city-hospital of that city +about the beginning of last June, with both legs broken, illustrates this +position with singular force and aptness. To quote from the article of the New +York <em>Sun</em> of June 7, 1886:</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Williams is young and pretty. 'She is not bad,' her melancholy husband +said of her yesterday, 'only gay like.' She has been married about ten years, +and two little children—a boy and a girl—are now longing for a mother's care and +tenderness, which she cannot give them perhaps ever again. The faithful husband +of the unfortunate woman is a hard-working man, honest if not dashing, devoted +to his home, fond of his wife and proud of his children. 'I have been way down,' +he says, 'but I am getting good wages now and getting on top again. But Lizzie +wasn't content with these things. She was full of life, and I ought to have +watched her long ago. Then this wouldn't have happened.'</p> + +<p>"What has happened is this: When Lizzie went down on Fulton street on +Saturday a week ago, ostensibly to make some purchases, she didn't return that +night. Her husband's anxiety was increased when on Sunday he had no tidings of +her. Day after day passed without word, and he sent for a young woman friend of +Mrs. Williams to come in and look after the children and the household.</p> + +<p>"On Thursday a young man from East New York, a friend of Mrs. Williams and a +relative of a certain young lady friend of hers, stuck his head in the basement +window of Fainter Williams' house and said:</p> + +<p>"'Lizzy is in the City Hospital. She was hurt by a runaway, and both her legs +are broken.'</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Williams had first sent word to her East New York friend, who had thus +taken the first tidings of his wayward wife to her anxious husband. Williams +went at once to the hospital and found his Lizzie. She told him she had been +driving with a friend in Fulton avenue and had been hurt.</p> + +<p>"'Who was he?' Williams asked eagerly, the suspicions which he had been +putting away from him for a long time suddenly becoming convictions.</p> + +<p>"'None of your business,' said pretty Lizzie, defiantly. This reply was +calculated to satisfy her husband that all was not right. In fact, it convinced +him that everything was wrong, and in his excitement and pain he upbraided his +wife with such vehemence that she called upon the hospital attendants to put him +out of the ward unless he quieted down.</p> + +<p>"Superintendent of Police Campbell heard of the alleged runaway in Fulton +street, and he wanted to know why it had never been reported to him officially. +He began an investigation and learned that the mishap had occurred out on the +Coney Island boulevard. Mrs. Williams was confronted with this report. She +denied its truth vehemently and protested 'before Almighty God' and in the +presence of nurses and patients that she was run over and hurt in Fulton street. +Nothing could move her from this statement, and when fifty witnesses to her +accident sent word to the Police Superintendent of what they had seen, she was +not discomfited, but repeated her false statements with determination.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Williams says that his wife has for a long time nodded to +sportive-looking men as they have passed his Bergen street house, and her +absences from home have been irregular and sometimes prolonged indiscreetly into +the evening. He has felt that her love of attention and social excitement was +leading her beyond the bounds of propriety, but he had no doubt until now of her +faithfulness to him and her children.</p> + +<p>"Who took Mrs. Williams to drive on this eventful Saturday afternoon a week +ago is her secret, shared only by her escort. Where they met is not known by +anyone, but they started about four o'clock and drove through Prospect Park to +the Coney Island boulevard. The day was fine and many fashionable turnouts and +flashy rigs were on the road. Mrs. Williams, in her close-fitting and becoming +dark habit, sat beside a young man not over twenty-five years old, in a road +wagon of approved style, and behind a well-kept and fleet-footed horse. It was +unmistakably a private rig. Her escort was of light hair and complexion, +fashionably dressed, and of a style that is called 'giddy.'</p> + +<p>"Down the level road they drove at a good pace toward the King's Highway, +which crosses the boulevard about two and a half miles from the Park, and just +north of John Kelly's hospitable road house. A short distance before this point +was reached ex-Alderman Ruggles of Brooklyn came bowling along at a 2.40 gait, +and he gave the young man who was driving Mrs. Williams a brush along an open +stretch of road. As they were speeding on toward Coney Island a dog-cart +suddenly loomed up, coming from the opposite direction, and bore down upon the +racers.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Williams and her friend were on the right side of the road and Alderman +Ruggles was in the middle. The dog-cart undertook to pass between them, and in +doing so struck the wheel of the light road wagon, throwing Mrs. Williams' +companion out. He was not hurt, and he held on to the reins just long enough to +check his horse's speed and change his course. The spirited animal turned short +across the road right in front of Kelly's and the wagon was upset, throwing Mrs. +Williams out. She fell under the wagon and her left ankle and right thigh were +fractured. A great many people saw the upset and ran to the injured woman's +assistance . . . . . .</p> + +<p>"When Mr. Williams was told about the accident he said, 'If that's so, I give +her up. If she has done that I am through with her. She cannot come back to me. +As long as she lies to me, to shield this other fellow, she may go to him. She +can't come to me.'"</p> + +<p>This giddy Brooklyn woman reckoned too much on her influence over her +husband, when she expected to soothe his resentment by holding her tongue. Those +women who deceive good, indulgent husbands, frequently discover, to their +sorrow, that the most unmerciful and inexorable of men are those who have been +deceived by their idolized partners. Yet men of this kind would be far more +likely to thrash a private detective, who had possessed himself of the +particulars of the amour in a sneaking way, than to recompense him, and +properly, while the courts would absolutely refuse to receive such testimony +unless abundantly corroborated. For those and other considerations, which will +readily occur to the thoughtful reader, the detective who engages to get up +testimony in cases of marital unfaithfulness is regarded as quite ghoulish by +his fellow-detectives, and looked upon as being entirely unworthy of credence by +lawyers and courts.</p> + +<p>After all that has been said the press is, on the whole, the best +detective—the most reliable and efficient agent against evil-doers. When a crime +is committed the daily newspaper, with its Argus eyes, gives such minute and +circumstantial details, together with such exhaustive particulars concerning its +environment, and the details of its perpetration and supposed authors, that the +public at large, so instructed and informed, become detectives. Hence "crooked" +and wicked people are really more afraid of the thunderbolt exposure of the +newspapers than of the slower and more uncertain action of the law.</p> + +<br> +<br> + + +<div align=center> +<h2><a name="20">C</a>HAPTER XX.</h2> + +<br> +<br> + + +<h3>GAMBLING AND GAMBLERS.</h3> + +<br> +<br> + + +<p><em>The Delusins that Control the Devotees of Policy—What the Mathematical +Chances are Against the Players—Tricks in French Pools—"Bucking the +Tiger"—"Ropers-in"—How Strangers are Victimized.</em></p> +</div> + +<p>"And there were several offered any bet,<br> + Or that he would, or that he would +not come;<br> +For most men (till by losing rendered sager),<br> +Will back their own opinions with a wager."<br> +<br> + +<em>—Byron's "Beppo."</em></p> + +<p>Some people are born gamblers, and resemble Jim Smiley, of Mark Twain's +"Jumping Frog." Jim was "always betting on anything that turned up, if he could +get anybody to bet on the other side; and if he couldn't he'd change sides. Any +way that suited the other man would suit <em>him</em>—any way just so's he got a +bet, +<em>he</em> was satisfied." If there was a horse-race, we are told, "you'd find +him flush or you'd find him busted at the end of it; if there was a dog-fight, +he'd bet on it; if there was a cat-fight, he'd bet on it; why, if there was two +birds setting on a fence, he would bet you which one would fly first."</p> + +<p>Despite all efforts of repressive legislation, games of chance are in vogue +all over the country. Gambling is practiced everywhere. Tourists to and from +Europe engage in draw-poker and other games of chance, while they make pools and +lay wagers on the distance sailed per day, or the length of the voyage, and on +the number of the pilot-boat that will first be hailed. Gambling prevails on +board those splendid steamers that ply up and down the great rivers of the +country, and more than one passenger, driven to distraction by his losses at the +gaming-table, has thrown himself overboard. Our legislators occasionally while +away the time in traveling between Albany and New York in a poker-game, and they +frequently meet each other at their lodgings around the capitol for the same +purpose. At picnics in summer, when Nature wears her most enticing garmenture, +groups of young men may be discovered separated from the merry-making multitude, +jammed into some nook with a pack of cards, cutting, dealing, playing, revoking, +scoring and snarling, wholly engrossed in the game.</p> + +<p>No game of chance is more extensively played in New York City than policy. +Many people are disposed to regard policy as the negro's game exclusively, but +this is a great mistake. Policy embraces all classes in its ranks, and the white +devotees of the game outnumber the colored five to one. Among the patrons of the +policy-shops which, despite police raids and surveillance, still flourish in the +district, of which the Post Office may be considered the focus, may be seen +lawyers, journalists, advertising agents, book-keepers, mechanics, +liquor-dealers, bar-tenders, peddlers, insurance agents, etc. Gamblers, as a +class, are very superstitious, and the white policy-player is hardly less so +than his colored brother. The latter dreams a good deal, while the former +divides his time between trying to guess the lucky numbers and avoiding evil +omens. Bad luck walks arm in arm with him beneath every ladder, and below every +safe that is being hoisted to a top-floor room. If he forgets anything when he +is leaving home in the morning, and has to turn back, he is ruined for the day. +If he washes with a piece of hard untractable soap, and it darts from his hand +and scoots along the floor, his "luck has dropped" and "slidden" likewise. If +he, by some malign fate, meets a cross-eyed person, especially the first thing +on Monday morning, he is plunged into despair.</p> + +<p>It is estimated by an old policy-player that every dollar a man gets out of +the game costs him at least five. To show how slim is the chance of winning, it +is only necessary to explain that many men play the numbers 4, 11, 44 every day +regularly, and this well-known "gig" only comes out about once a year, or say +once in every 600 drawings. This is especially the negro's "gig." He watches for +its coming day after day with fond anticipation. He would rather "ketch dat 'ar +gig" for five dollars than receive a present of ten.</p> + +<p>The lotteries now sold surreptitiously in New York are supposed to be drawn +in Kentucky; but years ago numbers were drawn from a wheel on the steps at the +old City Hall in the park. When the State Legislature annulled the charter of +the lottery company and declared the game illegal, it moved over to New Jersey, +where it was drawn as late as 1850.