St. Paul daily globe., 1888-02-12
BUT PARTIALLY TRUE.
The Stories of the Dives of Northern
Wisconsin.
DANCE HOUSES DO EXIST,
But They Are Not So Bad as Painted
mo Robberies, Fights or Shoot
ing ARRAYS.
Special to the Globe.

ASHLAND, WIS, req. u,-NearIy
every great newspaper in the country
has, within the last year or two, at
tempted to show up in "true light
the lawful denS" of Ashland, and with
out single exception every one of
them has met signal failure. In all the
history of ''dives," so called, here
in Ashland, but one innocent
girl has been found among
the degraded creatureS-and she
expressed herself as anxious to continue
her life of shame, and when discovered
was reluctant to quit the place. The
GLOBE correspondent has made care
ful round of all the resorts in and about
the city for the purpose of placing be-
fore the readers of the paper the true
facts, without adding sensational de-
scriptiOn TO what was seen. The pOr-
trait of the best looking woman
found would disgust the readers
one among the whole number
met who will ever see her twenty-tifth
birthday again. Add to this age the
dissipation of two or three yearS-the
revelry of dance house, and you have
the figure of hag. When you have
seen that you have seen them all. They
are largely the caSt-offS of the city
brothelS, which fact alone should excite
sympathy rather than condemnation for
the officers of the law here and the citi-
zens in general. When these women
become too vile for city uses they are
shipped
TO NORTHERN WISCONSIN,
and then if one of them kicks" about
her treatment howl is raised that an
other innocent young girl has been
stolen away and placed in den with
higll-board fence, surrounded by dogs.
1t is all rot-the very essence of rot.
There is no such place in the country
the whole matter being creation of an
alleged ''deScriptive" and 'sketchy"
young reporter who came up
here from Chicago, where his
eyes were accustomed only to
such scenes as are afforded on the Gar
den City;S Boiler avenue" Victoria
alley, the quarter known as Cheyenne"
or the celebrated ''levee." There are
three places in existence here known
respectively by Jack Mahoney, Dell
Barnum and a man named Jones.
There are dozen fallen creatures in
each. Another ''hOuSe," run by one
Macdonald, situated in ravine in
Bay City," contains seven or eight.
No man of the world will say
after visit to either of the places, that
any of these girls would prefer any
other life, or that they were suffering
from remOrSe at the path they have
chosen. Their principal object in life
is to guZZle as much beer as their
stomachS will hold and their legs carry.
They do not care for money, except to
elbow it in'' at the bar, or TO hand over
as stake" 10 a gambling pimp.
As far as order in one of
these places is concerned it is good,
when the matter of law-breaking is con-
cerned. No robberies, fights or shooting
affrayS have occurred, and the police
have as yet not been called upon to
make arrests. The carousing, such as
it is, is carried On. usually,
WITH DRUNKEN MEN
who are fit companions for the women,
and only reaches a stage of inebriety.
Who can say that these creatures
linen and wOmen-are not bet
ter off coOped up together in
such places? They are off the streets
and do not, as has been claimed, f1aunt
their signals in public to insult the
wives and daughters of decent men.
These places are bad enough, no one
will deny, but they are no worse than
places of a similar character in the big
cities, where alleged descriptions of
of them have caused the blood
of Christian people to freeze in
their veins. There is big
field in every large city for newspapers
that wish to dish up horrors of this
kind for their readers without striking
such wicked blows at the ambitious lit
tie cities of the new Wisconsin. Business
men, when they see these grossly eX-
aggerated articles, whether written by
reporters or by lecturers, become
greatly discouraged, for they see the
damage that is bound to follow. The
object OF every one in Ashland, at
least. is to build up the place, to induce
men to come here and engage in buSi-
ness and bring their families with
them. The Business Mems association
Is bending every energy in this direc-
ton, and such libelS are the most dis
c0uraging things it has to contend with.
Men III the East have written here that
they would like to locate in Ashland,
but they have heard that it was too
tough a place for family of children.
Think of that, and then remember that
the city of $4,000 inhabitants has ten
churches, with seating capacity large
enough for half the population.
AN EDITORS ANGER
Special to the Globe.
WAUsAU, Wis.,, Feb. 11.-Your cor
respondent called on II. Barnum, editor
of the Torch of Liberty, WauSau, Wis,
who said:
II haveno objection to being inter
viewed on this subject. OF course you
will understand that | am very indig-
nant over the way in which my name
has been used by Mr.. Moore. There is
not one word of truth in the statement
that spoke in Ashland. / have never
Deen there. L have never ViSi-
ted dive of any kind on
the GOgebic range. I never spoke i'm
favor OF or excused vice in any form in
public or in private. / have never, to
my knowledge, met the man Moore.
His statements are inconsistent, dis
connected and foolish. He says ''none
of these dives are in the villages, but
are located back in the woods from one
to two miles," yet he says that he heard
me speak in one at Ashland 1t is sur
prlsing that an editor will pub
lish such Inconsistencies. No, 1
know nothing of the dives of
Northern Wisconsin, and do not
for one moment believe that such
places as Mr.: Moore describes exist in
the state. The people would not allow
it. Yes, have been on the platform
for years, have lectured in most of
the villages and cities of the state.
do not know place where it would
be safe for speaker to excuse such a
state of things. Certainly believe that
vice and immortality exist, and
Shat the truth is bad enough.
So far as my knowledge goes, the
immoral houses of Northern Wisconsin
are recruited from the slums of the
large cities, and as a rule the smaller
towns are cleaner and freer from vice
than the large towns comparatively The
speech of Mr.. Moore is a villianOuS, false.
and ineXcuSable SANDER of our people.
1t is utterly impossible for such things
as he relates to exist, and certainly our
people do not uphold or countenance
such diyeSn