CHAPTER IV

THE DEMORALIZATION OF GIRLS

The rôle which a girl is expected to play in life is first of all

indicated to her by her family in a series of æsthetic-moral definitions

of the situation. Civilized societies, more especially, have endowed the

young girl with a character of social sacredness. She has been the

subject of a far-going idealization. “Virginity” and “purity” have

almost a magical value. This attitude has a useful side, though it has

been overdone. The girl as child does not know she has any particular

value until she learns it from others, but if she is regarded with

adoration she correspondingly respects herself and tends to become what

is expected of her. And so she has in fact a greater value. She makes a

better marriage and reflects recognition on her family.

But we must understand that this sublimation of life is an investment.

It requires that incessant attention and effort illustrated in document

No. 36 (p. 62) and goes on best when life is economically secure. And

there are families and whole strata of society where life affords no

investments. There is little to gain and little to lose. Social workers

report that sometimes overburdened mothers with large families complain

that they have no “graveyard luck”—all the children live. In cases of

great neglect the girl cannot be said to fall, because she has never

risen. She is not immoral, because this implies the loss of morality,

but a-moral—never having had a moral code.

55. Nine of the fifteen families [of the working class in Rome] are

formed on a non-legitimate basis.... In fourteen of the fifteen families

there is habitual obscenity.... The children hear and repeat the

obscenity and are laughed at. Each member lives on the average on 25

lire a month.... Criminals and prostitutes frequent the homes and have

liaisons with the girls. Mothers, going to work, leave the children with

a prostitute.... The finer sentiments are notably lacking. Brothers and

sisters quarrel and fight.... Fights are habitual in eight of the

fifteen families.... The sentiment of modesty and delicacy does not

develop in the young. The regard for the child is expressed in the

remark of a father (about children who were not fed and picked up scraps

on the street): “Let them have food when they make their own

living.”[57]

56. Any person who has dwelt among the denizens of the slums cannot fail

to have brought home to him the existence of a stratum of society of no

inconsiderable magnitude in which children part with their innocence

long before puberty, in which personal chastity is virtually unknown,

and in which “to have a baby by your father” is laughed at as a comic

mishap.[58]

57. The experiences of Commenge in Paris are instructive on this point.

“For many young girls,” he writes, “modesty has no existence; they

experience no emotion in showing themselves completely undressed, they

abandon themselves to any chance individual whom they will never see

again. They attach no importance to their virginity; they are deflowered

under the strangest conditions, without the least thought or care about

the act they are accomplishing. No sentiment, no calculation, pushes

them into a man’s arms. They let themselves go without reflexion and

without motive, in an almost animal manner, from indifference and

without pleasure.” He was acquainted with forty-five girls between the

ages of twelve and seventeen who were deflowered by chance strangers

whom they never met again; they lost their virginity, in Dumas’s phrase,

as they lost their milk-teeth, and could give no plausible account of

the loss.... A girl of fourteen, living comfortably with her parents,

sacrificed her virginity at a fair in return for a glass of beer, and

henceforth begun to associate with prostitutes. Another girl of the same

age, at a local fête, wishing to go round on the hobby horse,

spontaneously offered herself to the man directing the machinery for the

pleasure of a ride.... In the United States, Dr. W. T. Travis Gibb,

examining physician to the New York Society for the Prevention of

Cruelty to Children, bears similar testimony to the fact that in a

fairly large proportion of “rape” cases the child is the willing victim.

“It is horribly pathetic,” he says, “to learn how far a nickel or a

quarter will go towards purchasing the virtue of these children.”[59]

58. In round numbers nine tenths of the delinquent girls and three

fourths of the delinquent boys come from the homes of the poor.

Sixty-nine per cent of the girls and 38 per cent of the boys come from

the lowest class, the “very poor”, the class in which there exists not

merely destitution, but destitution accompanied by degradation, or

destitution caused by degradation....

In Table 19 it appears that 31 per cent of the delinquent boys and 47

per cent of the delinquent girls before their appearance in court had

lost one or both parents by death, desertion, imprisonment, or similar

misfortune, and that they had not had the benefit of the wholesome

discipline which normal family life affords....

These children come in many instances from homes in which they have been

accustomed from their earliest infancy to drunkenness, immorality,

obscene and vulgar language, filthy and degraded conditions of

living....

Among the 157 girls in the State Training School from Chicago, for whom

family schedules were obtained, 31 were the daughters of drunken

fathers, 10 at least had drunken mothers, 27 had fathers who were of

vicious habits, 16 had immoral, vicious, or criminal mothers, while 12

belonged to families in which other members than the parents were

vicious or criminal. In at least 21 cases the father had shirked all

responsibility and had deserted the family.

There were also among these girls 11 who were known to be illegitimate

children or children who had been abandoned, and there were 10 who had

been victims of gross cruelty. Forty-one had been in houses of

prostitution or had been promiscuously immoral, one having been “a

common street walker” at the age of eleven. Four had sisters who had

become immoral and had been committed to such institutions as the

Chicago Refuge for Girls or the house of correction, while in seven

cases two sisters had been sent to Geneva; nine had brothers who had

been in such institutions as the parental school, the John Worthy

School, the Bridewell, the state reformatory at Pontiac, or the state

penitentiary at Joliet.

The worst cases of all are those of the delinquent girls who come from

depraved homes where the mother is a delinquent woman, or from homes

still more tragic where the father has himself abused the person of the

child. As a result of the interviews with the girls in the State

Training School at Geneva, it appeared that in 47 cases the girl alleged

that she had been so violated by some member of her family. In 19 cases

the father, in 5 the uncle, in 8 the brother or older cousin had wronged

the child for whom the community demanded their special protection. In

addition to these cases discovered at Geneva, the court records show

that in at least 78 other cases the girl who was brought in as

delinquent had been wronged in this way—in 43 of these cases by her own

father. In families of this degraded type it is found, too, not only

that the girl is victimized by her father but that she is often led to

her undoing by her mother or by the woman who has undertaken to fill a

mother’s place. It was found, for example, that in 189 cases where the

girl was charged with immorality, the mother or the woman guardian—an

aunt, a grandmother, or an older sister with whom the girl lived—was

implicated in the offense if not responsible for it....

Attention should be called to the fact that degraded and drunken habits

of life are not the peculiar product of large cities. The personal

interviews with the girls at Geneva who came from the smaller cities and

rural communities of the state, together with the statements in the

school records regarding the circumstances responsible for their

commitment, show a degradation in family life which parallels that found

in the homes of many of the Chicago children. Out of 153 of these

country girls, 86 were the children of fathers with intemperate habits,

and 13 had intemperate mothers. In 31 cases the girl’s delinquency had

been caused by her father or some other relative.[60]

59. Helen comes from a large family, there being eight children. Her

father is a miner and unable to support the older girls. She was told at

the age of fourteen that she was old enough to support herself and to

get out. She came to Chillicothe because of the draftees from Western

Pennsylvania, some of whom had been her acquaintances. She came to

Chillicothe with $30.00 given her by a man in Ellsworth, but we could

never learn his name.

The girl was found living in a dirty basement room with “Mag” Strawser,

a character of local repute, and spent every evening either at the

movies or at the public dance halls with soldiers. She was taken home

from the movies and an effort was made to place her in a decent room,

but twice she ran away and back to the same environment. The Juvenile

Judge wrote to the father, asking him to send money for her return home,

but he responded by saying that he didn’t want the girl home as she must

make her own living. As he couldn’t send her money she was sent back

with money furnished by Protective Bureau. Three months later she was

picked up in the park with soldiers. At the time she was dressed like a

trapeze performer, in pink satin trimmed with eider down, grotesque in

the extreme. She escaped from the Detention Home and three days later

was picked up in the woods back of the Base Hospital with five soldiers.

Upon examination, was found to have gonorrhea.... In a few weeks she had

developed from the little red hood and mittens with the stout shoes of

the foreigner into a painted-cheeked brow-blacked prostitute. She had

her name and address written on slips of paper that she passed out to

soldiers on the streets. She was never able to give the names of

soldiers with whom she cohabited, but upon first acquaintance would lend

her bracelet or ring without hesitation.[61]

60. Evelyn claims to know absolutely nothing of her family or relations.

Was found in a room in a hotel, where she had registered as the wife of

a soldier. Seemed entirely friendless and alone. Had scarcely any

clothing, and there was no evidence of refinement to be found about her.

She is small, slight and anæmic, has an active syphilis as well as an

acute gonorrhea. At first she seemed to be entirely hardened, not caring

what any one thought of her or what became of her. Later however she

broke down and was just a poor broken-hearted child. Admits to many

dreadful experiences for her tender years. Claims for the past year has

been on the vaudeville stage and has had illicit relations with a number

of members of the company. Left the troop at Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania.

Here she picked up with a soldier who brought her to Columbus, Ohio, and

she has been picking up soldiers on the streets and going out with them

in taxis.

The only person who could be reached having an acquaintance with the

girl is Mrs. Harding at Columbus. She wrote us that her daughter Gladys

had become acquainted with her while on a visit to Wheeling where the

girl was working as a little household drudge in a private home. When

the girl came to Columbus she came to the Harding home and was treated

as one of the family until she became incorrigible, when she went to the

working girls’ home.

Evelyn believes herself to be an illegitimate child. From her earliest

recollection she was in a Catholic institution. Was placed out when she

was nine years old and from that time has been in many cities, in

private homes, in institutions and out again. Has had no supervision of

any kind. Has sought companionship and friendliness of any one that

would show her any affection. Did not seem to feel that she had done

anything very wrong. It seems to be a case of society’s neglect to an

orphan. She was taken to the Isolation Hospital for treatment for

syphilis infection and escaped within 24 hours.[62]

61. Frances was 12 years old when in July, 1912, a probation officer of

the Juvenile Court reported that she remained out late nights, sometimes

all night, refused to obey father or mother, would go into a room and

lock the door, compelling parents to force an entrance, etc. When 14

years old she was brought into court on the complaint of her mother that

she kept bad company and was known in the neighborhood as a depraved

child, being accused by one neighbor of stealing a bracelet. She had

been on probation and the reports had been fairly encouraging. Every

little while there were reports of disobedience with threats of sending

her to an institution, followed by improved conduct for a while. For a

short time Frances had tried boarding outside her home.