</p> + +<p>"It was a standard joke in the old time," said an experienced operator +recently, "to find out what numbers a man had played, and then to volunteer to +stop at the City Hall and take a copy of the numbers drawn. A false slip was +invariably brought back, and when the player examined it, seeing all the numbers +he had bought, he generally dropped his work and went to collect the winning. +When the lottery was driven from New York, interested persons used to cross over +to New Jersey to witness the drawing, and the numbers were taken from the wheel +amid the greatest noise and excitement. Some numbers were received with derisive +hoots and howls, and others applauded; and all through the drawing certain +favorites would be loudly and continually called for, and if they failed to +appear curses filled the air. After being driven out of New Jersey, the lottery +men found refuge in several other places, notably Delaware, Maryland, and other +Southern States. The principal drawings now take place at Covington, Ky., +opposite Cincinnati. The numbers from 1 to 78 inclusive are put into glass +globes and placed in a wheel. This wheel is turned until the numbers are well +mixed, when a trap in the wheel is opened and a boy, with his eyes tightly +bandaged and arm bare, draws forth one of the globes, which is unscrewed and the +number in it called. From ten to fourteen numbers are thus drawn, according to +the size of the lottery. The drawing is immediately telegraphed on to New York +in cipher, certain words standing for certain numbers. After the drawing is +translated the runners are furnished with a list of the numbers on a 'running +slip,' as it is called, which they immediately take to the various policy shops. +No 'hits' are paid on the running slips, as some of the numbers are invariably +wrong. About an hour or so after the drawings are received in New York, a +printed slip is sent to every office, and then all claims are promptly settled. +The managers, being in an unlawful business in this State, have the opportunity +to swindle as they please. The players have no redress. Ten thousand dollar +'hits' have been made, according to tradition, and 'hits' of from $500 to $1,500 +are known of sometimes. Three-number lottery tickets are sold on every drawing, +and constitute a very lucrative branch of the business. Prizes are supposed to +range from $30,000 down, and any ticket with one draw-number on it entitles the +holder to the price originally paid for it. The first three drawn numbers +constitute the first prize, and that ticket nobody ever gets."</p> + +<p>The most of the money spent in policy is on "gigs" and "combinations." A +"gig" is composed of three numbers, and they must all come out of the same +lottery to entitle the player to win. Besides "gigs," there are "saddles," +"capitals," "horses," "cross-plays," and "station numbers." In fact there are +almost as many ways of playing policy as there are numbers in the wheel. As an +old gambler explained it:</p> + +<p>"You see there are placed in the wheel 78 numbers, from which are drawn 12, +13, 14, or 15, as the case may be. The latter number will not be drawn but once +a week. Suppose 13 to be drawn. The rates—that is, the sum the player will +receive if he wins—are as follows: For day numbers, 5 for 1; for station or +first numbers, 60 for l; for saddles, 32 for 1; for gigs, 200 for 1; for capital +saddles, 500 for 1; for horses, 680 for 1; and for station saddles 800 for 1. +Cross plays—the numbers to come in either lottery—may be made at the same rate, +subject to a deduction of 20 per cent. You see that some of these offer a +remarkable margin for profit. The station saddle, with its 800 for 1, seems to +offer unequaled facilities for making a fortune. But since the game was started, +no one has ever been known to hit one. To get a station saddle you must not only +guess two of the thirteen numbers drawn, but you must also guess the position +they will occupy in the slip. The chances of this is so very remote that the +policy-player, sanguine as he generally is, very seldom attempts it. The next in +order is the capital saddle, with its 500 for 1. A capital is two of the first +three numbers drawn. Of course there must be a first, second, and third number, +and either two of these three constitute a capital saddle."</p> + +<p>The chances of playing a "capital saddle," "gig" or "horse" in policy are +easily determined by the following formulæ, well known to all students of the +advanced branches of Algebra:</p> + +<p>The number of combinations that can be formed of <em>n</em> +things, taken two and two together, is</p> + +<p><em>n</em> * [(<em>n</em> – 1)/2]</p> + +<p>For <em>n</em> things, taken three and three together, the number is</p> + +<p><em>n</em> * [(<em>n</em> – 1)/2] * [(<em>n</em> – 2)/3]</p> + +<p>For <em>n</em> things, taken four and four together, the number is</p> + +<p><em>n</em> * [(<em>n</em> – 1)/2] * [(<em>n</em> – 2)/3] * [(<em>n</em> – +3)/4]</p> + +<p>Applying these formulæ to policy, it will be seen that to ascertain the +number of "saddles" in any combination you multiply by the next number under and +divide by 2; for "gigs," multiply by the next two numbers under and divide by 6; +while for "horses" you multiply the next three numbers under and divide by 24. +Thus,</p> + +<p>78 X [(78 – 1)/2] = 3,003 "saddles."</p> + +<p>78 X [(78 – 1)/2] X [(78 – 2)/3] = 76,076 "gigs."</p> + +<p>78 X [(78 – 1)/2] X [(78 – 2)/3] X [(78 – 3)/4] = 1,426,425 "horses."</p> + +<p>In other words, there are 3,003 "saddles" in 78 numbers, and it follows that +any person playing a capital has two chances in his favor and 3,001 against him.</p> + +<p>There is a joke among policy-players that the game is the best in the world, +because so many can play it at once. Different players have various ways of +picking out the numbers they think will come out. Some go by dreams exclusively, +some play chance numbers they run across in the streets, or signs or express +wagons, while others make a study of the game and play by fixed rules.</p> + +<p>As we have already hinted, the business of policy-playing is insignificant in +comparison to what it used to be. Still we are assured that New York City is +still spending a good many thousand dollars a day in "policy," two-thirds of +which professedly, and really more, goes to the managers and agents. If +policy-players would stop awhile and think seriously of their ways, they would +cease playing; or if they would keep an account of all the money spent on the +game for a month or two, they would discover that they had chosen a wrong road +to fortune.</p> + +<p>Pool gambling at the various race-courses in the suburbs of New York is now +under stern interdict of the law. This feature is greatly deplored by those who +are in the habit of patronizing this exciting pastime. Of course the business is +carried on <em>sub rasa</em> in the city, in a sort of sporadic form. No doubt, +if we are to reason from analogy, the pool-fever, emboldened by being "winked +at" and tolerated, will, by and by, assume its noisy, epidemic manifestations.</p> + +<p>It is hardly necessary to dwell on the familiar auction pool, with its close, +stifling, dingy room; its crowd of solemn, stupid, wide-awake gentlemen seated +in chairs before a platform, backed with a blackboard, on which are inscribed +the names of the horses expected to start; and its alert, chattering auctioneer, +gay as a sparrow, and equally active, fishing for bids, with strident voice and +reassuring manner. A few words, however, may be spared to touch lightly on what +is designated the "Mutuel" system, which was invented by M. Joseph Oller, an +ingenious Frenchman, about 1866. Those who had the good fortune to attend Paris +in 1867 may remember that M. Oller's indicators were prominent race-course +features during the Great Exposition. They are now familiar to all frequenters +of our American race-courses, and their mode of operation needs no explanation. +The pool-seller's profit is safe as in all big gambling schemes. He subtracts a +commission of five per cent., and thus makes a handsome profit when business is +at all brisk.</p> + +<p>The "Paris Mutuel" would appear to be a pretty square arrangement, but, +according to those acquainted with its true inwardness, it has been "easily +manipulated by those in control." There are two ways of cheating, according to +one authority, and "both are practicable during the last moments of the race, +when the horses are coming up the home-stretch. At this time everybody is +anxiously intent upon the contest and nothing else, so that it is an easy matter +for the operator to see what horse is ahead, and then quietly add five or ten +tickets to his record on the indicator; or, on the other hand, if the horse +favored by the 'ring' is away behind, he can quietly take off some of his +tickets and so save $50 or $100 out of the five. The former, however, is the +easier method and can be with difficulty detected, for very few people keep +transcripts of the French pools, more particularly that before they are closed +everybody is off trying to secure a good place to see the race."</p> + +<p>The prohibition placed upon pool selling naturally renders the book-maker's +occupation to be at a premium. Book-making is reckoned a "science," and is based +upon the principle of the operator betting up to a certain limit, "play or pay," +against every horse entered.</p> + +<p>Despite all statements, official or otherwise, to the contrary, there are a +large number of "hells" or gambling houses in New York city, in which millions +of dollars are lost every year by unwary persons. The New York <em>Herald</em> +of June 14, 1886, contains a synopsis of the experiences of an educated and +high-toned young man belonging to a good family, who had descended from gambling +to the practices of a sneak thief. According to the story he told Inspector +Byrnes, he was in love and at the same time</p> +<p>"became infatuated with the gambling craze. I wanted to make my sweetheart some presents, and hoped to +make enough at the gaming table to purchase what I wanted. My game was <em>rouge +el noir</em>—"red and black"—and the establishments that I visited were on Sixth +avenue, between Twenty-eighth and Twenty-ninth streets, and in Thirty-second +street, near Jerry McAuley's Mission House. Instead of winning I lost. I bucked +the game and it 'bucked' me. Then I was penniless and became desperate. By +honest ways I knew it would take a long time to pay my debts, and as I was in +desperate straits I determined to steal. As I did not associate with +professional thieves I had no reason to fear betrayal, so I became a rogue +again."</p> + +<p>There is this insuperable difficulty with the born gambler that he is +unteachable. The fool who ruins himself at Homburg or Monte Carlo belongs to the +same type as the young man above, whose identity was betrayed by a love-letter. +Gamblers are always discovering some infallible system of beating the bank. The +first word in La Bruyére's famous work—"<em>Tout est dit</em>" "Everything has +been said,"—is true of gambling against the bank's system, which is to take a +positive advantage which must win in the long run. Not only has everything been +said, but everything has been done to beat the bank. Every move has been tried, +and the result is evident to all but those who are given over to "a reprobate +mind" and will not be convinced. "To gamble against the bank," said an eminent +authority, "whether recklessly or systematically, is to gamble against a rock."</p> + +<p>If the odds are so much against the insane gambler who, secure in an +infallible system, hastens to place his foot on the neck of chance in what is +called a "square" game, how must he inevitably fare in a "skin" operation. And +the stranger who comes within our gates, bent on backing his methods by a wager, +is almost sure to be beguiled into the "skin" game; for he is likely to meet, +lounging around his hotel, some fashionably dressed young man who spends money +freely, and who, by and by, kindly offers to show him around. He has run across +a "roper-in," as he is well named, whose business it is to track the footsteps +of travelers visiting the metropolis for business or pleasure. It is the +engaging mission of those suave and persuasive gentlemen to worm themselves into +the confidence of strangers, with or without an infallible system of beating the +game, and introduce them to their employers, the gambling-hell proprietors. And +when the poor, misguided pigeon is plucked, the adroit "roper-in" receives his +commission on the profits realized. This hunting after pecunious strangers is so +systematically carried on that it might be dignified by the name of a science. +Keepers of gambling-houses are necessarily particularly wide-awake. They take +care to be regularly informed of everything transpiring in the city that may be +of interest to their business, and their agents and emissaries leave nothing to +chance. They are not impetuous. They never hurry up the conclusion of the +transaction. When the unwary stranger is in a fit condition for the sacrifice he +is led to the gaming-table with as much indifference and <em>sang froid</em> as +butchers drive sheep to the shambles.