September 3, 2025 • 38 mins
This investigation delves into the complex and often overlooked issues surrounding prostitution. While many individuals instinctively seek the causes behind societal vices, a significant portion of the intelligent population in New York has suffered the consequences of this persistent issue without exploring its root causes. Each year, countless lives are impacted, as broken health and tarnished reputations emerge from this vice. Is it too late to awaken your curiosity and compassion for this critical matter? We argue that it is high time to conduct an inquiry that addresses these pressing concerns‚one that is essential for public safety, personal well-being, and the greater good.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Section fifty four of the History of Prostitution. This is
a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
Recording by Mina Anderson. The History of Prostitution by William Sanger,
(00:22):
Section fifty four, Chapter thirty five, New York Prostitutes and
Houses of Prostitution, Part two. Leaving the Germans of the
First District, the reader's attention will now be asked to
the Brothels of the fourth Police District. Here the principal
part of the women are of Irish parentage. Some few
(00:45):
are natives of the United States. The greater part of
the visitors are sailors. When a succession of storms which
have driven homeward bound vessels off the coast, is followed
by a fair wind so as to allow them to
enter the harbor and large numbers, these houses are crowded,
and for a few days or while the sailors his
(01:07):
wages last, a very extensive business is carried on the barroom,
as in the case of the German houses, is the
reception room, and here may be seen at almost any
hour of the day a number of weather beaten sailors,
verifying the truth of the old proverb, which says they
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resemble two distinct animals in earning and spending their money.
It matters not who it may be, but anyone who
enters the room is almost sure to be asked to
take a drink immediately, and if he remains in less
than five minutes, somebody else will ask him to take another.
(01:47):
A sailor with cash in his pocket has a decided
antipathy to drinking alone, and generally invites everyone in the room,
male and female, to bartake with him. By such a course,
he veries soon and gets intoxicated when the girl whom
he has honored with his special attention, convoys him to
bed and leaves him there to sleep himself sober. In
(02:09):
these houses, less neatness is observable than in those just noticed,
but they have entirely a different class of customers. A German,
in the midst of his pleasures likes to see everything
neat and orderly about him. A sailor is not particular,
so that his pleasures are unobstructed. A curious observer also
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does not meet with the same civility. If he comes
to spend money, he is welcome. If not, the landlord
does not care about his company. Considerable card playing is practiced,
not what may be termed gambling, but for amusement, the
stakes being seldom more than intoxicating drinks for the players.
(02:53):
There is less noisy rowdyism than might be expected, since
the men who generally cause such disturbances lack the courage
to impose upon a crowd of hard fisted sailors who
are always able and willing to take their own part
and resent any interference. Still, occasional quarrels occur among the
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visitors themselves, frequently resulting in a pitched battle. The landlord
is then called for, and his knowledge of his customers
enables him speedily to discover the aggressor, who always happens
to be the man that has the least money, and
he is fourthwind pushed into the street without any ceremony,
as a kind of peace offering to the rest of
(03:35):
the company. The landlord is a character in his way.
He is a man who has been to see himself,
for no one would be deemed fit to keep a
house where sailors resort, and is usually a large, powerful
man by a freemasonry of the craft, and by freely
joining his visitors whenever they ask him to drink, and
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occasionally treating them in return, he is sure of their
custom until their wages are all spent and they are
obliged to go to sea again. The women in these
houses use liquor very freely, but they are not permitted
to get drunk in the daytime. If the landlord observes
any symptom of intoxication, he gives them water instead of
(04:19):
gin the next time they are asked to drink, as
he knows very well his prospects for business would be
injured unless the girls were kept sufficiently sober to be
on the watch for contingencies, or, as he praises it,
to look out for chances. In some of these houses
it is the rule that all the money received by
(04:39):
the girls is to be given to the landlord, who
provides them with clothing and necessaries. But in others a
fixed rate of board six or eight dollars a week
is paid and the women retain the surplus. In either case,
it is a very probable business, particularly where many girls
are kept. In one house that we visited in the
(05:02):
fourth district, the keeper informed us that his expenses amounted
to about one hundred and fifty dollars weekly, and of
course some estimate can be made from this as to
the amount of business he transacted. The dancing saloons in
this neighborhood are not conducted on the platonic principles of
the Germans. They are, in fact so many accessories to
(05:24):
prostitution and many scenes their witness will not permit description.
The women residing in the house are there dressed in
the most tawdry finery. They can command, many of them
assuming the bloomer costume. The band consists of a violin,
a banjo, and a tambourine, and whatever is wanting in
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musical ability is adequately supplied by vigorous execution. The bar
is very liberally patronized, and before midnight drunkenness is the rule,
and sobriety the exception. Passing now to the fourth of
this vice, we find prostitution in a most repulsive form,
the women themselves diseased and dirty, the houses redolent of
(06:09):
bad rum. The prostitutes are the refuse of the other
classes who have fallen through the successive gradations on account
of disease and drunkenness. Or they are some of those
children of iniquity, who born in scenes of vice and
squalid misery, know nothing of a virtuous or happy course
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of life.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Destiny seems from.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Their birth to have intended them for vagrance, and has
planted them so low in the moral scale that they
can scarcely hope to rise. It would be useless to
attempt to specification of the localities of these houses.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Anyone who has.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
Been through the prelus of New York City must have
observed some of them, and it will be quite sufficient
to glance at a few of their peculiarities. They are
generally kept by an old prostitute, who gathers around her
some of the most debased of her class. Takes a
cheap basement wherever she can obtain possession of one suited
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to her purpose, erects a small bar furnished with three
or four bottles of the commonest liquor. She can procure
partitions off one or two small hovels of bedrooms, and
forthwith begins housekeeping. Her arrangements are about as extensive as
her preparations. She seldom professes to board the girls, generally
(07:34):
making a charge for every visitor. They entertain and giving
them the privilege of cooking anything they want. These dens
are largely patronized by the violist of the male sex,
the petty thieves who hang around the public markets stealing
from the wagons, or who haunt the doors of grocery
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stores and abstract whatever they can reach as they find
them convenient place of concealment, and can frequently dispose of
their booty by means of the women. Another class of
visitors consists of the lowest order of rowdies, who assume
a free license to perpetuate any mischief they please, because
(08:15):
there is no one to interfere with them. A fatal
case of this nature, which occurred but a few months since,
will be fresh in the recollection of all citizens. It
is dangerous for a stranger to enter a place of
this description, for if he does not get his pocket
picked by the one, he will most probably be assaulted
(08:36):
by the other class of visitors. Upon such establishments, the
police are compelled to keep a watchful eye, and although
they have no power to enter them, except some actual
necessity calls for their service, yet they frequently induce a
neighbor to make a complaint against the keepers from maintaining
a disorderly house, and then duly armed with a warrant,
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they enter and arrest every one found on the premises.