At the hearing in court her mother testified: “She did not want to go to

work and also stayed away from home nights, would not tell where....

When I looked for her I almost got a licken from the old man. He says I

did not have to look for her when she was no good. He licked me many

times on account of her; does not want me to go to look for her.” The

officer stated: “The father is a hard drinker and very quarrelsome. Sets

very bad example for the children. The other children [4 younger ones at

home] seem to get along and mind the mother, but this girl and an older

married sister were the wayward ones.” Frances said her father sometimes

struck her with a strap when he got drunk. Her mother drank but was

never intoxicated. She was sent to the House of Good Shepherd where she

remained a full year and “made good.” There was no complaint against her

there. Her mother then applied for her release on the ground that she

had rheumatism and a new baby 6 months old.

An investigation of the home was made. The neighbors reported the

“family are quarreling, parents continually drunk, use vile language,

and while well fed and kept, the environment is such that just as soon

as the girls become self-supporting they leave home. Mr. Sikora is

abusive to his wife, insanely jealous, charges his wife with immorality

constantly.” Probation officer was called to house to put down a

disturbance one night at 9 P.M. The mother, when questioned, admitted

that an older daughter, now 18 years old, had had a “wild” career and

then married. The next daughter left home because of complaints of her

staying out late nights. She had been in the House of the Good Shepherd,

was not 17 years old and her mother knew nothing of her whereabouts.[63]

62. Catherine was sent to the industrial class at Geneva when only nine

years old, apparently for immorality. She said her mother was a very

“nice woman” but her father was a “poor sort of father.” He drank, beat

her mother and was in jail “a lot of times.” Two years after she entered

the school her mother took sick. Catherine was allowed to return to her

until she died three months later. The father disappeared and Catherine

returned to Geneva. Catherine had an uncle in Wisconsin whom she had not

seen for 4 years and a brother, who considered Catherine “wild” and was

willing she should stay in Geneva.

The Genevan authorities reported that Catherine was hard to control at

first but after she had been made to see that the whole world was not

against her, she settled down, became very obedient and was one of their

best girls. She had nothing vicious about her, was easily influenced for

good and showed she had a great deal of good in her and much energy,

which if properly directed would make her develop into a good woman.

When Catherine was fourteen years old her brother had her released from

Geneva on parole to him. He took her to live with him in Rockford, Ill.,

where he had the reputation of being a very industrious man. He got

Catherine a job, topping stockings in a factory for $7.00 a week and

took all her earnings. Catherine worked steadily and well for six

months.

Catherine got acquainted with her brother’s sister-in-law, Jennie

Sopeka, a girl ten years older, with an exceedingly bad reputation. Ever

since she came from New York six years before she had led a

disgracefully immoral life, was known to have a venereal disease, which

was thought to be affecting her mind. Catherine said she knew nothing of

this girl when she came to see her and proposed they go to Chicago “to

have a nice time and nice clothes.” But Catherine left Rockford with

Jennie at once. They came to Chicago and registered at the Imperial

Hotel. For a week some man supported them. They then became acquainted

with two junior medical students.... These boys called on them at the

hotel and after a two weeks’ acquaintance took them and another girl to

their rooms. All lived together for about two weeks. The police then

raided the apartment, arrested the boys and Jennie and the other girl.

Catherine happened to be out when the raid was made, but the following

day she called at the police station to know what had become of her

friends and she was detained there. The boys were charged with rape, as

Catherine was under the age of consent. Jennie, who was going under one

of her many aliases, was fined $50.00 and sent to the House of

Correction. She was later accused of pandering.

Every one felt sorry for Catherine. The Court said: “It seems as if she

had never had a chance, but it would be dangerous to give her one now.”

The Probation officer also felt sympathetic, though she thought

Catherine had had a chance in Rockford and had not tried quite hard

enough. Her brother refused to take her back into his home and the Court

was in a quandary what to do with her. At first she said she would do

housework, especially taking care of children, as she was very fond of

babies and would like to be a nurse. Later, however, she decided she

would not do housework and asked to be sent back to Geneva. This the

Court would not do, and Catherine was sent to the House of Good

Shepherd.[64]

63. Carrie is a colored girl, 23 years of age at the time of her

commitment. She was sentenced to Bedford for possessing heroin. She was

born on Long Island—the illegitimate child of a notorious thief and

prostitute known only as “Jennie.” She was adopted when fifteen months

old and went to public school until she was fifteen, in spite of which

at the time of her commitment she could read and spell only with great

difficulty. Foster mother was a very poor housekeeper, went out to work,

and the rooms she occupied were unspeakably filthy. Carrie had served

five previous terms in the New York City Workhouse and 30 days in White

Plains jail. She was first sentenced to the House of The Good Shepherd,

but returned to the Court on account of her color. She was then sent to

Inwood House and returned for the same reason. She had been committed to

the Workhouse Hospital for treatment for the drug habit. She had

practiced prostitution since she was fifteen years of age, during which

time she lived for considerable periods with two consorts, by one of

whom she had a child, born in the New York City Workhouse. She had used

drugs steadily for eight years, beginning with opium and more recently

using cocaine and heroin. Her foster mother states that she was always a

difficult child and very stubborn. When she was as young as nine years

old the neighbors complained of her immoral conduct with young boys on

roofs and cellars. She seemed to have no feeling of shame.

Physical examination showed Carrie’s condition to be fair. The mental

examination showed her to be a trifle over nine years by the

Stanford-Binet tests. Her attitude was that she preferred the life of

prostitution and planned to return to it upon her release. It was felt

that she would be a bad influence in the Reformatory and that in view of

her sociological as well as her mental history she should be given

permanent custodial care.[65]

I was present in a Juvenile Court when a young girl who showed charm and

dignity was brought in for stealing from department stores an

astonishing number of pretty things—a mirror, beads, a ring, a powder

box, etc.—all on the same afternoon. And she did not forget to include a

doll for her baby sister. The inquiry brought out that she worked in a

book bindery in a suburb of the city. She had not lost a day for two

years, until laid off temporarily. Then she visited the city. She gave

all her pay, which was $9.00 a week, to her mother. Of this her mother

returned ten cents for the girl’s own use. The girl had no other blemish

and her thoughtfulness in stealing the doll for her sister created some

consternation. On the advice of the court the mother agreed to increase

the girl’s allowance to twenty-five cents a week.

On another occasion a father was asked by the court what he had to

suggest in the case of his girl who had left home and was on the

streets. He complained that she had not been bringing in all her pay.

When told he must not look at the matter in that way, that he had

obligations as a parent, he said, “Do what you please with her. She

ain’t no use to me.”

The beginning of delinquency in girls is usually an impulse to get

amusement, adventure, pretty clothes, favorable notice, distinction,

freedom in the larger world which presents so many allurements and

comparisons. The cases which I have examined (about three thousand) show

that sexual passion does not play an important rôle, for the girls have

usually become “wild” before the development of sexual desire, and their

casual sexual relations do not usually awaken sex feeling. Their sex is

used as a condition of the realization of other wishes. It is their

capital. In the cases cited below Mary (case No. 64) begins by stealing

to satisfy her desire for pretty clothes and “good times”, then has

sexual relations for the same purpose. Katie (No. 65) begins as a

vagabond and sells her body just as she does occasional work or borrows

money, in order to support herself on her vagabonding tours, sexual

intercourse being only a means by which freedom from school work is

secured. In the case of Stella (No. 66) the sexual element is part of a

joy ride, probably not the first one. Marien (No. 67) treats sexual life

as a condition of her “high life”, including restaurants, moving

pictures, hotels, and showy clothes. Helen (No. 68) said, “I always

wanted good clothes.” To the young girl of this class sexual intercourse

is something submitted to with some reluctance and embarrassment and

something she is glad to be over with. Nothing can show better the small

importance attached to it than the plain story of the many relations of

Annie (No. 69). She objects only to being used by a crowd.

64. When Mary was 14 years old she was arrested on the charge of

stealing some jewelry and a dress and waist, altogether worth $100.

While employed as domestic she had entered a neighboring flat through

the dining-room window and helped herself. When arrested she said her

father and mother were dead. But it was found they were both alive. The

mother said she was glad the police had gotten hold of Mary, who stole

and refused to work. The probation officer stated that the home was very

poor, the father would often not work and they had made Mary begin to

work when 12 years old and give all her wages to them.

Mary had obtained her present position by going to Gad’s Hill Center a

month and a half before and representing herself as an orphan. She had

tried to throw the neighbor off her track by going to her with a story

of a “big noise” she had heard in the flat, but they had searched her

and found the stolen things. Her employer also complained that Mary had

taken clothing from her and hidden it. Mary was sent to the House of the

Good Shepherd, but after her mother’s death in April, 1915, she was

given some housework to do. On Dec. 17, 1915, she took $1 from her aunt

and went away. She was sent to the Home for the Friendless. From there

she wrote the probation officer complaining that the girl friends with

whom she had been staying refused to let her have her clothes.

On Jan. 4, 1916, work was found for Mary at $7 a week. She worked one

half day and then disappeared. She was located Jan. 10 and admitted

remaining over night at a hotel four different nights with men. She

didn’t know their names.... “I was drove away from home by my aunt. How

could I stay there?”

“Q. to aunt: Did you drive Mary away from your home?

“A. Yes. She took $1 and I did not want her home.

“Officer: I found out something since then. When she came from the House

of the Good Shepherd she worked at housework and took two rings there

and silk stockings and underwear.

“Q. You hear, Mary? Why did you do that?

“A. Because I did not have no clothes.”[66]

65. Katie, 13 years old. August 22, 1913, in court. Picked up by an

officer late at night after having wandered about the streets the two

nights previous. Begged not to be taken home.... The home is poor. The

mother sometimes goes out to work, leaving the girl at home alone.