</p> + +<p>The reader, among other of Gotham's gambling devices, may have heard of what +is aptly designated "Skin Faro," but it is altogether unlikely that he may be +acquainted with the <em>modus operandi</em> +of the game. Skin faro is not played at a regular establishment in which the +player against the bank is fleeced. The game is liable to drift against the +stranger in his journey to New York, or indeed on any railroad or steamboat, and +the "point" is to get the unsophisticated countryman to be banker. In this +"racket" it is the banker who is to be skinned. According to a recent authority +the ordinary process is something like this:</p> + +<p>"After the topic has been adroitly introduced and the party worked up to the +desire to play, it is proposed that the man with the most money shall act as +banker. Now, in an ordinary square game, few would be unwilling to stand in this +position, for though the risk is considerable, the profit is generally slow but +certain. At this point the question rises as to who has a pack of cards. The +question is soon answered; there always is a pack handy, and the swindlers have +it; and this pack, if examined, will be found to contain a neat round pin-hole +through the center of the pack. The object of this pin-hole is as follows: the +player against the bank makes his boldest play on the turn, that is, at the end +of the game, when there are only three cards out, tarry; five, nine and all the +aces, except spades, can be <em>guessed</em> with almost uniform certainty by +any one looking on the dealer's hand just before he is about to turn the last +two cards (excluding the one left in <em>hoc</em>)<em>.</em> As the bank pays +four for one 'on the turn,' it is a very good thing for the player, and the faro +banker, for the nonce the would-be sport, soon finds himself cleaned out."</p> + +<p>The people who frequent gambling-houses may be divided into two classes: +occasional gamblers and professional gamblers. Among the first may be placed +those attracted by curiosity, and those strangers already referred to who are +roped in by salaried intermediaries. The second is composed of men who gamble to +retrieve their losses, or those who try to deceive and lull their grief through +the exciting diversions that pervade these seductive "hells."</p> + +<br> +<br> + + +<div align=center> +<h2><a name="21">C</a>HAPTER XXI.</h2> + +<br> +<br> + + +<h3>GAMBLING MADE EASY.</h3> + +<br> +<br> + + +<p><em>The Last Ingenious Scheme to Fool the Police—Flat-Houses Turned into +Gambling Houses—"Stud-Horse Poker," and "Hide the Heart."</em></p> +</div> + +<p>The following timely article on the newest racket in gambling in the City of +New York is from the <em>Sunday Mercury</em> of June 20, 1886:</p> + +<p>"Since the gambling houses in the upper part of the city, where night games +flourished, have been closed and their business almost entirely suspended, a new +method of operations has been introduced. A <em>Mercury</em> reporter a few days +ago was hurrying down Broadway, near Wall street, when he was tapped on the +shoulder by a young man not yet of age, whom he recognized as a clerk in a +prominent banking house, and whose father is also well known in financial +circles. After interchanging the usual courtesies the young clerk pulled a +card-case from his pocket, and, asking if the +<em>Mercury</em> man liked to play poker, presented a neat little piece of white +Bristol board which read:</p> + +<p> Harry R . . . . n,</p> + +<p><em> First Flat, No. — Sixth Avenue.</em></p> + +<p>"'If you want to play a nice quiet game,' remarked the promising clerk, 'you +can take that card and go up there any evening, or come with me to-night and see +how the whole thing is done, but whatever you do don't lose that card, for you +can't get in without it.'</p> + +<p>"Suspecting the nature of this 'quiet little game,' the reporter agreed to +meet the banking clerk that evening.</p> + +<p>"'You will find a very nice set of fellows in this party,' remarked the +clerk. 'There's none of those toughs or men you see in regular gambling houses +there, but young men like myself and some of the best business men in this town. +Why, I have seen young fellows there whose fathers have got loads of rocks. They +lose a good pile once in a while, but don't mind that, because a fellow's no +blood who cries just because he drops from ten to fifty dollars of a night.'</p> + +<p>"The house was one of a row of French flat buildings, the ground floor of +which is occupied by stores. The clerk, on entering the vestibule, gave an +electric button a familiar push with the index finger and almost immediately the +hall door swung itself open. As soon as the head of the first flight of stairs +was reached, a colored man, wearing a white tie, was met standing near a door. +To him the clerk gave a card, and the reporter following the example, both were +ushered into what happened to be a reception-room. Two heavy and rich Turkish +curtains at one end of this room were quickly pushed aside and the front or card +parlor was then entered. There were five round and oblong baize-covered tables +in different parts of the elegantly furnished apartment. A number of costly oil +paintings hung on the frescoed walls and a well-stocked buffet at one side +completed the furniture. The adjoining rooms consisted of two sleeping +apartments and a rear connecting kitchen, in which a colored cook seemed quite +busy.</p> + +<p>"At the center table, where a game of draw poker was in full blast, was +noticed two celebrated professionals, a couple of race-horse owners and two +clerks in a public department office down-town. At a side table were the sons of +a prominent Hebrew merchant and property owner, two college students and several +young men whose appearance would indicate they were employed in mercantile +houses. Another side table was surrounded by a gathering of Broadway statues and +gambling house hangers-on, who were engaged in a game called 'hide the heart,' +and the last table had a circle of big, heavy-bodied and solid-looking men about +it who were putting up on a game known as 'stud-horse poker.' The reporter and +the clerk were quickly accommodated with seats at the center table, where 'draw +poker' was in operation. The colored attendant with the white tie was at hand, +and pulling out a ten-dollar bill the clerk gave it to the negro with the +request to get him that amount of chips in return. The reporter followed suit +with a crisp five-dollar bill. The colored man went away with the money to the +further end of the room, where he passed it over to a clean-shaven and +well-dressed young man with a big diamond in his shirt front. This, the clerk +informed him, was the proprietor of the place, who sat at a separate table, and, +after receiving the cash, handed out to the waiter several stacks of white and +red ivory chips, which were then brought back for the money. The play or 'ante' +to the game was fifty cents, with no limit. The white chips represented half a +dollar each and the red ones just double that sum. In the first two hands of +cards the clerk lost his ten dollars, while the reporter made a profit. A short +time convinced the reporter the two professionals were hard to beat.</p> + +<p>"While an extremely close game was carried on, the house was certainly sure +never to lose, as it put up no money and as 'banker' reaped a steady percentage +deducted from the chips of all winners who cashed in.</p> + +<p>"The clerk was broke in two hours' sitting and confessed he had lost sixty +dollars, more than three weeks' salary, and while he wore a gold chain over his +vest, he had left his watch in pledge with the game-owner for twenty dollars' +worth of chips besides. As the reporter and his guide reached the sidewalk, one +of the young men who had been in the place was asked what he thought of the +place. Not suspecting the reporter's motive, the player answered glibly: 'Oh, +that racket in French flats is getting to be all the go now, and I tell you it's +immense. The police can't get on to it, and now as all the faro games are closed +or not making expenses, and afraid to open, it is doing well. Then there is such +a better class of people that go to these places, people who would not care to +be seen or caught in a regular concern. Now up in Harry's you see how nice it +is. There's your parlor to play in. Then if it's an all-night play you can sleep +in turns or lay off during the day, and get anything you want to eat right +there. 'Get pulled?' Why, there ain't the ghost of a show for that in those +flats. In the first place, no one is let in without he is known or has a card; +then a 'copper' can 't go in without forcing an entrance or a warrant, and if he +does, what evidence can be produced to show the place is a gambling house? Why, +gambling in the Fifth Avenue clubs is no better protected. No one in the house +up-stairs suspects what's going on. The halls are all carpeted and so are the +stairs, and you never can hear any one pass up and down. Then if any raid is +made, can't a man swear he was only having a game of cards in his own house with +a party of friends?' In society, next to progressive euchre, poker comes the +highest.</p> + +<p>"'Are there many of these private flat games?' asked the reporter. 'Oh, yes; +there's at least half a dozen I know of. There's one on Fifty-ninth street, one +on Forty-fifth street, and several more on Sixth Avenue and Broadway, and any +quantity now in other private houses run as social club rooms. You see, no games +but poker—draw, stud-horse and straight, and hide the heart—are allowed to be +run. Now if you never was in Harry's before, and you were seen to be all right, +you would be given some cards to pass around to your friends confidentially, +which would tell them where to go for play and would get them in without +bother."</p> + +<br> +<br> + + +<div align=center> +<h2><a name="22">C</a>HAPTER XXII.</h2> + +<br> +<br> + + +<h3>SLUMMING.</h3> + +<br> +<br> + + +<p><em>Depravity of Life in Billy McGlory's—A Three Hours' Visit to the +Place—Degraded Men and Lost Women Who are Nightly in This Criminal Whirlpool.</em></p> +</div> + +<p>The following from the Cincinnati <em>Enquirer</em> tells its own story:</p> + +<p>"Slumming in New York always begins with a trip to Billy McGlory's. It is a +Hester street dive. What The. Allen was thought to be in the days when he was +paraded as 'the wickedest man in New York,' and what Harry Hill was thought to +be in the days when the good old deacons from the West used to frequent his +dance hall, Billy McGlory is in New York to-day. The. Allen and Harry Hill are +both alive, but Billy McGlory bears off the palm of wickedness amid the +wickedest of Gotham. If you want to see his place, two things are necessary, a +prize-fighter for a protector and a late start. I had both when I went there the +other night. My companions were half a dozen Western men, stopping at an up-town +hotel, and our guide was a little 'tough' who has fought half a dozen prize +fights and would fight at the drop of the hat. We had pooled issues and one man +had all the money in the party. Our wallets and watches and jewelry were left +behind. It was nearly midnight when we started, and half an hour later when the +carriage drove us up in front of a dingy-looking double doorway, from which the +light was streaming. The walls around were black; no light anywhere except that +which came out of the open door. The entrance was a long hall, with nothing +visible at the further end from the outside. It might have served for a picture +of Milton's description of the 'Cavernous Entrance to Hell.'