Lights and Shadows of New York Life Part 40

"There is an evident fear on the part of the ball officials that matters will proceed too far. They endeavor to prevent the women from being pulled up into the boxes by laying hold of them and pulling them back, in which struggle the women are curiously wrenched and disordered, and the men in the boxes curse, and laugh, and shout, and the dancers, now accustomed to the spectacle, give it no heed whatever.

"If there is anything in the behaviour of the women that is at all peculiar to the eye of an observer who is not familiar with the impulses and the manifestations of them in this cla.s.s, it is the feverish abandonment into which drink and other excitements have driven them. It is not often that a common bawd, without brains or beauty enough to attract a pa.s.sing glance, thus has the opportunity to elicit volleys of applause from crowds of men; and, without stopping to question the value of it, she makes herself doubly drunken with it. If to kick up her skirts is to attract attention--hoop la! If indecency is then the distinguis.h.i.+ng feature of the evening, she is the woman for your money.

So she jumps rather than dances. She has a whole set of lascivious motions, fas.h.i.+oned quickly, which outdo the worst imaginings of the dirty-minded men who applaud her. She springs upon the backs of the men, she swaggers, she kicks off hats. She is a small sensation in herself, and feels it, and goes about with a defiant and pitiless recklessness, reigning for the few brief hours over the besotted men who feel a fiend's satisfaction in the unnatural exhibition.

"To particularize to any greater extent would be to make public the habits and manners of the vilest prost.i.tutes in their proper haunts, where, out of the glare of publicity, they may, and probably do, perfect themselves in the indecencies most likely to catch the eyes of men little better than themselves, but which thus brought together under the gaslight of the public chandelier is, to the healthy man, like the application of the microscope to some common article of food then found to be a feculent and writhing ma.s.s of living nastiness. That respectable foreigners were induced to attend this ball by the representations made by the managers is certain. That they were outraged by what took place there, is beyond all doubt. To suppose a man deceived as to the character of the entertainment, and to go there and mingle with masked ladies, who for a while ape the deportment of their betters, is to suppose a sensation for him at once startling; for when the richly dressed ladies doff their masks, he finds himself surrounded by a ghastly a.s.semblage of all the most virulent social corruption in our civilization; dowagers turn out to be the fluffy and painted keepers of brothels; the misses sink into grinning hussies, who are branded on the cheeks and forehead with the ineradicable mark of shame; and the warm and coy pages, whom at the worst he might have supposed to be imprudent or improvident girls, stare at him with the deathly-cold implacability of the commonest street-walkers--those in fact who glory in their shame, and whose very contact is vile to anything with a spark of healthy moral or physical life in it. If, indeed, they had lain off their sickly flesh with their masks, and gone grinning and rattling round the brilliant hall in their skeletons, the transformation could not have chilled your unsuspecting man with a keener horror. But it is safe to say the unsuspecting were few indeed.

"At two o'clock this curious spectacle was at its height. All about the Inst.i.tute, and on the stairs, and in the cloak-rooms, and through the narrow, tortuous pa.s.sages leading to the stage dressing-rooms were vile tableaus of inflamed women and tipsy men, bandying brutality and obscenity. The animal was now in full possession of its faculties. But, just as the orgie is bursting into the last stage--a free fight--when the poor creatures in their hired costumes are ready to grovel in the last half-oblivious scenes, the musicians rattle off 'Home, Sweet Home,' with a strange, hurried irony, and the managers, with the same haste, turn off the gas of the main chandelier, and the _Bal d'Opera_ is at an end."

VIII. PERSONALS.

The first column of one of the most prominent daily newspapers, which is taken in many respectable families of the city, and which claims to be at the head of American journalism, bears the above heading, and there is also a personal column in a prominent Sunday paper, which is also read by many respectable people. Very many persons are inclined to smile at these communications, and are far from supposing that these journals are making themselves the mediums through which a.s.signations and burglaries, and almost every disreputable enterprise are arranged and carried on.

Yet, such is the fact. Many of these advertis.e.m.e.nts are inserted by notorious roues, and others are from women of the town. Women wis.h.i.+ng to meet their lovers, or men their mistresses, use these personal columns.

Respectable women have much to annoy them in the street conveyances, and at the places of amus.e.m.e.nt. If a lady allows her face to wear a pleasant expression while glancing by the merest chance at a man, she is very apt to find some such personal as the following addressed to her in the next morning's issue of the paper referred to:

THIRD AVENUE CAR, DOWN TOWN YESTERDAY morning; young lady in black, who noticed gent opposite, who endeavored to draw her attention to Personal column of --- in his hand, will oblige admirer by sending address to B., Box 102, --- office.