Parents are not capable of giving her the protection and supervision she

ought to have. Though the mother claimed she had proper care she wanted

her sent to an institution for a few months and then to have her home

again. Girl sent to St. Hedwig’s. She was released in October and

behaved well for a few months, helping with the new baby at home.

April 16, 1914, brought to court with another younger girl for having

stolen money and a watch from the purse of a woman in the shower-bath

room in Eckhard Park.

Katie told the court she did not know why she left home, that she often

left home and wandered around—could not control wandering impulse and

habit she had fallen into, that when she left she worked in a hat

factory half a day, for which she received 75 cents, which she used for

meals, and on Feb. 14th she secured work and remained at it until

arrested April 1st. Josephine, the younger girl, told the court that

Katie asked her to go to a show with her. On the way Katie said her hair

was falling down and suggested going into the park to arrange it. They

went to the shower-bath rooms and Katie wished to take a bath. They

looked into different bathrooms and in one room saw a purse which Katie

suggested taking, saying she wanted money for a nickel show. Josephine

took the purse and hid it under the bench, but when the owner complained

to the matron and threatened the girl with prison, Katie confessed and

gave the purse back, putting most of the blame on Josephine. As it was

proved that Josephine did not have a proper home atmosphere she was sent

to the House of the Good Shepherd, while Catherine, who was a good girl,

according to her mother, except for her wandering impulses, and who had

never before stolen, was paroled.

May 19, 1914, held at police station. Claims to have known Robert Smith,

a colored man 64 years of age, for several years. He lives in 2

rooms.... Learning that girls went there she too went and had immoral

relations with Mr. Smith at different times. On one occasion he gave her

15 cents and other occasions 25 cents.... [She said] “I went away from

home that day. My uncle [father] wanted to send me away to school, so I

ran away.... I stayed [away 3 days and spent the night] in front of our

house in the hallway.”

Katie was sent to the House of Good Shepherd and released at her

parents’ request at the end of May, 1915, and behaved until July 31, she

was arrested in a rooming house with 2 young men. She had intercourse

with one, 21 years old, whom she knew before she was sent away and whom

the officer described as a “bum.” A social worker testified: “I met the

girl at the police station ... and I suggested that she be sent to the

House of Good Shepherd, but she was very much prejudiced by her past

years there.... I told her that if she met boys on the street she

couldn’t protect herself. She was very indignant in the police station.”

At her mother’s request she was given another chance but was soon

arrested for going with another girl, a saloon keeper and a

photographer. When asked by the court what she had to say for herself

she replied, “I don’t care what you do; I deserve it.” But she requested

to be sent to Geneva instead of the House of The Good Shepherd—“they all

say it is better.” She ran away from Geneva after a few weeks but was

apprehended through an anonymous telephone message from a house on S.

Michigan Ave. After she was sent back to Geneva she again escaped.[67]

66. Stella was 15 years old when she told this story to the Juvenile

Court: “On the night of June 7, 1916, about 8 o’clock Helen Sikowska and

I were standing at the corner.... Mike and Tomczak and another Mike came

along in an automobile and Helen asked them for a ride. We went quite a

ways, and then Tomczak said he wanted to [have intercourse with] me. He

said if we did not do it he would not take us home.... They drove up in

front of a saloon and all three of the fellows went in the saloon and

stayed there about one hour. Helen and I sat in the car and waited for

them. They came out and we started back for home. We drove for a ways,

and when we came to a place where there was no houses they stopped the

machine and said it was broke. Tomczak went to sleep. Mike, the driver

of the car, got out and took me with him and walked me over the prairie.

There he knocked me down and ... did something bad to me.... Then they

took us back home.”[68]

67. Marien was arrested for acting “obstreperous” with another girl in a

railway waiting room. She had no underclothing on when arrested [in

June]. She was 16 years old, had left home before Easter and had been

going much to shows and moving picture theaters. She told a police woman

that she had been drugged on the North side and carried to a room by two

men on different nights.... Marien said she had “no fault to find” with

her home, her father and mother were kind to her.

The following letter was received from her while she was away: “Dear

Mother, I am feeling fine. Everything is all right, don’t worry about

me. I am leading high life because I am an actress. I got swell clothes

and everything, you wouldn’t know me. I had Clara down town one day I

was out with the manager. She had a nice time.... I never had such nice

times in all my life. Everybody says that I am pretty. I paid 65 dollars

for my suit and 5 dollars had [hat], 6 dollars shoe 3 gloves 2 dollar

underwar 5 dollar corest. Know I have hundred dollars in the bank but I

want you to write a letter and say youll forgive me for not telling the

truht but I will explain better when I see you and will return home for

the sake of the little ones. I will bring a hundred dollars home to you

and will come home very time I can its to expensive to liv at a hotel

now sent the letter to me this way General Devilery Miss Marion

Stephan.”

Her father testified: “After Easter got a letter from her something like

that one only more in it. She was rich and everything else, which is not

so. So she says answer me quick as you can because I to go Milwaukee

tomorrow. And I answer it right away to come home as soon as possible.

Thought maybe the letter would reach her and heard nothing more until 3

weeks ago and then this letter come and I begging her to come home and

be ... a good girl. She come home and asked if wanted to stay home now

and she feel very happy that she is home and thought maybe she would

behave.... Next day she said she was going for her clothes ... and I

says I go with you. And I could not go and left my boy and girl to go

with her Sunday. And she left them in the park and did not come home.

Then she was back again Tuesday and in the evening when I come home from

work she was not there.”[69]

68. “When I saw sweller girls than me picked up in automobiles every

night, can you blame me for falling too?”

Pretty Helen McGinnis, the convicted auto vamp of Chicago, asked the

question seriously. She has just got an order for a new trial on the

charge of luring Martin Metzler to Forest Reserve Park, where he was

beaten and robbed. The girl went on:

“I always wanted good clothes, but I never could get them, for our

family is large and money is scarce. I wanted good times like the other

girls in the office. Every girl seemed to be a boulevard vamp. I’d seen

other girls do it, and it was easy.”[70]

69. Annie was brought into the Juvenile Court when she was 15 years old.

Her story was as follows: She first had relations with a man 7 months

before. He was an usher in the Eagle Theater. She went many times to

this theater and saw him often. Once she stayed in the theater after the

show and they had relations. He later left town but she had his address.

Then she met a boy who sold papers in her neighborhood. Another fellow

introduced him as “John Johnson” and she knew him under that name,

though it was not his right one. They used to go to the park together

and had intercourse once in the hallway of her home. She was not sure

who the next man was but thought his name was “Nick.” She met him in a

theater and knew him for two weeks.

Later she met Simon Craw in an ice-cream parlor, flirted with him and

they became acquainted. He asked her to go joy riding. She said “no”,

but made a date with him to go to Lawy’s Theater. After the show they

went to the ice-cream parlor and had hot chocolate. She told him she was

afraid to go home so late—it was 12 P.M. He talked to a man and then

said a friend had offered to let them have his room in the Triangle

Hotel. She did not want to go at first, but he said if anything came up

in court he would marry her. Simon’s friend took them to his room and

went after coal. Meanwhile she and Simon had relations. The boys went to

bed and she sat up all night in a chair, none of them undressing.

A week later, on Sunday evening she met Simon in the ice-cream parlor at

7 P.M. They stayed until 8 o’clock and then went to Lawy’s Theater. They

returned to the ice-cream parlor and Simon introduced a soldier whose

name she forgot. She told them she did not want to go home as it was 11

P.M. and she had promised to be home at 8 P.M. The soldier said he knew

that the proprietor of the Ohio Hotel would let all three of them have

one room for the night. She said: “I don’t want to go. I don’t want to

be used by everybody.” Simon said: “You don’t have to,” and they

persuaded her to go.[71]

Doctor Katharine B. Davis, formerly superintendent of the New York State

Reformatory for women, at Bedford Hills, has made a careful analysis of

the life-histories of 647 prostitutes committed to that institution from

New York City which throws light on the conditions under which girls

begin their sexual delinquency. The study shows that very few

prostitutes come from homes where all the conditions are good,—good

family life, opportunity for education, economic security. The

occupations of the fathers show a low economic status. Of the 647 girls

only 15, or 2.4 per cent, had fathers belonging to the professional

classes, and this category is stretched to include a veterinary surgeon,

a colored preacher, a trained nurse, a musician, etc. Thirty-four

fathers were farmers or farmhands, 29 shopkeepers, 1 a brewer, 5 sea

captains, 1 gambler, 106 cases where there were no records, and the

remaining fathers were mainly laborers or artisans, plasterer, plumber,

peddler, miner, shoemaker, blacksmith, hod-carrier. Also janitor,

porter, cook, waiter, coachman, street sweeper, teamster, elevator man,

sandwich man, etc.[72]

As to the schooling of the girls, “fifty individuals, or 7.72 per cent,

cannot read or write any language. Of these 15 are American born.

Thirty-two can read and write a foreign language; 45.3 per cent have

never finished the primary grades, while an additional 39.72 per cent

never finished the grammar grades. Thirteen individuals had entered but

not finished high school; only four individuals had graduated from high

school; three had had one year at a normal school, and one out of 647

cases had entered college.” In addition, the average wage of the girls

who had worked was very low. This point was determined in only 162

cases. “The average minimum,” says Doctor Davis, “is $4 and the average

maximum $8. It will be noted that even the average maximum is below $9,

an amount generally conceded to be the minimum on which a girl can live

decently in New York City.”[73]

In comparison with this the girls reported relatively high wages from

prostitution. The average weekly maximum, as reported by 146 girls, was

$71.09, and the average weekly minimum, as reported by 95 girls, was

$46.02. Thirty-eight girls gave figures of $100 or more, up to $400.[74]

These statements, as Doctor Davis says, are to be taken “with

allowances”, but other statistics show that the earnings of prostitutes

are about four times as great as the same girl could make at work.

