American Republican and Baltimore daily clipper. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1844-1846, 1845-03-14


"lreneus," in the last New York Observer,
quotes from the notes of friend the following
sad account Of recent exploration of one of
the living hells in that city, which corroboratcs
the reports heretofore made by Dickens;
1t was midnight. We had made an ap-
pointment with an officer of the CITY police,
one OF the Oldest and truest Of that depart
ment, TO meet US at the - House, and we
were all ready. The neighborhood we pro-
posed to visit was unsafe for any man to enter
IN the night unless we'll protected, and we had
therefore taken such precautions as the first
law OF nature dictates in such cases. Turn
ing down l. to O. street, we came TO
large whltc-washed door, at which the Off
Ger tapped as if giving signal to be under
stood within. The door was cautiously OPEN
ed and we stood enveoped in darkness, but the
sound OF distant music broke upon our ears
We CROPPED our way to flight of stairs dozen
which we marched, the officer being at the
head; till we came to another door guarded by
porter, who proved to be the presiding genius
Of the establishment. He knew the officer at
glance, and was as compaisant as if a new
customer had come; and OH being informed
that we were on pleasure excursion through
his dOmniOns, he threw open his Internal ball
room door, and there, as sure as life, was a
sight such as the disordercd brain of a mad
man might coniure, but which we had never
ventured to believe was one of the nightly
similar scenes in this christian city. A motley
multitude of men and women, yellow and
white, black and dingy, old and young, ugly
and-no not handsome; God forbid that
beauty should ever bloom in such hot-bed as
this-but there they were, set of male and
female Bacchanals dancing to the tambourine
and fiddle; gggling and laughing in a style Pc
cullar to the remote descendants of Ham, and
making ''night hidoous' with their lascvous
orgies. Talk Of the degradation of the heath
en-; OF savage pow-wows, and pagan carnvals;
and stir up sympathy for the slaves of sin in
the depths of Africa or Asia. Here we were
within stones throw Of the City Hall, in the
centre OF the first city in the most christian
country on the earth, and here was q sight TO
make the heart sicken and bleed. On one side
OF the room was bar, tended by rascally
looking wretch who dealt out the liquors to the
frequent calls OF his customers, and as the
drinking and fddling went oil, the fury of the
company waxed fiercer, until the scene was as
unreal and bewildering as if we had been sud-
denly ushercd into the revelling halls Of the
Prince of darkness.
w lillS nOEIlu group was
young man whom we recognized as of reSpec-
table family, but his bloated face and bloody
eyes, and the loose familiarity with which he
addressed the company, showed that he was at
home among them, and was already near the
nadir point of his downward career. We
thought of the mother that gave him BIRTH and
whose heart would be wrung with agony at the
ruin of her son, were she not one of the many
mn hnrs in tho rapkc Of E,Sbino and y,r;Ia
haps this moment Haunting at more splendid
ball, yielding to the voluptuous Establishments
of elegant vice, and listening to the fattering
tongue that will lure her to meet her lost boy
at the door ola lower hell.
That gaudy girl, (sald the officer,) decked
with so much fnery, makes it her profession to
decoy men into houses kept for the purpose,
and there she robs them. Many men from the
country, prompted by curiosity, follow such
persons as you see her TO be, and before they
are aware of their danger, they are in snare
from which escape is impossible. Resistance
is useless, and to complain to the Police is at
tended with an exposure worse than the loss of
money. In fact the robbery oftheir victims is
the chief pursuit ofthe class of women Of whom
that girl is one of the queens.
But we were glad to emerge from this den,
and breathe again the pure air Of heaven. A
bright full moon poured on US food of light
as we gained the upper regions, and what
contrast to the murky atmosphere from which
we had just escaped! 1t was beautiful night!
The mild moon sailed in glory over US, and the
stars "whose PURITY and DISTANCE make them
FAIR" danced like celestial virgins Gin the blue
ethereal sky" and we could scarcely believe
that, under such a canopy, there could be such
scenes as we had just left