The New York herald., 1870-05-10
TIE "sOClAL EVIL. IN BOSTON.

A General Publication Of the City Thrcat-
ened-Over Two Hundred OF the Demi-
Monde Arrested in a single Evening-Painful
and Interesting Scenes at the. Station
BOSTON, May 0, 1870
II is notorious fact that Boston, in spite Of her
many phianthropic institutions for the reclamation
and suppression OF wickedness, has for the past ten
or fifteen years been in moral sense, emphaticaily
the most abandoned city on the American CONT
nent. The ''social evil" as 1t may be delicately
termed, has not only fourished here in the usual
organized forms, but RIGHTEOUSNESS seems to nave
existed everywhere upon the very surface Of
society, and spotless virtue has been the ex-
ceptlon rather than the general rule This is rather
bold statement, but both observation and
statistics will show it to be lamentabe fact All
classes of society-from the very arstocracy Of the
South End ana Beacon Hill down to the denlze ms of
the North End and Fort Hill-have been tainted and
diseased until there has been produced what may
almost be called plague. For something over
dozen years this state OF society has existed
molested Dy the police and encouraged rather than
obstructed, by the people generally; but It has
finally assumed such threatening and dangerous
aspect that the police have inv0luntarily been
| Obliged to commence the process OF fumigaton.
The first step In TINS direction was commenced
Chief, Mr.. Savage. He began by an attack upon the
thousands Of women who ply their vocation
two hundred Or this class were taken into Gus.
| tody. The weather was most charming ana
the de1nt-1ysOnde were out IN large numbers,
but the officers only directed their attention to nose
most notorious and against whom complaints for
NIGHT walking can be sustained. The gathering in
and prosecuting OF these comparative few will, how
ever be likely to terry the thousands OF others, aud
II the offensive against them In not pursued the
| force Of example will undoubtedly have beneficial
that hOstiIties will be continued and that the houses
OF Ill fame and the assRnatfon houses Will De most
| materially lessened In numbers during the ensuing
| The crusade against the street women was 80 con-
| certed and sudden that they found themselves
within the station houses without moments warn
! ing The news OF the raid spread rapidly through
| the city, however, and In o few hours the usual
| promenades selected by the nympns presented such
| general attention, and when, at length. the
i cause was known there was no little cOmm0tl0n
among that class from whom the arrested unfOrtu-
| mates derived their livelihood The T0mbs and the
various station houses were at once surrounded by
eager crowds, who remained long after midnight. In
some cases male friends OF the unf0rtunates inter-
ceded In their behalf, and by furnishing sufficient
bonds for their appearance in court they were re-
leased until this morning. The majority, however,
they were compelled to spend the long interval nom
Saturday night until Monday morning In the cheer-
less cells. Some OF them feigned to treat tne AFFAIR
with levity, but they were mostly OF the lowest ana
| most abandoned GLASS; such as mad before been In
the courts for various 06nces. The young ana resn
| In sin-and there were many OF theSe-were truly
penitent and their manifestations OF grief at expo
sure were hearsfending 10 witness. They were all
released on pyobaA0n to-oAf' aa 81 sGN