An attempt was made also in this investigation to determine the causes

leading up to prostitution from the standpoint of the girl. Two hundred

and seventy-nine girls gave 671 reasons. That is, some of them gave a

number of reasons. Among these reasons 306 were bad family life (in 166

cases no father or mother or neither); 55, bad married life; 48, desire

for pleasure (theater, food, clothes); 38, desire for money; 17, “easy

money”; 20, lazy, hated work; 13, dances; 15, love of the life; 9, stage

environment; 4, tired of drudgery; 5, idle or lonely; 4, sick, needed

the money; 10, no sex instruction; 2, white slave; 3, desertion by

lover; 10, lover put girl on street; 10, “ruined anyway”; 7, previous

use of drink or drugs; 1, ashamed to go home after first escapade; 75,

bad company; 5, couldn’t support self; 1, couldn’t support self and

children; 13, couldn’t find work.[75]

In spite of the bad economic conditions apparent here and in any report

on prostitution it is remarkable that very few girls ever allege actual

want or hunger as a reason for entering prostitution. In Doctor Davis’

list only 23 girls named something like this among the 671 reasons.

There is no doubt that economic determinism is present, that if they had

an abundance of money they would not lead the life, but they are

unstabilized as the result of a comparison between what they have and

what they want and what others have. The servant class affords the best

illustration. Between 37 and 60 per cent of professional prostitutes

have been servant girls, according to different reports from different

countries. The average is perhaps 50 per cent. Yet this class is well

fed and housed, they supply a universal demand and have no economic

anxieties. But they are treated as an inferior class, shown no

courtesies, come and go by the back door; their work is monotonous and

long, and they rebel against what they call “that hard graft”, and seek

pleasure, response, and recognition in the evening.

The cases which I have cited do not represent at all, and the report of

Doctor Davis represents only slightly, a large and equivocal class of

girls who participate in prostitution without becoming definitely

identified with it. The present tendency of irregular sex life is

definitely toward limited and occasional sexual relations on the part of

girls who have more or less regular work, and the line between the

professional and the amateur prostitute has become vague.

The usual beginning is in connection with an acquaintanceship, keeping

company, which is not necessarily regarded by either side as preliminary

to marriage but as a means of having a good time. The charm of the girl

is an asset, a lure, which she may use as a means of procuring

entertainment, affection, and perhaps gifts. Where marriage was assumed

as an object of association, marriage was also assumed as the payment

which the girl would ultimately make as her contribution to the expense

of the association, but in the more casual associations of the “great

society” there has grown up a code that the girl shall pay something as

she goes, and she does not pay in cash but in favors. Girls of the class

who have “fellows” tend to justify sexual intimacy if they are “going to

marry”, if the man says he will marry if there are “consequences”, if

the relation is with only one man, and not for money. These are called

“charity girls” by the professional prostitutes. When the girl has had

some experience in sexual life she will multiply and commercialize her

casual relationships. Girls talk of these matters, say “they all do it”,

create a more favorable opinion of it, and show the less sophisticated

girl how to make easy money.

The shop or office girl who makes sexual excursions does not usually

become a public prostitute. Her work is more attractive, her income

better, she has more class, frequently a home, and she may often find

marriage among her acquaintances. There are also girls who do not work,

who live in comfortable homes, and are yet found on the street; married

women who prostitute themselves in order to have luxuries; women who go

on the street when work is slack and return to work; others who limit

their relations to a small group of men; mistresses who are promiscuous

between periods when they are kept by one man; factory girls and other

workers who regularly supplement the work of the day by work on the

street. There is thus a general tendency to avoid identification with

the prostitute class. Illegal sexual relations are becoming more

individualized. Even regular prostitution is not and has never been so

fixed a status as we should suppose; it is rather a transitory stage

from which the girl seeks to emerge by marriage or otherwise. In his

profound work on French prostitution Parent-Duchatelet pointed out that

“prostitution is for the majority only a transitory stage; it is

abandoned usually during the first year. Very few prostitutes continue

until extinction.”[76] And this is confirmed by other reports.

Document No. 70 represents a type of organization which has arisen in

connection with occasional prostitution, and in No. 71 the girl operates

independently.

70. Mrs. X seems to take great pride in the fact that her girls are

always fresh, young and attractive. She will not have a prostitute in

her place who has ever been in houses of ill-fame.... These girls, she

said, will never do in a quiet place. They love excitement, the music,

lights and large business at small prices. They also want to have

cadets. Once she took such a girl, but she could not keep her as she

longed to return to the excitement of her former life and her cadet. The

girls who do come to her are in many instances from surrounding towns or

from other States. They stay long enough to earn a few clothes and then

return home, where they tell other girls of the easy way they earned

their clothes. She has a list of 20 or 22 girls who have been with her

at different times. They come and go.

One of the girls now in the flat is called Rosie. This girl lives in

Iowa, and was so wild at home that her mother could do nothing with her,

so she came to Chicago. Sometimes Rosie and the keeper have a quarrel

and the girl returns home. After awhile she writes and says she wants to

return to the flat, so Mrs. X sends her a ticket. Rosie is one of a

family of three or four boys and three girls. One of these sisters,

called Violet, has also been an inmate of the flat and comes

occasionally. Rosie’s mother says she realizes that Mrs. X can do more

with her daughter than she can, so she allows her to come [not knowing

what is happening]. The last time Violet was in the flat she stayed 10

days and earned $50.00, then went home again. She is 25 years old. Rosie

is younger and a good money maker. During July, Rosie earned $156.00 as

her share. During 27 days in August she earned $171.00.

The men who come to this flat are mostly married. Mrs. X says they are

“gentlemen” and do not make any trouble. They prefer a place that is

quiet and secret. Other customers are buyers from commercial houses,

bringing out of town men who are here to purchase goods. In addition to

this there are many traveling men who bring friends who gradually become

regular customer.... The business depends largely on the telephone

service. The girls are summoned to go to similar flats about town if

they are needed, and in turn Mrs. X secures girls from other flats when

her regular inmates are out when a customer calls. For instance, on

September 20th the investigator was in the flat when only one girl was

at home. In a few moments a telephone call came for the girl Helen to go

to a flat near by. On September 30th a phone call came for three girls

to go to a restaurant in Madison Street and report in the back room

where they had been the previous night.[77]

71. American girl, twenty-one years old, semi-prostitute, typical of a

certain class one grows to know. Works as salesgirl in one of the high

class shops—a pretty girl, languid manner but businesslike; popular with

business associates. Has a very clear skin, grey-blue eyes, perfect

features. Father is a contractor, mother a hard-worked woman whose

morals, personally, are beyond reproach but who regards her daughter’s

affairs as only partly her business, preferring to let surmising take

the place of knowledge.

She grew up the eldest of seven children, went through grammar school

and through one year at the high school, then to work. She was bright

and was soon promoted to position of salesgirl, where she worked in an

atmosphere of luxury and, with a cleverness very common in this type,

aped the manners and dress of the women she served. She had been a shy

child and had never confided in her parents about feelings or her

comings and goings, and they left her absolutely untaught, except that

she attended church regularly (Roman Catholic) and was expected to do as

she was told.

Sex had been a closed book to her and, as she was naturally cold and

unawakened, she was not tempted as some girls are. She did not care

about being loved, but the wish to be admired was strong within her and

love of adornment superseded all else, particularly when she realized

she was more beautiful than most girls.

The department store is sometimes a school for scandal. Many rich women

are known by sight and are talked over, servants’ gossip sometimes

reaching thus far, the intrigues between heads of departments and

managers are hinted at and the possibility of being as well dressed as

some one else becomes a prime consideration.

Freedom from household cares, independence of home obligations, and

parental weakness all began to have their effect.

When she was seventeen years old she was first approached by college

students who wanted her to go to dinners, dances, to the theatre, and

for motor rides. This was innocent enough for a time. She did not dare

do anything wrong because of the Church and her traditional standard of

virtue. Then she met an artist who asked her to pose for him, and she

consented; and after several sittings he asked her to pose in the nude.

Five dollars an hour was a temptation, for it meant almost a whole

week’s work in the store (she got seven there) so she consented, not

telling her mother. Then her knowledge of sex began. This man kissed

her, glorying in her beauty and promised her everything she wanted if

she would be his mistress. Shocked, yet tempted, she hesitated. She was

not at all passionate, but he roused in her her dominant emotion—love of

power, conquest over men—and she realized in one short week that this

was to be her life’s exciting game.

Other girls in the shop began to tell her their experiences. The career

of a clandestine prostitute seemed rather the common thing. The good

girls seemed rather pathetic and poverty struck; most of them were

homely anyway; but there was her virtue to consider, the Church, the

future. She would want to marry some one who would appreciate her

beauty, who would demand that her womanhood be unscathed. She must

compromise. She would give the man all that he wanted without losing her

virtue technically. No man would have her completely. Then she could

play the game. She had never heard of the perversions of sex, but she

soon learned them and practised her arts with no sense of shame.

She has no use for the working man—indeed, her life for the last four

years has been a mixture of shop work or posing in the day and luxury at

night. It would be impossible for her to live at home in an atmosphere

of soapsuds and babies, hard work and poverty.

When forced to think out the situation as it is, she is fair-minded.

Virtue to her has become a technicality. She is not harmed and no man is

strong enough to overcome her if she herself is frigid. She likes to be

kissed and adores to rouse men’s passions. She thinks many girls are

like her who have never given themselves wholly to men, but most of them

are more easily roused. She seldom stays all night with a man. She likes

to “keep them guessing.” Besides her mother would make trouble if she

stayed out all night. If she thinks she is at a dance, she says nothing

about her coming in late.

She admits her scorn of her own station in life but says the

luxury-loving age is responsible for that, that no girl who loves pretty

things (which most women do) is going to be content with shabby clothes

and stupid makeshifts if she can be as feminine and as lovely as other

women who do not work and yet have their hearts’ desires. She does not

think she does the men harm; in fact, she is a good companion and

coarseness of speech is repugnant to her. She smokes cigarettes but

drinks very little. She admits she has no motive in life except to

marry, some day, a man who has a good deal of money. She could easily

marry a rich man; several have already asked her but she intends to wait

a while. She knows the pleasures of the intellect are not for her. She

says excitement has been her master and that nothing else in the world

matters greatly. Cold and superficial, she admits she is not much of a

woman but denies that her conscience is dead,—says it has never been

born. The girls who are mistresses to one man have more womanly

qualities than she because they are aroused and fully developed.

