Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1860-05-15

THE NEW YORK FAsr.woMAN.


afforded for a campaign against society at large
the most subtle and dangerous of all would
seem to be the arch adVenturess-the modern
Fast Woman. Her prototype existed ages
since, as long rs when Samson bsrtered every
thing for Deliiah; or later, when ''Thais, like
another Helen, fred another Troy" You can
trace her down 10 later times, through all his
torical fact and fiction, finding her likeness in
many a comedy Of Moliere, in many a novel of
Fielding, or print Of VIM. Hogarth. But it is
in the exciting and fortune making modern
American life that she has more fully devel-
oped her operations, gaining, at pleasure the
entree to our changeful and not over scrupu-
lOuS upper circles, and having her own wicked
say about half Of our real-life tragedy and
farce.
Here was the body of a murdered woman.
found floating in the Jersey City docks a short
time since. Her head, preserved in spirits,
after days Of mystery, is at last identified by
men, to whom more than to the passing crowd,
il must seem a dreadful sight. For those fea.
tures, now foul and CHASTITY enough, to be sure.
not long ago were a portion Of their several
daily lives; not long ago, those eyes, now
staring through muddy impurity," looked
with the semblance of love into their own
For she was the lawful wife of one, whom she
deserted to lead the dashing life of an
American fast woman. Becoming accom-
plished in this life, she seized the other in her
tolls; took charge of his body, character. and
purse; debauched the first, beclouded the sec
ond, scattered recklessly the contents of the
third. She shifted her abode, we are told.
from place to place She lived at her victims
expense, successfully at the Brandreth House
at the st. Denis Hotel, at doctors in Astor
place, at the st. Jullien Hotel, at the Lafarge
House, at more than one private boarding.
house All this within two years And Wben
her provider saw through the fimsy veil
Of her affection for him, she still maintained
her extravagance. playing upon his terror of
exposure as skllltully as she played upon
his yielding folly. She spent $50 900 of
this one mans money in two years Du-
ring all this time she had other visitors.
doubtless other victims. How many she had
ruined He only knows who has at last called
her to her account. Such was the life, and
such the end, of one modern ''fast woman:
Well might the man we speak of, when asked
to identify those shapeless features, do so at
his first glance, and shudderingly turn away
1t is only now and then that the career and
terrible influence of the fast woman are thus
impresSively set before the public An act of
violence is committed, bank forger ruins his
family and himself, broker comes to grief,
and TO the story Of his wicked excesses there
Is the invariable fast woman accompaniment.
She does not share the criminals trial and con-
vietion, however, and the worlds interest in
her soon passes by.
=. But she is everywhere and busily present in
American cities, and in New York most of all
Look for a moment at her method and appear
anee
The fast woman is by no means common
harlot. In nine cases out of ten she has never
walked the streets, nor boarded in house of
bad repute. Only once in a while one of the
vulgar sisterhoOd rises by superior shrewdness
and accomplishments, to the ranks Of the dsni-
BtOHde. The fast woman affects the private
boarding houses. But the hotel is the place to
which she gains unquestioned access, where
she lives most at her ease and is enabled lin
her own langusgeJ to bag the most game And
ii is owing, first of all, to the wretched, con-
glomerate, American hotel system, that fast
women, of late, abound in such numbers and
are so dangerous to society.
There is always mystery hanging about the
fast woman's antecedents. One thing is GER
tain, though found on every New York square,
she is rarely New Yorker by birth Few
city girls, who have the accom- plishments ne
ceSsary to render q fast wOmans career sue
cessful, enter upon fast woman's life. She
comes to US after an apprenticeship in Boston
or Philadelphia, and she probably went to
those cities from the country long before But
no one city, not even New York, can detaiu
her long. Her genius travels from spot to spot.
A placer failing them in Boston, they go s'prOs-
pecting'' to other towns. From the Revere,
where their last arrangement was played
out" they come to the st. Nicholas to see
what they can make" And in the summer
they 20 in throDgs from one watering place to
forces for the summer campaign. Not un-
frequently one accompanies a gentle-l looking
sporting man as his sister, while two others
figure as cousins or family friends. Together
they are formidable set. K
Mysterious as are the fast women's antece-
dents, her presence, except in the assumed
summer disguise referred TO, are still more so.
She comes to the respectable boarding house,
almost always as married woman. Unfortu-
nately her husbands business is Of nature
that keeps him travelling. He is the collec-
tor and general agent Of some commercial
firm, or he is engaged in buying -four in the
West, or he is sojourning in Europe. The
California story Of the husband in successful
San Francisco business, and Of remittanees al
ways expected, is about played out. The So
briquet of California widow proyokes sus-
picion at the outset Not a few fast women
hunt in couples; one who has past through
years Of strocious experience, unites her wi
lyness to the beauty and youth of another, new
70 the trade, and the two, as mother and
daughter, or more frequently aunt and niece,
easily locate themselves in any boarding house
they choose.
Once settled down in a new place, the fast
woman's method is simple. 1t is true that she
alternates through life, between stages of mag
nihcence and squallor. Rarely saving her ex-
tortionate gains, she is frequently unable to
pay her board, or buy her clothing, when
fairly shaken of by sn outraged victim But
ground She has her qualities to begin with
She is a woman Of passion, is handsome,
dressed in the usual good or bad taste of mon
eyed American females, sings little, plays .
little, dances q great deal. Is quiet and be-
HAYES herself. But Mesdames boarding house
keepers, you can always tell BY one sign Be-
fore she has been with you a week, she will be
acauainted with every man in the house who
is open to sttack-be he lawyer, broker, mer-
chant, or merchants clerk-and will know
very few, if any Of your lady inmates. The
latter, with their finer female instincts, win
find her out, at least to their own satisfaction
Bye-and-bye, though very quiet and compan-
ionIess az first, she viii have many gentlemen
visitors Perhaps you viii then recolleet that
when she applied for board, she referred you
only to genstemen-and highly respectable
gentlemen they were, too-for information as
70 her means and character. Now, if all these
things are In combination, you may be wrong
ing an innocent female in doing what we say
YOU have q right to do-that Is, in strongly
suspecting your fascinating and unprotected
lady boardsr to be fast woman, and in keep