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Commercialized Prostitution in New York City
Publications of the Bureau of Social Hygiene
Commercialized Prostitution in New York City
BY GEORGE J. KNEELAND
With a supplementary chapter by KATHARINE BEMENT DAVIS
Superintendent of the New York State Reformatory for Women
INTRODUCTION BY JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER, JR.
Chairman of the Bureau of Social Hygiene
NEW YORK
THE CENTURY CO.
1913
Copyright, 1913, by THE CENTURY CO.
_Published, May, 1913_
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
INTRODUCTION vii
I. VICE RESORTS IN NEW YORK CITY: (a) PARLOR HOUSES 3
II. VICE RESORTS: (b) TENEMENT HOUSES, HOTELS, FURNISHED ROOMS,
MASSAGE PARLORS 24
III. PLACES WHICH CATER TO VICE 52
IV. THE EXPLOITERS 77
V. PROSTITUTE AND CUSTOMER 100
VI. THE BUSINESS OF PROSTITUTION; ITS COST 112
VII. PROSTITUTION, THE POLICE, AND THE LAW 137
VIII. A STUDY OF PROSTITUTES COMMITTED FROM NEW YORK CITY TO THE
STATE REFORMATORY FOR WOMEN AT BEDFORD HILLS 163
STATISTICAL TABLES ACCOMPANYING CHAPTER VIII 197
IX. PREVENTATIVE, REFORMATIVE AND CORRECTIONAL AGENCIES IN NEW
YORK CITY 253
APPENDICES 275
INDEX 333
INTRODUCTION
In presenting to the public this volume, the first of four studies dealing
with various aspects of the problem of prostitution, it seems fitting to
make a statement with reference to the origin, work and plans of the
Bureau of Social Hygiene.
The Bureau came into existence about two years ago, as a result of the
work of the Special Grand jury which investigated the white slave traffic
in New York City during the first half of the year 1910. One of the
recommendations made by the jury in the presentment handed up at the
termination of its labors was that a public commission be appointed to
study the social evil. The foreman of the jury subsequently gave careful
consideration to the character of the work which might properly be done by
such a commission and the limitations under which it would operate. In
this connection, separate personal conferences were held with over a
hundred leading men and women in the city, among whom were lawyers,
physicians, business men, bank presidents, presidents of commercial
organizations, clergymen, settlement workers, social workers, labor
leaders and reformers. These conferences led to the conclusion that a
public commission would labor under a number of disadvantages, such as the
fact that it would be short-lived; that its work would be done publicly;
that at best it could hardly do more than present recommendations. It was
also believed that the main reason why more results of a permanent
character had not been obtained by the various organizations which had
dealt with the subject of the social evil during the past ten or fifteen
years was that most of these organizations were temporary. While active,
they materially improved the situation, but as their efforts relaxed,
there came the inevitable return to much the same conditions as before.
The forces of evil are never greatly alarmed at the organization of
investigating or reform bodies, for they know that these are generally
composed of busy people, who cannot turn aside from their own affairs for
any great length of time to carry on reforms, and that sooner or later
their efforts will cease and the patient denizens of the underworld and
their exploiters can then reappear and continue as before.
So the conviction grew that in order to make a real and lasting
improvement in conditions, a permanent organization should be created, the
existence of which would not be dependent upon a temporary wave of reform
nor upon the life of any man or group of men, but which would go on,
generation after generation, continuously making warfare against the
forces of evil. It also appeared that a private organization would have,
among other advantages, a certain freedom from publicity and from
political bias, which a publicly appointed commission could not easily
avoid.
Therefore, as the initial step, the Bureau of Social Hygiene was formed in
the winter of 1911. Its present members are Miss Katharine Bement Davis,
Superintendent of the New York State Reformatory for Women at Bedford
Hills, New York; Paul M. Warburg, of the firm of Kuhn, Loeb & Company;
Starr J. Murphy, of the New York Bar; and John D. Rockefeller, Jr. As the
work develops, new members may be added.