</p> + +<p>"There was a policeman outside, and down the street a score of shadowy forms +flitted in and out of the shadows—prostitutes lying in wait for victims, our +guide told us. McGlory's place is a huge dance hall, which is approached by +devious ways through a bar-room. There is a balcony fitted up with tables and +seats. There are tables and seats under the balcony. There are little boxes +partitioned off in the balcony for the best customers—that is the +sight-seers—and we got one of them. A piano is being vigorously thumped by a +black-haired genius, who is accompanied by a violinist and a cornet player. +'Don't shoot the pianist; he is doing his best,' the motto a Western theater man +hung up in his place, would be a good thing here. Yet the pianist of one of +these dance halls is by no means to be despised. It was from a position like +this that Counselor Disbecker rose within a few years to a legal standing that +enabled him to get $70,000 out of Jake Sharpe for lawyer's fees. Transpositions +are rapid in New York, and Billy McGlory, who was on the Island a few months ago +for selling liquor without license, may be an excise commissioner himself before +he dies.</p> + +<p>"These side thoughts have crowded in while we are looking around. There are +five hundred men in the immense hall. There are a hundred females—it would be +mockery to call them women. The first we hear from them is when half a dozen +invade our box, plump themselves in our laps, and begin to beg that we put +quarters in their stockings for luck. There are some shapely limbs generously +and immodestly shown in connection with this invitation. One young woman +startles the crowd by announcing that she will dance the cancan for half a +dollar. The music starts up just then, and she determines to do the cancan and +risk the collection afterward. She seizes her skirts between her limbs with one +hand, kicks away a chair or two, and is soon throwing her feet in the air in a +way that endangers every hat in the box. The men about the hall are all craning +their necks to get a sight of what is going on in the box, as they hear the +cries of 'Hoop-la' from the girls there. There is a waltz going on down on the +floor. I look over the female faces. There is one little girl, who looks as +innocent as a babe. She has a pretty face, and I remark to a companion that she +seems out of place among the other poor wretches—for there is not an honest +woman in the hall. Before we leave the place it has been demonstrated that the +little girl with the innocent face is one of the most depraved of all the +habitues of the place.</p> + +<p>"The dance is over, and a song is being sung by a man on crutches with only +one leg. 'He is an honest fellow, is the Major,' says one of the girls. 'Poor +fellow, he has a wife and six children. He sticks to them like a good fellow and +works hard to get a living. He sells pencils in the day-time and works here at +night.' A generous shower of coin goes on to the floor when the Major finishes. +I begin to notice the atmosphere of tobacco smoke. It is frightfully oppressive. +The 'champagne' that it has been necessary to order so as to retain the box has +not been drank very freely. The girls have been welcome to it the visitors +having discovered that it is bottled cider, with a treatment of whisky to give +it a biting tang and taste. It costs three dollars a bottle. It would cost a man +more to drink it. There was a young business man of Cincinnati here three or +four weeks ago who filled himself up on it at a cost of $300. He had been +foolish enough to go to McGlory's alone. He was found on the Bowery at five +o'clock the next morning without any hat or overcoat. His pocket-book, watch and +jewelry were gone. His only recollection was that he had taken three or four +drinks of McGlory's 'champagne.' He went to the hotel where he was a guest and +was wise enough to take the advice of the clerk. By paying $100 and no questions +asked he got back his watch and jewelry. He also got his pocket-book and papers, +but not the $200 that was in the book when he started out on his spree. In the +intervals of the dance his story has been told me as a sample of the nightly +occurrence.</p> + +<p>"What is this that has come out for a song? It has the form of a young man, +but the simpering silliness of a school girl. Half idiot, it jabbers out a lot +of words that can not be understood, but which are wildly applauded by the crowd +on the floor, who 'pat juba' while the creature dances. The girl who has been +hanging around me to get a quarter, whispers something like 'Oh, the beast!' in +my ear. I hear the other girls uttering similar remarks and epithets. So I look +closer at the young man on the floor—for young man it is. He has a long head and +smooth face, with a deathly white pallor over it, big mouth and lips as thick as +a negro, a conical shaped forehead, and eyes that glitter with excitement like a +courtesan's, but from which at times all signs of intelligence have apparently +fled. He has a companion whose general appearance is like his own, but whose +head is large and round, with a high forehead and full moon face. Who are they? +Well, they are part of Billy McGlory's outfit, and that is all I can say about +them. There are four more of them in female dress, who have been serving drinks +to the customers at the tables, all the while leering at the men and practicing +the arts of the basest of women.</p> + +<p>"Some of my companions have been drawn into one of the little boxes adjoining +ours. They come back now to tell of what depravity was exhibited to them for a +fee. 'Great heavens!' exclaims one of them. 'I feel sick. Get me out of this if +you can. It is damnable.' No wonder they are sick. The sights they have seen +would sicken all humanity. Editor Stead, of London, could find a bonanza every +night for a week right here in New-York City at Billy McGlory's Assembly Hall. +'Hist!' says our guide. We look up and find three or four toughs around. They do +not allow any adverse criticisms to be passed aloud at Billy's. If you begin to +talk aloud what you think, out you go. There have been more round dances. There +has been more indifferent singing and some clog dancing. It is getting late. The +fumes of tobacco and of stale beer are stifling. Four-fifths of the men have not +moved from the tables since we came in. Here and there one is lopped over +asleep. But the waiter in female clothing comes along to wake him up and induce +him to order more beer. Your glass must always be before you if you want to stay +at McGlory's.</p> + +<p>"'What are they all waiting for?' I ask. But no one will tell me. Across the +balcony a girl is hugging her fellow in a maudlin and hysterical manner. Another +girl is hanging with her arms around the neck of one of the creatures I +described some time ago. She is pressing her lips to his as if in ecstasy. He +takes it all as a matter of course, like an indifferent young husband after the +honeymoon is over. His companion joins him—the moon-faced fellow—and they come +around to our box and ogle us. They talk in simpering, dudish tones, and bestow +the most lackadaisical glances on different members of our party. The girls +shrink back as if contamination itself had come among them. 'We are pretty +hard,' says one of them, 'but not so hard as they.'</p> + +<p>"The piano gives a bang and a crash. The gray light is beginning to stream +through the windows. There is a hurrying and a scurrying among the females, and +there are a precious lot of young fellows, with low brows and plug-ugly looks +gathering on the floor. There are twenty odd women with them, mostly young, none +good-looking, all bearing marks of a life that kill. The band strikes up a +fantastic air. The whole place is attention at once. The sleepy beer-bummers +rouse up. The persons on the balcony hang over the railings. The figures on the +floor go reeling off in a mixture of dancing and by-play as fantastic as the +music. The pianist seems to get excited and to want to prove himself a Hans von +Bulow of rapid execution. The fiddler weaves excitedly over his fiddle. The +cornetist toots in a screech like a car-engine whistle. The movements of the +dancers grow licentious and more and more rapid. They have begun the Cancan. +Feet go up. Legs are exhibited in wild abandon. Hats fly off. There are +occasional exhibitions of nature that would put Adam and Eve to shame. The +draperies of modern costumes for a time covers the wanton forms, but as the +performers grow heated wraps are thrown off. The music assumes a hideous +wildness. The hangers-on about the place pat their hands and stamp and shout. +The females on the floor are excited to the wildest movements. They no longer +make any attempt to conceal their persons. Their action is shameful beyond +relation. It is climaxed by the sudden movement of eight or ten of them. As if +by concerted arrangement they denude their lower limbs and raising their skirts +in their hands above their waists go whirling round and round in a lascivious +mixture of bullet and cancan. It is all done in an instant, and with a bang the +music stops. Several of the girls have already fallen exhausted on the floor. +The lights go out in a twinkling. In the smoky cloud we have just enough +daylight to grope our way out. The big policeman stands in the doorway. Billy +McGlory himself is at the bar, to the left of the entrance, and we go and take a +look at the man. He is a typical New York saloon-keeper—nothing more, and +nothing less. A medium-sized man, neither fleshy nor spare; he has black hair +and mustache, and a piercing black eye. He shakes hands around as if we were +obedient subjects come to pay homage to a king. He evidently enjoys his +notoriety.</p> + +<p>"I had a chat with an old detective, who says to me about McGlory: 'He is a +Fourth-warder by birth. He has a big pull in politics, but takes no direct part +himself. He pays his way with the police, and that ends it. I have known him for +years, and 'tough' as he is, I would take his word as quick as I would take the +note of half the bank presidents of New York. His place is in the heart of a +tenement region, where there are a great many unmarried men. Grouped around him +are the rooms and haunts of hundreds of prostitutes, with their pimps, thieves +and pick-pockets who thrive in such atmosphere. His place is head-quarters for +them. These can not be suppressed, and it is part of the police policy to leave +a few places like McGlory's where you can lay your hands on a man at any time, +rather than scatter them indiscriminately over the city.'</p> + +<p>"We go out on Hester street. It is a narrow, dirty, filthy street. It is the +early morning—five o'clock. We had spent nearly five hours in the den. The air +was reeking with the filthy odors of the night, but it was refreshing compared +with the atmosphere we had left.</p> + +<p>"We get in our carriage to go home.</p> + +<p>"Three or four blocks up-town we pass Cooper Institute and the old Mercantile +Library. A stone's throw from McGlory's are the great thoroughfares of the +Bowery and Broadway. You could stand on his house-top and shoot a bullet into +the City of Churches. I have not told the half, no, nor the tenth, of what we +saw at his place. It can not be told. There is no newspaper would dare print it. +There is no writer who could present it in shape for publication. It can only be +hinted at. There is beastliness and depravity under his roof compared with which +no chapter in the world's history is equal.</p> + +<p>"Involuntarily, when I reached my apartment, I turned into the bath-room and +bathed my face and hands. It was like getting a breath of heaven after +experiencing a foretaste of sheol."</p> + +<br> +<br> + + +<div align=center> +<h2><a name="23">C</a>HAPTER XXIII.</h2> + +<br> +<br> + + +<h3>OUR WASTE BASKET.</h3> + +<br> +<br> + + +<p><em>Contemporaneous Records and Memoranda of Interesting Cases.</em></p> +</div> + +<div align=center> +<h3><a name="23a">M</a>iss Ruff's Tribulations.