If she is a vile woman, undoubtedly she will do so, and that establishment will deliver her letter, and do its part in helping on the a.s.signation.

A gentleman will bow to a lady, and she, thinking it may be a friend, returns the bow. The next day appears the following:

TALL LADY DRESSED IN BLACK, WHO acknowledged gentleman's salute, Broadway and Tenth street, please address D., box 119, --- office, if she wishes to form his acquaintance.

Sometimes a man will whisper the word "personal" to the lady whom he dares not insult further, and the next day the following appears:

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 4 P.M.--"CAN YOU answer a personal?" Fifth avenue stage from Grand to Twenty-third street. Please address BEN. VAN d.y.k.e, --- office, appointing interview. To prevent mistake, mention some particulars.

Others more modest:

WILL THE LADY THAT WAS LEFT WAITING by her companion on Monday evening, near the door of an up-town theatre, grant an interview to the gentleman that would have spoken if he had thought the place appropriate? Address ROMANO, --- office.

It is really dangerous to notice a patron of the paper mentioned, for he immediately considers it ground for a personal, such as the following:

LADY IN GRAND STREET CAR, SAt.u.r.dAY evening 7.30.--Had on plaid shawl, black silk dress; noticed gentleman in front; both got out at Bowery; will oblige by sending her address to C. L., box 199, --- office.

Young ladies with attendants are not more free from this public insult, as shown by the following:

WILL THE YOUNG LADY THAT GOT OUT OF a Fifth avenue stage, with a gentleman with a cap on at 10 yesterday, at Forty-sixth street, address E. ROBERTS, New York Post-office.

This public notice must be pleasing to the young lady and to "the gentleman with the cap on." It is a notice that the gentleman believes the lady to be willing to have an intrigue with him. If it goes as far as that, this newspaper will lend its columns to the a.s.signation as follows:

LOUISE K.--DEAR, I HAVE RECEIVED YOUR letter, last Sat.u.r.day, but not in time to meet you. Next Tuesday, Dec. 7, I will meet you at the same time and place. East. Write to me again, and give your address. Your old acquaintance.

Or as follows:

L. HATTIE B.--FRIDAY, AT 2.30 P.M.

The personal column is also used to publicly advertise the residences of women of the town. The following are specimens:

MISS GERTIE DAVIS, FORMERLY OF LEXINGTON avenue, will be pleased to see her friends at 106 Clinton place.

ERASTUS--CALL ON JENNIE HOWARD at 123 West Twenty-seventh street. I have left Heath's. 132. ALBANY.

The _World_ very justly remarks: "The cards of courtesans and the advertis.e.m.e.nts of houses of ill-fame might as well be put up in the panels of the street cars. If the public permits a newspaper to do it for the consideration of a few dollars, why make the pretence that there is anything wrong in the thing itself? If the advertis.e.m.e.nt is legitimate, then the business must be."

IX. THE MIDNIGHT MISSION.

With the hope of checking the terrible evil of immorality which is doing such harm in the city, several a.s.sociations for the reformation of fallen women have been organized by benevolent citizens.

One of the most interesting of these is "_The Midnight Mission_," which is located at No. 260 Greene street, in the very midst of the worst houses of prost.i.tution in the city. It was organized about four years ago, and from its organization to the latter part of the year 1870, had sheltered about 600 women. In 1870, 202 women and girls sought refuge in the Mission. Twenty-eight of these were sent to other inst.i.tutions, forty-seven were placed in good situations, fifteen were restored to their friends, and forty-nine went back to their old ways. The building is capable of accommodating from forty-five to fifty inmates. The members of the Society go out on the streets every Friday night, and as they encounter the Street Walkers, accost them, detain them a few moments in conversation, and hand each of them a card bearing the following in print:

[Picture: CARD]

This invitation is sometimes tossed into the gutter or flung in the face of the giver, but it is often accepted. More than this, it is a reminder to the girl that there is a place of refuge open to her, where she may find friends willing and able to help her to escape from her life of sin.

Even those who at first receive the card with insults to the giver, are won over by this thought, and they come to the Mission and ask to be received. Many of them, it is true, seek to make it a mere lodging-house, and deceive the officers by their false penitence, but many are saved from sin every year. The inmates come voluntarily, and leave when they please. There is no force used, but every moral influence that can be brought to bear upon them is exerted to induce them to remain. The preference is given to applicants who are very young.

Those seeking the Mission are provided with refreshments, and are drawn into conversation. They are given such advice as they seem to need, and are induced to remain until the hour for prayers. Those who remain and show a genuine desire to reform are provided with work, and are given one-half of their earnings for their own use.