One of the first things undertaken by the Bureau was the establishment at
Bedford Hills, adjacent to the Reformatory, of a Laboratory of Social
Hygiene, under Miss Davis's direction. In this laboratory, it is proposed
to study from the physical, mental, social and moral sides each person
committed to the Reformatory. This study will be carried on by experts and
every case will be kept under observation for from three weeks to three
months, as may be required. When the diagnosis is completed, it is hoped
that the laboratory will be in position to suggest the treatment most
likely to reform the individual, or, if reformation is impossible, to
recommend permanent custodial care. Furthermore, reaching out beyond the
individuals involved, it is believed that important contributions may be
made to our knowledge of the conditions ultimately responsible for vice,
and that the methods worked out may prove applicable to all classes of
criminals, thus leading to lines of action not only more scientific and
humane but also less wasteful than those at present followed.
In entering upon its labors, the Bureau regarded it of fundamental
importance to make a careful study of the social evil in this country and
in Europe. This problem, like any other great and difficult one, can be
approached only through an understanding of the various factors
involved--physical, moral, social and economic--and of the experience of
other cities and countries in dealing with it. Arrangements were
therefore made in January, 1912, to secure the services of Mr. George J.
Kneeland, who had directed the Chicago Vice Commission investigation.
Since that time Mr. Kneeland, with a corps of assistants, has been making
a thorough and comprehensive survey of the conditions of vice in New York
City, the findings of which are here presented.
The purpose of this volume is to set forth as accurately and fully as
possible the conditions of vice as they existed in New York City during
the year 1912. It should be clearly understood that the data upon which it
is based are not presented as legal evidence, but as reliable information
secured by careful and experienced investigators, whose work was
systematically corroborated.
In presenting the facts contained in this report, the Bureau has no
thought of criticizing any department or official of the city
administration. The task which the Bureau set itself was that of preparing
a dispassionate, objective account of things as they were during the
period above mentioned, the forms which commercialized vice had assumed,
the methods by which it was carried on, the whole network of relations
which had been elaborated below the surface of society. The studies
involved were made in a spirit of scientific inquiry, and it is the hope
of the Bureau that all departments or officials whose work this book in
any way touches may find the information therein contained helpful to them
in the further direction and organization of their work.
The Bureau also secured the services of Mr. Abraham Flexner, whose reports
on the medical schools in this country and in Europe are well known, to
study the social evil and the various methods of dealing with it in the
leading cities of Europe. Mr. Flexner spent the greater part of a year
abroad, making a searching and exhaustive inquiry into the subject, and is
now working on his report, entitled "Prostitution in Europe," which will
be the second volume of the series, to be published in the fall.
The third volume will deal with European police systems. Mr. Raymond B.
Fosdick, a member of the staff of the Bureau and former Commissioner of
Accounts of New York City, went to Europe in January for the purpose of
making this study and is enjoying unusual facilities in the prosecution of
his inquiry. The police are necessarily so important an instrument in
dealing with prostitution that the success of whatever plan is adopted
will depend largely on their organization and efficiency. No adequate
descriptive and critical account of the British and Continental police
systems exists. Much has been published from time to time, but there does
not appear to have been any exhaustive study for the purpose of
ascertaining the points of excellence, as well as the defects, of the
European police and the lessons deducible from their experience. The
police problems of the great European cities closely resemble our own;
their police organizations have successfully worked through a period of
storm and stress such as we are now passing through. Whatever differences
may ultimately have to be taken into account, the experience of London,
Berlin, and of other cities will, when fully reported, be rich in
suggestions that will abbreviate our own period of experimentation.
The fourth volume will be based upon studies made in those cities in the
United States where different conditions exist or where special methods of
dealing with the social evil have been introduced.
In conclusion, it should be stated that the spirit which dominates the
work of the Bureau is not sensational or hysterical; that it is not a
spirit critical of public officials; but that it is essentially a spirit
of constructive suggestion and of deep scientific as well as humane
interest in a great world problem.
JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER, JR.