</h3> + +<br> +<br> +</div> + +<p>Miss Louise Ruff was a tall, fair-complexioned young lady of twenty-two, with +a handsome form, lovely shoulders, handsome arms and bewitching address. Her +family was well known on the east side of the town, and she had received a +fairly liberal education. Miss Ruff, two or three years previous to the legal +proceedings here chronicled, had the good or bad fortune to form the +acquaintance of Mr. Julius Westfall, the well-to do proprietor of a couple of +restaurants. Mr. Westfall was a Teutonic "masher" with which any Venus would +have been justified in falling in love. He was a brunette with hyacinthine locks +and lustrous black eyes, and with hands and feet too pretty, almost, for use. +Mr. Julius Westfall fell violently in love with Louise. She had dropped in with +a lady friend to drink a cup of coffee. From behind the receipt of custom he +took an observation, and then he began to prance round, as one who had suddenly +been attacked by a combination of the fire of St. Anthony and the dance of St. +Vitus. He skipped around the saloon like a grasshopper on a gravel lot, and +smiled, and smiled, and smiled—looking his Fourth-of-July prettiest. Of course +Miss Ruff nudged her companion above the fifth rib, and whispered something +complimentary to the beaming proprietor; and when the ladies left, he bowed them +out with all the grace of a Belgravia footman.</p> + +<p>Mr. Westfall began to watch for Louise and to trot after her like a +doppelganger. He kept a tub of ice-water in a closet, in which he occasionally +bathed his throbbing temples. He was devoured by a consuming passion. When he +beheld her at a distance, he smacked his lips like a beautiful leopard. The +heart of Miss Ruff was not of adamant. It was not a trap-rock paving stone. She +could not resist the young man's loveliness and his innumerable fascinations. +They began to walk out together in the evening when the dandelions were being +kissed by the setting sun. They strolled into the beer gardens and listened to +music's power, while moistening their clay. The Bowery Garden, between Canal and +Hester streets, was a favorite resort. So was the Atlantic Garden and the +Viennese lady musicians. Thus, for one long twelve-month they loved—after +nature's fashion, nor thought of the crime.</p> + +<p>Sometime in the latter part of last year—it may have been in October, or +November, or December—Mr. Julius Westfall was summoned to the German fatherland. +It became necessary to dispose of his business and to bid adieu to Louise. Why +he did not marry the young lady doth not appear. He seems to have left suddenly, +and probably the idea of matrimony did not occur to him. Mr. Ludwig Nisson +became Mr. Westfall's successor in the restaurant business. More than that, he +also became the successor of Mr. Westfall in the affections of Miss Ruff. Now, +Mr. Ludwig Nisson is a handsome young blonde, with lovely flaxen side-whiskers +and a rose-pink complexion. Mr. Nisson's chin and upper lip are shaven clean +every morning. He wears the latest Fifth-avenue style of store clothes. An +ornamental garden of jewelry adorns his vest. His studs are diamonds; his +hay-colored hair exhibits the perfection of the barber's skill. Mr. Nisson's +lips are red and pouting. He may be seven or eight and twenty. He is very +good-looking, and he knows it. As in the case of Mr. Westfall, Ludwig made +superhuman efforts to please Miss Ruff when she entered his saloon, in which are +seats always "reserved for ladies." In the art of soul-floralization, Ludwig was +his predecessor's equal. What could Louise do but listen to his blandishments? +And when a young lady listens once, the poet tells us, she "will listen twice." +Thus it came to pass that before Julius Westfall had been long gone—perhaps +before he was even half seas over—Mr. Nisson began to meander around with Miss +Ruff, to quaff the foaming lager, and to be on hand in the Bowery Garden when +the band began to play.</p> + +<p>Some of these affectionate and confidential manifestations did not eventuate +amid the glare and blare of the beer garden's, but away up in a sanctum over a +drug store and in other "sweet, retired solitudes," where they could listen to +the sweet music of their own speech. Early in January of the present year, +Louise possessed a secret which she felt she could confide to no ear but Ludwig +Nisson's. With reddening cheeks she softly made her confession. The easiest and +most economical course under the lamentable circumstances was to offer her some +advice. That is just what Ludwig did offer—subsequently, however, backing it +with a modest fiduciary bonus. After this Mr. Ludwig Nisson sought no more to +commune with Miss Ruff. The poor, indiscreet girl was in a pitiable dilemma. She +had no mother in whose heart of hearts she could seek forgiveness and shelter. +If her family were made aware of the event impending, she knew the explosion of +indignation would be terrific. So she professed to be tired of staying at home, +and entered her name in a registry office for servants. Fitfully occupying two +or three positions, a victim of anxiety and unrest, she finally consulted an old +friend of her family—Mr. Peter Cook, the lawyer, who wrote a letter to Mr. +Nisson for his client. In a few days a lawyer called on Mr. Cook on behalf of +the restaurateur, and stated that the case would be allowed to go for trial, in +which case, Mr. Nisson would defend it. Shortly afterward, or to be more +specific, in May last, Mr. Henry E. Von Voss, collector for a down-town business +house, called upon Miss Ruff and had a conversation with her in regard to a +possible arrangement. Mr. Von Voss was anxious that the conversation should be +private, but the lady with whom Louise was residing counseled her to secure the +presence of a witness. He advised her to settle the matter amicably, on a +pecuniary basis, and thus avoid the scandal of publicity. This counsel was +favorably entertained, and in a few days, on the receipt of a small sum of +money, she signed what in law is known as "a general release," drawn up by a +Second Avenue lawyer, in which she exempted Mr. Nisson from all further claims +of any kind whatsoever.</p> + +<p>Time passed on, and the money was spent. The tale of the months that would +make her a mother were being surely fulfilled. As yet her family knew nothing of +her condition. With Disgrace, his gaunt twin brother, Starvation, threatening to +assail her, what should she do? Happy thought! There were the Commissioners of +Charities and Corrections. There was an asylum for unfortunate girls in her +condition. Here would she apply and conceal her trouble.</p> + +<p>Before an applicant can be admitted to this humane institution certain +preliminary information must be given. Louise refused to reveal Ludwig's name or +to make a complaint against him. Thereupon she was taken before his Honor +Justice Otterbourg at Essex Market and ordered to reveal the name of her lover, +and to make complaint against him. "It is the first case in my practice," said +Mr. Cook, "where the girl was compelled to make the complaint." Thereupon the +usual order of arrest was issued, and Ludwig was sacrilegiously thumbed by a +coarse-handed sheriff. Of course the necessary bail was immediately found, and +then he was at liberty to walk down to 89 Centre street and seek legal succor +from Messrs. Howe & Hummel.</p> + +<p>The hearing came up in the private examination room of Judge Otterbourg on +Friday last. Judge, and clerks, and lawyers, and principals, and witnesses were +promptly on hand. The Judge smoked a cigar, and his smooth white forehead, +beneath his Hyperion curls, looked the picture of judicial impartiality. Lawyer +Cook looked like Charles the Wrestler, waiting for a burly and muscular +antagonist. Lawyer Hummel was all brains and diamonds; and when the Judge wanted +a light, Mr. Hummel handed him a match-box of solid virgin gold dug from a +California mine by Tony Pastor. The fair plaintiff was nervous. Mr. Ludwig +Nisson was very handsome but very pale. His counsel fought for him as earnestly +as if his client had been arraigned for murder; and when opportunity offered he +whispered in his client's ear and bade him keep up his heart. The seven +witnesses for the defense sat in the rear. Four of them were former friends of +Louise. Miss Ruff took the stand and in reply to Mr. Cook briefly told her +experiences. Then Mr. Hummel took her in hand. She answered modestly and +straightforwardly, not denying the nature of her intimacy with Mr. Julius +Westfall, but stated her inability to remember when that gentleman went to +Europe.</p> + +<p>Mr. Richard Kloeppel then perched himself gracefully on the witness chair and +smiled benignly upon the court and counsel. Mr. Kloeppel is the bartender in the +Gilbert House, and in answer to Mr. Hummel declared that he was acquainted with +Miss Ruff. He had walked in that portion of Second Avenue known as Love Lane in +the company of Miss Ruff, and he had also sweethearted and otherwise mashed +other young ladies. Nobody in court—with the possible exceptions of Louise and +her lawyer—were surprised when Richard went into particulars about his intimacy +with Miss Ruff.</p> + +<p>Mr. Rudolph Fuchs was the next occupant of the witness chair; a bewilderingly +pretty brunette with coal-black eyes and perfect teeth. During the height of the +season Mr. Rudolph Fuchs had been the cynosure of all eyes at Brighton Beach, +where, for a pecuniary consideration, he condescended to fill the role of +waiter. Last year he was similarly engaged at Cable's. Next year, he will +probably be the subject of fierce rivalry among Coney Island caterers. Mr. Fuchs +gave his testimony with inimitable grace. Mr. Fuchs had also enjoyed the +acquaintance and association of Miss Ruff. He had danced with her; he had +listened to the band in her charming society; he had escorted her along the +street, and he had accompanied her to an establishment that shall be nameless +here.</p> + +<p>Then Lawyer Hummel called Joseph Neuthen. He was another exasperatingly +pretty young man, with pearl complexion and hazel eyes. He was the fourth of the +phenomenally pretty young men who had loved Miss Ruff. Mr. Neuthen rehearsed a +soft and scandalous tale. He learned to look upon Louise with love two years +since this summer. One evening he had been in a private apartment in West Third +street with Miss Ruff.</p> + +<p>After this charming witness retired, lawyer Cook lashed himself into a rage. +Miss Ruff once more graced the witness stand. She told the incidents connected +with Mr. Neuthen's acquaintance in a different, but in an equally interesting +way. At the same time she emphatically denied the soft impeachments of Richard +Kloeppel and Rudolph Fuchs. She had known them, she swore, as casual +acquaintances; but closer relations she positively denied. As to "Joseph," Miss +Ruff remembered a certain evening, over two years since, when he brought her +tidings that Mr. Westfall wanted to see her. She was gratified by the +intelligence, and readily adopted Joseph's suggestion, more especially as Mr. +Westfall had charged his messenger with it—to drink a glass of beer, till the +restaurateur arrived. Joseph and Louise waited and waited, but Julius failed to +appear. Then Joseph said: "Perhaps he has gone home; perchance he slumbereth; +let us go after him." They went to Third street, where Julius was accustomed to +woo Morpheus. Joseph and Louise entered a room. Soon after he became +demonstrative in his attentions. But being comparatively a giantess, she kicked +him away, and after he had gone to sleep she put off her outer raiment and went +to sleep also.</p> + +<p>Mr. Theodore Utz, of Stapleton, L. I., an upholsterer by trade, was the next +witness. He had received letters from Miss Ruff, and was familiar with her +handwriting. He had seen a letter addressed by her to Mr. Westfall since he left +for Europe. The letter was addressed to Mr. Westfall in Hamburg, and he was +familiar with its contents.</p> + +<p>Counsellor Hummel: "Now state the contents of that letter as near as you can +recollect."</p> + +<p>Counsellor Cook: "I object."</p> + +<p>Judge Otterbourg ruled out the testimony.