The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1854-01-28

Ism REvIvED.-Some twelve or fourteen wears
ago o man calling himself the Rev. Mr. Mellow
ell appeared in New York, and established
weekly paper, entitled .McDo,ceWs Journal.
This paper, which was printed under the patron
age of the Magdalen Society, and pretended to
be devoted to the cause Of reforming women
who had lost their virtue, was, in reality,
weekly directory of the houses of prostitution
in the city, with the streets and numbers oil the
houses in full, and list of the inmates, with
their assumed names, and catalogue raisonne
of their charms-eyes, hair, busts carriage age,
accomplishments, DC. Mr.. Mcdowell also es-
tablished in his own house an asylum for re-
formed women, which institution was under the
protection of the Magdalen Society, who made
continual appeals to the public for contribu-
tons, and received in this way large sums to be
applied to the support of Mr. Mcdowell, his
newspaper. and his institution" and in other
ways to carry on the operations of the society.
The society also got up memorial to the
Legislature, and pubisheda "Magdalen report"
stating the number Of public prostitutes in New
York to be from ten TO fifteen thousand, and
that there were so many kept mistresses and
private courtezans in every rank of life, that
ii was safe to set down as unchaste every other
woman you met in New York.
This wholesale and infamous SANDER upon
the women of New York, officially put forth,
and bearing several very respectable" names,
opened the eyes of the public to the whole
scheme Investigations were set on foot; the
press took up the affair, and it turned out that
the whole plan was vile imposition--that
McDowells institution" was only house OF
prostitution for his own private use, and that
the large sums of money contributed by the
public to the supposed reform" had been, for
the most part, dishonesty squandered The
only New York Journal Gust then beginning
to strive for position among the moral and
wealthy classes,) which had steadily pulled and
defended Mcdowell and his operations, was glad
to back out in hurry, with the loss of several
hundred of its indignant subscribers.
Since then the obscene element of literature
has reassuned its usual form of exciting
novels, stories, &C., free from the added afro
city of a hgpscritical pretence OF morality and
reform, save tAe daily stream of mingled inf
through the columns of the New York Tri-
5une. Recently. however, the game OF
Mcdowell and his institution" has been re.
vived on larger scale. A considerable fund
has been raised, real estate purchased, and
handsome building erected, and rented out at
good per centage to a pretty large number of
reformed" bad women. The affair has been
much more adroitly managed this time than in
the case of Mcdowell, and nearly the whole
press has been inveigled into putting and ap-
plauding it. The Tribune has of course,
taken the lead in the matter. and actually en-.
gagged person to write series of articles for
its own columns, of a similar character to the
disgusting and obscene contents OF Nc DO,celTs
Journal. These articles, reeking with the
very 9th of the lowest dens of debauchery and
prostitution, and consisting of succession of
obscene pictures of human depravity of every
sort, have been collected and expanded into IA
large and handsome volume embellshed with
fair print and gilded bidding, and sold through
out the country in immense numbers, under
the title of "Hot Corn: Life Scenes in New
York" We have carefully read this book
which originally commenced in the Tribune,
is dedicated by the author to Horace Gree
ley and his co-laborers, editors of the New
York Tribune" and may fairly be considered az
an emanatiOn from that establishment. And
we conscientiously say, on our faith IS L 4
and Christian, that q more atrocious com
pound of absolute filth and indecency, hollow
hypocrisy, vile English and bad grammar,
never issued from the press. We are positively
opinion that it is the duty of the District Attor-
ney to indict the author or authors of this book
under the statute against the writing or publish
ing of obscene literature. Certainly nothing in
the novels Of Paul de Kock, or the spurious
denominations palmed off as his-and for pub
fishing which a young man was only few
months ago arrested and held to bail for m I
possibly equal, in prurience
and obscenity, the contents of this dish of Hot
Corn" And to justify this opinion we are
going to give condensation OF several scenes,
taken at random, from its pages
Chxpp.r Of this book def cri oes sSwipg Who
Ia induced BY hsraaish HUSBAND TO sake for tbs
hmAts OF fashiDsble Asignation house She visits
the houss clearly Indicated in the book that OF "A
Taylor, No H. stree y try . dress she is
Ind dnos that srs Hannette has msp with her she
however is going 10 pull od her c,thss to try on the
pew dtess but the drssmaker offsets and the gentle
gees dov ttairt As Ahsls Che dressmaker) IL
about goipg away ste recognizes hsr husbands voice
he room In conversation with a 0oips
nts b. broom, shs mounts cnsir locks rough |
window. snd her husband in bed with % woman
nth ugly red hair wish dali voluptuous eyes, thick
Ups ugly teeth little snuo nose, and gsunt awkward
1gme,D
Subsequently Alfalfa becomes a voluntary
innate Of this house, and is seduced in the re- |
yular way by one Frank Barkley, the whole
process being described in nearly the same
'tyle as that Of the heroine of notorious OBJ |
scene book, which has become classic, in its |
way, and is evidently the model which the
author Of /" Hot Corn" has so bunglingly imi-
lated.
In chapter XII, the author, after describing
low Miss Nannette passed her self off as q young |