_Chairman._
New York, May 1, 1913
Bureau of Social Hygiene
P. O. Box 579, New York City
COMMERCIALIZED PROSTITUTION IN NEW YORK CITY
CHAPTER I
VICE RESORTS:[1] (a) PARLOR HOUSES
The actual business of prostitution in New York City is conducted in
buildings which are designated in this report as vice resorts. These
resorts are of several kinds. Most prominent are the so-called parlor
house or brothel, the tenement house apartment, the furnished room house,
the disorderly hotel, and the massage parlor. The present chapter deals
only with the first named.
A parlor house or brothel is a building used exclusively for the business
of prostitution. It derives its name from the fact that its inmates gather
in the parlor to receive their guests. There is, however, an exception to
the definition, inasmuch as some parlor houses in New York City are
situated on the upper floors of buildings, the ground floors of which are
used for legitimate business enterprises.
During the period of this investigation, extending from January 24, 1912,
to November 15, 1912,[2] 142 parlor houses were visited in Manhattan.
Though this number does not include all the places of this character in
Manhattan, it may be said to approximate the total. It is improbable that
many were overlooked. Every one of the establishments investigated was
visited two or more times on different dates by different individuals who
have made affidavits as to their findings; and the findings of different
investigators working in ignorance of one another have been carefully
compared. The date and hour of the observation are given in connection
with each report.
Of the 142 parlor houses thus investigated, 20 are known to the trade as
fifty-cent houses; 80 as one-dollar houses; 6 as two-dollar houses; and 34
as five- and ten-dollar houses. The prices charged in the remaining two
houses are unknown.
The majority of these houses are situated in the business section of
Manhattan, namely, on Sixth and Seventh Avenues from West 23rd to West
42nd Streets, and in residential sections on side streets from West 15th
to West 54th Streets between Fifth and Eighth Avenues. A few of them are
located on the East Side on residential streets east of Third Avenue, and
on Second Avenue. A still smaller number were discovered on the extreme
East Side near the river and below East 14th Street. Not a few of these
houses are found in the vicinity of public schools, churches, and hotels;
others occupy the upper floors over lunch rooms, jewelry shops, clothing
stores, fur shops, and other business enterprises.
Private houses used exclusively for prostitution are usually three or four
stories high; those of the cheaper type are in a dilapidated and
unsanitary condition. For instance, the fifty-cent houses on the lower
East Side are described as being practically unfit for human habitation.
The rooms are dirty, the loose and creaking floors are covered with
matting which is gradually rotting away, the ceilings are low, the windows
small, the air heavy and filled with foul odors. The sanitary conditions
in the majority of the one-dollar houses on the West Side streets between
Sixth and Seventh Avenues are hardly less objectionable. No attempt is
made to keep the houses clean. The floors are rotten and filthy; they sag
as one walks across them. The small bedrooms are damp and unventilated;
the atmosphere is heavy with odors of tobacco and perfumes, mingled with
the fumes of medicine and cheap disinfectants.
Every step in the process of arranging for and conducting an establishment
of this character is taken in the most businesslike fashion. Every detail
is arranged in a cold, calculating spirit. It is first necessary to secure
the consent of the owner or agent to use the property for the desired
purpose. Negotiations may be conducted by the prospective keeper himself
or through a go-between who is paid a bonus for securing a suitable
building. In the majority of cases regular leases are drawn up and signed
for stated periods. Usually two or more individuals enter into a regular
partnership agreement to conduct parlor houses. In the course of this
investigation interesting data were obtained respecting the purchase,
sale, and value of these shares,[3] which constantly fluctuate in value.
Important factors in determining their value at a particular time are
public opinion and the attitude of the city authorities toward vice. If
the law is rigidly enforced and frequent arrests are made, the shares
depreciate and there is a scramble among the partners to dispose of their
holdings. If the business is fairly undisturbed, the shares increase in
value and can hardly be purchased.
