Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1889-01-10
WISC0NSIN'S SHAME
DR.. Kate Bushnell. Tells Chicago of
Her Discoveries.

CHICAGO, Jan. Or. Kate
Bushnell lectured here Saturday
on the infamous dens of North
Wisconsin. Last May Mrs. Bush
nell went North. At the end Of
month she felt that she could
not conscientiously report on what
she had heard; at the end of four
months she felt as if she had
scarcely begun, and then she
began to realize that there were
features of the iniquity and depths
of imfamy of which she had
little conception, and from which
she turned with sadness of heart.
Quietly she went from place to
place interviewing different classes
of people, here a minister and
there a lawyer, and she could
always go to the physicians and
converse freely with them in
regard to the social conditions of
the towns where they reside.
She never found it very hard to
hear of young girls, who had
been inmates of dens of infamy
in that part of the country, from
whom she got their stories not
only, but the proof of them.
But it was necessary to do more
than this. The existence OF
stockaded dens in Wisconsin had
been denied again and again. DIR.
Bushnell looked for herself, and
she found one at Wausau, one at
Merrill, two at Marinette, one at
Amigo, two at Kill River and one
at Rhine River. She drew
sketches Of these dens SO as to
have proof at hand, and one OF
these sketches, enlarged, was
exhibited at the meeting.
These dens," said the speaker,
care a combination of a saloon, a
dance house and a den of infamy
They are nearly all licensed as
saloons; there is dancing going on
every evening, and the men who
go out to these places must pay
25 cents for each dance. Then
there are the den of infamy attach
ments. These houses hold all the
way from six or eight to seventy
five girls. These dens are, for the
most part, situated in the woods,
all the way from half a mile to a
mile and half from town, in the
dense forests of Northern Wiscon-
sin, often separated far from civil
izatlon, every crime under the
heavens that is conceivable is
committed there without fear"
Den keepers and their friends
claimed that these fences served
as a sort of screen for the more
respectable outer world, but DR..
Bushnell has come to the conclu-
sion that these fences serve not
only the purpose of keeping the
indignant righteous citizens out
but keeping the unwilling inmates
in. The latter purpose was also
served by ferocious bulldogs, and
the speaker illustrated the savage
breed of these dogs by citing a
case where one got into the
inclosure to neighboring farm
and chewed a calf to death.
The sketch exhibited at the
meeting was that of the Gold
Dust Saloon" about half mile
from Merrill, and kept by Hugh
Doyle. OF this den DR.. Bushnell
gave the following typical descrip-
ton: "The place is completely
inclosed with a fence, the back
yard inclosed by itself completely
and tie fence of the front inclos-
ure overlapping it. The fence is
as high as the door Of the lower
story Of the house. In driving ir
from Merrill you drive in between
the two fences around to the front
of the house, and no one car
approach or leave the house with,
out being seen perfectly we'll from
six windows on the side Of the
house and three windows in front
The upper story is divided off into
twelve little rooms about IoxI2
with single beds in them. All the
windows on the lower floor arr
barred; the front room is {