The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1870-05-18
Prom the New York Herald. May u,
ThreaIened-Oyer Two Hundred Of
the Demi-Nonde Arrested in a
sin=Ic EveniuE-Painful and In
tercstins scenes at the Station
House.

Ii i & notorious fact that Boston, in
spite OF her many philanthropic lnsIi;u-
tions for tie reclamation and sui p 'eSsion
OF wickeiness. has for the past ten or
fifteen wears been in a moral sense
empharicallv the most abandoned city
on the American Continent The
social evil, a. : il NAV be delicace.y
termed. haS hot only riou.ishei here in
the uSua. organized forms, bu; licen-
tiousness seems :" hare existed every
where upon the very surface OF society.
and spotless virtue has been the eXcep-
ton rather than the general rule This
is rather a bold statement, but boih
observation and statistics Will show i
to be a lameutable fact. All classes o.
sy,iev-i.om the ve-v a-islocracy o:
tne South End and Beacon Hill down
to the dralzenS O: tie North End and
Fort Hill-haye been iaiate! and d.
easel. unit, there haS teen produced
what NAV almost he called a plague
For something over dozen wears this
state Of society has existed unmoles;ed
by the Iol.ce, AMI encoura ge1. rather
than s:.ucted, bv the people general
". bu; il has finally assumed such 3
Threatening and dangerous aspeet that
the Police have Involuntary been OF
Eged 10 commence the process Of iumi-
CATION.
The ursI step in this direction Wa
commenced SATURDAY evening, under
the direction OF the new Chief, Mr..
Savage tie BEGAN by an attack upon
the thousands of women who ply their
vocation N the streets, and ia q single
evening vver TWO hundred of this class
were taken iE.o custody The weather
was most charming. and the dgHi-mR,9:
were ont in large numbers but the Of
fcers oHly directed their attention TO
those most notorious and against "hom
complaints Tor night walking can he
sustained. The gathering in and prose
cutting of these comparative few Will,
undoubteilv. have beneficial effect
upon society. Ii y more than likely.
though. that ho>tilitles will lie continued
au.i that The houses n ill-f-ame and
the. assignation houses viii he most
materially lessenei in hunters during
the ensuing few weeks.
The crusade against the >trcetwomen
was 50 concerted and sudden Lar they
found themselves within the station
houses without a moments warning.
The news of the raid sp7eady rapidly
through the city, however, and in a few
hours the usual p7omeuades selected toy
tine nvmph> presented such a deseTte'!
appearance a. 10 attract very general
attention. and when. at length, the
cause was known there was no little
commolion among that class from whom
the arrested unf0rtunaje> derived then
livelihood. The Tcmhs and the various
station houses were AZ once surrounded
bv eager crowds. who remained long
after midnight In some cases male
friends of the unfortunates iniercedet
in their behalf, and ty furnishing sutfi-
Gent bends for tier appearance IN
cou-, ihey were released until tins
morning. The majority, however. II
thew had friends. were abandoned ty
them and they were compelled 10 SPEND
the long interval from SATURDAY. night
until Monday morning in the cherries
cells. Some Of them feigned to treat
the affair with levity, Int they were
mostly Of the lowest and most abandon
ed class, such as had before been IN the
court. tor various offences The young
and fresh in sin-and there were many
OF these-were truly peniten', and their
manifestations OF grief atexposure were
heartrendiDg to witness They were all
released on probation to-day.