</p> + +<p>"Put this down on the record," said Mr. Hummel. "Counsel for defendant +excepts and insists that the question is admissible on the ground that the +complainant having sworn that she did not write a letter to Mr. Westfall, +charging him with the paternity of the child likely to be born, the defense +desires to prove by this witness, who has sworn that he knows the handwriting +of, and who has received letters from, the complainant, that the complainant did +write a letter to said Westfall charging him with the paternity of said +to-be-born child; that it is an impossibility to secure said original letter, or +said Julius Westfall, it having been proven in evidence that due effort was made +to secure the original letter and Westfall, but Westfall is in Europe and not in +the jurisdiction of this court."</p> + +<p>Mr. Francis L. Specht, a butcher on the east side, who supplied the +restaurants of Mr. Nisson, gave some testimony tending to prove that Miss Ruff +sometimes kept late hours. When asked by Mr. Hummel, "Do you known her general +character for virtue?" plaintiff's counsel objected, and the objection was +sustained. The result of the case, however, was that the proceedings were +eventually dismissed, the evidence conclusively establishing the fact that Miss +Ruff "loved not wisely but too much."</p> + +<div align=center> +<h3><a name="23b">A</a>stounding Degradation.</h3> + +<br> +<br> + + +<h4>A WIFE FLIES FROM HER HUSBAND'S HOME—REVOLTING HEARTLESSNESS OF A FATHER—AN +ABHORRENT TRUTH STRANGER THAN THE MOST IMAGINATIVE FICTION.</h4> + +<br> +<br> +</div> + +<p>Supreme Court.—John Edward Ditmas against Olivia A. Ditmas. Such is the title +of an action for divorce instituted by Howe & Hummel, on behalf of an injured +husband, against a youthful, educated, accomplished and fascinating wife, who +had fallen from woman's high estate, violated her marriage vows, and by her own +libidinous conduct and lustful debauchery become one of the many fallen ones of +this great metropolis.</p> + +<p>Some years previous to the action, at Perinton in this State, John E. Ditmas, +a well-to-do young farmer of Gravesend, L. I., was united in the bonds of holy +matrimony by the Rev. J. Butler, to the youthful, beauteous defendant, whose +maiden name was Olivia A. Mead. And for some time they lived most happily +together, but her father, thinking that she was then too young—she being only +sixteen years of age—to enter into the marriage state, induced her to leave the +husband and temporarily board with him at the corner of Main and Clinton +streets, in the city of Rochester, in this State, Her father subsequently +succeeded in inducing her to enter a ladies' boarding school at Rochester, but +her conduct there in flirting with young gentlemen was so openly improper that +the proprietress was compelled to expel her from the establishment.</p> + +<p>To the utter astonishment of every one and disclosing an unparalleled +revolting case of parental heartlessness, William B. Mead, the father of Olivia, +induced his daughter to quit the path of virtue, and to enter a fashionable +house of prostitution in Rochester, then kept by Madame Annie Eagan; and, as the +beautiful but frail defendant states, the paternal originator of her being told +her that as she was inclined to be "gay" she might as well live in a "gay" house +as not; and he took her there, making arrangements with the proprietress for her +stay, and she became one of the inmates, conforming to the requirements and +regulations of the situation.</p> + +<p>The plaintiff, hearing this heart-breaking intelligence, made every effort to +induce the defendant to leave her life of debauchery, and portrayed the misery, +disease, and prospects of early death consequent upon such a life; but it +appeared to be time wasted to talk to her, as she was evidently too far gone to +become awakened to any desire for reformation.</p> + +<p>Subsequently, learning that her devoted and much injured husband had +determined to avail himself of the law to get free from the legal obligation +which bound him to one lost past redemption, the defendant addressed to the +plaintiff two letters, of which the following are copies, and which but too +plainly admit the extent of the degradation and crime into which the unhappy, +and lost, abandoned wife had plunged herself:</p> + +<p>"Rochester, . . . . .</p> + +<p>"My dear husband,—With a sad and breaking heart I sit down to communicate my +thoughts and feelings to you; but oh, if I could tell you how I feel I should be +happy, but words can never express or tongue tell. I believe that I am at +present one of the most unhappy, as well as unfortunate and miserable beings, +that ever existed, but I can only feel to say that it was God's curse upon me, +and that I know that I am deserving all, so I do not murmur. But, oh! the tears +I have shed for my past follies would make an ocean; and to-night, if I was only +laid in my grave, is my wish. John, what shall I say? In the first place, can +you ever forgive me? for God alone knows that I am penitent if there ever was +one in the world. I can hardly hope to be forgiven, for my sins are almost +beyond redemption, but God will forgive at the eleventh hour, and I want to be +forgiven and reform. I will reform. I have seen enough, and now I want to settle +down and live a virtuous and respectable life the rest of my days and die a +happy death, for I have spent many an hour of late in deep thought, and it is +not an impulse of the moment, but I have spent hours and days and months, and +conclude that this is no life for me to lead. I am cured of my follies and I +want to reform. Now, John, I have used you like a dog. I can say nothing for +myself only that I am sorry, and have suffered enough, and have had my just +dues. But, oh, John, forgive me! I could never do enough for you, and though I +should live for years I could never wash out the stain which I have brought upon +your name, but I am willing to end my days in your service. I am willing to do +anything for you, if you are only willing to forgive me and live with me again, +for I am your wife the same as ever, although I never filled that position or +deserved the name. I am now willing to steady down and be a wife to you the +remainder of my days. I think it was God's will that things should have been as +they have; for my part, I know that it has been the making of me. I do not think +that I could ever have settled down, and have been a woman and true wife, if I +had not passed through what I have, for now I have seen not only the ways of the +world, but the follies of my ways, and am cured, and now I am willing to go +anywhere, and live with my husband, and be to him a true wife the rest of my +days. That I am penitent and want to be forgiven by you and all of the rest, +'though I can never expect that,' and that the words come right from my heart, +God alone knows. John, I would have written to you long before, but my pride +forbade it, for I thought I would wait and see if you loved or cared anything +for me, for I thought if you did that you would write or send for me, but when I +saw that you did not, it worried me, too, but still I felt that I would not +humble myself enough to write. I thought if you did not care anything for me I +would not let you know I cared enough for you to write; but it was pride and +pride alone; but it had a fall, and I felt as if I had passed through a fiery +furnace and came out cleansed, for I feel like a different person. Everybody +says it has been the making of me to pass through what I have. Many and many a +time have I repented of the step I took in the month of August, when I left the +city of Brooklyn. Many a time I have prayed that I might once again be placed +back to that time. Oh! how differently would I act. Now I can see that I was +wholly to blame—alas! when too late, I am afraid. John, you know all, you know +everything that has transpired from the time I left you up to the present time, +therefore it would be useless to say anything concerning my life for the past +six months, only that I am not past reformation, but have steadied down and want +to live a virtuous life the rest of my days, and the only one I want to spend +them with is my husband, for we are the same to each other as on that October +morning when we were pronounced man and wife. Then let us forgive as we hope to +be forgiven by that Higher One. Now, John, I know that your mother or any of +your family would never speak to me or forgive me, but if my future life will +ever be the means of restoring the peace again that once existed between your +folks and me, I am willing to do anything, sacrifice everything to live so that +they will once more recognize me and term me their daughter and sister. I love +them all; but, oh! what hellish spirit ever took possession of me I know not; +but, oh! John, forgive me, take me back, and though they discard me, remember I +am your wife.</p> + +<p>"Now, John, write to me, for God's sake; write for the love you once bore me; +write, let me know if you are done with me forever or not, for suspense is +killing; but, oh, if you ever hope to be forgiven by God, forgive your wife, and +let us once more live together and dwell in harmony and peace.</p> + +<p>"Now, John, I send my love to you, and 'Oh, forgive me!' is my prayer.</p> + +<p>"John, forgive! But you will have to follow the directions, as no one knows +me by any other name. Nevertheless I am your wife. Good-by!</p> + +<p> + +"From your wife,</p> + +<p> + +"Olivia.</p> + +<p>"Direct: Maud Coles, No. 13 Division street, Rochester."<br> + + +</p> + + +<p> + +"Rochester, . . . . .</p> + +<p>"My dear husband,—I call you so because I have the right to, but, oh, how I +have abused that right that I am not worthy of, John. As I sit writing to-day my +heart is near breaking and my eyes are filled with tears; and though I have +written to you once and heard nothing from you, still I cannot, will not, give +you up. Oh, John, I am one of the most miserable and unhappy beings that ever +lived. I wish I were dead, and I wish I had died before I ever used you as I +did. I do from the bottom of my heart. I shall write just I feel, and as I have +felt since I left the path of virtue and abused the only protector and friend,' +for you were mine for life.' I don't think any one, after doing as I have done, +ever has peace of mind. I am sure I do not. I dream of you most every night, and +the other night I had a fearful dream, and I will tell you some other time what +it was. John, I was talking about you to-day, and I was saying if you would only +take me back and live with me, that I would do anything for you. I would beg on +my hands and knees. I would do anything to come back and live with you. I would +be through life what you would wish me to be. It lays in your power to determine +my future end<em>.</em> If you will forgive me and take me back, I will always +do right, and you will never have cause to repent it. You say to yourself that I +promised once before. This is only the second offense, and if we do not forgive +each other on earth for such trivial offense, 'as we may say,' when compared +with our wickedness in the eyes of God, how can we ever expect to be forgiven +for the manifold sins we commit daily? and, John, I am truly repentant, and what +I say is not an impulse of the moment, but I have long thought it over, and God, +who alone knows the heart, knows that I want to be forgiven, and that I love you +and want to live with you again; and He knows that mine has been a sad and +bitter experience, and I am steadied down and profited by it. When I am in +trouble and feel unhappy, then it is that I think of you, and all that keeps me +up is the cheering thought that at some day you will forgive me and live with me +again; but if you should write that I need have no such thought, that you were +done with me forever, it would kill me; for, as I have said before, all I care +to live for is you, and I do not want to live if you do not forgive me; but, +John, you shall never be aught else to me than my husband, and I hope in time to +soften your heart towards me, for I want to come back and live with you. I want +you to forgive me, for I love you, John, I do; and write to me and say-that I am +forgiven. Write, if it is only to say that you are done with me forever, for +suspense is killing. I am going to write to Maria and aunt Em to-day, to see how +far their influence will go. Oh, John, forgive me! I am your lawful wife, and do +not be influenced by any one, for, John, think what I was when you married +me—pure and virtuous. I will always be good, and be for the rest of my life a +fond and affectionate wife. John, I've got no friends, nobody to love or care +for me, but I have got a husband, and it grieves me when I read over my old +letters which you wrote to me before we were married, 'as I was to-day,' to +think of the words of love and promises, and enjoyment we were to take; but, +alas! the devil had possession of me. But now I will throw all things aside but +the love and interest of my husband. Oh, John, for my sake, forgive me! for +God's sake, forgive me, and I will always be a Christian: if not I will end my +days in misery! John, write to me; do write immediately and forgive your erring +wife,</p> + +<p> "OLIVIA.