The finale of such an experiment at housekeeping, as this
is very frequently a commitment for vagrancy to Blackwell's Island.
The character of the place will be a sufficient proof
that syphilis abounds there, and its dangers must be added
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to those already enumerated. The divisions thus made are presumed
to be accurate as far as the distinctive characters of
the various grades are concerned, But the lines of demarcation
are of course arbitrary. Any attempt to classify so large
a social evil must, from its very nature, be incomplete,
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and in this case, farther experience or a more extended
inquiry would very probably warrant an alteration in the arrangement.
But there is another class of whom a few words
must be said, namely those truly wretched beings, the outcasts
of the outcasts, in many cases destitute of home or shelter, diseased, starving,
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and afflicted with an insatiable thirst for ardent spirits, they
present most ghastly and heartrending spectacles retaining scarcely any vestiges
of humanity. These wretched beings can be found clustered round
the bars of liquor stores in low neighborhoods, begging for
(10:28):
the price of a glass of gin. Much of their
time is spent in the prisons on Blackwell's Island, from
which they are no sooner released than they return to
their old haunts and habits. They can scarcely be called prostitutes,
for their aspect is so disgustingly hideous that all feminine
(10:50):
characteristics are blotted out and thoroughly sensual and animalized. Must
he be who could accept their favors. They are, in
every sense of the world outcasts, compelled for the short
time they may be in the city, and this is
seldom more than a few days at once, to eke
out a wretched existence by stealing or begging, frequently so
(11:13):
miserable that they gladly hail the day on which they
are returned to prison. They present subjects for mournful consideration,
and the reflection that they are experiencing the degradation to
which every prostitute in the city is rapidly tending, should
be a powerful argument in favor of any remedial measures
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which can be devised to ameliorate the condition of the
frail women of New York and prevent them from falling
so far below humanity. Houses of assignation. Every resident of
New York is aware of the existence of houses used
especially as places for the meeting of the sexes with
(11:57):
a view to illicit intercourse. But so carefully have all
particulars respecting them been concealed from the public gaze, that
very little more than this mere fact is generally known,
particularly with reference to those of a higher grade. Secrecy
is necessary to their continuance and essential for the maintenance
(12:18):
of the social position of their patrons. The most exclusive
are generally situated in the quietest and most respectable portion
of the city. They are fitted up neatly and even luxuriously,
but without any extravagant or gaudy display. The arrangements, of course,
do not require reception or sitting rooms, and the whole
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care bestowed upon them is lavished on the bed chambers,
the appointments of which contain every possible comfort and convenience.
The keepers of this class of houses are generally very shrewd, quiet,
cautious women, who never seek to penetrate into any engagements
made by their visitors, who never know any person that
(13:04):
enters their house, and from whom it is impossible to
obtain information by any means. In fact, it has been
said that the keepers and servants around these places have
neither eyes, ears, nor tongues. Money is compessedly their object,
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and as they receive liberal pay. Self interest dictates quietness,
because if they adopted any other course, their houses would
inevitably become known to the public, which would be an
effectual barrier against visitors and result in an entire loss
of their customers. Consequently, if a liberal bribe could ever
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induce treachery, their shrewdness enables them to discern that such
an act would at once and forever close their establishment.
It will be readily under that as the intrinsic value
of these houses as places for meeting depends upon the
secrecy and selectness with which they are operated, in order
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to carry out this principle fully, arrangements are made with
much precision. Two parties are not allowed to meet casually
in the halls or staircases. The keeper maintains a strict
watch in order that ingress and egress may be free
and uninterrupted, and there can be little doubt that the
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desire to make money on her side and the fascination
of illicit passion on the part of her visitor conjointly
tend to ensure more actual secrecy than could be obtained
by any system of oaths or discipline. In some of
the most exclusive the system is carried to such an
extreme that no accommodation will be afforded to parties unless
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the gentleman has been pre obviously introduced to the proprietus,
and his character for secrecy and integrity vouched for by
some person with whom she is acquainted. This rule is
adopted to prevent the possibility of the house becoming known
as a place of assignation to anyone who might use
his knowledge to the prejudice of the keeper or her visitors.
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No public women reside in these houses, nor would they
be admitted under any pretext, as such a course would
attract attention and defeat the purpose contemplated. Many of them
are open for months without the knowledge of the neighbors
or the police of the district, as visitors very rarely
enter or leave together, and to prevent any delay, the
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outer door is generally kept unlocked, so that persons pass
immediately into the hall, where a second door with a
bell attached is generally found. The business of these houses
is done mainly during the prominent hours of Broadway, say
from eleven to twelve, two four or five o'clock. The
(16:07):
visitors are confined to the upper walks of life, the
men being of all sorts of business, and the women
exclusively from our fashionable society. If the mysterious personal advertisements
in the daily papers could be understood by the outside world,
it would be seen that appointments are not unfrequently made
through their agency. Arrangements for a meeting are generally made
(16:31):
with the keepers in advance, and at the designated time.
The parties arrive from different directions and proceed direct to
the room which has been already selected. If they wish it,
they can obtain wine or refreshments by ringing a bell
in their apartment. A majority of the females who visit
these places can scarcely be called prostitutes, notwithstanding their undeniable
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fall from virtue. They sin but with with one individual,
and that in many cases from positive affection and in
others from the desire of sexual gratification. Whatever may be
the motive, it does not concern the keeper of the house,
whose only business is to receive the rent of her room,
(17:17):
which ranges from two or three dollars upward to any
amount that policy or the desire to ensure secrecy may dictate.
Doubtless very few of the visitors regard money in their negotiations.
Females are very frequently closely veiled when they enter the house,
so that their features cannot be recognized, as has been
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illustrated in trials for divorce in this city, especially if
the prior arrangements for the meeting have been made by
the gentleman. If, on the other hand, the lady takes
the preliminary steps, she can scarcely be unknown to the
proprietus in whose keeping she consequently places her character. The
(17:58):
unsuspecting moral men of New York will scarcely credit these facts,
but men of the world know that such meetings and
places for meeting are not uncommon. It may be objected
that the exposure of these mysteries imparts information which may
lead the uninitiated into similar practices. It is believed that
the information here given is not sufficiently definite for this end,
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And certainly nothing could be farther from the design of
this work than to aid an immoral purpose. But it
is a duty to record the general facts in order
that our citizens may be aware of the dangers that
abound on every side. And particularly is it necessary because
many of the female visitors are married women who take
(18:44):
advantage of the absence of their husbands at business. A
question will arise, who are the women that keep these houses?