The house once secured and the owners being ready to begin business, a
madame or housekeeper is hired by the month or on a percentage basis to
take personal charge of the enterprise. She is usually a former prostitute
who has outlived her usefulness in that capacity. To her the owners look
for results. Every day she reports to them when they call to "make up" the
books after business is over--generally during the early morning hours.[4]
Servants are employed to aid the madame: one or more cooks, according to
the number of inmates boarding in the house; and maids, usually colored
girls, who look after the rooms, tend the door, and aid in the sale of
liquor to the customers during business hours. A porter is employed to
care for the house and run errands, a "lighthouse," to stand on the street
for the purpose of procuring "trade" and to give warning.
The prosperity of the business depends in the main upon the quality of the
inmates. If they are young and attractive, and, as one madame was heard
to say in another city, "especially womanly," success is assured. Thus the
value of the manager depends in the first place on her ability to secure
and hold the "right sort" of inmate. The girls must be contented; they
must be stimulated to please; quarrels must be avoided, jealousies nipped
in the bud. In the art of management, the madame must exercise all her
ingenuity. If a girl is a good "money maker" the madame attaches her to
herself in every possible way. Some of these unfortunate inmates become
"house girls," remaining year after year, the unsuspecting victims of the
madame's blandishments and exploitation.
Certain of the women are well known as "stars." Their reputation follows
them wherever they go and madames vie with each other in securing them for
their particular houses, in much the same way as a business firm is
constantly looking for clever salesmen who have a reputation and a record
for increasing business. The author has in mind a particular woman[5]
whose customers follow her wherever she goes. There are in this business
many such "stars" or "big money makers," looked upon with envy by their
less attractive and less prominent rivals. The secret of their popularity
lies frequently in the perverse practices to which they resort.
The manner of carrying on the business has been somewhat modified in
recent years. Formerly, the madame gave the girl a brass check for each
customer. After business hours she cashed in her checks, receiving her
share of the proceeds, usually fifty cents on the dollar. Nowadays,
madames or housekeepers have a punch similar to those used by railroad
conductors. When a customer is secured, the inmate hands the madame a
square piece of cardboard, in which she punches a hole. Among the exhibits
obtained during this investigation is a series of sixteen such cards with
the names of sixteen inmates written upon them. They are literally filled
with holes, all representing the business done on July 9, 1912, in a
notorious one-dollar house on West 28th Street. The largest number of
holes punched on a single card that day was thirty.[6]
The madames are alive to the importance of assuring their customers that
every precaution is taken to guard the health of their inmates. Hence, in
practically all the houses here referred to the investigators were assured
that the girls have in their possession medical certificates signed by
physicians, certifying that the bearer has been examined and is free from
venereal disease.[7]
In many houses the "doctor" is said to come every week; he makes a hasty
and superficial examination, for which he is paid one dollar, one-half of
which sum he turns over to the owner of the establishment. Of these
physicians, one, a member of the now notorious Independent Benevolent
Association--a group of men individually interested either directly or
indirectly in the business of prostitution in New York City--has a large
practice among the inmates of the cheaper type of house. At times,
physicians who make a specialty of this branch are also active in the
local politics of their respective districts: these men are in demand, for
the keepers hope thus to "stand in" with those "higher up." On April 27,
1912, for example, the proprietor[8] of a house in West 36th Street[9]
related the fact that he had recently employed a physician[10] who was
being "mentioned" as the next leader in his assembly district. He tried to
induce another keeper[11] to take the same doctor[12] because of political
advantages to be gained thereby.
The medical certificates obtained under the circumstances described are,
of course, worthless. According to the best medical opinion the inmates
are all dangerous,--in many of them disease is in an acute stage. When
external indications develop, the women are sent to a hospital. One girl,
in such a condition as to be utterly useless in the house, was removed by
her cadet, who, covering up the signs of her disease, put her on the
street. An equally unconscionable and characteristic incident is the
following: A young traveling salesman was assured that an inmate was free
from disease and a medical certificate stating this fact was shown to him.
As a matter of fact, she was at that time under treatment by the very
physician who had given her the certificate. The visitor contracted
venereal disease. When he complained to the madame, she gave him a card of
introduction to the same doctor, in order that he too might receive
treatment.