She has no desire for children, does not care for them, but has no

aversion to having one. It would have to be a pretty baby and must be

brought up nicely. Clutter, pots and pans and drudgery are as remote

from her life as if she had been born a princess.

“Probably I am spoiled,” she says, “but there are hundreds of others

like me, though most of them are too human to resist sex temptation

themselves. There are three types of people responsible for a vast

number of girls like me: Mothers who spoil their daughters—anything

rather than have them household drudges like themselves; society women

who make the poor girl’s lot seem harder to her than she can bear; and

the men who are glad to use the working girl for everything in life but

marriage. Personally I am to blame, of course, but I consider myself

swept by the current—glad to drift—yes; but afraid to think where it may

end. I have never been in love. Something is still sleeping in me.

Perhaps it will come to life some day.”[78]

The last document is very significant. The girl’s schematization of life

is further from the bordel and nearer the strategic form of marriage

recommended by the wife in document No. 49 (p. 87).

In none of the documents in this chapter up to this point is an

unfortunate love affair or a betrayal with promise of marriage mentioned

as the cause of later delinquency. Girls do make these representations,

and very often, but they are always to be discounted, and for two

reasons. In the first place girlhood and womanhood have been idealized

to the degree that this explanation is expected and the girl wishes to

give it. Betrayal is the romantic way of falling, the one used in the

story books and movies. Many girls have finished stories of this kind

which they relate when asked to tell about their lives. In addition, a

seduction does usually accompany the first adventure into the world, as

we have seen in the documents (Nos. 64–69), but we saw also that sex in

these cases was used, as a coin would be used, to secure adventure and

pleasure. On the other hand, not a few girls have tragedies in

connection with courtship, promises of marriage, pregnancy, and

childbirth which demoralize them when they had no previous tendency to

demoralization. In a few cases girls yield to their own sexual desire.

72. Ellen is twenty years old. When her mother died six years ago

her father immediately remarried and she went to an aunt in

Poughkeepsie, but when her aunt found out she had broken connections

with her father, she turned her out.... The aunt is an old maid

living alone in a nice house, with one servant. She stayed with her

one year. The aunt made it evident that she disliked Ellen. She did

housework in Rochester, and then went to Poughkeepsie and later to

Albany. She has worked as a maid, and as a salesgirl in a department

store, but would not give the name nor any information regarding her

employer.

Nine months ago she attended a Knights of Columbus banquet with a

girl friend, where she was introduced to a man who began to call

upon her shortly afterward and they became intimate. She was invited

to his mother’s home, together with a great many other friends, who

were evidently people of wealth, she says. His mother did not know

that she was a working girl, because he furnished her with clothing.

She further states that his mother never knew that her son had had

immoral relations or that he even expected to marry her. She is sure

that the mother would not allow the marriage because Ellen is a

Catholic. She says his mother owns a garage which her son manages.

He often took her for long rides in the machine to road houses and

recently had intercourse with her twice during such trips. On the

first such occasion he promised to marry her, bought her a small

diamond ring for which he paid $98, and the other day when he

proposed a trip to New York, he said he

had secured a marriage license. Said they would be married here in New

York City and return to Albany to live. When they arrived with their

friends, another girl and a man, she states she asked him where they

were to be married and he said: “No, we’re young yet and don’t have to

be; let’s have a good time first.” She said that scared her and she got

out of the car near the park on Second Avenue. She hid in the bushes and

finally came out, looked around, but did not see them anywhere. She

accosted a policeman and said to him, “Arrest me; do anything you like,

but I have got to have a place to go to.” She said he laughed at her and

said she was crazy and wanted to know what was the matter. So she told

him a little of her story. He said he would look after her when off his

beat, but in the meantime she should stay in a Catholic Church nearby,

which she says she did. When the officer came off his beat he came and

took her to the police station. She says she would not marry the man now

if he could be found and if he were willing. She feels that he has

disgraced her before all her friends and consequently she does not want

to see any of them.

Her great ambition was to be a trained nurse. She has applied at

different hospitals and every one has refused her because she has not

enough education. She says that she will do anything or give up anything

to realize this ambition. She would be very happy if she could even

become a child’s nurse and would be willing to live on a very small

salary while she is training. She prefers to stay in New York as there

is less probability of her seeing the man again.... Religion means a

great deal to her and would like to see a priest in a day or two.[79]

73. I was born at Marietta, Ohio, December 22, 1902. My father at that

time was making pretty good money. He was an oil man. He was discouraged

over a loss and was working on a farm. We moved to one farm and lived

there two years when the house burned with but little saved. From there

we moved on to another farm and lived there about two years. At a

failure of crops we moved again to Tennessee.... I worked about three

months on a railroad grade, doing men and boys’ work. I made $2.50 a day

working 10 hours. I was dumping the cars, laying track, carrying

water—just anything they needed some one to do, just anything to fill

in. There was about 20 of us girls. I saved about $90 out of my wages

during those three months beside paying my board at home and buying my

clothes. Father borrowed this $90 when we got to Morgantown, saying his

money was all gone and saying that he would have to have some money to

keep the family until the household goods came. [I had planned to use my

money to pay my school expenses, but father said he couldn’t afford to

send me to school, so I went to work in a restaurant, but father wanted

me to work in a private family and I went to the home of Mrs. Jernigan.]

Most of the management of the house was left for me to do, as the woman

was away from home most of the time. She wanted to be going out all the

time; she never stayed at home. Just so long as the work was taken care

of she didn’t care. There were four children. I had to do all the work

and take care of the children. She was gone most of the time. It was the

26th of January, 1919. For the last two or three weeks before that I

noticed he was getting familiar. I didn’t seem to realize anything of it

at the time. He treated me just like one of the family until the 26th.

Mr. Jernigan was not able to go to Sunday School. He was sick so he told

his wife and that was the excuse she made to the Sunday School

superintendent and to his pupils. Before she went she asked me to see

that he got his medicine because he might doze off and not take it on

time, but to be sure he got it on time. He was sitting in the living

room before the fire, in a big lounging chair when I brought his

medicine to him first. I got him his medicine and I started to go away

and he asked me why I was in such a big hurry for. I told him that if I

was to get the work done and dinner ready on time as Mrs. Jernigan was

going out that afternoon, and if I didn’t keep busy I wouldn’t get it

accomplished. He says, “Oh, hang the work! You don’t have to be working

all the time.” I told him that that was what I was there for and that

that was what they were paying me for and it was not for him to detain

me and cause Mrs. Jernigan inconvenience as well as myself. He says,

“All right, you don’t like Daddy Joe any more.” That was what they

called him, Daddy Joe. I tried to reason with him that I cared for him

just as much as I ever did but that I must get my work done. He said I

could at least sit down on the edge of his chair awhile and I thought I

would as I would get away quicker rather than by arguing with him. He

started to caress and make over me and I tried to get away, saying that

that wouldn’t do that he was to go on asleep or amuse himself, that I

must get my work done. But he refused to let me go. He kept making over

me until he got my passions aroused and until he had no control over

himself at all, and though a sick man, he picked me up and carried me

upstairs and there he ruined me. I didn’t realize the harm he was doing

me.... I didn’t feel that I wanted to work there any more. I was ashamed

to meet the look of Mrs. Jernigan. It seemed that I couldn’t get

interested in my work and in about a week I asked for about a couple of

weeks’ vacation. I went to a friend of mine at Flemington. I stayed

there the two weeks and a few days over, but I telephoned Mrs. Jernigan

that if she could get some one for my place to do so, that I didn’t know

exactly when I would be back, I was going to stay a few days longer. But

when I got back she had not succeeded in getting any one. Mr. Jernigan

came to see me where I was at the time and promised that he wouldn’t

repeat his actions as before if I would go back. He said Mrs. Jernigan

would think of me just as my parents, and I was just as anxious to

conceal my wrong then as he. So I went back. I was there about two weeks

and he didn’t keep his promise. I told my parents that I was going to

leave there.

I started back in the restaurant life then again. I met a young man who

seemed very interested in me. I was discouraged and disgusted with the

way I was living and the restaurant life began to have its effect on me

then, and I decided that I would accept his proposal and that we would

get married. But one thing happened and then another until we had to

postpone it and it was just a plan of his, I found out later. He had

coaxed me into improper relationship with him once. Then he started

running around town with other girls. When I asked him what he meant by

that kind of action he said he had come to the conclusion that I was too

young to know what it was to get married, that I had just better drop

that idea altogether. I was discouraged and disgusted with myself that I

could be led into anything so easily.... [I married a man who was very

surly and associated with negro women, infected me with gonorrhoea, told

the workers in the mine that I had infected him, and finally

disappeared.]

I went home and my sister’s husband came to live with us and I seemed to

know him better than I did before. He had just come back from the Army

and he was the only comfort I had, so I talked with him. When a girl

gets the blues she falls harder than ever. He had a fight with those at

the mines who repeated the story that my husband told. It was about the

first of March when we had a physical relation and at that time I was

made pregnant.[80]

74. In this case a girl of American parentage was a bright and

attractive type. Her mother had been a prostitute for years and had

provided a home in which the standards were so degrading that the courts

had given the five other daughters to relatives six years previous. The

girl in question was sent to live with a widowed uncle and his two

daughters, who welcomed her to a home of many comforts and interests,

but allowed at the same time much unsupervised recreational time. During

afternoons of leisure she found many opportunities to spend hours in the

company of a married man in the neighborhood, and a few years later at

the age of 16 she gave birth to an illegitimate child.

Her father died when she was two years old. During the next few years

the home life was deplorable. The family suffered much through poverty,

and the mother was so neglectful of her children that the neighbors

brought about her arrest. At an early age this girl had witnessed many

immoral scenes, and she said that when she was only 8 years old she

remembered seeing her mother in bed with a man. It was also reported

that she had locked one of the daughters in a room with a man, receiving

payment from him for this opportunity.