That they cannot have lived as common prostitutes or been
the keepers of houses of prostitutes? Is evident in the
first place, the acquaintances they would have made in either
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of those avocations would preclude the possibility of their maintaining
the unviolable secrecy necessary in a house of assignation. And again,
no female would enter a place of this description, the
keeper of which would be likely to betray her. It
is apprehended that some of these houses originate in the
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following manner. In fact, we know of more than one
that did commence. So a female engages in an intrigue
which she cannot carry out at her own residence, and,
desiring a place of security for her meetings, has an
acquaintance with some shrewd woman, possibly one who works for
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her as seamstress or in some other capacity, whom she
makes partially a confident. She tells her that she is
desirous of seeing a gentleman whom, for some particular reason,
she cannot invite to her house, and asks if she
will accommodate her with a room in which the interview
can take place. It is not likely that a person
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who felt under any obligation to her employer would refuse
such a request, especially for so simple a purpose as
a short conversation. The meeting accordingly takes place, and a
handsome present.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
Is made her.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
It is frequently repeated until she becomes suspicious and finally
satisfied that these interviews are for the purpose of sexual intercourse.
By this time it has become a question of policy
with her. She argues that if she refuses to extend
any future accommodation, she will lose not only a considerable
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income from the presence, but also all employment from the lady.
She knows that by allowing such meetings, she realizes considerably
more than she can procure by her daily labour, and
self interest is generally strong enough to overcome her scruples.
She goes on extending her accommodations and enlarging the circle
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of her visitors until she becomes mistress of a select
house of assignation, which will be always liberally patronized, so
long as her power of maintaining the requisite secrecy remains unimpeached.
Some of these women are from distant cities, entire strangers
in New York except to their immediate customers. If they
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are widows who have children, These are invariably educated away
from the house. From the privacy observed, it is very
difficult to estimate their receipts, which must be large. They
sometimes degenerate into keepers of houses of public prostitution, and
then become dangerous members of society on account of the
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secrets which have been entrusted to them. Probably some of
our ultra fashionable citizens might be enabled to give more
particulars of these houses than are here collected. What has
been stated is gathered from authentic sources and may command
implicit belief. Indeed, so trustworthy is the authority that it
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may be confidently asserted that even Fifth Avenue and Union
Square are not exempt from these resorts. Such houses must
be regarded as the connecting link between the licentious excesses
of the capitals of Europe and this city of the
New World. They are dangerous from their secrecy and exclusiveness.
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As yet they are rare, and it speaks well for
the morals of our upper classes that they are so.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
It shows that the majority of.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
People in the higher walks of life are untainted. But
the course of deterior has commenced. Will not American good
sense and American morality check this base imitation of a
foreign custom. The recently avowed sentiments, or rather the resuscitation
of sentiments which were proclaimed years ago, respecting the obligations
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of marriage and the theory of free love, have doubtless
increased the patrons of houses of assignation among our fashionable
novel reading people or weak romantic heads made giddy by
the sudden acquisition of wealth. For the last fifteen years,
a loose code of morals has been promulgated among us.
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The foreign apostles of which many of them pretending to nobility,
but being in truth mere adventurers, have visited us, and
by them, and through their influence many intrigues, have originated
a spice of romance in the American character has induced
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men to join this movement in search of adventure, while
a portion of our female society are ardent admirers of
everything foreign, be it a lord or a lace veil,
and these delights in an intrigue because it is an exotic.
The facilities of communication with Europe are now so great
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that American travel on that continent is largely on the increase,
and perhaps there are at this time in the cities
of continental Europe more representatives of our society than of
any other nation. Many of our people go there with
the laudable desire to improve their minds by general culture,
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or for the study of particular branches of science or art.
But it is to be regretted that some come back
to our shores with ideas calculated to be anything but
beneficial to their native country in a social or moral
point of view. The sons of our state and solid
men go to the capital of the French Empire to
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study medicine. Apart from the impropriety of this course, when
there are the same facilities for study here, where a
few seconds of lightning intercourse will place them in immediate
communication with their friends, instead of their being separated. Four
thousand miles from parents and guardians. Does the end justify
the means? What course do these young men frequently pursue.
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Unable to speak the language intelligibly, they resort to the
acquaintance of a grisette in order to study in her company.
The language they acquire by this means is at best
of vulgar patois. But they also obtain a knowledge of
intrigue entirely incompatible with the simplicity and purity of our
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republican institutions, a species of male and female diplomacy foreign
to the character of our people. Young ladies, too, when
they return from a foreign tour, are more fascinated with
the charms and successes of the favored mistress of some
European prince or potentate, than benefited by the useful, solid
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lessons of travel with them. As with the others, it
is all superficiality, superficial when they started superficial while traveling.
They are still more superficial when they return. There are
always weak minded people in this country who will ape
foreign manners, and to this cause must be assigned the
(26:34):
gradual approximation of our fashionable society to the vices of
the European capitals, their ladylike and gentlemanlike frailties, their genteel
peccadillos and affectations. The effects of foreign travel upon such
persons cannot be but injurious. It demands a clear head
(26:59):
and a sound heart to decide between the vicious frivolities
and the positive goods submitted to their notice and what
the class mentioned. It requires but little judgment to know
which will first attract them. They must see Lord A
or Count B. No matter what valuable opportunities for instruction
(27:22):
they miss. They must become o fe in the observances
of courts and the manners of courtiers, no matter what
else they leave undone. As remedial measures for another evil
are elsewhere spoken of, this may be an appropriate place
to suggest, for profound consideration, whether it would not be
(27:44):
a wise policy to adopt some preventative system for this evil.
We might establish a preemological and psychological bureau, armed with
full powers to examine all persons desiring to try, so
as to ascertain whether they may safely make the grand
tour and have sufficient strength of intellect and firmness of
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principle to resist the vitiating influences and examples which will
surround them there, so that they may return only with
the knowledge of the good and valuable lessons taught. But
the evils of foreign manners and customs are not imported
solely by the traveling class of our own community. The
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political turmoils of Europe in the last eight or ten
years have thrown among us numerous refugees, who have been
reared in the hot beds of intrigue, and who, styling themselves,
are teastes, depend upon our unexampled prosperity, the increase of
our wealth, the improvement of our country, and our known
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predilections for foreigners to enable them to make a living,
and also to establish the same state of morals and
manners existing in the cities whence they came. The United
States are now the great harvest field for art, which,
with science, music, and poetry, aids to improve the mind.