Since the general closing of parlor houses in 1907[13] it is a matter of
common complaint among owners that business is not what it was before. The
falling off is explained by an alleged increase of disorderly flats in
tenements and of massage parlors. An owner who conducted a house on West
24th Street before and after the cleaning up in 1907 declared that his
receipts, before that date $3,500 per week from 25 women, have gradually
declined until now they are about $2,000 per week. Another owner, in West
36th Street, gave the reason for this falling off: He had visited
disorderly flats and had there seen the men who had formerly been his
customers. "Why do the authorities bother us?" he remonstrated. "We are
locked within four walls. Nobody sees anything; nobody hears anything.
They pass tenement house laws. Why don't they raid the flats and let us
alone?"
There is therefore a constant effort on the part of the keepers of parlor
houses to undermine the business done by women on the street, in flats,
and in massage parlors. They write anonymous letters to the Police
Commissioner and the Tenement House Department; they send men to the flats
to persuade their inmates to leave and enter the parlor houses on the
pretense that much more money can be earned thus; street walkers are
frightened away from the vicinity of these houses by threats of the
police. The madame of an establishment in West 28th Street drove away a
street walker who was soliciting men for a nearby tenement house by
telling her that she would make a complaint against her for using a
tenement for immoral purposes. There are cases on record where keepers
have had officers on the beat and plainclothes men arrest street walkers;
they have also been known to "beat up" girls loitering near their places.
If the getting and holding of attractive inmates is one important
qualification in a madame, getting and holding trade is its necessary
counterpart. Madames are selected who are known to be expert in soliciting
trade and "keeping it in the house." They gradually accumulate lists of
names and addresses of men and boys, keeping them up to date, and at
stated intervals they send announcements of change of address or a veiled
suggestion as to the "quality" of "goods" on display. One ingenious owner
has a very neat printed folder reading, "Kindly call at our old place of
business, as we have a Beautiful Spring Stock on view." Occasionally--as
in the accompanying circular--no object at all is alleged:
"_Dear Sir_:--Kindly call at your earliest convenience at the below
address.
"Respectfully yours,
"X 1. W. 36th Street."
This notice was sent to a long list of patrons--to sailors on board
certain war vessels, to business men, and to clerks.
Runners, lookouts, lighthouses, and watchboys--the names involve
overlapping duties--also figure largely in procuring trade. The chief
business of the lookout is to stand on the curb in front of the house or
near the door and warn the inmates who solicit at the windows, or the
madame in the house, when officers or suspicious-looking strangers
approach. He opens the doors of cabs and taxis and conducts prospective
customers to the entrance of the house. If a stranger appears to be
"green," the lookout urges him to visit the resort, at the same time
describing the inmates and the prices charged. One of his important duties
is to see that street walkers do not solicit in front of his employer's
house and "take the trade away." Together with the runner or lighthouse,
the lookout is supplied with cards advertising the house, which he gives
to men and boys in the street. He also goes wherever men and boys
congregate--to saloons, restaurants, entertainments, prize fights,
wrestling bouts, lobbies of theaters, hotels, and other public places, to
distribute cards and to drum up trade. For example, on March 7, 1912, a
runner, who was paid twelve dollars a week and tips for his services in
behalf of a "fashionable house" on West 46th Street, went to the
Sportsman's Show at Madison Square Garden to advertise his establishment.
On June 24, 1912, a runner for a house on West 25th Street stood on the
northwest corner of West 24th Street and Sixth Avenue, describing its
attractions to passersby. At the noon hour or at closing time he stands in
front of entrances to factories, department stores, and other places of
business to accost the workmen and distribute cards.
These young men are usually pimps or ex-pimps, former waiters in saloons
and restaurants, ex-prize fighters and wrestlers, gamblers, crooks, and
pickpockets who have lost their nerve.[14] They form a class by
themselves. They are the "down-and-outers" in the underworld, eager for
any job no matter how poor the wage. Some of them are well known and take
pride in their ability to "run in" a lot of customers. Saturday, July 15,
1912, one of them, Max by name, claimed that he had "hustled in"
sixty-five customers that day. When an argument arose between him and a
competitor as to who had been more successful, the latter produced a slip
on which his business was recorded: for June 15, 16, 17 and 18 it showed
$142, $117, $68, and $97, respectively.
