Morning journal and courier., 1889-12-27
PkRILs IN PRTTIO0ATs.
Dangers That Bsses the vsrAans So. ions From Dsslgnlng Women.
 IEeona the Nhicapo Tinnaa

Dangers That Bssss the vsrAans Soc
 ions From Deslgnlng Women.
 From the Chicago Timesl
 "There is one respect in which Washing ton is the worst and most dangerous city on lived in all the gay capitals of tho world. One fearful peril here bessts the newcomer more particularly tho member of Congress and that peril is in pstticoats. You sup- pose, naturally, that I refer to women of notorious character, but do not. It ,is not they who make things extra hazardous for the green Congressman. The females he has reason to fear are, so far as appearances are concerned, reputable. There are st this mo- ment 2,000 women in this town, of ostensible responsibility, who get living preying upon business ia blackmail in It's most abominable guise, and the victims they most particularly seek are fresh Copgrsssmen. No sooner does the Representative or Senator arrive here for the first time than he becomes an object of speculative interest to these adventuressss, several of whom are likely to make it their special task to entrap him. However much he may be on his guard, he is never safe They find out hIs ciIcumstancss, his way of living, and what sort of man he is-it deesn't make the slightest difference whether he is married or not-and on these points of information they weave their webs. The first thing necessary in the process of snsnaring the quarry is to make his acquaint- ance"
 II should think the attempt would put him on his guard at once" suggested your correspondent.
 "Why sol These women you must rsmen- Der, have mostly an altogether respectable air; many of them are of most ladylike ex- terior, the majority are decidedly pretty and not few are really beautiful. Has tho Con- gressman any reason to suspect any- thing wrong when handsome young widow, for instance, seemingly lady in deep mourning, calls upon him with re- quest that he will help her with his influence to put through certain bill in which she professss to be inteyestsdi Such thing might occur a score of times in entirely good faith. But a representative from my own State had a visitor of just that description one day. She came three times, walking up to his rooms at his boarding house without sending her card ahead, and was on each oc- caaion received with formal courtesy merely. At the end of fortnight she sent Q lawyer, announcing that Q suit for breach of promise of marriage would be brought immediately unless $1 ,O00 was paid to her. In response to my friends indignant protests the shyster
 
 visits from lady alone in his private apart ment was naturally subject to unfortunate misconstrRction, and that jury would be apt to regard it in the same light; the gentle man might kick him down stairs, 1t was true, but that would merely complicats the case by the addition of an action for assault. In many similar case-for breach of promise is great dodge with these wo- Congrsssmen have permitted them selves to Do robbed in order to avoid scan- dal. True, the chances were that the action against them would never be carried through; but the very report of such thing would damage them for more than the mon- sy's worth with their constituents, and they have preferred to pay. Where the victim is varied; but it h even more readily played in | another shape against a man who has fam- | fly, and is therefore more anxious about his 1 reputation.
 These women preserve all the appearance | of outward responsibility. They are not, in l fact, disreputable women in the ordinary l senss of the term at all. Not few of them l you will find at receptions and other social | cent people. All the skilled adventuresses l in tho country seem to gravitate to Wash- | inRton, owing to the exceptional opportu- mites for their work offered here. The men aseist them as partners in spying upon | intended prey, often to discover se- crets, the keeping of which is worth money. | All public officials. who least of all can sf- | ford scandal, even department clerks, but | more especially ConRressmen, are the chosen | objects of their wiles. It does not matter If | man says he has no money; they reply: | You must get it, and a person in such . | plight will often go further to obtain the | cash, even by begging of his friends. than he would under any other circumstances. Whatever you do, beware of the women you don't know in this wicked capital" l