To live at the expense of other people, and to procure the means of
living in comfort without working for it, is an art in which there are
many proficients in New York. Certain of those who practise this art are
known in city parlance as "Black-mailers," and they constitute one of the
most dangerous portions of the community. The Blackmailer is generally a
woman, though she is frequently sustained or urged on by a rough,
professional thief, or pick-pocket. The indiscretions of men of
nominally spotless character are constantly becoming known through the
instrumentality of the gossips, and as soon as these reach the ears of
the Blackmailers, who are ever on the watch for them, they proceed to
take advantage of them to extort money from the person implicated. They
are not content, however, with making victims of those who are really
guilty of indiscretions, but boldly assail the innocent and virtuous,
well-knowing that nine persons out of ten, though guiltless of
wrongdoing, will sooner comply with their demands than incur the
annoyance of a public scandal. Such persons think the wretch will never
dare to charge them with the same offence or endeavor to extort money
from them a second time, and make the first payment merely to rid
themselves of the annoyance. They ought never to yield, whether innocent
or guilty, for the Blackmailer is sure to repeat her demand. The law
makes it a crime for any one to endeavor to extort money in this way, and
no person so threatened should hesitate to apply to the police for
protection.
As a rule, the Blackmailer is easily driven off with the aid of the
police, but sometimes her plans are so skilfully laid that it requires
all the ingenuity of the most experienced detectives to ferret out the
plot. These women act upon the well-established fact that respectable
people dread scandal, and that a man guilty of an indiscretion will make
many sacrifices to conceal it. They rarely assail women, as there is not
much money to be made out of them, but they know that almost any story
about a man will be believed, and they fasten themselves like leeches
upon men. Young men about to make rich marriages are their favorite
victims. These generally yield to them, not caring to risk a scandal
which might break off the whole affair. If a young man refuses one of
them on such occasions, she goes boldly to the lady he is to marry, and
declares herself the innocent and wronged victim of the aforesaid young
man. This is her revenge, and the majority of young men, knowing them to
be capable of such a course, comply with their demands on the spot.
There is nothing these wretches will not do, no place they will not
invade, in order to extort money from their victims.
Persons from the country, stopping at the hotels of the city, are
frequently the objects of the attacks of the Blackmailers. A man's name
is learned from the hotel register, and he is boldly approached and
charged with conduct he never dreamed of being guilty of. The scoundrel
professes to know him and his whole family, and names the price of his
silence. Too often the demand is complied with, and the money paid. The
proper course to pursue when accosted in such a manner, is to call upon
the nearest policeman for assistance in shaking off the wretch.
A few years ago a minister, in charge of a prominent and wealthy city
church abruptly left the city. There had never been a whisper of any
kind of scandal connected with his name, and his friends were at a loss
to account for his strange action. He refused, at first, when his
retreat was discovered, to give any reason for his conduct, and begged
that his hiding-place should be kept secret. At length, however, he
confessed that he was the innocent victim of a female Blackmailer. He
was a weak man, proud of his reputation, and more than usually timid in
such matters. The woman had approached him, and had boldly charged him
with a crime of which he was innocent, and had demanded a sum of money as
the price of her silence. Finding it impossible to get rid of her, and
dreading a scandal, the minister had paid the money. The demand was
repeated again and again for two years, until the woman had wrung from
her victim a sum of several thousand dollars, and had driven him to such
a state of despair that he had abandoned his home and his prospects, and
had fled to escape from her clutches. His friends came to his aid, and
by securing the interposition of the police, compelled the woman to
relinquish her hold upon her victim.
Many of the female Blackmailers are very young, mere girls. A couple of
years ago, Police Captain Thorne discovered a regularly organized band of
them. They are mostly flower girls, from twelve to sixteen years of age.
They are generally modest in demeanor, and some of them are attractive in
appearance. They gain admittance to the offices and counting rooms of
professional men and merchants, under the pretext of selling their
flowers, and then, if the gentleman is alone, close the door, and
threaten to scream and accuse him of taking improper liberties with them,
unless he consents to pay them the sum they demand.
A merchant of great wealth, high position, and irreproachable character,
called upon Captain Thorne, about two years ago, and "frankly stated that
he was the victim of one of these flower girls, who had already despoiled
him of large sums of money, and whose persecutions were actually killing
him. It appears that she always came to his counting-house on particular
days, and, watching until he was alone, went boldly into his private
office. In police parlance, they 'put up a job on her.' Captain Thorne
was secreted in the office the next time she called, and the gentleman
talked to her as previously arranged. He began by asking her why she
persisted in her demands upon him, for, said he, 'you know I never had
anything to do with you, never said an improper word to you.' The young
analyst of human nature answered, unabashed, 'I know that; but who'll
believe you if I say you did?' Captain Thorne, dressed in full police
uniform, stepped from the closet with, 'I will for one, Mary.' The girl,
young as she was, had experience enough in devious ways to see that her
game had escaped, and readily, although sullenly, promised to cease
exacting tribute in that particular quarter. The gentleman would go no
further, and to the earnest entreaties of Captain Thorne to prosecute the
girl, both for her own good and that of society, returned an absolute
refusal. Captain Thorne was, therefore, obliged to let her go with a
warning not to attempt her operations again anywhere. He also
remonstrated with her upon her way of living, and asked her why she did
such things. The hardened girl morosely answered that all the other
girls did them, and thus gave a clue which was followed until it
developed a gang of feminine blackmailers of tender years, working in
concert. Although the band was then dispersed, the method of robbery it
employed survived, and is yet extensively used by scores of girls, under
the cover of selling not only flowers, but apples and other fruits."