Chauffeurs and cabmen also do a thriving business in soliciting customers
for vice resorts,--a service for which they receive an ample commission.
Standing at street corners or in front of hotels and restaurants, they
urge men in low tones to go to houses or to "ladies' clubs," as they are
sometimes called. "I know some good houses," "I'll take you to see the
girls," "I know where there are a lot of chickens," are among the familiar
expressions employed. In occasional instances, customers can gain access
only if escorted to the door by the cabman, who tells the maid that the
man he has brought is "all right."[15] "Louie," one of the most
aggressive of these solicitors, is married to a woman[16] who herself
conducts an assignation house: she has recently served thirty days in jail
for participation in the robbery of a guest.
Finally, bartenders and waiters in disorderly saloons often act as agents
for the procuring of customers: indeed, they are not seldom the pimps of
the women for whom they act. Customers entering the saloon to drink are
directed to the tables where their women sit or receive the business cards
of the houses where their women are to be found.[17] Out-of-town visitors
are not infrequently "steered" by hotel porters and clerks.
With the exception of the relatively small number of "exclusive
establishments" already alluded to, the resorts here dealt with--something
approaching one hundred and forty of them--were at the period of this
investigation notorious and accessible. The advertising devices above
described were openly employed; and visitors procured easy entrance at
most places. External order is, however, usually preserved. Madames and
inmate rarely and then very cautiously solicit trade from windows, doors,
or stoops of their houses, as they did in former years. They do, however,
practise this method to some extent at the present time, especially in
connection with some of the one-dollar houses on the side streets between
Sixth and Seventh Avenues.
The sale of wine and beer plays an important part in the prosperity of the
parlor house. Deprived of this adjunct, business falls off to an alarming
extent. There is no difference of opinion among owners and madames as to
the importance of the sale of intoxicating liquors. Especially is this
true in the five-, ten-, and twenty-dollar houses, frequented by a more
pretentious type of customer. In such places a small bottle of wine is
sold for five dollars. A "round of drinks," namely, a pint of beer served
in very small glasses, brings two dollars. Very little wine or beer is
sold in the one- or two-dollar parlor houses in New York City at the
present time.
In the more exclusive parlor houses "circuses" or "shows" are also given
by way of stimulating business. These exhibitions are too vulgar and
degrading to be described. Suffice it to say that men have been known to
spend fifty and seventy-five dollars for such exhibitions. So also,
obscene books, photographs, etc., are sold or exhibited.
One more fact must be emphasized in connection with business management:
alcohol is needed to keep the inmates to their task; but even more
essential from the business standpoint are drugs. The girl must be kept
gay and attractive; her eyes must look out upon the world of business
bright and unfaltering. She must smile and laugh and sing and dance, or
she becomes a "has been," a "poor money maker," and so in danger of
losing her "job." Is it any wonder that she becomes a drug fiend as well
as a drunkard?
In the preceding account I have aimed to give certain general
characteristics of the parlor house. By way of making the picture somewhat
more vivid I shall briefly describe a few houses of each of the three
types with which the account deals, namely, the fifty-cent house, the
dollar house, the five-and ten-dollar house.
A well known place in Worth Street[18] is a fair sample of the cheapest
establishment,--a frame building, four stories in height. The investigator
who entered at 4.30 P. M., April 12, 1912, picked his way through a
basement where a cobbler sat at his work. After climbing two flights of
stairs he found himself in a large, loft-like room formerly used for
manufacturing purposes. The rooms where prostitution is carried on are
partitioned off by means of curtains. The only furniture in the receiving
"parlor" are old leather couches and chairs. The curtains over the windows
are of dark, heavy material, almost shutting out the light and air. The
entire interior is in a condition of decay, a fit setting for the use to
which it is put. Three of the five inmates were present, scantily dressed
and all claiming to possess health certificates, issued by the house
doctor.
