Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-05-31
THE ROAD TO RUIN.
Shares and Pitfalls that Enguif
Unwary Boys and Girls.
THE VICTIMS OF CHINAMEN.
Black Sheep Among the Church Members,
Deacons and Elders-Evils of the
Ball Room. Matnees and Places
of Unrestrained Merriment.
copyright 1891. All rights reserved
PITFALLS FOR BOYS.


PITFALLS FOE BOYS.
| For the Gazette.
NEW YORK, May 26-"One who has
never given special attention to the work
of our society can have no idea of the dan
| gers to which childhood and youth are con-
| stantly exposed i'll every large city, said
Mr.. Gerry of the New York society for the
| prevention Of cruelty to children.
| There are myriads of human vultureS. y
he continued, who prowl about the streets.
both by day and by night, in search of
| childish victims for their lust or avarlce
| or for the qualification of some erotic mono
| mania. Within few Years past we have
had in New York an unusually large num-
Der Of the last named class. Little girls of
from twelve TO sixteen have been attacked
| on the streets by men with a mania for
| kissing, men with mania for pinching,
men with mania for hugging, men with a
mania for cutting off the dependent plaits
| OF the little ones hair, and men with Il
| mania for throwing ink unon their dresses
Mothers in i large city can only feel
| thoroughly at ease concerning their children
| when they are under their immediate per
sonal observation, for if sent 10 school or
allowed to go upon the streets for any other
purpose unattended by Il proper guardian
they are almost certain to De accOSted by
someone who will teach them something
evil ii not lead them into actual vice. II
they are the children of parents having the
general reputation Of possessing wealth,
they are in great danger OF icing kidnapped
ana held for ransom.
TO kidnap even a large child of twelve
or thirteen years Is usually a very easy
matter. \ pleasant, insinuating manner
few bon bons, pretty toy, the promise Of
4 carriage ride and the thing is done. Still
there has not been much kidnapping in New
York since 4 detective Shot man dead IN
the Fifty-seventh street station for at
tempting that game a few years ago.
1t really seems as though vice We're as
rampant at the present time as she ever
was III the days of Sodom and Gomorrah,
and the hideouS monster seems TO invade
even places which one would think sacred
from her approach. AS a striking illustra-
ton OF this and of how dangerous it is for
mothers to trust their daughters alone even
IL the places where of all others they would
seem safest, l may say that not long since
our society found a case where a young girl
OF sixteen, having been permitted by her
parents 20 teach a class of children in the
Sunday-school of a well-known church, had
been led astray by an elderly male teacher,
who persuaded her to relinquiSh her en-
plOyment in a dry goods store and pass hes
days in a den on Rivington street return
ing nome at night to her parents, who be-
lieved that the period of her absence had
been devoted to honest toll. Every Sunday
both she and her betrayer. IA man of the
highest responsibility and standing in the
church went to Sunday-schOOl and IN
structed their respective classes.
Il might relate many similar cases of
men OF high standing in society and the
church whose principal diversion it is to
prey upon young girls. a notable instance
was that of Edward Underhill, middle
aged man who lived with his wife and
family in HOboken, where he was highly
respected as the deacon of church For a
long time this wretch mingled licentiouS-
ness and mock piety without discovery but
at length. as he was endeavoring to decoy a
girl of fourteen into a den on Twelfth
street, he was arrested. We prosecuted
him and he was sent to state prison for five
years.
A similar case was that of one Abra-
hams. He was seen walking on the street
with very young girl by one of our Off
GERS who followed him to a resort on Third
avenue, into which he was about to take
the girl when the officer arrested him. His
would-be victim was not yet fourteen years
of age and the daughter of wealthy ana
prominent parents.
How many men like Underhill and the |
Sunday school teacher have mentioned are |
NUMBERED AMONG OUR CHURCH MEMBERS, |
deacons and elders God only knows. You |
can't count the stones at the bottom of a |
well
But it is not only the male sex that |
mGthers have TO dread as dangerous to |
their young daughters. Woman's inhu- |
mainly to woman IS proverbial, and there |
are many women the business of whose life
it is to lead young girls astray They accos6 !
them OF the street and by promises Of fine |
clothes and an easy life have little trouble
in keeping their own and other denS full of |
young womanhood.
I'm many of these denS the grossest cruel
ties and !nd:gnitieS are practiced at times
upon the wretched inmates by their pro-
prietreSses. From place of this kind on
street we removed girl,who had
been enticed into 1t when she had lost her |
way in the streets under the pretense of af-
fOrding her shelter until she could be re-
stored to her home. and who had been kept |
a close prisoner for several weeks despite
several determined efforts to escape. which
always resulted IN her being recaptured,
aiken back, before she had gotten far from |
he house, and horribly beaten. The pro-
DIietress of this place--a giantess in size
md strength-found her principal pleasure
n stripping one or two OF the inmates stark |
naked and carrying them in that condition
nto the back yard, where she held them
lnder the hydrant and let ice cold water
'uu on them, and this on nights when the
thermometer was down to zero.
a somewhat similar case was brought
o orr notice by the escape OF a girl of thir-
cen from an infamous resort on Delaney |
street, who reported that her sister. two
ears older, was still detained there. These
itJle girls had been brought here By their
parents, and had foolishly been permitted
o walk out by themselves to see the city.
''hey wandered into dime museum on the |
Sowery where they We're accosted by a |
pleasant. motherly woman, who |
indy offered to show them the sights. |
She tooh them TO her den, stripped them of |
heir clothing, forced them TO don tights |
nd short skirts and compelled them to
cad lie of iufamy. | tell you, Mercy |
lerfickI3 story in N'ilkie Collins novel of |
he 'Gaw Aiagdalen has innumerable coun-
erparis right here in New York. and the
ives TO which girls are decoyed. and then
eaten, held prisoners and guarded by |
Ilocd h3';nds, are by no means confined TO |
he logging district, Of Wisconsin.
There $ no class O. men more dangerous
o ltt.e girls and young women than the
SHOW tends VINO wrestle with Mclean
Its and coils in the Chinese laundries. /
Cninaman woUld sell his very soul TO /.
btain possession of q Caucasian girl Hor- :
IDLY repulsive as these Mone olians are to | l
very Caucasian of well-balanced mind, |
ct, Incredibly as it may seem, there are | I
n immense number OF young women for | /;
7hom these hiGeous creatures have that | :
lngular. morbid attraction which the dis | l
listing freaks of nature that one sees il | {
ne dime museums and side shows possess |
Dr. so many. II is a remarkable fact that | {
} many women deformity is more attract | !
70 that pprfaf.rinD and pap,llSiy-a |