</p> + +<p>"Direct: Olivia, 13 Division street, Rochester. N. Y."</p> + +<br> + + +<p>To the request contained in the above letters the husband felt he could not +comply, as he learned that she was really attached to the immoral life which she +was leading; and he was also deeply overcome at finding that her own father, +instead of devoting his life to his daughter's redemption, should have actually +perpetrated the horrible crime of consigning his own child to a fashionable den +of infamy. Detective Rogers, of Rochester, by the directions of Commissioner +Hebbard, arrested the defendant in Madame Eagan's house, as being the inmate of +a house of prostitution; but she was suffered to escape on her paying a fine of +twenty-five dollars, and return to her evil associations.</p> + +<p>The plaintiff, coming to the conclusion that his wife was irreclaimable, +through Howe & Hummel, sent on process to the sheriff of Monroe County, who +served the same on the defendant, whilst she was actually in Madame Eagan's +fashionable "Maison de joie," and lost no time ridding himself of the +unwholesome partner of his joys. Was ever stranger history of man, wife and +father recited?</p> + +<div align=center> +<h3><a name="23c">F</a>all of a Youthful, Beautiful and Accomplished Wife.</h3> + +<br> +<br> +</div> + +<p>For some time past, Theodore Stuyvesant, one of our most prominent and +wealthy lawyers, residing at East Seventh street, in this city, and having a +splendid country seat in Queen's County, had cause to suspect the fidelity of +his youthful, beautiful and accomplished wife, and, unhappily, these suspicions +resulted in sad reality.</p> + +<p>It appears that for some time past Mr. Stuyvesant and his wife were in the +habit of giving magnificent entertainments to a numerous circle of legal, +literary and theatrical acquaintances, at some of which some friends of the +gentleman observed indications of undue familiarity on the part of the lady with +a repeated and oft-invited guest.</p> + +<p>The warnings were from time to time unheeded and disregarded by the too +confiding and affectionate husband; but, on the afternoon of Thursday, harrowing +facts were whispered n his ear, which induced him to resort to the stratagem +which resulted in the detection of his wife in grossly improper conduct.</p> + +<p>On the day referred to, Mr. Stuyvesant informed his wife that legal business +required his absence from the city, and would detain him, probably, ten or +fifteen days; and she parted with him, bestowing so affectionate, and apparently +loving farewell, as almost to remove the bitter and heart-rending suspicions +which were then racking the breast of the injured husband. But, resolved on +carrying out his intent, he simulated departure; but instead of leaving the city +he remained at the house of a trusty friend, deliberating upon and maturing +plans for the carrying out of that project, which was fated to reveal to him his +wife's shame and his own dishonor.</p> + +<p>After a lapse of some hours, Mr. Stuyvesant, with two friends, repaired to +his residence, and having obtained admission through a rear sub-entrance, +proceeded to his bed-chamber, on entering which, on tip-toe, he discovered his +guilty wife in the embrace of her betrayer. The dishonored husband stood aghast +and petrified—the wife endeavored to conceal herself—while her paramour was +summarily ejected through the window by the avenging friends.</p> + +<p>The husband, on recovering from the shock which had temporarily paralyzed +him, left the house in solemn sadness, and absented himself from the presence of +one who had so cruelly dishonored him, and for whom he had always evinced the +warmest affection. Fearing lest reason should leave its throne, and he commit an +act which would usher the soul of one he fondly loved un-shriven to her last +account with all her imperfections on her head, poor Stuyvesant wept and left. +His cup of bitterness was full. He repaired to the house of his friend where he +passed the remainder of the night. In the morning, depressed and heart-broken, +he returned to the home, once so happy and joyous, but now bleak and desolate, +for the purpose of winding up domestic affairs, breaking up the house, +dismissing the servants, and parting forever from the frail and erring woman, +now wife to him but in name.</p> + +<p>But the lady, instead of expressing contrition and supplicating for pardon +for the irreparable wrong she had inflicted, assailed him with a torrent of +vituperative abuse; and on his aged mother remonstrating with the guilty one +upon the iniquity of her proceeding, she flew at her with the passion of a +tigress, and cruelly beat and maltreated the aged lady, who is now verging on +the grave. The neighbors, hearing the disturbance, called in the police, and +Mrs. Stuyvesant was arrested and taken before Police Justice Mansfield at Essex +Market Police Court, by whom she was committed to the Tombs for trial, in which +prison the guilty lady—the lawyer's wife, the leader of fashionable society—was +confined, a degraded and fallen woman. Proceedings for a divorce were at once +instituted by Mr. Stuyvesant, and the judicial tribunal freed him from his +unfortunate alliance. He, however, became heartbroken and shortly after died, +the disgrace wrecking his home and nearly driving him insane.</p> + +<div align=center> +<h3><a name="23d">A</a> French Beauty's Troubles.</h3> + +<br> +<br> + + +<h4>A WALL STREET BROKER SUED FOR BREACH OF PROMISE AND OTHER BAD ACTS—A +HANDSOME MILLINER LAYS HER DAMAGES AT TWENTY THOUSAND DOLLARS.</h4> + +<br> +<br> +</div> + +<p>Twelve months before the proceedings in court, at the City of New Orleans, +the presiding goddess of the most fashionable milliner's establishment of the +place was Mary Blanchette. She was 21 years of age, tall, elegantly moulded, and +possessed of a maturity of charms which made her seem three or four years older +than she really was—with rich auburn hair, eyes of deep blue, large and rolling, +and at times expressing an involuntary tenderness, which gave a voluptuous +languor to her beautiful countenance. Her forehead was high and open; she had +teeth of pearly whiteness, and possessed all the accomplishments which a French +lady of <em>ion</em> need desire. It is not surprising, therefore, that Miss +Blanchette should have captivated many admirers. Among those who paid homage at +the shrine of beauty was a wealthy New York broker named Theodore Raub, who, +possessing a handsome person, easy and elegant address, a melodious, yet manly +voice, and a fascinating style of conversation, was received by the fair Marie +with considerable favor, and he became a daily visitor, and ultimately her +acknowledged lover.</p> + +<p>Theodore Raub was a thorough man of the world, and deeply versed in all the +mysteries and intricacies of the human heart: and especially was he an able +anatomist of the female mind, which he could dissect and comprehend in an +instant; and on the occasion of one of his visits to the beauteous French girl, +after promising her marriage, the emotions which she experienced were not lost +upon him. He perceived and deciphered them almost as soon as they had sprung +into existence, and he saw in a moment that he had conquered. He had taken her +hand, which she had not withdrawn, and when he pressed his burning kisses on her +lips, the roseate blushes which suffused her cheeks were indicative of a deep +and burning joy, and Raub well knew by the melting voluptuousness which beamed +in her eyes that the hour had come when he could secure his victim.</p> + +<p>Marie, awakening as it were from a dream, struggled to extricate herself, but +he murmured impassioned words and vows and protestations in her ear, and with +kisses he stifled the remonstrances and the beseechings which rose to her lips. +But suddenly a strong sense of danger flashed into the mind of Marie; aye, and +therewith a feeling that all this was wrong, very wrong; so that the virtuous +principle which was innate in her woman's nature, asserted its empire that very +instant. The immediate consequence was that, recovering all her presence of mind +and casting off in a moment the voluptuous languor that had come over her, Marie +tore herself from his embrace, exclaiming:</p> + +<p>"Oh! Theodore, Theodore, is this your love for me? Would you ruin my body and +my soul? Have pity on me. Have pity on me."</p> + +<p>"Marie," said Theodore, "you love me not; you will drive me mad," he +exclaimed, and he turned abruptly away, as if about to leave the room.</p> + +<p>"He says that I love him not!" cried Marie, wildly, as she sprang to her +feet, and in another moment she was again clasped in her lover's arms.</p> + +<p>Raub was not less expert in soothing the soul of Marie that was now stricken +with remorse, and in quieting the anguished alarms that succeeded the moments of +pleasure, and under reiterated promises of marriage, poor Marie retained within +her own breast the secret of her ruin, until nature was about, in its own +mysterious way, to proclaim her shame itself. As soon as Raub became aware of +the fact that Marie was about to become a mother, he absconded from New Orleans, +and instead of carrying out his repeated promises to the injured and ruined fair +one, he came on to New York, leaving her unconscious and ignorant of his +whereabout.</p> + +<p>Marie, with that pertinacity which belongs peculiarly to a wronged and +neglected woman, tracked him to this city, and demanded of him here the only +atonement he could make before man and before God, namely—marriage. To all these +entreaties Raub turned a deaf and defiant ear, and, at the suggestion of the +French Consulate in this city, Marie retained the services of Howe & Hummel, and +proceedings were taken which brought the contumacious Theodore to a satisfactory +fiscal arrangement so far as Miss Blanchette was concerned.</p> + +<div align=center> +<h3><a name="23e">L</a>ife on the Boston Boats.</h3> + +<br> +<br> + + +<h4>A FAST WOMAN WRONGFULLY ACCUSED.</h4> + +<br> +<br> +</div> + +<p>Maria Wilson is a beautiful woman, and of that age at which most women are +admired by men. She is courteous, affable and lady-like in her manner. So far as +appearances go, she is just such a woman as most men would like to have for a +wife. But appearances often deceive. Maria has fallen from grace, just as mother +Eve did before her.</p> + +<p>Her beauty has perhaps to her been her greatest misfortune; without it she +might be virtuous; with it she certainly is not. Like many others of her erring +sisters, see desires to live like a lady; to dress well; go to the opera in +season; go to the theater and, indeed, to every other place where woman is +likely to go.</p> + +<p>Unfortunately for Miss Wilson, though born pretty, she was not born rich. The +good things of this world were not given to her very abundantly. Work, she +wouldn't. For some reason or other, certainly not a valid one, work appears +degrading to some people. So it appeared to Miss Wilson.</p> + +<p>What was she to do then? To steal would be to go to the penitentiary or the +State prison. She didn't like to live in either, and yet she had taken the first +erring step to go there. She is, in short, a fast woman, yet driven to a gay +life in order to eke out a precarious existence, to gratify her love of dress. +Fearing that she might get into the hands of the police if she staid in the +city, Maria engages a passage on one of the Boston boats every alternate day, +for the purpose of affording "noctural accommodation" to gentlemen not having +their wives along. A day or two ago Maria, in company with another "lady" of +like loose character, went on board one of the boats alluded to, each bent upon +securing a state-room, if possible, but one at least was doomed to +disappointment.