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At the same time, these bring with them an excessive
devotion to fashion, both in dress and manners, as the
low necked dress and the lascivious waltz, which are so
decidedly positive degenerations from our normal state that none but
the most superficial will ever copy that we are rapidly
introducing many of the most absurd follies and worst vices
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of Europe is a patent fact. Almost everyone can specify
acts now tolerated in respectable families, which, so far from
being permitted fifteen years ago, would have been thought by
our own playing common sense parents amply sufficient to warrant
the exclusion of the offender from the domestic circle. It
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is an equally conspicuous fact that our social morality is
deteriorating in a direct ratio to the introduction of these habits.
Every day makes the system of New York more like
that of the most depraved capitals of continental Europe. And
it remains for the good innate sense of the bulk
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of the American people to say how much farther we
shall proceed in this frivolous, intriguing, and despicable manner of living,
or whether they will not strive to perpetuate the scern
morality of the Puritan fathers. Our great moral safeguards so far,
and thus put an effectual barrier against the inroads of
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a torrent which must undermine our whole social fabric and
finally crush.
Speaker 2 (30:47):
Us beneath the ruins.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
The second class of acignation houses are to a great
extent private, but not so rigidly exclusive as the others.
Their furniture is of the same luxurious style, but of
a more gaudy character. Generally, the same routine is observed
in regard to entrance as in those of the first class.
(31:12):
The principal portion of the females who resort to them
are married women, most of whom are from the upper classes,
whose sexual passions are not gratified elsewhere, or who resort
to this means to obtain more money to expend in dress.
Kept mistresses residing with their lovers as husband and wife
(31:32):
in motels or boarding houses, whose attachment is not strong
enough to keep them faithful to one man. Occasionally the
best class of serving women or shopwomen, or females whose
occupations such as milliners, artificial florists, etc. Lead them into
contact with the fashionable classes. It is told on good
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authority that there are husbands cognizant of the fact that
their wives visit such places, and who live wholly or
in part upon money earned in this way. These cases
are not supposed to be numerous, but it is to
be hoped for the credit of our national character, that
the number will become still smaller. A few prostitutes of
(32:17):
the upper grades sometimes visit this class of houses. They
are known to the keeper, and she encourages them for
the following reason. An habitue of the place will make
an appointment to visit it at a specified time, and
he tells the keeper he would wish to meet a
female there at the appointed day. His wishes are gratified,
(32:39):
the keeper, having acted as negotiator with one of the
girls mentioned. More wine is consumed in these houses than
in the strictly select ones, probably from the different class
who frequent them. The third class houses of assignation are
not situated in such select parts of the city as
are the other two classes. Some of them are managed
(33:03):
with much privacy and seclusion, while others are simply houses
of public prostitution on a large scale. Their principal female
patrons are those prostitutes who have rebelled against the exorbitant
charges made by the keepers of fashionable houses, and shop
girls who resort to prostitution to augment their income. Many
(33:24):
of these live some distance uptown, and any one who
is journeying downward in the after part of the day
may see numbers of them going to these places in
the cars and stages. This is another imitation of French
and English systems. Very little disguise is attempted about these
third class houses. Each has a parlor or reception room,
(33:46):
where a man can have a bottle of wine, and
one or two of the girls named will join him.
Of course, many couples visit there, but a large number
of men go alone, knowing that there are always women
in the house. Vast young men about town are in
the habit of keeping their mistresses at these houses, as
(34:06):
more economical than boarding with them at hotels. Considerable disease
is propagated in such places, a contingency from which the
first and second classes are almost entirely exempt. Business is
generally over here in three or four hours, commencing in
(34:27):
the dusk of the evening, but it is unquestionably a
source of considerable revenue to the keeper, particularly in those
cases where she acts as procuras, since in addition to
the rent of the room which the man pays, she
always receives a present from the woman. There is another,
or fourth class of vassignation houses, to which the commonest
(34:50):
portion of street walkers take their company, and these may
be emphatically described by an old saying cheap and nas
dirty and insufficient accommodations are the equivalent for low prices,
and such places are, in the general estimation of connoisseurs, very.
Speaker 2 (35:12):
Low and despicable.
Speaker 1 (35:14):
Notwithstanding this, they thrive and multiply, from which it may
safely be inferred that they are profitable in a business
point of view. Repulsive as they may be in their
features and arrangements, some of them are ingeniously arranged with
a view to robbery, and are called panel houses. The
(35:35):
plan adopted is somewhat as follows. Some man, generally a
countryman not very well informed in the tricks of the metropolis,
meets with a prostitute and agrees to accompany her to
an assignation house.
Speaker 2 (35:49):
She is in.
Speaker 1 (35:50):
League with the panel thieves, and therefore introduces her victim
to one of their rooms. The apartment seldom contains more
furniture than a bed and a chair or lounge, with
the floor covered with a thick carpet. To make assurance
doubly sure, the man himself locks the door by which
(36:11):
he enters, and when undressing, naturally throws his clothes upon
the chair or lounge. The bedstead is placed so that
the feet come toward the only apparent door in the room,
with one side against the wall and the head and
the other side hung with curtains, which the woman carefully
(36:31):
draws as soon as the man lies down by her
side at the head of the bed, and of course
concealed by the drapery from anyone occupying it. Is another
door which forms the secret entrance. It is so adroitly
arranged and so neatly covered with paper the same as
the walls, that no one would suspect its existence. The
(36:53):
hinges and fastening on the outside are oiled so that
no noise can be perceived when it is opened, and
the operator steals with catlike step over the carpet and
quietly examines the clothes without alarming the unsuspecting stranger. The
thief completes his inspection, appropriates as much as he thinks proper,
(37:14):
and the temporary occupant of the apartment resumes his clothes
and prepares to leave if his suspicions are excited by
the circumstance that his wallet looks less plethoric than it did,
And then examination reveals that some of its contents are missing,
he knows not how to account for it. He is
(37:35):
perfectly certain that no one has entered that room while
he was there, and if he has visited much before
meeting the girl, he concludes that he must have lost
some of his money in his career, and that the
only way is to take the laws contentedly and avoid
New York fascinations in the future. Sometimes the loser has
(37:55):
not enough philosophy for this, and if he can be
certain that his money right when he entered the room,
we'll call the police and thus expose the secret arrangements
of the establishment. This is comparatively a rare case, as
most men would rather submit to a pecuniary loss than
encounter the trouble and exposure attending a criminal prosecution, and
(38:18):
the knowledge of this reluctance enables the panel.
Speaker 2 (38:21):
Thieves to pursue their operations almost with impunity.