When this young girl went to live with her uncle and two older cousins

in her tenth year, she found an excellent home. The family attended

church regularly, and she took an active part in the services. It was

noted that after she started an intimacy with the father of her child

she failed to speak at the prayer meeting. At school she was considered

one of the most promising girls in her class and much above the average

in her school work. She reached the sophomore year and left because of

her pregnancy. She was associated with a group of good friends and was

much enjoyed by her cousins. They had little time to give her, as one

attended college and the other held a responsible position in a business

house. After school hours she had the afternoon to herself. She was not

allowed to go out evenings except when chaperoned by older people. In

appearance she was an attractive type, with fresh coloring and a

childish, innocent expression. Her uncle stated that she had always been

a good girl, was quiet and obedient, and had never showed any tendency

to run after the boys. Her child was born at a private maternity home

and was healthy and robust and greatly beloved by the mother, who

declared that she would never give her up. Later the child was placed

out with the mother and both did extremely well.

Her sex history is as follows. She met the father by chance going home

from school, when she accidentally ran into him. After this she happened

to see him occasionally, and their casual meetings finally terminated in

an intimacy. She knew the father three years and had relationships with

him in the woods for a year and a half before the birth of her child.

The girl said, “When I was 13 there came to me an awful longing for some

one to love me and kiss me at night. I thought it was a mother’s love I

wanted, but when this man talked to me I thought that was what I wanted.

I had no wish to do wrong but longed to be loved.” For some time this

man made love to her and represented himself as her truest friend. He

told her that because she was an orphan she needed such a friendship.

For many months there was no sexual intimacy between them. Finally he

began to ask her questions concerning her menstrual periods and

afterwards generally instructed her in sex matters. Following this

conversation she frequently had relationships with him and did not learn

that he was married until some months later. She declared that she loved

and trusted the father of her child, and even after she became pregnant

said that she could not regret her sexual relations with him or feel

that she had done wrong. Meantime she had been twice assaulted by a man

of loose character.

This is her statement regarding her attitude at this time: “He was not

wholly to blame, because as soon as a man speaks to me concerning these

things I get so aroused that I do not know what I am doing.” Both men

were arrested, and the judge was unable to establish paternity. He gave

the father, so called, a suspended sentence of one year and ordered him

to support the child.... It was interesting to note the girl’s attitude

after confinement. She said, “I wonder if these men who had intercourse

with me didn’t feel beforehand that it would be an easy thing to do,

since my mother had been so bad.”[81]

75. At sixteen Patty was a dreadful flirt, a fairly good student, and an

adept at every kind of sport. About this time she made friends with a

girl whom all the girls knew, but only slightly. There were rumors about

her family which the girls heard long before their elders, but knowing

nothing of real facts they kept their surmises to themselves, gossiped

and wondered. Patty spent much time at this girl’s house and her aunt

did not interfere. Soon stories began to be whispered. Boy students went

to call on the girls and stayed very late. Patty always stayed with this

girl when her parents were away. The servants in the house knew the

facts of the case and had been bribed to keep still. All of Patty’s

friends were desperate but loyal. No one would tell on her. Patty kissed

the boys and ran after them. Olive, her friend, did worse things—but

what? Led by this wholly bad girl, Patty was living the life of a

wilful, passionate, little harlot, her heart wholly rebellious, her keen

sex instincts wholly aroused. Class protection saved her for a long

time. None of the boys quite dared to seduce her, but as time went on

there were plenty of people who believed the worst and finally she let

herself go completely. Soon after she became pregnant. Before this her

aunt had stopped her friendship with Olive, but when she became quiet,

wild-eyed, and shy, no one could believe the awful truth. The news

spread like wild-fire and Patty left the town. One of the boys was

anxious to marry her but she admitted she was not sure which of three

boys was the father of her child and said she would not marry any one.

She lived in the country with some good people and motherhood woke all

the emotions of her best self. The baby lived only a short time and she

came to her home town to visit her aunt, apparently for the purpose of

being confirmed in her old church. She was the same fascinating girl

with a sudden dignity of womanhood that amazed every one. People talked

of her bravery in facing them all and no one would have dared to be

anything but nice to her. Even the gossips realized that Patty was

something of a person, after all. She went abroad after this, studied,

and traveled. She was as talkative as ever and did every wild and

impetuous thing which struck her fancy but with a contradictory element

of reserve too elusive to explain. Her chaperone, who knew nothing of

her past, often commented on the fact that Patty could manage the

men,—no one presumed to take liberties with her.

When twenty-three she lost her heart to a man ten years her senior, a

strong character with a dominant personality. When he told Patty he

loved her, she flung herself in his arms and told the whole story

rapidly, truthfully, without thought of the consequences. He held her

close while she sobbed and quieted her as no one had ever quieted Patty

before. “Hush, dear,” he said. “Of course it was necessary to tell me;

we will never speak of it again. I know how much you need me. You have

always needed me. I think I can make you happy.”

Patty ends the story by saying that in this man she found the refuge

which was her salvation. Though intellectually her superior, her husband

is stimulated by her active mind. Their sex relation is perfect. She has

plenty of friends, both men and women, and he loves and admires her.

Their home is comfortable, secure. They have two lovely children—a boy

and a girl.

This woman realizes the faults of her nature. In looking back she thinks

she flew blindly as a bird would fly, yet never without a subconscious

realization of her folly. Her impulses were merely stronger than her

control. She thinks she is probably more dependent upon a sex life than

many women, yet intellectually she has developed wonderfully and is

really a splendid woman, albeit too nervous, oversensitive, and

frail.[82]

76. American girl, 19 years old, pregnant. Many elements of the feminine

mind are demonstrated in her sincerity and truthfulness of

understanding. Had no previous knowledge of sex life; did not know men

were like that; did not know her own nature and the awakening of passion

within herself was overwhelming.

Came to Boston a year ago. Lives with another girl, good as far as she

knows. They have never talked about men’s relation with women. It is

hard for her to talk about intimate matters, so she does not know how

her friend feels. Is a Roman Catholic, but there is no good of her going

to church now. She thinks the man would marry her, but how could she

marry a man like that? Does not want him to kiss her now. When it was

explained to her that this might be because she was pregnant, she was

again interested. Perhaps, because how was it she loved to have him kiss

her before? Motherhood is natural to her, but to face society unmarried

seems an impossibility. When she speaks of her baby, her face lights

with a look which is not sentimentalism. “Oh I could love it if I could

only let it be born.” None of her family could ever know she was like

“that.” “That” means that she could have a child when it is not right to

have one. She had not a clear memory of her temptation and actual sex

experience. “I was as much to blame as he was, for he did not make me,

but I did not realize quite what I was doing, I felt numb. I had so much

feeling I had none.”

This girl is difficult to describe. Unusual because with only a little

help she could understand herself, probably with the whole of her

nature, which few women do. Has the rare gift of seeing things as they

are when she wishes to see them differently. Never had much education,

went through grammar school, could have gone to high school but wanted

to go to work. Works in a restaurant. Earns five dollars a week with

meals and tips. Lives with another girl and together they pay $3 a week

for their room. Met this man on the street. “All the girls do that.” He

did not mean to harm her, she thinks; there was no talk of wrong doing

at first; just good friends. “He is a strong man, makes me do things,

yet asks me about everything we do. I cannot quite explain it.” (The

truthful feminine mind again, the civilized desire to be a comrade

warring against the primitive woman who wishes to be captured. Women of

this type are particularly sensitive, apparently, particularly to be

desired by the masculine mind.)

This girl is wholly natural. She came to me in an impulsive way. “I know

a girl who knows a girl who knew you. I must tell some one so I came to

you. I am in trouble.” Religion is remote to her as a personal

experience. “That is a different part of myself—the part I dream with. I

hate myself now. I do not feel like myself, but yet I feel differently.

I can never be the same again.”

Many girls of this kind, unmarried and pregnant, do not realize

motherhood. It is a misery remote from their consciousness, not a part

of their being. With this girl it is. She is 100 per cent feminine, it

seems to me, yet with a spirit which is brave and fine. If her maternal

instinct dominates, the child will be born. If consciousness to outside

influence gets the better, she will have an abortion. I should say it

was an even chance, but no one will decide it for her. She is glad of

advice, humble in the asking, and sincere, but weighs it all, and

another’s mind but shows her her own opinion more clearly. Married the

man; perfectly happy.[83]

77. Prostitute, twenty-four years old, of English parentage. Lived in

this country since she was ten years old. Typical English type, high

cheek bones, clear skin, bold grey eyes; womanly in bearing, with a

contradictory dignity and boldness of speech and manner. Went to school

through grammar grade, began to work at fifteen. Had nothing in common

with her family, had no sex training, did not talk to her mother about

things she felt deeply. She said, “I was fond of my mother, but we were

not intimate; one does not talk to one’s mother.” Worked at housework,

then restaurant work, left home and boarded alone. Was wild and

irresponsible, did not understand life, wanted fun and novelty. When

eighteen met a business man with plenty of money who was kind to her.

There was no talk of marriage. Went with him for three months before sex

relation was established. Finally became pregnant. Her family found her

and issued a complaint against her as a stubborn child. Her baby was

born in a hospital and afterwards she continued to live an irresponsible

life but without immorality. “There was only one man in the world for

me,” she said, “no one seemed to understand that.” She was misunderstood

and was ultimately sentenced to prison, her child cared for by the

State.

She is reticent about the father of her child. She swore upon the

witness stand she did not know the father of her child, to protect him.

He never knew that she was pregnant. In prison she learned much evil.

Her life with this one man had been almost innocent, a first realization

of sex. She knew nothing about prostitutes, of perverts, of “French

immorality”, all of which she learned from other girls and women in

prison. She was told a girl was a fool to work hard for nothing when she

could have everything for the price of a spirit of adventure. Her love

of her child was real and earnest. When she came from prison she went to

work in a family with her child. She became of age while here. All the

furies of her nature were aroused by her dealings with social workers

who judged her wrongly. Her antagonism was interpreted as hardness.

“They thought I was a jailbird or something like that. They took the

baby away and put it in a place where I could not see it; even the

family where I had worked did not know where it was.”