</p> + +<p>Miss Wilson's good looks made her a favorite with the officer of the boat, +and she succeeded in obtaining a stateroom. Her partner, however, did not, and +though unfortunate in this respect, she was well off in another way. She did +succeed in "picking up a man," with whom she seemed to become suddenly in love.</p> + +<p>After perambulating the boat decks and cabins for some time in flirtation and +social chat, Maria's friend asked her if she would be kind enough to allow her +the use of her state-room for a short time. Maria being lonely, and not feeling +any disposition to retire, consented, when her friend and her company retired. +They occupied the room for the best part of the night, and left Maria to do the +best she could under the circumstances.</p> + +<p>In the morning they left at an early hour, after which Maria feeling sleepy +retired to take a "nap." She was not long in the room, however, when her friend +tapped at the door and desired an interview. Though fatigued, Maria consented, +when she was astonished at being accused of theft by one who seemed but a moment +before to place the most unsolicited confidence in her. However, her friend +(whose name we have not learned) lost her watch, and said she left it under the +pillow, and accused Maria of stealing it. This was ingratitude indeed.</p> + +<p>Maria, of course, denied any knowledge of the missing jewel, but her accuser +was positive she left the watch under the pillow, and when the boat returned to +this city she made the charge of theft against Maria before Justice Dowling, at +the Tombs. Maria did not let her indignation run away with her senses, but +shrewdly enough kept quiet and employed Counselor Howe to defend her.</p> + +<p>When the case came up the attorney explained the whole circumstances to his +Honor the Judge, and added that the complainant had also accused the colored +waiter on board the boat of the theft. Of course under such a state of things +there was but one course left, and Justice Howling, not wishing to prosecute an +innocent though erring woman, allowed Maria Wilson to go her way rejoicing.</p> + +<p>She left the court in company with her counsel to return to the abode of her +sister, where, it is to be hoped, she will abandon her follies, live a life of +virtue, and be forever a happy woman.</p> + +<div align=center> +<h3><a name="23f">A</a>n Eighty-year-old "Fence."</h3> + +<br> +<br> + + +<h4>A METROPOLITAN ECHO OF A BALTIMORE BURGLARY.</h4> + +<br> +<br> +</div> + +<p>Before Justice Wandell, Hirsch Lowenthal of this city, was brought up for +examination on the charge of being the receiver of $20,000 worth of gold watches +and jewelry, burglarized in Baltimore. The case has had the attention of the +court for some days, and the premises, briefly stated, are as follows: On the +January date the store of Simeon J. Rudberg, of Baltimore, was entered by four +men who secured the property in question. For a long time nothing was heard of +the goods, but, eventually, they were traced to this city, and, following the +same clew, Mr. Rudberg proceeded to Buffalo, where he had the pleasure of +confronting two of the thieves, who were held in that lake city on a charge of +shop-lifting. He identified them, and saw, moreover, in their company a very +handsome woman who had been with them in Baltimore. The whereabouts of the other +two burglars are unknown. So is that of the female. She was established, +however, as the step-daughter of Hirsch Lowenthal, whose alleged conversation +last Wednesday in a Division street beer saloon about the "loot" led to his +arrest.</p> + +<p>Happy thought! Division street is the place to speak about the partition of +spoils.</p> + +<p>Bad as it looked for Mr. Lowenthal, who is aged eighty years, he had a <em> +petite</em> consolation in the fact that he was defended by Mr. Hummel. The +prisoner came out of the pen in a tottering way and leaned against the rail. +Hirsch Lowenthal is bowed with eighty years that have dashed over him like +waves, and he seemed caught in the tangling undertow of death. There was no +evidence in his appearance of being a "fence." He looked rather an aged Hebrew +who simply wished to go his way. The white semi-circle of whisker under his +chin, the trembling hands, the bald head, like a globular map with the veins as +rivers, all attested extreme decrepitude. He was dressed in a light suit of +fluttering linen that blew about him as if his legs were topmasts and he was a +ship running in close-reefed on a stormy coast. He has lived in this city for +many years, and has been twice married. The second wife and he did not get along +very well, and have abided apart for the last five months. Theresa, who is the +central figure in this romance, is the daughter of the second wife by another +husband. She is married to a burglar who luxuriates in the euphonious name of +"Sheeny Dave." Dave is one of the two men identified in Buffalo, and resides now +at Auburn at the expense of the State. When they saw the Baltimore merchant in +Buffalo Dave and his companion came sagely to the conclusion that to plead +guilty to the local charge and avoid extradition for the burglary would be about +the best thing to do. They reckoned without their host. When the New York State +term is finished they will be waited upon by Maryland officials. It is sometimes +embarrassing to be popular and sought after by everyone.</p> + +<p>Perhaps it would be a safe rule in life to avoid drinking beer if you have +had anything to do with stolen goods. On last Wednesday evening, Mr. Lowenthal +visited a Division street saloon in company with a villainous looking man who +had but lately returned from Sing Sing. They ordered the loquacious lager and +fell into an easy strain of conversation. After touching upon the weather, +crops, trade, etc., Mr. Lowenthal fell to speaking of some goods in his house, +the proceeds of a Baltimore burglary in last January. At the next table sat Mr. +Rosenberg, who listened. It was Mr. Rosenberg who gave this damaging evidence +before Justice Wandell. He was forced to admit, however, that the aged gentleman +had not mentioned the name of the Baltimore firm, although he had specified the +quality of the goods. Mr. Hummel claimed that as the commodity spoken of was +only material in general and had not been identified as Mr. Rudberg's particular +property, and that, furthermore, as there was no evidence tracing the stuff to +the old man, who had merely chatted pleasantly about some burglarized property +to which he had helped himself while occupying a fiduciary position, there was +no case and asked for the discharge of his client. The prosecution claimed that +the fact of Theresa being the step-daughter of Mr. Lowenthal, and the wife of +one of the identified burglars at the same time, taken in connection with the +conversation in the beer shop, during which direct allusion was made to a +burglary in Baltimore in January, made a good foundation for procedure. Judge +Wandell pondered, and then Mr. Hummell pushed his side energetically, using tons +of cold sarcasm and barrels of withering scorn. It was the sapling shielding the +blasted oak, one of the youngest, and certainly the smallest counselor +thundering forth in behalf of the oldest prisoner.</p> + +<p>"Oh, by all means, put the gentleman from Sing Sing on the stand," he said, +"but let's have him sworn first. It is precisely what I desire. Nothing would +charm me half so much."</p> + +<p>So they swore the jail-bird, made him confess that he had served his term +fully, and then told him to step down and out. His evidence was not needed. Mr. +Rosenberg was raked fore and aft, but he stuck to his story. When the diminutive +counsellor intimated that he was worse than the prisoner, the witness smiled +serenely and winked at the magistrate as if it was a good joke.</p> + +<p>"If he talked that way to me I'd punch his head," said the Baltimore man in a +whisper.</p> + +<p>No one could tell where Theresa was, although weeks had been spent searching +for her. And yet she is no ordinary woman. Twenty-three years of age, elegantly +formed, dark, lustrous eyes, satiny coils of black hair, olive complexion, +seed-pearl teeth, full red lips, small hands and feet, and graceful carriage. +She wears diamond drops at her ears and sparkling rings upon her fingers. Her +favorite attire, as if life were a perpetual dressing for dinner, is a +black-corded silk, fitted close to the figure, made high in the neck, with a +trembling edge of lace at the throat clustering about a diamond catch whose +brilliancy it veils. This is not a fancy portrait, but word for word from an +enthusiastic admirer of Lowenthal's step-daughter. But where is she? It is not +known. Where is the John Sherman letter to Anderson? Where is the Boston Belting +Company's money? Where is Tom Collins? And where's Emma Collins? An impenetrable +gloom shrouds them all.</p> + +<p>After a rather protracted lunch on his eye-glasses, Judge Wandell, in reply +to Mr. Hummel's motion, rendered his decision to the effect that there was not +sufficient evidence to hold aged Mr. Lowenthal. The octogenarian heard it with +delight, and came as near skipping like a lamb from the court-room as is +possible for one of his age.</p> + +<div align=center> +<h3><a name="23g">S</a>hoppers' Perils.</h3> + +<br> +<br> + + +<h4>INTERESTING CASE TO TRADESPEOPLE—THE PERILS TO WHICH RESPECTABLE LADIES ARE +SUBJECTED TO IN CERTAIN FASHIONABLE STORES.</h4> + +<br> +<br> +</div> + +<p>Much of the time of the Court of Special Sessions was absorbed in the trial +of a case of some importance to ladies who make purchases. A pleasant-faced +looking woman, named Ellen Whalen, was arraigned for petit larceny in having +stolen an accordeon from the store of Ehrich's on Eighth Avenue. The main +evidence against her was that of Alexander G. Sisson, the detective of that +establishment, who testified that the prisoner took the property from one of the +counters while he was looking at her, and that he followed her on the street and +found it in her possession hid under her shawl.</p> + +<p>Mr. A. H. Hummel, who appeared as counsel for the accused, cross-examined the +detective at some length and gleaned that there were others in close proximity +at the time the property was taken, and among them a Miss Maggie McKenna, a +saleslady, who was not, however, in court.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Whalen was next called by Counselor Hummel, and deposed that she lived +in West Seventeenth street, and went to Ehrich's to purchase the accordeon and +showed a marked receipt which she claimed was given to her with her change. That +the detective followed her out of the store, treated her roughly on taking her +into Custody, and kept her confined fifteen minutes in a cellar before he +brought a policeman to arrest her. Mr. Doyle, her landlord, vouched for her +general good character, and Mr. Hummel then made a stirring appeal to the court +for his client's discharge. He characterized the arrest as a gross outrage, for +which the jury would render instant acquittal, and stigmatized the private +detective's testimony as unworthy of belief without corroboration, saying that +the higher courts had so decided in many cases, as it was clearly evident the +desire of such employees to secure convictions for theft in order to retain +their place. Mr. Hummel also adverted to the negligence of the real complainants +not appearing, and the absence of the saleslady who should have been sent here +by them, so that the court might have had a full and ample investigation. With +much feeling counsel urged a dismissal of the complaint, and an honorable +discharge of the prisoner.</p> + +<p>The court remained in consultation for some time and announced a verdict of +"not guilty," which was greeted with a round of applause from the assembled +multitude. Mrs. Whalen thanked the court and fervently pressed Mr. Hummel's hand +in gratitude and left the courtroom, accompanied by her three children and a +host of friends.</p> + +<p>[EOF]</p> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Danger! 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