CRIME AMONG WOMEN
(1) The Social Evil in New York
The two great causes of crime among girls and women in general are
immorality and strong drink. Many others might be enumerated, but that
would be entirely unnecessary. Nor is it too much to say that social
vice has attained the proportions of a plague in this and many other of
our American cities, and thousands of girls, native as well as foreign,
whose lives were once promising and full of hope, have been blasted and
blighted by this terrible evil.
In a great city like New York there is a reason why this great evil
meets us on all the thoroughfares. Within a few miles of Manhattan
Island may be found naval and military depots, where large numbers of
unmarried men congregate. Added to this we must count the men employed
in the shipping interests, as New York is perhaps the greatest
sea-faring town on the continent, and besides the many thousands of
immigrants that come here every year, and, last of all, the yearly
arrival of twenty to thirty thousand young men and women from rural
homes, seeking employment in the great city.
But the causes of prostitution or social vice are varied. In the fall of
the year large numbers of young girls come to the city in search of
employment. This is often the most trying period in their lives. If they
happen to find work, all is well; but if not or even after they have
been thrown out of employment, or when pinched for money to buy dress or
pay living expenses, they go out on the street, it means their ruin. The
temptations in the way of friendless girls in a great city are so
numerous that unless they are surrounded and even fortified by moral and
religious influences, they readily succumb to the forces of evil within
six months after their arrival. I have been informed on good authority
that certain men are continually on the lookout for such girls, and
after the first or second introduction, use a ticket to the playhouse
and a late supper, or a piece of money or jewelry to bring about their
ruin. Men who have finally landed in prison have boasted of having
seduced ten to twenty such girls within a few years.
The modest amount of salary that ordinary girls receive in wages does
not admit of their saving anything for a dull season. As a result
hundreds of girls yield readily to evil influences and are soon borne
down the swift currents of temptation into shame and ruin; and when they
find themselves shunned by old friends, many of them end their days by
suicide.
In the Tombs and district prisons may be seen almost daily large numbers
of women who have been taken from the street or from “dives” and other
dens of iniquity after the police have raided such places. After a few
years the prostitute becomes a repulsive, degraded and besotted specimen
of humanity and sometimes a hardened criminal. Nemesis follows the
unfortunate and unhappy female till she ends her days in the Potter’s
Field. It is indeed sad to chronicle these things, but they are
nevertheless true.
We must not forget that women are naturally of a finer temperament than
men, and are therefore more susceptible to the influences of the evil
one. Young girls seem kinder, more gentle, more accessible to appeals
made by the sterner sex, and as a rule, are more easily caught in the
“traps” set for them by human degenerates. Some women love dress and
jewelry passionately. And many of them will do anything to secure them.
If they are employed in stores, offices or factories, and they appeal to
the foreman for an increase of wages, he may inform them that Miss
So-and-So gets along on the same salary, but he offers to introduce them
to male friends, who will aid them financially, but who often prove to
be their ruin.
The Cadet System
In police parlance the “Cadet system” is the application of modern
methods in fostering and promoting the work of a procurer who secures
victims for the brothel. The system goes back to the days of Greek and
Roman degeneracy. But we are dealing at the present time, not with
European or even Asiatic conditions, but with New York at the beginning
of the twentieth century.
How the term “Cadet” originated is hard to tell, as there seems to be no
connection between a young man who is being educated for the military
service and the man who provides for the sensual gratification of the
abandoned herd.
The most guarded estimate of the number of prostitutions in Greater New
York is put down at 70,000, yet there is no accurate information on the
subject.
It is the opinion of good authorities that the Raines Law has done more
to make the life of the prostitute and her male sensualist respectable
in New York than any other ten causes. A large number of the saloons
that go under that name are classed by keen observers as brothels of the
worst kind. The Raines-Law-saloon-hotel gives a cloak of
quasi-respectability to the brothel and makes prostitution attractive
and profitable, and the rumseller for a small fee condones the crime
against the sexes.
Frequently the city Cadet goes into another state, like Pennsylvania or
Maryland, and advertising in some local paper for girls to work in a
hotel or factory, he offers good wages and is willing to pay all
expenses to the city. The result is that he has a dozen applications out
of which he selects five or six of the most attractive ones. After he
reaches the city, they are turned over to human devils and afterwards
sold to brothel keepers at prices varying from $100 to $200 each.
New York has still a large number of these disorderly houses which
contain from five to twenty girls. The proprietors call them boarding
houses, but their right name is brothel. Under cover of night these
women go out on the street and when they find a victim, take him to the
brothel where he is robbed and then kicked on the sidewalk.