About this time she met some of her prison acquaintances. They made fun

of her attempt at virtue. “Why wouldn’t I listen to them? They were all

the companions I had had for ten months. The State drove me on the

street because I wouldn’t be meek and was saucy to them. I meant to

support my baby and they took it away. I’m not a proper person to bring

up a child. I’m not, but they (‘they’ is most of the world) made me what

I am.”

She is now a regular prostitute. She lives in a tiny apartment of one

room, bath, and kitchenette, a cheerless place with a telephone which

looks business-like. She helps in the office of the place and cares for

some other apartments, and earns enough to pay her rent and a little

more. The rest she earns immorally.

“I was innocent,” she said, “until I was 18. I went on the streets for

excitement and fun. People said and thought all sorts of things about me

which were not true,—my family, the court people, and all. My mother

would never have known about the baby if the State hadn’t blabbed. Why

do they have to tell a person’s private affairs and sins? My mother had

enough trouble without having mine thrust on her. I ought to bear my own

troubles without breaking her heart. Social workers think they’re such

saints.

“Nowadays girls go wrong younger. Today there are girls on the Common at

night, thirteen and fourteen, who know everything bad there is to know.

I am not a café girl. You would be disgusted with the café girls. If the

city really wants to stop this sort of thing why don’t they shut up the

cafés? Some of those girls are awful; some of them are desperate. On the

street few girls speak to men. It is the other way round. If a girl is

alone on the streets at night the men know what she is there for. There

is more money in New York than Boston. I’m not a real sporting girl.

They have to be bad, that is willing to do anything a man wants. They

get $25, whatever they want, if they are attractive enough, but a girl

has to be bad all through to satisfy such men. I usually get $10,

sometimes $5 if the man is nice but poor. No girl need go with men that

make it worse. It’s bad enough. I never go with a man who has been

drinking much and only with a certain kind of men.” As far as could be

learned this type bears a resemblance to the kind of man who is the

father of her child. She says she still loves him. She has seen him

sometimes on the street. It is a temptation but she keeps away. “It

makes me tremble and feel sick; besides I wouldn’t give him the

satisfaction of knowing they took the child away. Oh, how I hate them

all. It’s a fierce life. There are two kinds of prostitutes, the ones

who would get out of the life any minute if they could earn a decent

living any other way, and the ones who were born to the life. Silly

fools! they wouldn’t be satisfied with anything else. (The

feeble-minded?) Why do I live so if I hate it? What else can I do? I

have no education; any work I can get is hard work and I am not strong.

I worked for a family all summer as a second girl. My back ached all the

time. A maid goes in the back door and out of the back door. In this

life she can be comfortable, get plenty to eat, plenty of good clothes,

and she is as good as the men with whom she goes.

“I generally get home by eleven or twelve o’clock, sometimes I stay all

night. I never have visitors here; I never go with but one man in a

night. No one here knows me. What people don’t know won’t hurt them. I

generally go to a hotel. Most decent men would rather go to a hotel and

pay the extra price for a room. Such hotels are not apt to be raided. I

don’t long for the life at all. I cared for that one man. I mean to save

money and I am a little ahead. We don’t hate the men half as much as we

hate ourselves. They could stop before it was too late if any one would

really sympathize with their love of freedom and understand them. Social

workers say, “I want to help you”; they just preach. Many of them are

women of education. They expect a girl to know all that they know with

their years of experience when she is just ignorant. What can she know

of herself and men and the world? Things are all wrong between men and

women—I don’t know why. People with education ought to think about it.

More than half the men we girls meet are married men. The women get

tired of their husbands; the husbands get tired of them. Sometimes the

wives are sick, sometimes they don’t understand a man’s nature; they are

cold and unsympathetic and drive them to girls like us.

“I pretend as far as I can. One might as well do it in the same spirit

as any other distasteful work. It may wear out one’s soul but it doesn’t

wear out one’s body as much as house work or factory or store work. I

haven’t been to church in seven years. I can’t believe much in God. It’s

hard to see the justice in anything and the so-called good people think

they are so perfect.”

This woman with all her hardness and bitterness cries when she speaks of

her child. When I came away she acted the hostess very prettily, picked

up my books for me, and showed a gentle side of her nature. “No, I

haven’t minded talking of myself,” she said. “Please come again. I have

no real friends—you will always find me here alone, and sad.”[84]

Pregnancy and illegal motherhood are among the most tragic of all

situations and tend to deprive the girl of her sense of worth, to

isolate her socially, and to handicap her economically. But when the

girl is not already prepared for demoralization the recuperation in

these cases is greater than we should expect. It is a disaster like

other disasters, such as sickness and loss of fortune, and a

reconstruction of life may follow, perhaps on a lower level. The

attitude toward an otherwise orderly girl who has had a sexual

experience or borne a child is not so severe as formerly. Frequently the

girl marries, often she marries the father of the child. In his study of

five hundred unmarried mothers Kammerer says:

“It appears that 48, or 9.6 per cent, of the women in this study married

the father of their illegitimate child either before or after

confinement; 37 or 7.4 per cent married a man not the father of their

child. Figures in regard to the unmarried mother are probably

considerably lower than they would have been had it been possible to

observe the situation longer. According to the German experience over 30

per cent of the mothers of illegitimate children marry before their

child reaches the age of three years.”[85] And since it has been

calculated by Adele Schreiber[86] that 50 per cent of all German women

are unmarried between the ages of 20 and 30 it appears that the chance

to marry on the part of the unmarried mother is very good. (In Germany,

however, it is half-customary among peasants and the lower city classes

to begin sexual relations before marriage and to marry when pregnancy

follows.) At any rate it appears that prostitution is not recruited

largely from the victims of love affairs.

The most sensational aspect of the girl’s delinquency is connected with

white slavery and the character called “pimp”, “cadet”, or “souteneur.”

If a young and simple girl is abducted or captured in the most brutal

and audacious way she may nevertheless become broken and submissive, as

an animal is broken and trained. She will then be put on the street to

“hustle”, or in a house, and her earnings collected. She is held first

by fear and then acquires habits and works with the system, like a

trained animal. Frequently there is marriage or pretense of marriage and

the girl finds that the next step is to go on the street. This is the

typical procedure of the white slaver. In addition he purchases girls

who are already “broken in” and transfers girls who are already

prostitutes from place to place, as notably from Galicia or Hungary to

South America.

The other side of the matter, the relation of the girl to the pimp, is

connected with her desire for response. When for any reason a girl is

“ruined”, on the street, used as a convenience by everybody, she is in a

condition of great and unnatural isolation and loneliness and craves a

relationship which is personal and intimate. Her attachment to the pimp

is simply an underworld love affair. He is her man. She is jealous and

he is jealous. She works and brings her earnings as if she were earning

in another business. Sometimes her pimp will not allow her to enter the

room until she has put $10 under the door. If he abuses her,

particularly if he is jealous, she rather welcomes this as a sign of his

attachment. That the girl supports a pimp to protect her and keep her

out of trouble with the police is not the main element. In European

cities where girls are registered by the police and protected as far as

possible from this exploitation, they nevertheless support pimps, and in

some cities the number doing this is as much as 90 per cent of the

registered prostitutes.

It frequently happens also that a girl is drawn or drifts out of her

family and community into a bad gang, as in case No. 78, becomes

identified with them by assimilation, and cannot free herself. She may

then be kept by one of the men or sold into a house. Cases No. 79 and

No. 80 are typical of the psychology of the girl in this relation.

78. I am a girl 18 years old and am from a Polish village. Now I am an

orphan. I was two years old when my mother died. Several years later my

father left for America and left me with my grandfather. After spending

several years in America, my father brought me here to New York. I was

then 15 years old. I soon went to work and earned $5 a week. My father

took the money from me and supported me. And now my troubles begin.

After I was here several months, I became acquainted with a boy and

through him I became acquainted with several other boys. I was yet young

and did not very well understand that the boys accompanied me for their

pleasure and not out of friendship. When my father found it out, he

began to argue with me in a good way; but as he could not persuade me in

a good way, for I did not then understand that it was dear friendship of

a father to his child, he began to beat me. After my father gave me a

good beating, I became mad; left the house and entered on a wrong path.

My father remained alone and dejected and was forced to marry. I now

have a stepmother and I am staying away and I feel that I am falling. I

feel that my body is fading along with my soul. When I look at my

companions, who shun me, who do not want to know me on account of my

immoral life, I envy them. I now realize how bad and wrong my life is;

and I see my future in dark colors.

Now when I want to disengage myself from the charlatans and licentious

scoundrels in man’s image, I cannot do it. My heart is bound to them. I

am attracted to them as to a magnet. When I do not see them for a day, I

am almost crazy.

I do not know what to do. The question is; how can I wean myself from

the boys, my murderers.... Perhaps it would have been well for me to

leave New York altogether and go to some other city?[87]

79. Five pimps were playing cards in a restaurant on Seventh Avenue. The

day was very hot. During the afternoon the girl who is “hustling” for

one of them came into the restaurant wearing a heavy velvet suit. The

wife of the proprietor asked, “What are you doing, wearing a suit like

that in this kind of weather?” She replied that though she was bringing

home eight, ten, and twelve dollars every night, she could not afford a

new dress. “He needs it for gambling,” she said, pointing to her pimp.

Leaving the table in anger he deliberately slapped her in the face.

“Didn’t you pay $32 for that suit?” he said. “What more do you

want?”[88]

80. I met [a police officer] in June 1917.... I fell in love with him

right away, to tell the truth. I had been having trouble with my husband

and had tried to divorce him, but couldn’t. Anyhow, we were separated.

When I was with my husband I was a good girl, and didn’t go out with

other men.... I won’t say that he asked me to go into the life I began

to lead. That was my own choice. I wasn’t any innocent child. But he

told me he could “help” me a lot in the life. He told me, first, to keep

within the bounds of his inspection district, and to walk Broadway

between 42d Street and 109th, but never to go beyond those lines, or

else he couldn’t protect me.... After I had taken a man home, and then

the man had left the apartment, Ginton would come in and get some money.