The Midnight Mission is a n.o.ble inst.i.tution, and is doing a n.o.ble work, but it is sorely in need of funds.

[Picture: SCENE IN THE MAGDALEN ASYLUM.]

The other inst.i.tutions for the reformation of fallen women are the "House of the Good Shepherd," on the East River, at Ninetieth street, the "House of Mercy," on the North River, at Eighty-sixth street, and the "New York Magdalen and Benevolent Society," at the intersection of the Fifth avenue and Eighty-eighth street. These are all correctional establishments, and more or less force is employed in the treatment of those who are refractory. Many of the inmates are sent here by the courts of the city.

The "House of the Good Shepherd" is a Roman Catholic inst.i.tution, and is in charge of the Sisters of the order of "Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd." The other two are Protestant inst.i.tutions. The "House of Mercy" is conducted by the Protestant Episcopal Church. The Magdalen Society is not sectarian. All are doing a good work. The statistics of the "House of the Good Shepherd" give a total of about 2900 inmates in twenty-two years. How many of these were reformed, it is impossible to say. The statistics of the "House of Mercy" are not available, but its inmates are said to number about one hundred annually. The "Magdalen Society" has a n.o.ble record of its thirty-five years of usefulness. It is as follows: Total number of inmates, 2000; placed in private families, 600; restored to relatives, 400; left the Asylum at their own request, 400; left without permission, 300; expelled, 100; transferred temporarily to the hospital, 300; died, 41; received into evangelical churches, 24; legally married, 20.

L. CHILD MURDER.

On the 26th of August, 1871, at three o'clock in the afternoon, a truck drove up to the baggage-room of the Hudson River Railway depot, in Thirtieth street, and deposited on the sidewalk a large, common-looking travelling trunk. The driver, with the a.s.sistance of a boy hanging about the depot, carried the trunk into the baggage-room, and at this instant a woman of middle age, and poorly attired, entered the room, presented a ticket to Chicago, which she had just purchased, and asked to have the trunk checked to that place. The check was given her, and she took her departure. The baggage-master, half an hour later, in attempting to remove the trunk to the platform from which it was to be transferred to the baggage-car, discovered a very offensive odor arising from it. His suspicions were at once aroused, and he communicated them to the superintendent of the baggage-room, who caused the trunk to be removed to an old shed close by and opened. As the lid was raised a terrible sight was revealed. The trunk contained the dead body of a young woman, fully grown, and the limbs were compressed into its narrow s.p.a.ce in the most appalling manner. The discovery was at once communicated to the police, and the body was soon after removed to the Morgue, where an inquest was held upon it.

The woman had been young and beautiful, and evidently a person of refinement, and the post mortem examination, which was made as speedily as possible, revealed the fact that she had been murdered in the effort to produce an abortion upon her. The case was at once placed in the hands of the detectives, and full details of the horrible affair were laid before the public in the daily press. The efforts to discover the murderer were unusually successful. Little by little the truth came out.

The cartman who had taken the trunk to the depot came forward, after reading the account of the affair in the newspapers, and conducted the police to the house where he had received it. This was none other than the residence of Dr. Jacob Rosenzweig (No. 687 Second avenue), a notorious abortionist, who carried on his infamous business at No. 3 Amity Place, as Dr. Ascher. Suspecting his danger, Rosenzweig endeavored to avoid the police, but they soon succeeded in securing him. His residence was taken possession of and searched, and papers were found which completely established the fact that Rosenzweig and Ascher were one and the same person. Rosenzweig was arrested on suspicion, and committed to the Tombs to await the result of the inquest. The body was subsequently identified by an acquaintance of the dead woman, as that of Miss Alice Bowlsby, of Patterson, New Jersey. A further search of Rosenzweig's premises resulted in the finding of a handkerchief marked with the dead woman's name, and other evidence was brought to light all making it too plain for doubt that Alice Bowlsby had died from the effects of an abortion produced upon her by Jacob Rosenzweig. The wretch was tried for his offence, convicted, and sentenced to seven years of hard labor in the penitentiary.

This affair produced a profound impression not only upon the city, but upon the whole country, and drew the attention of the public so strongly to the subject of abortion as a trade, that there is reason to believe that some steps will be taken to check the horrible traffic.

Bad as Rosenzweig was, he was but one of a set who are so numerous in the city that they const.i.tute one of the many distinct cla.s.ses of vile men and women who infest it.

The readers of certain of the city newspapers are familiar with the advertis.e.m.e.nts of these people, such as the following:

A LADIES' PHYSICIAN, DR. ---, PROFESSOR of Midwifery, over 20 years'