A few years ago the city “Cadet” became so bold in his business that the
Legislature increased the penalty attached to the crime of abduction by
making it ten years instead of five in state prison and a thousand
dollars fine. Respectable girls between the ages of fifteen and twenty
were often induced to leave home and come to New York from rural
settlements, only to find on their arrival that they were grossly
deceived by these lying scoundrels.
Some time ago Annie Bolt, a Brooklyn girl, was rescued from a wretched
den on East Thirteenth Street, Manhattan, by Brooklyn officers. The girl
had been lured from her home weeks before, by a young man who gave his
name as Abe Krinkoe. He gave her to understand that he was taking her to
a braid factory in New York. Krinkoe was afterwards arrested and
indicted on a charge of abduction.
Once in this house of prostitution, Annie’s clothing was taken away, and
she was told that if she attempted to escape she would be killed. She
managed, however, to drop a letter to the sidewalk, addressed to her
mother, telling of her plight. Some one picked it up and mailed it and
her rescue followed.
Not long since a woman who labors among these unfortunates on the West
Side informed me that one night she counted no less than thirty-six
girls taken to a large brown stone house in a fashionable part of the
city by a few procurers or cadets. When they crossed the threshold of
that house, they were actually sold into slavery. Their clothes was
taken from them and they were kept indoors and almost nude for a whole
year. Afterwards they were turned loose in the cold blasts of winter to
make room for others, such as they were once, pure girls.
The only way to rid the city of prostitution is to make it a criminal
offence for both male and female and cease condoning it as a human
infirmity!
In a short time these poor creatures are themselves abandoned, deserted,
avoided, and even loathed by those who once held them in high
estimation, and as they are unknown and friendless in the great city,
they have no alternative left but to become the instruments of
immorality to others or die in despair.
After a few years, if these girls are not sent to Auburn prison for a
long term, they become Police Court habitues. They are frequently
arrested for intoxication, disorderly conduct or soliciting on the
street. When they come to the Tombs they present a shocking
appearance—with bleared eyes, bloated face, disheveled hair and soiled
clothing—having lost the sense of womanly shame.
I have often spoken to them—always kindly—and have seen the tears start
in their eyes as I have asked after their mothers. They appear callous
on every other subject, but here I have always touched a tender chord.
Many of these girls have informed me that they are in the business for
the money and the dress that are in it; and they do not want to reform.
In the corridor of the Women’s prison at the Tombs they talk and often
fight among themselves. How shocking their obscenity, oaths,
imprecations—the very language of hell. Some of these women have been in
prison for short terms as often as fifty or a hundred times. Many
prostitutes are frequently arrested for robbery, but as a rule escape,
as the degenerate complainant seldom appears against them. They swing
with pendulum regularity from a brief imprisonment to liberty, till they
end their days as a river suicide.
More than once I have gone through Chinatown at midnight in company with
a ward detective where I could see for myself, under the glare of the
electric light, some of the frightful aspects of prostitution.
There is said to be from one thousand to five thousand Celestials in
Chinatown. Nearly every one has a white girl with whom he lives.
They occupy from one to three small rooms, but many of them have only
one room where they live, eat and sleep. The girls who live with
Chinamen seem to have a terrible fascination for such a life, for no
matter how often the police raid the place and send them to prison, they
are soon back again at the old life.
Many of these girls come from respectable families, as I know from
investigations which I have personally made. After a couple of years of
such life, the Chinaman abandons his paramour and flees to parts
unknown. It is most difficult to locate a Chinaman as it is impossible
to identify him. When he returns again it is with a new—fresh—girl as a
mistress. The abandoned one after a few days takes to the street, or
swallows carbolic acid.
Two sisters, once known as respectable girls, but who always refused to
disclose their identity, informed a friend of mine that their father was
a country preacher. They lived with Chinamen for several years. I knew
another girl who ran away from a respectable Brooklyn home to lead an
immoral life with a Chinaman. Nor is this at all uncommon. Whatever
fascination there is about it, it invariably ends in disgrace, and
finally in the dark waters of the river or Potter’s Field.
Recently Police Captain Galvin, who was appointed to the command of the
Elizabeth Street Station, which is known in Police parlance as the
“Bloody Sixth,” by Commissioner Bingham, has driven out of Chinatown
between two and three hundred white girls, the mistresses of Chinamen.
This is a feat performed by no other policeman in the history of the
“Bloody Sixth.”
(2) The Women of The Tombs
Naturally women do not figure in crime as much as men, and for various
reasons.
In the first place women are more domesticated, work in the interests of
the home where they fight life’s battles, are more gentle, artless and
persuasive in their methods than the sterner sex.
During the past quarter of a century New York has furnished a large
number of murderesses, fences, thieves and women of the street, among
her criminal classes.
Last year the police arrested no less than 15,000 women of a dozen
nationalities for almost every crime. Only a very small number were for
heinous offences.