Speaker 1 (38:27):
End of fifty four recording by Mina Anderson
Section fifty four of the History of Prostitution. This is
a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
Recording by Mina Anderson. The History of Prostitution by William Sanger,
(00:22):
Section fifty four, Chapter thirty five, New York Prostitutes and
Houses of Prostitution, Part two. Leaving the Germans of the
First District, the reader's attention will now be asked to
the Brothels of the fourth Police District. Here the principal
part of the women are of Irish parentage. Some few
(00:45):
are natives of the United States. The greater part of
the visitors are sailors. When a succession of storms which
have driven homeward bound vessels off the coast, is followed
by a fair wind so as to allow them to
enter the harbor and large numbers, these houses are crowded,
and for a few days or while the sailors his
(01:07):
wages last, a very extensive business is carried on the barroom,
as in the case of the German houses, is the
reception room, and here may be seen at almost any
hour of the day a number of weather beaten sailors,
verifying the truth of the old proverb, which says they
(01:27):
resemble two distinct animals in earning and spending their money.
It matters not who it may be, but anyone who
enters the room is almost sure to be asked to
take a drink immediately, and if he remains in less
than five minutes, somebody else will ask him to take another.
(01:47):
A sailor with cash in his pocket has a decided
antipathy to drinking alone, and generally invites everyone in the room,
male and female, to bartake with him. By such a course,
he veries soon and gets intoxicated when the girl whom
he has honored with his special attention, convoys him to
bed and leaves him there to sleep himself sober. In
(02:09):
these houses, less neatness is observable than in those just noticed,
but they have entirely a different class of customers. A German,
in the midst of his pleasures likes to see everything
neat and orderly about him. A sailor is not particular,
so that his pleasures are unobstructed. A curious observer also
(02:31):
does not meet with the same civility. If he comes
to spend money, he is welcome. If not, the landlord
does not care about his company. Considerable card playing is practiced,
not what may be termed gambling, but for amusement, the
stakes being seldom more than intoxicating drinks for the players.
(02:53):
There is less noisy rowdyism than might be expected, since
the men who generally cause such disturbances lack the courage
to impose upon a crowd of hard fisted sailors who
are always able and willing to take their own part
and resent any interference. Still, occasional quarrels occur among the
(03:13):
visitors themselves, frequently resulting in a pitched battle. The landlord
is then called for, and his knowledge of his customers
enables him speedily to discover the aggressor, who always happens
to be the man that has the least money, and
he is fourthwind pushed into the street without any ceremony,
as a kind of peace offering to the rest of
(03:35):
the company. The landlord is a character in his way.
He is a man who has been to see himself,
for no one would be deemed fit to keep a
house where sailors resort, and is usually a large, powerful
man by a freemasonry of the craft, and by freely
joining his visitors whenever they ask him to drink, and
(03:56):
occasionally treating them in return, he is sure of their
custom until their wages are all spent and they are
obliged to go to sea again. The women in these
houses use liquor very freely, but they are not permitted
to get drunk in the daytime. If the landlord observes
any symptom of intoxication, he gives them water instead of
(04:19):
gin the next time they are asked to drink, as
he knows very well his prospects for business would be
injured unless the girls were kept sufficiently sober to be
on the watch for contingencies, or, as he praises it,
to look out for chances. In some of these houses
it is the rule that all the money received by
(04:39):
the girls is to be given to the landlord, who
provides them with clothing and necessaries. But in others a
fixed rate of board six or eight dollars a week
is paid and the women retain the surplus. In either case,
it is a very probable business, particularly where many girls
are kept. In one house that we visited in the
(05:02):
fourth district, the keeper informed us that his expenses amounted
to about one hundred and fifty dollars weekly, and of
course some estimate can be made from this as to
the amount of business he transacted. The dancing saloons in
this neighborhood are not conducted on the platonic principles of
the Germans. They are, in fact so many accessories to
(05:24):
prostitution and many scenes their witness will not permit description.
The women residing in the house are there dressed in
the most tawdry finery. They can command, many of them
assuming the bloomer costume. The band consists of a violin,
a banjo, and a tambourine, and whatever is wanting in
(05:45):
musical ability is adequately supplied by vigorous execution. The bar
is very liberally patronized, and before midnight drunkenness is the rule,
and sobriety the exception. Passing now to the fourth of
this vice, we find prostitution in a most repulsive form,
the women themselves diseased and dirty, the houses redolent of
(06:09):
bad rum. The prostitutes are the refuse of the other
classes who have fallen through the successive gradations on account
of disease and drunkenness. Or they are some of those
children of iniquity, who born in scenes of vice and
squalid misery, know nothing of a virtuous or happy course
(06:31):
of life.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Destiny seems from.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Their birth to have intended them for vagrance, and has
planted them so low in the moral scale that they
can scarcely hope to rise. It would be useless to
attempt to specification of the localities of these houses.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Anyone who has.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
Been through the prelus of New York City must have
observed some of them, and it will be quite sufficient
to glance at a few of their peculiarities. They are
generally kept by an old prostitute, who gathers around her
some of the most debased of her class. Takes a
cheap basement wherever she can obtain possession of one suited
(07:11):
to her purpose, erects a small bar furnished with three
or four bottles of the commonest liquor. She can procure
partitions off one or two small hovels of bedrooms, and
forthwith begins housekeeping. Her arrangements are about as extensive as
her preparations. She seldom professes to board the girls, generally
(07:34):
making a charge for every visitor. They entertain and giving
them the privilege of cooking anything they want. These dens
are largely patronized by the violist of the male sex,
the petty thieves who hang around the public markets stealing
from the wagons, or who haunt the doors of grocery
(07:54):
stores and abstract whatever they can reach as they find
them convenient place of concealment, and can frequently dispose of
their booty by means of the women. Another class of
visitors consists of the lowest order of rowdies, who assume
a free license to perpetuate any mischief they please, because
(08:15):
there is no one to interfere with them. A fatal
case of this nature, which occurred but a few months since,
will be fresh in the recollection of all citizens. It
is dangerous for a stranger to enter a place of
this description, for if he does not get his pocket
picked by the one, he will most probably be assaulted
(08:36):
by the other class of visitors. Upon such establishments, the
police are compelled to keep a watchful eye, and although
they have no power to enter them, except some actual
necessity calls for their service, yet they frequently induce a
neighbor to make a complaint against the keepers from maintaining
a disorderly house, and then duly armed with a warrant,
(09:00):
they enter and arrest every one found on the premises.
The finale of such an experiment at housekeeping, as this
is very frequently a commitment for vagrancy to Blackwell's Island.
