WOMAN EMPLOYED AT DANCE-HALL TELLS OF MANY PITFALLS.
Whilst contending against the dance-hall evil, I received a note asking
for an immediate interview. The writer, who signed her own name, stated
that she had been an employee in ----'s Dance-hall (rated as one of the
exclusive and first-class places) and that she believed that, under the
existing circumstances, my granting her an audience, would still
further aid the cause, as she could throw much light on the subject.
Soon she was at my rooms, also a reporter, and the following is, in
part, what she had to say:
"I am utterly disgusted with dance-halls, and am determined to do all I
can against them. Mr. C---- [her husband] and I came here from New York
in reduced financial circumstances, and I applied for and obtained a
position at ----'s Dance-hall.
"For reasons best known to ourselves, we posed as brother and sister,
pretending my husband was in the East. I worked there only fourteen
days, or until my husband secured a permanent position, but I left the
place with a complete knowledge of the disreputable work done there
under the guise of a respectable dance-hall. I do not wish to be mean
in my assertions, but the facts will bear me up in what I actually saw
and heard during the two weeks I was engaged at ----'s Dance-hall.
"I was on the reception committee to introduce the lonesome boys to the
charming girls for the dances. It would take me two hours to state the
disgusting features I saw there.
"The manager at one time asked me to drink whiskey with him. I told him
that I was not in the habit of indulging and that if I should get drunk
he would have to take care of me, to which he said, 'I can do that all
right.'
"One night a young man became dead drunk in the dance-hall, in full
view of the dancers, making a disgusting show of himself, all of which
apparently passed unnoticed by the manager. The friends of the young
man took him out of the hall.
"One time I saw a young girl dancing with a young man who was trying to
hide a whiskey bottle, with which she and her partner appeared to be
mixed. All this was supposed to be in plain sight of the manager.
"A young girl on duty selling tickets asked me to bring her an empty
glass from the soda fountain. A young man took it and filled it nearly
full with brandy and passed it to the girl. She slyly wrapped her
handkerchief around it to hide the brandy, and drank it as if drinking
a glass of water. This was seen by several by-standers.
"It makes me shudder to think of what I saw and heard in that hall. One
young girl unused to the ways of the world was taken out of the hall in
a ruined condition, and after an unlawful surgical operation had been
performed, she was sent to a well-known hospital. She was the victim of
a prominent lawyer of Los Angeles.
"One night last week the manager spoke through a megaphone, during the
intermission of the dance, asking everybody to sign a petition he had
prepared _stating that the place was properly run, and to sign it in
order that he could continue the dance-hall business._ I know of one
man who signed a fictitious name to the petition, with the remark that
others were doing the same," etc.
She told much more, some of which was not fit to print, but surely that
is sufficient from her.
I was able one night to show a reporter that no erroneous statements
had been made. On the contrary, he was shocked as he noted the wily
depravity. His attention was attracted to a good-looking young man who
had slipped one of the reception committee young women a piece of
money. Together we watched the outcome. She made for a pretty, graceful
young girl just leaving the dance-ring and whispered audibly, "There's
a swell young fellow wants to have the honor of dancing with you."
Before the girl had time to think or answer, he was right on hand,
saying, "May I have the pleasure of the next waltz? My name is Jones."
Then the introducer manufactured a name for the pretty young girl, the
music started up, and the next moment she was gliding over the perfect
dancing-floor in the embrace of this strange fellow. Is that all? Not
by any means. He invited her to an innocent dish of ice-cream. (If a
girl does not accept such an invitation, but she usually does, the
would-be seducer knows she is a gold mine if he can ever secure her,
and he works to that end.) She accepted. We watched our opportunity,
and, between dances, when no one was taking notice, we whispered the
word of warning. For a moment she looked alarmed, but did she heed?
Evidently not. Possibly she resented the well-meant advice, and, in
consequence, soon paid the fearful price for so doing.
Upon getting out once more into the fresh air, we could not fail to
observe the many automobiles in waiting. Wherefore? Listen! Shortly
before this visit when I was accompanied by the _Times_ reporter, I was
a temporary guest in one of Los Angeles' representative families, the
mother of whom was one of my tried and true friends. She had two noble,
handsome sons. One of them came home one day in a high state of
indignation. After he had related to his mother an incident that had
just occurred, she besought him to repeat it for my benefit.
While he was resting in the park bounded by Fifth, Sixth, Olive, and
Hill Streets, a middle-aged man of good dress and appearance seated
himself on the same bench and, disregarding conventionalities, began to
make himself agreeable, first commenting on the weather and then
gradually leading up to the subject in which he was most interested.
Presently he inquired if my young friend was occupied in business, and
received the reply, "No; not at present, but I am on the lookout for
something that will be worth while." As one word always leads to
another, the stranger soon inquired if the young man could dance.
Receiving an affirmative answer, he remarked:
"Good! I notice you are a swell dresser also, and a pleasant
conversationalist; in fact, have all the requirements if I'm not
mistaken."
"What requirements?" asked my young friend.
"Say, young man," the stranger answered, "I can put you wise to
something that will bring you the quickest returns for the least labor
you ever struck, but _'mums the word.'_"
"Fire ahead," replied my young friend; "'mums the word.'"
"First, I note that you are agreeable, educated, well dressed, and a
dancer, all of which takes with the majority of girls, at least the
girls we have to reach. Next, I need you in the ballrooms. Perhaps you
may occasionally require an automobile. To be sure, that is expensive,
but..."
"What is he driving at?" silently wondered my young friend. "Guess I
will hear him through. Here's something out of the ordinary."
"Girls will be girls," the man continued. "It's dead easy to win some,
harder with others; but there's big money in it for each new supply you
can furnish."
"Furnish for what?" inquired my young friend.
_"The necessary evil, my boy, the necessary evil, of course,"_ was the
startling answer.
Trembling with indignation, my young friend quickly arose and
unhesitatingly shouted:
"Police! Police!"
The procurer disappeared so suddenly that no one of the small crowd
which quickly gathered knew what was the matter until too late to
arrest the scoundrel.
Is that stranger the only procurer? Common sense answers, "No!" My
reader, there are thousands. Therefore if nothing else, no other reason
--and they are many--should cause young ladies to refrain from a
practise which means compromise or ruin, often eternal damnation,
surely this illustration should be sufficient.
Permit me to mention another reason, one I am also able to verify, for
it came from one shipwrecked at the age of twenty-two, and now passed
into eternity, but then lying in one of the wards of the county
hospital. To be brief, he was a dancer. Honor, however, forbade his
making any improper advances to his girl partners, but the effects of
their close proximity were fatal. All the evil of his nature was
stirred, and it would not be suppressed. He yielded; visited places
whose thresholds he would never otherwise have crossed; then followed
depravity, disease, and an untimely death. Who was responsible for
this? _The unharmed girls with whom he danced._ Surely a word to the
wise is sufficient. If dancing causes my brother to err, I will dance
no longer.