The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1895-06-21
VIRTUE vs.. VICE.
Battle In the Northern Pineries
Won by the Former.
The Vast Woods No Longer FILLED with
stockades la Which Helpless Women
Are Kept Prisoners aud Chased
by Savage Dogs.

In the northwest forests where but a
few years ago vice most hideouS boldly
paraded itself in the public gaze and
almost To the present lurked but little,
concealed in the neighborhood Of popu-
lous communities. experienced search
fails To find any vestigrs of the deprav-
ity that formerly prevailed. Occasional
discovery of hauntS like those that
once infested the entire northwest re-
gion now raises decidedly indignant
outcry against such monstroSities Of
the past.
And yet. says the Chicago journal. it
was only eight or ten years ago that
every settlement in the pinerieS and the
mining camps of the northwest Wed
one with another in infamous and law
less practices. Citizens of more than
one locality in Michigan Wisconsin.
after pointing out the improvements Of
Il decade ia the appearance of their
thriving city. conclude d tribute to the
moral standing of the place and it, citi-
zens with the statement that score Of
years ago this was by reputation the
most disreputable town in the United
States"
In every numbering town was to be
found from two to d dozen stockades,
dens of infamy where Homanhood WAS
held as cheaply a. in any harem of an
oriental prince. At first these stood on
frequented streets later IN by-yvays Of
the city. finally retreating before the
advance of public decency to the cover
of the woods, half u mile from any
highway. Iither were brought young
girls enticed from Chicago. Minneap-
oils. and even more distant cities.
Every dive had its PROGRESSES in every
4 . 4
of brutal men and hardened women
the youthful victims were inducted into
their lives of shame, never TO be Re
leased until death came. High walls
of sixteen-foot timber placed on end
surrounded the rude huts. At the
barred gateway was kept kennel OF
fierce bulldogs trained to pursue only
the unfortunate women that might at
tempt an almost uselesS-hight.
The disappearance of even the very
walls that sheltered these iniqulties II
something marvellous. Some We're
razed to the ground by woodmeu-
wearied Of the immortality they fo>-
tered. All have vanished except few,
which stand decaying and deserted re-
minders OF the old strongholds- One Of
these II in the pine woods across the
Menominee river from Norway. Mich
IL was one of the most notorious resorts
of the northern region. Within the
stoclade stood a connections two-~tOry
frame house. The stockade itself MAS
of planking. sixteen feet high. with a
strong gate facing the front entrance
of the house, on either side OF which
was kennel of dogs. The escape
of a woman. disguised - man
| in order to deceive the dogs. WAS the
means of bringing To notice the char
acter of the place and its tenants
She had been lured To the place with
assurances of reputable employment
Twice before she had attempted
to escape. eluding the dogs 10y her
change of appearance, but had been
| overtaIen by the keeper of the place
| 4 prominent lawyer in Norway swore
| out a warrant against the slave master
| and secured conviction and a heavy
| fine. A few repetitions of this treat
ment convinced him Of the advisability
| of a change of business. He betook
himself to the copper mining country
! on the shore of Lake Superior and en-
| gagged in Legitimate business. He i
now the posSessor of fortune OF five
| hundred Thousand dollars
| The house he once occupied when en-
| gagged in his soulless business still
| stands. dilapidated and tenanted only
| by the horrible associations, and per
| haps by the suffering spirits of the past
| On the decaying framework of the
stockade still hang the long planks,
separated by wide gaps through which
| NAV be seen the desolation within The
| gate and the kennels are gone. The
| doors have fallen and the thin parti-
tions are broken through. 1t looks
what it really Is, one of the last of its
| kind.
Exaggerated stories occasionally
reach the public of the revival of these
| old haunts but their untruth Il evident
from the character of the inha bitants
that now make up the population. Like
| all sections of the country. there II
more or less immortality permitted in
| the northwest towns, hut the old-time
stockades have disappeared 80. too,
have the gambling resorts, around
which so much lawlessness conferred
The stirring scenes that made these
| localities so interesting from distance
are unknown now, succeeded by the
tameness of business enterprise OBJ
seryance of the Sabbath and of the
civilized customs of Christendom Is not
on the Puritan order, but does not diff
fer from that of any section of the pro-
gressive west. These parts have lost
their well-earned reputation as the
toughest in the United States"
| Naming Children In Germsny-