The character of the place will be a sufficient proof
that syphilis abounds there, and its dangers must be added
(09:21):
to those already enumerated. The divisions thus made are presumed
to be accurate as far as the distinctive characters of
the various grades are concerned, But the lines of demarcation
are of course arbitrary. Any attempt to classify so large
a social evil must, from its very nature, be incomplete,
(09:43):
and in this case, farther experience or a more extended
inquiry would very probably warrant an alteration in the arrangement.
But there is another class of whom a few words
must be said, namely those truly wretched beings, the outcasts
of the outcasts, in many cases destitute of home or shelter, diseased, starving,
(10:08):
and afflicted with an insatiable thirst for ardent spirits, they
present most ghastly and heartrending spectacles retaining scarcely any vestiges
of humanity. These wretched beings can be found clustered round
the bars of liquor stores in low neighborhoods, begging for
(10:28):
the price of a glass of gin. Much of their
time is spent in the prisons on Blackwell's Island, from
which they are no sooner released than they return to
their old haunts and habits. They can scarcely be called prostitutes,
for their aspect is so disgustingly hideous that all feminine
(10:50):
characteristics are blotted out and thoroughly sensual and animalized. Must
he be who could accept their favors. They are, in
every sense of the world outcasts, compelled for the short
time they may be in the city, and this is
seldom more than a few days at once, to eke
out a wretched existence by stealing or begging, frequently so
(11:13):
miserable that they gladly hail the day on which they
are returned to prison. They present subjects for mournful consideration,
and the reflection that they are experiencing the degradation to
which every prostitute in the city is rapidly tending, should
be a powerful argument in favor of any remedial measures
(11:34):
which can be devised to ameliorate the condition of the
frail women of New York and prevent them from falling
so far below humanity. Houses of assignation. Every resident of
New York is aware of the existence of houses used
especially as places for the meeting of the sexes with
(11:57):
a view to illicit intercourse. But so carefully have all
particulars respecting them been concealed from the public gaze, that
very little more than this mere fact is generally known,
particularly with reference to those of a higher grade. Secrecy
is necessary to their continuance and essential for the maintenance
(12:18):
of the social position of their patrons. The most exclusive
are generally situated in the quietest and most respectable portion
of the city. They are fitted up neatly and even luxuriously,
but without any extravagant or gaudy display. The arrangements, of course,
do not require reception or sitting rooms, and the whole
(12:41):
care bestowed upon them is lavished on the bed chambers,
the appointments of which contain every possible comfort and convenience.
The keepers of this class of houses are generally very shrewd, quiet,
cautious women, who never seek to penetrate into any engagements
made by their visitors, who never know any person that
(13:04):
enters their house, and from whom it is impossible to
obtain information by any means. In fact, it has been
said that the keepers and servants around these places have
neither eyes, ears, nor tongues. Money is compessedly their object,
(13:27):
and as they receive liberal pay. Self interest dictates quietness,
because if they adopted any other course, their houses would
inevitably become known to the public, which would be an
effectual barrier against visitors and result in an entire loss
of their customers. Consequently, if a liberal bribe could ever
(13:49):
induce treachery, their shrewdness enables them to discern that such
an act would at once and forever close their establishment.
It will be readily under that as the intrinsic value
of these houses as places for meeting depends upon the
secrecy and selectness with which they are operated, in order
(14:12):
to carry out this principle fully, arrangements are made with
much precision. Two parties are not allowed to meet casually
in the halls or staircases. The keeper maintains a strict
watch in order that ingress and egress may be free
and uninterrupted, and there can be little doubt that the
(14:34):
desire to make money on her side and the fascination
of illicit passion on the part of her visitor conjointly
tend to ensure more actual secrecy than could be obtained
by any system of oaths or discipline. In some of
the most exclusive the system is carried to such an
extreme that no accommodation will be afforded to parties unless
(14:58):
the gentleman has been pre obviously introduced to the proprietus,
and his character for secrecy and integrity vouched for by
some person with whom she is acquainted. This rule is
adopted to prevent the possibility of the house becoming known
as a place of assignation to anyone who might use
his knowledge to the prejudice of the keeper or her visitors.
(15:22):
No public women reside in these houses, nor would they
be admitted under any pretext, as such a course would
attract attention and defeat the purpose contemplated. Many of them
are open for months without the knowledge of the neighbors
or the police of the district, as visitors very rarely
enter or leave together, and to prevent any delay, the
(15:45):
outer door is generally kept unlocked, so that persons pass
immediately into the hall, where a second door with a
bell attached is generally found. The business of these houses
is done mainly during the prominent hours of Broadway, say
from eleven to twelve, two four or five o'clock. The
(16:07):
visitors are confined to the upper walks of life, the
men being of all sorts of business, and the women
exclusively from our fashionable society. If the mysterious personal advertisements
in the daily papers could be understood by the outside world,
it would be seen that appointments are not unfrequently made
through their agency. Arrangements for a meeting are generally made
(16:31):
with the keepers in advance, and at the designated time.
The parties arrive from different directions and proceed direct to
the room which has been already selected. If they wish it,
they can obtain wine or refreshments by ringing a bell
in their apartment. A majority of the females who visit
these places can scarcely be called prostitutes, notwithstanding their undeniable
(16:56):
fall from virtue. They sin but with with one individual,
and that in many cases from positive affection and in
others from the desire of sexual gratification. Whatever may be
the motive, it does not concern the keeper of the house,
whose only business is to receive the rent of her room,
(17:17):
which ranges from two or three dollars upward to any
amount that policy or the desire to ensure secrecy may dictate.
Doubtless very few of the visitors regard money in their negotiations.
Females are very frequently closely veiled when they enter the house,
so that their features cannot be recognized, as has been
(17:38):
illustrated in trials for divorce in this city, especially if
the prior arrangements for the meeting have been made by
the gentleman. If, on the other hand, the lady takes
the preliminary steps, she can scarcely be unknown to the
proprietus in whose keeping she consequently places her character. The
(17:58):
unsuspecting moral men of New York will scarcely credit these facts,
but men of the world know that such meetings and
places for meeting are not uncommon. It may be objected
that the exposure of these mysteries imparts information which may
lead the uninitiated into similar practices. It is believed that
the information here given is not sufficiently definite for this end,
(18:23):
And certainly nothing could be farther from the design of
this work than to aid an immoral purpose. But it
is a duty to record the general facts in order
that our citizens may be aware of the dangers that
abound on every side. And particularly is it necessary because
many of the female visitors are married women who take
(18:44):
advantage of the absence of their husbands at business. A
question will arise, who are the women that keep these houses?