One of the most noted female crooks that New York has known was Mother
Mandelbaum. The annals of crime do not furnish such a woman as this in
her particular line.
Her home was on Clinton Street on the East Side of the city. In police
parlance Mrs. Mandelbaum was known as a “fence” or receiver of stolen
property. In a few years she became very rich. In 1878-9 she had
business relations with thieves, pickpockets and shoplifters all over
the United States, Canada and Mexico and many parts of Europe. So great
was her trade with criminals that she hired all the cellars in the block
where she lived for storing her goods. She retained one of the best
criminal lawyers of the city to defend criminals and paid him $5,000 a
year. She was considered highly respected on the East Side and was a
generous contributor to all charities! She was also known as a banker,
broker and bondsman, and when men were sent to prison she was known to
support their families till they came out.
She was very shrewd in business matters. The police had suspected her of
being a “fence” for several years, but were unable to secure the
necessary evidence that would indict her.
It was said that several times before a raid on her premises, some
person high up in the police department would “tip her off.” In 1884
Lizzie Higgins, a notorious shoplifter, was sent to the penitentiary for
five years. Mrs. Mandelbaum had been receiving Lizzie’s stolen property
and had become rich on her plunder.
But this time she felt “sore” toward her old friend because she had not
furnished her a good lawyer. When Lizzie found out that Mother
Mandelbaum would do nothing more for her she “squealed” to the police.
She told where could be found the remains of a great silk robbery that
took place a few months previously. When this became known Mrs.
Mandelbaum fled to Canada, where she lived in obscurity till her death,
which took place a few years ago.
Another female criminal well known in New York was big Bertha, the
Confidence Queen. She was well educated, had a smart appearance and
engaging manners. She usually traveled between New York and Chicago in
big style. In New York she stayed at the best hotels, such as the
Windsor, Brunswick and Hoffman House. In Chicago she put up at the
Palmer House.
On one occasion she told such a smooth story to a palace car conductor
that he turned over to her his entire earnings, a thousand dollars. Her
happy hunting ground, however, was Wall Street, where she had been able
to persuade bankers and brokers to advance her hundreds of thousands of
dollars on fictitious securities.
The last time she was on Wall Street she deceived one of the shrewdest
brokers and has since disappeared from history.
In the fall of 1898 Mrs. F. M., a woman noted for her beauty and charm
of manner, and said to be a belle of old Kentucky, spent many weeks in
the Tombs. She and her husband were charged with attempting to blackmail
a Broadway hotel keeper. Mrs. M. was known as a most refined and
accomplished woman and well educated. As she came from a Southern family
of respectability, many people interested themselves in her behalf.
Her husband, however, charged with the same crime, was convicted
speedily and sent to prison for nineteen years. It seems to be an
impossible task nowadays to convict a woman of crime, provided she has
plenty of money and can secure the services of a good lawyer who can
play on the “feelings” of the jury. In nearly every case judge and jury
are more lenient and extend more mercy to them.
Another woman who received a good deal of notoriety in those days was a
Mrs. V——, who hailed from Philadelphia. She was charged with passing
forged checks. She was ably defended on both trials. On her last trial
her accomplishments counted for a good deal. She had winning ways about
her, was well dressed, and to secure sympathy could drop a tear at the
proper time. During the few weeks they were in the Tombs Mrs. M—— and
Mrs. V—— spent most of their time on the tier or in the
corridor—refusing to mix with the other (naughty) female prisoners or to
have any dealings with them whatever. Their meals were sent to them from
without and with the select company which they received daily were
seldom lonely or disconsolate.
The case of Miss Fanny T——, who spent several months in the Tombs during
the summer of 1903, is indeed sad and should be a warning to all young
girls who at first are admired for their beauty, then betrayed, seduced
and cast off by the so-called manly sex and finally disgraced.
She was confidential clerk in a large corporation. Finally she was
charged with stealing $37,000 belonging to the firm. This she stoutly
denied and showed that it was a conspiracy to save certain men in the
office who were the guilty ones.
Several male scoundrels made her sign checks, cash them and turn the
money over to them. As she had nothing to show for the money she gave
them, she was found guilty and sent to Auburn Prison for several years.
What mean cowards! To put a poor woman into such a trap and then gloat
over her downfall!
Mabel P—— is another woman of this class. She is what the world calls
“smart” and is educated to a certain extent but not cultured. She was
brought up in a convent in this state, but left it to become the wife of
her present husband, who is a graduate of Elmira Reformatory. She is
said to be an expert forger and is able to imitate any handwriting. This
was proved at her two trials by a Central Office detective who got into
her graces by representing that he was a “pal” of her husband who was
then in the Tombs.
These are the best representatives of their class and are remarkable for
their adroitness and power to ingratiate themselves into the affections
of matrons and missionaries. Mabel is also a habitue of the Tenderloin,
where she knows all the resorts, in which she has been a frequent
visitor for the past two years. She has refused positively to leave her
husband or to abandon her evil life.