In the parlor of a three-story house in Hester Street,[19] investigated at
1 P. M. on April 15, 1912, there were three inmates awaiting customers. A
lighthouse, named Angelo, stood on the stoop, beckoning to passers-by to
enter. Angelo is about thirty-five years of age, a short, heavy man, with
a black mustache; a cap sits upon his mass of black hair. The man is well
versed in the art of "pulling" customers into the house for which he
works. As men approach, he motions with his head and right thumb toward
the door, and, at the same time an expressive look comes into his watery
eyes. In the rear of the house is a large tenement building and little
children were playing and running through the hall at the time.
In one of the houses of this type a large wooden bench was placed against
the wall of the receiving parlor. Business was very brisk at the time the
investigator entered. The bench was full of customers crowded close
together, while others, who could not be accommodated with seats, stood
about the room. At the foot of the stairs which led to the bedrooms above,
a man was stationed. Every time a visitor came groping his way down the
stairs, the businesslike and aggressive announcer would cry out, "Next!"
At the word, the man sitting on the end of the bench nearest the stairs
arose and passed up. As he did so, the men on the bench moved along and
one of the men who were standing took the vacant seat.
Of the three grades of parlor house, the one-dollar establishment
predominates in Manhattan. Eighty of them were discovered during this
investigation. They differ from the fifty-cent houses just described only
in the somewhat better character of their surroundings. One of them on
Sixth Avenue[20] was visited at 12.45 A. M., March 1, 1912. A little woman
admitted the investigator to the receiving room, where sat nine inmates,
all scantily dressed. At 9.30 P. M. on March 6, 1912, another investigator
counted eighteen inmates at this same address; during the evening of
October 8, 1912, still another investigator visited this house and counted
ten inmates. The house is one of the most prosperous in the business; it
is well advertised and has a large list of customers.
The receiving parlor of another house on Sixth Avenue[21] is reached by
climbing a flight of winding stairs and passing through a red door with a
little window in it. The bedrooms are small and dirty, with practically no
furniture. But the madame is very energetic. As customers enter the house
she does not allow them to sit about and talk with the inmates, but urges
them to spend money or leave. At 12.45 A. M., March 14, 1912, twelve
inmates in flimsy costumes were seated about the parlor with five men--one
a forlorn peddler who had come in to sell fruit. The place was in an
uproar. One of the inmates was quarreling with the madame; several were
complaining of poor business. One of them showed the investigator a plain
white card with seven punched holes, proving that up to that hour she had
earned only seven dollars, half of which was hers. She stated that she has
to pay two dollars per day for board whether she lives at the house or
not. As a matter of fact, she as well as other girls in some of these
houses lives at home, going home early in the morning and not coming to
"work" until 6 P. M.
In an establishment in West 28th Street[22]--torn down during the summer
to make way for a loft building--the business was so profitable in June
that the keepers are said to have paid the wrecker a large sum to delay
from week to week. July 9 was one of the hottest days of the year. The
odors in the old house, dirty and falling into decay, were indescribable.
Through the long hours the sixteen inmates sat, hot and sullen. The day
before the madame had left for a resort in Sullivan County where many of
her kind go during the summer months. She had placed in charge the
housekeeper,[23] who did the best she could to keep the girls in good
humor and to get through the day's business. On this hot July day there
were 264 customers. So the records on the cards showed the next morning as
the housekeeper sat with the "boss" making up the "books." Buster served
30 of these; Babie, 27; Charlotte, 23; Dolly, 20, and so on. But the
"boss" was not satisfied. "Why were not more women on the job last night?"
he demanded. The housekeeper replied that they had stayed away because of
the heat,--they had been completely "done up" the day before. Then the fat
and well-groomed owner of the business picked up a china cup and hurled it
at his luckless representative, while he cursed loud and deep. "The trade
must be taken care of" and if she couldn't "do it" he would get "some one
who could."
