If the thousand and one noisome crannies, nooks, and dens of this great
city could be exposed to view, day after day, the body of many a
missing man and woman might be found festering and rotting, or their
bones bleaching, for want of decent burial. Where do the bodies come
from that are fished up, bloated and disfigured, night after night, by
the Water Police, in haunts of the docks, and from the slimes of the
Hudson? It is fearful to think of men, influenced by liquor, who, with
their gold watches, pocket-books, and other valuables, exposed in the
most foolish manner, are to be seen, night after night, in the dens and
hells of this great, sinful city. Many of these men are from far-off
country villages and happy homes, and when thrown into our streets at
night, under the flare of the gas lamps, and among crowds of showily
dressed women, whose feet are ever downward into the abyss, it becomes
almost impossible for them to resist the thousand and one meretricious
temptations that are placed before them.