But the most dangerous of all women are the panel thieves. They go in
pairs—male and female—two of a kind. The Courts are very severe on such
people, and give them all the law allows.
The woman who attends strictly to the panel or badger business must have
a male side partner, she doing the decoy work before her make-believe
husband appears as offended innocence.
Such people seem to be very successful, as they have many victims who
meekly submit to their losses rather than “howl” or expose themselves in
a Police Court. The panel woman still walks Broadway and Fifth Avenue as
a “decoy,” dressed in the fashions of the day, in search of “suckers,”
and it is needless to say she finds many of them.
She is great on alluring the unsophisticated—especially rich young men.
She has silks and satins, laces, brocades and fine jewelry, which are
sure to attract. And after she has captured one and secured the “booty”
she goes out the next night with greater boldness than ever.
Another woman that more recently obtained a national reputation while in
the Tombs was Miss P——. She was charged with the murder of a
“book-maker” and all round sporting man. The deed was done in a cab
while he was on his way to the steamer that was to take him to Europe.
This woman had three trials. The first proved to be a mistrial as one of
the jurors became ill and was unable to hear the rest of the testimony.
After the second trial, in which the jury disagreed, Nan became a
“heroine.” Friends and admirers everywhere sent her baskets of flowers,
candies and frequently a hundred letters a day. Many of them, it is
said, contained offers of marriage, but whether made seriously or not,
no one knows. The prison authorities permitted her to receive the
letters but the candies and flowers were confiscated. The third trial
also proved to be a disagreement, after which she was discharged on her
own recognizance. Since then she went on the stage, but did not have the
same success as when she was a Florodora girl.
(3) The Modern Shoplifter
The modern shoplifter is usually a well-to-do, dressy woman of the
middle class, all the way from twenty to forty years of age. She visits
the large stores like a bold footpad in search of plunder. When the
opportunity presents itself she steals all she can lay her hands on
without being detected, then sneaks away unobserved.
Nearly all of our large dry goods and department stores offer her
unusual opportunities for stealing, provided she is well dressed and
knows her business. The counters of these establishments are lavish with
all kinds of jewelry, laces, gloves and knick-knacks of various kinds
and values. During the holidays there are dazzling arrays of silks,
satins and velvets of all the colors of the rainbow from which the
shoplifter can make satisfactory selections. And best of all, these
stores are so thronged from morning till night, that these petty thieves
are able to secrete dozens of small articles on their persons without
being detected.
Shoplifters as a rule ply their business only in stores that are
crowded, where they can steal unobserved and afterwards get away with
the plunder. These people as a rule are bold, daring depredators who
will scruple at nothing. The most dangerous of this class are so
slippery that they seldom get caught, but when discovered and their
rooms are searched, the police find a wagon load of stolen property, the
accumulation of years of thievery.
Their work is systematic, and carefully planned, and as a rule they are
able to successfully carry off the goods and get rich on them. When they
go out to steal, these women have pockets in their clothing sufficiently
large enough to carry away a big haul. On this account all the principal
stores are compelled to employ male and female detectives to watch these
thieves and arrest them in the act. Many of this class of thieves do not
belong to New York. They straggle in from Long Island, Jersey and small
towns on the Hudson.
The Christmas holidays are the great harvest for shoplifters and petty
thieves. A gang of four expensively dressed shoplifters have been known
to get away with thousands of dollars worth of furs, silk waists and
laces in a season.
Scores of these women are arrested during the year who refuse to
disclose their identity and many of them are sent to jail for short
terms.
A shoplifter of experience was arrested not long since in a Sixth avenue
department store. She was about thirty years of age and well dressed.
When searched in the Tenderloin Station House, forty-one articles were
found in her umbrella, ranging in value from eighteen cents to three
dollars; according to the marks on the articles the shoplifter must have
visited four different stores on the Avenue. Among the things found in
the umbrella were belts, collars, pins, garters, laces, handkerchiefs,
pocket books, pencils, combs, brushes, lockets, buttons and several
bottles of cologne.
The shoplifters are seldom prosecuted to the full extent of the law, as
friends intercede in their behalf, reimburse the storekeepers for their
losses, after which they are let go. If the shoplifters are rich they
are called kleptomaniacs, but if they are poor and friendless they are
classed as thieves and have to go to jail.
A gentleman in one of the large stores told me that they sometimes lose
as much as a thousand dollars a week by shoplifters and employes.
When the expert shoplifters come to the Tombs they weep and lament at a
great rate. They weep because they have been caught “red-handed with the
goods on,” and not because they feel sorry for their crime. They are
really crocodile tears shed for the sake of securing sympathy!
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