That they cannot have lived as common prostitutes or been
the keepers of houses of prostitutes? Is evident in the
first place, the acquaintances they would have made in either
(19:05):
of those avocations would preclude the possibility of their maintaining
the unviolable secrecy necessary in a house of assignation. And again,
no female would enter a place of this description, the
keeper of which would be likely to betray her. It
is apprehended that some of these houses originate in the
(19:27):
following manner. In fact, we know of more than one
that did commence. So a female engages in an intrigue
which she cannot carry out at her own residence, and,
desiring a place of security for her meetings, has an
acquaintance with some shrewd woman, possibly one who works for
(19:51):
her as seamstress or in some other capacity, whom she
makes partially a confident. She tells her that she is
desirous of seeing a gentleman whom, for some particular reason,
she cannot invite to her house, and asks if she
will accommodate her with a room in which the interview
can take place. It is not likely that a person
(20:14):
who felt under any obligation to her employer would refuse
such a request, especially for so simple a purpose as
a short conversation. The meeting accordingly takes place, and a
handsome present.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
Is made her.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
It is frequently repeated until she becomes suspicious and finally
satisfied that these interviews are for the purpose of sexual intercourse.
By this time it has become a question of policy
with her. She argues that if she refuses to extend
any future accommodation, she will lose not only a considerable
(20:51):
income from the presence, but also all employment from the lady.
She knows that by allowing such meetings, she realizes considerably
more than she can procure by her daily labour, and
self interest is generally strong enough to overcome her scruples.
She goes on extending her accommodations and enlarging the circle
(21:12):
of her visitors until she becomes mistress of a select
house of assignation, which will be always liberally patronized, so
long as her power of maintaining the requisite secrecy remains unimpeached.
Some of these women are from distant cities, entire strangers
in New York except to their immediate customers. If they
(21:36):
are widows who have children, These are invariably educated away
from the house. From the privacy observed, it is very
difficult to estimate their receipts, which must be large. They
sometimes degenerate into keepers of houses of public prostitution, and
then become dangerous members of society on account of the
(21:59):
secrets which have been entrusted to them. Probably some of
our ultra fashionable citizens might be enabled to give more
particulars of these houses than are here collected. What has
been stated is gathered from authentic sources and may command
implicit belief. Indeed, so trustworthy is the authority that it
(22:23):
may be confidently asserted that even Fifth Avenue and Union
Square are not exempt from these resorts. Such houses must
be regarded as the connecting link between the licentious excesses
of the capitals of Europe and this city of the
New World. They are dangerous from their secrecy and exclusiveness.
(22:45):
As yet they are rare, and it speaks well for
the morals of our upper classes that they are so.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
It shows that the majority of.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
People in the higher walks of life are untainted. But
the course of deterior has commenced. Will not American good
sense and American morality check this base imitation of a
foreign custom. The recently avowed sentiments, or rather the resuscitation
of sentiments which were proclaimed years ago, respecting the obligations
(23:17):
of marriage and the theory of free love, have doubtless
increased the patrons of houses of assignation among our fashionable
novel reading people or weak romantic heads made giddy by
the sudden acquisition of wealth. For the last fifteen years,
a loose code of morals has been promulgated among us.
(23:39):
The foreign apostles of which many of them pretending to nobility,
but being in truth mere adventurers, have visited us, and
by them, and through their influence many intrigues, have originated
a spice of romance in the American character has induced
(23:59):
men to join this movement in search of adventure, while
a portion of our female society are ardent admirers of
everything foreign, be it a lord or a lace veil,
and these delights in an intrigue because it is an exotic.
The facilities of communication with Europe are now so great
(24:21):
that American travel on that continent is largely on the increase,
and perhaps there are at this time in the cities
of continental Europe more representatives of our society than of
any other nation. Many of our people go there with
the laudable desire to improve their minds by general culture,
(24:41):
or for the study of particular branches of science or art.
But it is to be regretted that some come back
to our shores with ideas calculated to be anything but
beneficial to their native country in a social or moral
point of view. The sons of our state and solid
men go to the capital of the French Empire to
(25:01):
study medicine. Apart from the impropriety of this course, when
there are the same facilities for study here, where a
few seconds of lightning intercourse will place them in immediate
communication with their friends, instead of their being separated. Four
thousand miles from parents and guardians. Does the end justify
the means? What course do these young men frequently pursue.
(25:27):
Unable to speak the language intelligibly, they resort to the
acquaintance of a grisette in order to study in her company.
The language they acquire by this means is at best
of vulgar patois. But they also obtain a knowledge of
intrigue entirely incompatible with the simplicity and purity of our
(25:48):
republican institutions, a species of male and female diplomacy foreign
to the character of our people. Young ladies, too, when
they return from a foreign tour, are more fascinated with
the charms and successes of the favored mistress of some
European prince or potentate, than benefited by the useful, solid
(26:11):
lessons of travel with them. As with the others, it
is all superficiality, superficial when they started superficial while traveling.
They are still more superficial when they return. There are
always weak minded people in this country who will ape
foreign manners, and to this cause must be assigned the
(26:34):
gradual approximation of our fashionable society to the vices of
the European capitals, their ladylike and gentlemanlike frailties, their genteel
peccadillos and affectations. The effects of foreign travel upon such
persons cannot be but injurious. It demands a clear head
(26:59):
and a sound heart to decide between the vicious frivolities
and the positive goods submitted to their notice and what
the class mentioned. It requires but little judgment to know
which will first attract them. They must see Lord A
or Count B. No matter what valuable opportunities for instruction
(27:22):
they miss. They must become o fe in the observances
of courts and the manners of courtiers, no matter what
else they leave undone. As remedial measures for another evil
are elsewhere spoken of, this may be an appropriate place
to suggest, for profound consideration, whether it would not be
(27:44):
a wise policy to adopt some preventative system for this evil.
We might establish a preemological and psychological bureau, armed with
full powers to examine all persons desiring to try, so
as to ascertain whether they may safely make the grand
tour and have sufficient strength of intellect and firmness of
(28:08):
principle to resist the vitiating influences and examples which will
surround them there, so that they may return only with
the knowledge of the good and valuable lessons taught. But
the evils of foreign manners and customs are not imported
solely by the traveling class of our own community. The
(28:30):
political turmoils of Europe in the last eight or ten
years have thrown among us numerous refugees, who have been
reared in the hot beds of intrigue, and who, styling themselves,
are teastes, depend upon our unexampled prosperity, the increase of
our wealth, the improvement of our country, and our known
(28:53):
predilections for foreigners to enable them to make a living,
and also to establish the same state of morals and
manners existing in the cities whence they came. The United
States are now the great harvest field for art, which,
with science, music, and poetry, aids to improve the mind.