To the third group belong all houses where higher prices rule: sometimes
twenty-five dollars, or even more, are demanded, according to the nature
of the service performed. Men of standing have been heard to advise young
men to patronize this class of house on the ground that there is less
danger; everything is said to be sanitary, the inmates less vulgar,
younger, and more intelligent. The external appointments are indeed good,
and there is at times even an outward air of refinement. Costly dresses
and valuable jewelry are worn; the women are young, sometimes attractive
in appearance.
For several years a house in West 15th Street[24] has been a notorious
resort of this description. The property is owned by the madame who
conducts the business for a very exclusive trade. For some time it was
impossible for the investigators to gain admittance. Finally, at 11.45 P.
M., May 5, 1912, one of them was "introduced" by a man well known as a
promoter of the business in former years. Six inmates were on hand at this
hour, "house girls," as they are called,--that is, they are "steady" and
leave all their earnings to the house, purchasing from the madame
everything they require, dresses, hats, gloves, hose, cosmetics, etc., all
at exorbitant prices. On one occasion a rich man remained here four days
and spent $600. To use the madame's words, "He opened ninety pints of wine
at five dollars a pint; that is, I charged him for ninety pints."
On this same street is another establishment,[25] which has been conducted
for several years. Here again the investigator had to be introduced before
he was allowed to enter. The madame owns the property, having paid $20,000
for it some years ago. Like other women of her type, she has what she
calls a "protector"--in this case said to be a politician and ex-city
official. Ten years ago this man met her when she was an inmate in
Diamond Fanny's house on West 40th Street. Becoming infatuated with her,
he took her away and "kept" her. Finally, he "set her up in business," and
now he "looks after her." The madame keeps a list of girls whom she calls
to the house as occasion requires. She described them as being "short
ones," "tall ones," "blondes," "brunettes," "stout ones," "thin ones," and
"just kids." "Men," she said, "are very fussy and you have to cater to
them if you want to keep their trade." Some of the girls, she said, are
employed by day in stores and offices, and take this method of increasing
their earnings.
At 11.30 P. M., February 16, 1912, the investigator was taken to a very
exclusive house[26] by a chauffeur who receives a commission on every
customer he secures. There were fifteen young and attractive girls in the
receiving parlors, in one of which in the rear of the house an orchestra
of young men played through the evening. The patron is ushered into the
front parlor by colored maids trim and smart in white aprons; here the
youngest of the "stock" is shown. The parlors are equipped with
gold-trimmed furniture. Rich rugs and pretentious paintings testify to
prosperity. Wine and beer are sold at the usual exorbitant prices. The
inmates are dressed in elaborate evening gowns of silk and satin. As the
investigator started to leave, the madame said, "Every Saturday night is
bargain night, and next Saturday I shall have twelve young girls and
guarantee them to be not over sixteen years of age. You must come early
and get one of the bargains."
To some of these places customers are admitted only if they come in a cab
or a taxi. This was the case at a place in West 46th Street[27] at 2.30 A.
M., April 1, 1912. At this hour two men were refused admission because
they were not known and did not come in a cab. The investigator, however,
fared better: he had been brought to the house by Joe,[28] a cabman who
recommended him to the madame.
It might be suggested that the foregoing data prove at most that parlor
houses were in operation on the specific dates mentioned, and then only.
As a matter of fact, the establishments in question were observed from
week to week and from month to month. Notorious though they were, there
was for the most part no interruption of business, except, in the latter
part of the period of our investigation, as a consequence of a startling
event to be described later.[29] A dollar house in Sixth Avenue[30] was
visited March 5, March 6, May 25, July 21, and August 25, 1912;
another[31] on West 24th Street, was visited February 2, February 19,
March 24, May 24, May 25, 1912; twelve visits were paid to another in West
25th Street[32] between February 1 and July 16; the same number between
February 8 and July 15 to a house in West 31st Street.[33]
The above instances are taken almost at random; many more are brought
together at the close of this volume.[34] They establish beyond a doubt
the systematic, notorious, and well-night undisturbed conduct of a large
number of brothels in Manhattan during the period with which this record
deals.