MRS. I. H. EVANS by Mrs. I. H. Evans

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Aug 4, 1910

MRS. I. H. EVANS

By Mrs. I. H. Evans

The White Slave Traffic—No. 1

MRS. I. H. EVANS

In November of last year there appeared in one of the leading magazines an article entitled “The Daughters of the Poor,” charging the existence in New York City, under political patronage and protection, of an organization, or syndicate, having for its object the recruiting and sale of young girls, especially of aliens, for purposes of infamy. It was further charged that the leaders in this business had “established recruiting systems in every large city in the United States.”

So serious and far-reaching were the accusations made, that a special grand jury was impaneled the first week in January to investigate the so-called white slave traffic. At the time of the appointment of this grand jury, of which John D. Rockefeller, Jr., was chairman, the opinion was widely expressed by men in high positions in New York City that the charges were either wholly false or greatly exaggerated. Mr. Rockefeller himself has been widely quoted as saying, “If these stories are true, they should be proved; if they are false, they should be silenced.”

As time passed, less was said about the falsity of the statements made; and in February an appropriation of $25,000 was voted by the board of estimates for the purpose of carrying on the work of the grand jury. Arrests, indictments, and a number of convictions followed.

However, in view of the gravity of the charges made, the report finally submitted by the grand jury has been called “distinctly inconsistent, contradictory, and unsatisfactory.” Certain politicians and political papers are openly exultant at what they term the “vindication” which the city has received at the hands of the grand jury in its statement of its failure to find any “evidence of the existence in the County of New York of any organization or organizations, incorporated or otherwise, engaged as such in the traffic in women for immoral purposes,” etc. Yet this exultation would appear to receive slight encouragement from the report itself; for it immediately goes on to say, in the most forcible language, that “a trafficking in the bodies of women does exist, and is carried on by individuals acting for their own individual benefit, and that these persons are known to each other, and are more or less informally associated.”

Continuing, the report says: “We have also found that associations and clubs, composed mainly or wholly of those profiting from vice, have existed, and that one such organization still exists. These associations and clubs are analogous to commercial bodies in other fields, which, while not directly engaged in commerce, are composed of individuals all of whom as individuals are so engaged.”

Mrs. Rose Woodallen Chapman, writing in the Union Signal on the results of this investigation in New York City, says:—

“The results may seem meager. Two facts, however, must be borne in mind: First, that the evidence now required under the law to secure conviction is of such a character as to make it almost impossible for it to be obtained. Certain definite facts must be proved. The testimony of the victim is not enough; it must be corroborated by another witness. But the very character of the acts is such that a man would see to it that no one else was put in a position to have knowledge of them. Hence, in numberless cases where guilt is morally certain, it can not legally be proved.

“Second, the restricted meaning which it seems must necessarily be placed upon the word ‘slave,’ enables

the statement to be made with some show of reason that there are very few ‘slaves.’ Too many of these unfortunate girls are ready to say that they are in the life willingly. Some say it through fear of their keepers, doubtless, while others have become so hardened to the life that, seeing nothing else for them, they speak the sad truth.”

On the difficulty of securing legal evidence, the report submitted by the grand jury has this to say:—

“Owing to the publicity given to the inquiry at its inception, it has been difficult to get legal evidence of the actual purchase and sale of women for immoral purposes, and our investigators have been informed in different quarters that a number of formerly active dealers in women had either temporarily gone out of business, or had transferred their activities to other cities. However, five self-declared dealers in women had agreed upon various occasions to supply women to our agents; but, because of their extreme caution, and the fear aroused by the continued sitting of this grand jury, these promises were fulfilled in only two instances, in each of which two girls were secured for our agents at a price, in the one case of $60 each, and in the other, $75 each. Indictments have been found against these two persons; one pleaded guilty, and the other was convicted on trial.

“All of these parties boasted to our investigators of their extensive local and interstate operations in the recent past. They specifically mentioned the cities to which they had forwarded women, and described their operations as having at that time been free from danger of detection. Our investigators also testified as to the methods and means used by these people in replenishing the supply of women, and in entrapping innocent girls.”

A study of a few of the cases in which definite information was secured will give a better idea of what this traffic really is than can be gained in any other way:—

“The first conviction was that of Guiseppi Picone, who induced fifteen-year-old Wanda Boshka to leave home with him, and afterward forced her to support him. The next was that of Emilio Dicico, who, with Joseph Marfio, took three young girls on a trip to Hartford, Conn., and sold them to the keeper of a resort.

“Samuel Buckle abducted his sister-in-law, who was fifteen years old, and brought her from Philadelphia to New York, and sold her into a life of infamy.

“The stories of these girls, when secured in detail, are most pathetic. Take, for instance, the case of Louise Gunderman, a comely Swedish girl, who came to this country to be married to the faithful sweetheart who was at last able to make a home for her. Through some misunderstanding of his directions, she found herself alone on the streets of New York. Her inquiries brought her no knowledge of her lover’s whereabouts. She found her way, however, to the house of some of her countrywomen, and soon secured an honest position. At a social gathering she met Gustave Lagerman, one of the most noted cadets and panderers in Greater New York. He used all his arts of fascination upon the poor, lonely girl, painted a rosy future for her, and, telling her great tales of the different customs of this new land, succeeded in getting her to come and live with him. It was not long before she was forced upon the streets to earn the shameful money that enabled him to live in idleness.

“On the last night of the old year, the poor victim suddenly met her old sweetheart face to face. To him she sobbed out the story of her misery and shame, and he promised to aid her to a reformation. They were starting away together; but Lagerman, who had been spying upon them from a doorway, drove the lover away at the point of his revolver, and chased the girl to her room, where he beat her cruelly, and then destroyed most of her clothing, that she might remain a prisoner.

“With hope newly aroused, however, the girl did not give up, but managed to send word to her brother-in-law, who rescued her, and caused the arrest of her ‘master.’

“Unlike the stories of most of these victims, this one has a happy ending. The ‘slave-driver’ was sentenced to five years in the penitentiary. The victim was married to her faithful lover, and sailed with him for the old country, where in time she might forget a part, at least, of her terrible experiences.

“In contrast to this finale is the fate of the girl wife of eighteen, who refused to return to a life on the streets to support her husband, just released from the Elmira reformatory, and was shot by her husband as a consequence.

“Another case was that of a young girl of fine family who came from Venezuela to go on the stage. She has stated upon oath that she was forced into a life on the streets at the point of a revolver; she bears marks which she asserts were received in beatings which the man gave her; and since her escape from his clutches, she has lived in constant fear for her life. Threatening letters which were written her by the man were put in the hands of the district attorney.”

These few instances give some idea of what is going on in New York City, and in greater or less degree in other large cities, especially the port cities, of this favored “land of the free.” While it is a fact that the grand jury found no evidence that would be accepted in a legal court, of an organization or syndicate engaged, as such, in this unholy traffic, yet a consideration of the evidence submitted, by the wider court of Public Opinion, must certainly result in a verdict of “Guilty” to the defendant.

The influence of the investigation conducted by the grand jury was not confined to New York City. Other large cities took up the work with good results. As indicating the extent of this traffic it may not be out of place to cite in this connection the statement of Elmer E. Todd, United States district attorney at Seattle, Wash. He says: “There are between seven and eight hundred men in Seattle who live from the revenue from the white slave traffic, almost all of whom could be reached by the State courts, if proper efforts were made.”

Facts such as these, which might be added to almost without limit by every court of inquiry on this subject, form a dreadful warning to fathers and mothers, and to all others who prize innocent girlhood and virtuous young manhood.

Takoma Park, D. C.