(29:14):
At the same time, these bring with them an excessive
devotion to fashion, both in dress and manners, as the
low necked dress and the lascivious waltz, which are so
decidedly positive degenerations from our normal state that none but
the most superficial will ever copy that we are rapidly
introducing many of the most absurd follies and worst vices
(29:37):
of Europe is a patent fact. Almost everyone can specify
acts now tolerated in respectable families, which, so far from
being permitted fifteen years ago, would have been thought by
our own playing common sense parents amply sufficient to warrant
the exclusion of the offender from the domestic circle. It
(30:00):
is an equally conspicuous fact that our social morality is
deteriorating in a direct ratio to the introduction of these habits.
Every day makes the system of New York more like
that of the most depraved capitals of continental Europe. And
it remains for the good innate sense of the bulk
(30:20):
of the American people to say how much farther we
shall proceed in this frivolous, intriguing, and despicable manner of living,
or whether they will not strive to perpetuate the scern
morality of the Puritan fathers. Our great moral safeguards so far,
and thus put an effectual barrier against the inroads of
(30:42):
a torrent which must undermine our whole social fabric and
finally crush.
Speaker 2 (30:47):
Us beneath the ruins.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
The second class of acignation houses are to a great
extent private, but not so rigidly exclusive as the others.
Their furniture is of the same luxurious style, but of
a more gaudy character. Generally, the same routine is observed
in regard to entrance as in those of the first class.
(31:12):
The principal portion of the females who resort to them
are married women, most of whom are from the upper classes,
whose sexual passions are not gratified elsewhere, or who resort
to this means to obtain more money to expend in dress.
Kept mistresses residing with their lovers as husband and wife
(31:32):
in motels or boarding houses, whose attachment is not strong
enough to keep them faithful to one man. Occasionally the
best class of serving women or shopwomen, or females whose
occupations such as milliners, artificial florists, etc. Lead them into
contact with the fashionable classes. It is told on good
(31:55):
authority that there are husbands cognizant of the fact that
their wives visit such places, and who live wholly or
in part upon money earned in this way. These cases
are not supposed to be numerous, but it is to
be hoped for the credit of our national character, that
the number will become still smaller. A few prostitutes of
(32:17):
the upper grades sometimes visit this class of houses. They
are known to the keeper, and she encourages them for
the following reason. An habitue of the place will make
an appointment to visit it at a specified time, and
he tells the keeper he would wish to meet a
female there at the appointed day. His wishes are gratified,
(32:39):
the keeper, having acted as negotiator with one of the
girls mentioned. More wine is consumed in these houses than
in the strictly select ones, probably from the different class
who frequent them. The third class houses of assignation are
not situated in such select parts of the city as
are the other two classes. Some of them are managed
(33:03):
with much privacy and seclusion, while others are simply houses
of public prostitution on a large scale. Their principal female
patrons are those prostitutes who have rebelled against the exorbitant
charges made by the keepers of fashionable houses, and shop
girls who resort to prostitution to augment their income. Many
(33:24):
of these live some distance uptown, and any one who
is journeying downward in the after part of the day
may see numbers of them going to these places in
the cars and stages. This is another imitation of French
and English systems. Very little disguise is attempted about these
third class houses. Each has a parlor or reception room,
(33:46):
where a man can have a bottle of wine, and
one or two of the girls named will join him.
Of course, many couples visit there, but a large number
of men go alone, knowing that there are always women
in the house. Vast young men about town are in
the habit of keeping their mistresses at these houses, as
(34:06):
more economical than boarding with them at hotels. Considerable disease
is propagated in such places, a contingency from which the
first and second classes are almost entirely exempt. Business is
generally over here in three or four hours, commencing in
(34:27):
the dusk of the evening, but it is unquestionably a
source of considerable revenue to the keeper, particularly in those
cases where she acts as procuras, since in addition to
the rent of the room which the man pays, she
always receives a present from the woman. There is another,
or fourth class of vassignation houses, to which the commonest
(34:50):
portion of street walkers take their company, and these may
be emphatically described by an old saying cheap and nas
dirty and insufficient accommodations are the equivalent for low prices,
and such places are, in the general estimation of connoisseurs, very.
Speaker 2 (35:12):
Low and despicable.
Speaker 1 (35:14):
Notwithstanding this, they thrive and multiply, from which it may
safely be inferred that they are profitable in a business
point of view. Repulsive as they may be in their
features and arrangements, some of them are ingeniously arranged with
a view to robbery, and are called panel houses. The
(35:35):
plan adopted is somewhat as follows. Some man, generally a
countryman not very well informed in the tricks of the metropolis,
meets with a prostitute and agrees to accompany her to
an assignation house.
Speaker 2 (35:49):
She is in.
Speaker 1 (35:50):
League with the panel thieves, and therefore introduces her victim
to one of their rooms. The apartment seldom contains more
furniture than a bed and a chair or lounge, with
the floor covered with a thick carpet. To make assurance
doubly sure, the man himself locks the door by which
(36:11):
he enters, and when undressing, naturally throws his clothes upon
the chair or lounge. The bedstead is placed so that
the feet come toward the only apparent door in the room,
with one side against the wall and the head and
the other side hung with curtains, which the woman carefully
(36:31):
draws as soon as the man lies down by her
side at the head of the bed, and of course
concealed by the drapery from anyone occupying it. Is another
door which forms the secret entrance. It is so adroitly
arranged and so neatly covered with paper the same as
the walls, that no one would suspect its existence. The
(36:53):
hinges and fastening on the outside are oiled so that
no noise can be perceived when it is opened, and
the operator steals with catlike step over the carpet and
quietly examines the clothes without alarming the unsuspecting stranger. The
thief completes his inspection, appropriates as much as he thinks proper,
(37:14):
and the temporary occupant of the apartment resumes his clothes
and prepares to leave if his suspicions are excited by
the circumstance that his wallet looks less plethoric than it did,
And then examination reveals that some of its contents are missing,
he knows not how to account for it. He is
(37:35):
perfectly certain that no one has entered that room while
he was there, and if he has visited much before
meeting the girl, he concludes that he must have lost
some of his money in his career, and that the
only way is to take the laws contentedly and avoid
New York fascinations in the future. Sometimes the loser has
(37:55):
not enough philosophy for this, and if he can be
certain that his money right when he entered the room,
we'll call the police and thus expose the secret arrangements
of the establishment. This is comparatively a rare case, as
most men would rather submit to a pecuniary loss than
encounter the trouble and exposure attending a criminal prosecution, and
(38:18):
the knowledge of this reluctance enables the panel.
Speaker 2 (38:21):
Thieves to pursue their operations almost with impunity.
Speaker 1 (38:27):
End of fifty four recording by Mina Anderson
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