How much? Oh—25 per cent, sometimes, or 50 per cent, or maybe even 100

per cent. He was always saying, “Honey, I need money. I have to have

$25”, or sometimes he would ask for $10 or $20—never less than $10. Oh,

I couldn’t begin to figure how much I gave him. But I didn’t mind that.

I loved him, and I always had plenty of money for myself, anyhow.... I

don’t mind the money, but I do mind his saying he doesn’t know me. I’d

have given him anything I had—I would even now, I think. See this ring?

Well, that’s worth $3000. He asked me for it once, and I was going to

give it to him, except the other girls wouldn’t let me. I’ve bought him

lots of clothes—and you might ask him about the belt with the gold

buckle I gave him for a present. Oh—he knows me, all right.

After seeing my folks and talking to them and having them treat me

nicely, I made up my mind that when I got back to New York I was going

to give up the life I had been leading and get a job and go straight. So

I got a place in a hairdresser’s shop at 85th Street and Broadway that

paid me $25 a week.

He didn’t like that, and told me so. I guess it was because he wasn’t

getting any more money from me. Anyhow, I hadn’t been at work long

before he came into the hairdresser’s and said to the boss, “You’d

better get rid of that girl; she’s a prostitute.” So I was discharged.

I made another try and got a job in a millinery shop on Broadway, near

95th Street. The same thing happened. He told the people I was working

for that I was a street woman, so they had to let me go. He had me

discharged from a third job in a store in the same neighborhood. It was

impossible for me to get any kind of straight work because of him. I had

to go back to the street.[89]

Italians and Jews have been noticeably identified with white slavery.

The Italian methods are particularly atrocious, showing the same

desperation as their black-hand operations. At the same time Italian

girls and Irish are the most intractable among the nationalities. The

Jewish operations tend to the form of business organization.

81. I come to this country when I fourteen years old with my mother and

father and brothers and sisters. My father go back to Italy three years

ago when sick. I work as operator and earn $3 a week. Then I get $6 and

for two years I make $9. I walk with my friend Florence who live in same

street and we meet Frank Marino drinking soda. He ask me if I have a

drink and I say “No”, and he say, “Come on, don’t be bashful, take a

drink.” After we take a drink he say, “I take you girls to moving

pictures.” I say, “No, I can’t.” He say, “Oh, come on; I own a moving

picture place; it do you no harm to go.” We went into a place after a

while. When we come out, he say, “You come again to-morrow; I take you

again.” I say, “No, I can’t go, my mother would not like.” He walk home

with me and I say to him, “If you want to know me, come in; here’s the

house; I live here.” He say, “No, you meet me on Wednesday and I take

you to moving pictures.” I told him “No.” He say, “Yes, you come.”

Florence say, “You go; maybe he’s your luck; you get married. He seem

like a nice fellow.” So I say, “You go with me and I go. I afraid to go

alone.” Wednesday we go again and I not tell my mother. Saturday I go

with him again and Florence too. He introduce her so she had man, called

Jim, to take her. When we come out he say, “I take you now to see my

mother and sisters on Charles Street.” I not want to go; I was afraid,

but he say, “Florence and Jim go too; my mother and sisters want to see

you.”

So we go and he want me to go upstairs and I say, “No, I afraid.” He

say, “Oh, you have a bad mind; you think bad. My mother is upstairs

waiting for you; come on.” I step into the hall and he shut the door and

Florence outside. Then he say, “Come upstairs; don’t have such a bad

mind,” and I say, “Why not Florence come too?” and he say, “Oh, Jim got

a key, he come.” We get upstairs, he push me in a room and lock the

door. He say, “Now I got you here I do what I want,” and I say “No”, and

I try to get out and I can’t. Then he takes out a pistol and hold it

right up against my ear. He know I was a good girl, and I say, “Are you

going to marry me? If you don’t, I kill myself. I will jump out the

window.”

I go home to my mother and I tell her. She faint. I most crazy and she

too. She says, “He must marry you and your brother must not know or he

kill him.” We are a respectable family and my father he has property. I

see Frank after this and tell him he must marry me now that he knows I a

good girl, and he say he would and on next Tuesday we go to City Hall.

He takes out license and we was married by some man there. Then he takes

me to a furnished room. All the time we was in this room he just bring

me things to eat like crackers, cheese and a little wine. He twice try

to make me go on the streets and the first time he beat me and pull my

hair and knock me around; he show me a pistol till I faint on the floor

and then he throw water over me and tell me not to be so foolish.

One day he take me out with his cousin Jim and his wife Rosie. She’s

bad; she goes on the streets. She say, “Why don’t you do what he wants

you? Look at me! I have good clothes,” and she showed me a diamond pin.

“I get that by doing bad business.” I say, “I go to my mother if he not

want to take care of me, or I go to work, and Frank go to work and we

have rooms. We buy a little furniture. We not need things so fine.” And

my husband, he say, “What you look like with this kind of clothes.” I

say, “My mother buy me this suit, it good enough.”

One day he comes in, he bring me a little short dress and red garters

and big red bows for my hair. He say, “You put on.” I say, “No, I not

put on. I shamed.” Then he slap me and beat me and put pistol to my face

and I go way from him and I go down to Carmine Street to Mary, who is a

good woman and some relation to him, and I tell her about it. She say,

“My God! Is he so bad?” She send for him and say, “What you mean when

you get a good girl? What for you want to put her in this bad life?” And

he say, “Oh, I don’t want to; I just crazy,” and he say, “Come home, I

not ask you any more.”

We go home and his cousin Jim is there and we have coffee to drink and

he put something in the coffee. And by and by my head go round and I

stupid and he say, “Come out in the air”, and I go out and get on the

car and we go some place on the Battery in a house and he leave me

there. Pretty soon a man come and he say, “Why you not undressed?” and I

say, “I not undress. I not bad girl. I married. I not want to be bad.”

And he say, “Then you get out of my house. I not want to get into

trouble,” and I go back. I afraid to go home because I get married

without my brother seeing the man I marry.

Then Frank say, “I got work in a barber-shop, come.” We go down to

Houston and Mott Street and there he get ticket and money and then we go

to Gran Central, and get on train. This was Wednesday of the next week

when we married. It was six o’clock and we rode and it gets to be nine

o’clock and I say, “Where we go? How long it takes?” He say, “We going

to Chicago!” Then I cry, “Now I know you put me in the bad life.” He

say, “You make noise on train, I kill you.” We get to Chicago and he

take me to a house where a man live, his name is Nino Sacco. There he

show me razors and pistols and say, “You do not do what I tell you, you

be dead.” One day I get out, but that man Sacco, he come after me and

take me back. Another time I get out of the house, but every time they

catch me and take me back. Then I get sick and cannot do business, and

they say, “She no good”, and my husband he write to my brother and say,

“You want your sister back, you be on Bleecker Street in drug store, and

I give you back your sister. You bring $100 and I give you your sister.”

Then he bring me to New York. He say to me, “You put police on me you be

dead girl. I not ’feard for myself, I can get free. I know how. I have

had other girls; but you try and I kill you.” Then we met my brother. He

gave Frank $100 and he took me home. I wait two days, then I tell

police. Frank he get arrested and then we found he had another wife. I

was only one month in Chicago, but my life is spoiled and my family

ruined and I sick and can’t work. [Marino and Sacco were sentenced to

five years in prison.][90]

82. I am a girl from Galicia. I am neither old nor young. I am working

in a shop like other girls. I have saved up several hundred dollars.

Naturally, a young man began to court me and it is indeed this that we

girls are seeking. I became acquainted with him through a Russian

[Jewish] matchmaker who for a short while boarded with a countryman of

mine. He is really handsome and, as the girls call it, “appetizing.” But

he is poor, and this is no disgrace. He became dearer to me every day.

One day he told me he was in want owing to a strike, so I helped him

out. I was never stingy with him and besides money also bought him a

suit of clothes and an overcoat.... Who else did I work for if not him?

In short we became happily engaged.

Some time after, we hired a hall in Clinton Street and we were on our

way to the bank to draw some money for the wedding expenses and also to

enter the savings in both our names. On the way we passed some of his

countrymen who were musicians, and we needed music, so we stopped in. He

introduced me as his bride. I offered to have them play at our wedding.

Incidentally, I inquired about my fiancé and they gave good opinions of

him. Only a musician’s boy pitifully gazed at me and remarked, when my

fiancé was not near us: “Are there not enough people from the old

country to ask for their opinion?” I understood the hint and asked him

for an address, which he gave me. Meanwhile, we were late for the bank,

and fortunately, too. I could hardly wait for evening when I rushed over

to his countryman and inquired about him. They were surprised at my

questions and told me he had a wife and three children in —— Street. As

I later found out she was the same woman whom he introduced me to as his

boarding mistress.... I cannot describe my feelings at that time. I

became a mere toy in the mouths of my countrymen. But what more could I

do than arrest him? But his wife and children came to court and had him

released.

I found out of the existence of a gang of wild beasts, robbers who prey

upon our lives and money. I then advertised in a Jewish newspaper,

warning my sisters against such a “fortune” as befell me. I was not

ashamed and told of my misfortune wherever I came and gave warnings. The

East Side has become full of such “grooms”, “matchmakers”, “mistresses”,

“sisters”, and “brothers.” Inquire of their countrymen. There are plenty

of their kind.

A girl from my country has also married one of the band, the one who was

my former matchmaker. To the warnings that he had a wife and child in

Europe, she replied, “Well, if she comes she will be welcome.” And good

countrymen did indeed send for her and she came with a four-year-old

boy. Her predicament is horrible to describe. She is poor and lonely and

my countrywoman did not welcome her as she boasted, and her husband

said: “Whoever sent for you may support you.”[91]

White slavery has never been a quantitatively important factor as the

beginning of delinquency and together with the cadet system it is

passing out, partly as the result of public indignation and severe

penalties, and partly as the result of the changing attitude of the

women concerned, who have become “wise” and are going more “on their

own.” Many of them scorn the pimp. The change is a part of the general

individualization.