The Evening post. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1888-1889, 1888-12-17

A certain class of advertisements which
are constantly appearing in the papers
nowadays are well calculated to, and
unquestiUnably do, mislead many an in
nUcent, trusting girl, who, with poverty
staring her in the face, perhaps sickness
and distress in her family, grasps say
agcly at the bait held so temptingly be-
fore her, and tries to secure the position
which, If obtained would at least insure
to her loved ones, some of the comforts
that they stand so sorely in need Of.
And what is the advertisement to
which this young lady replies? "a
gentleman wishes an intelligent, refined
young lady to iil clerical position in
his Office and applicants are requested
to apply in person ut certain hour.
Tho crafty advertiser has omitted to
state that the only qualification essential
to employment is that the applicant be
young and good bookings hence when
one young lady appears she meets a
string of women who were rejected be-
cause of their inability to meet this re-
quirement.
Relying on her preparations for cleri.
| cal work, she presses on and enters the
| presence of the advertiser. He is evil
IDENTIFY struck by appearance, no doubt
| discovering by intuition that she would
make capable and efficient clerk. He
asks her to be seated, and after an unim-
portant question or two, he calmly in
| quires if she will accompany him to the
theatre that evening and to supper af-
| forwards. The very suggestiveness .of
this proposition shows her what the de-
! signing sCoundrel means by his adver-
tisement, and she determines to admins
ter lesson, if possible; so apparently
| falling i'll with his views, she agrees Il
meet him at 1880 on certain corner, and
leaves his office ~, having been engaged
for the position, salary not stated.
At the appointed hour this enterprisinl
agent was met, not by his clerk, but by
good-sized, well.developed male repre-
sentative, who proceeded to enter upor
his duties in manner rather surprising
to, and altogether uncomfortable for, the
gentlemanly employer The aforesaid
&. e. was thrashed. soundly thrashed, ant
no longer does business at the old stand
The above is but one case in thou
sand. Something should be done Il
suppress this growing evil, that innocen
girls may be, in measure, protected
from the hellish designs of these scoun
drels. They advertise under fictitious
name, which is posted on the door Of
their offices, and when necessary they
can change their appellation even oftene
than Government clerk can change hi
political faith Probably because of tn
disagreeable notoriety attached to thei
exposure, comparatively few of the in
jured girls enter u complaint.
Consequently, large majority o
these men escape just punishment. II
be sure, one of them occasionally serve
in the capacity of a mop for the pur
pose OF wiping up the floor or street
but he makes failure of the Job, 70
more filth oozes from his carcass that h
gathers up during the operation. Blu
they generally escape even trihing re
buke of this kind, their victims natul
ally dreading to inform their relative
- orS.friends of the indignities to whic
they have been subjected.
Private Detective McDevitt is yer,
emphatic in his denunciaton of thes
advertisers. He states that they are
gang OF irresponsible, contemptibl
scoundrels. and should be punished t
the full extent of the law.
a quiet investigation would soon lea
to the detection and punishment of thes
frauds, and it is to be earnestly hope
that this much needed reform will
soon i'll operation.