The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-07-19

In her career she Ii hardly human. Such
women are very hard for US to deal with.
They do not only treat you ugly, but they
try to turn the inmates against you. We
make a special EFFORT TO recover fallen
women. and we are forced into contact
with many such characters. Ny first ex-
perience i'm this line Of work was fully
discouraging as that OF entering the first
saloon The women jeered at me and the
men laughed and toked so insultingly that
my face was red with shame. But my guide
this time was an s older err and nd more expert
ty of turning all their jibes into lessons.
She pursued her praying and singing and
talking with calm indifference to the words
of those who scoffed.
IT think that degraded sister feels her
immoral life more when she comes In con-
tact with fresh innocence. for on that first
night. after gaining courage from my
companions steady devotion to duty, ap-
preached one young woman and asked tim
:" Don't you want to lead better lifey
.'She showed my hand away and replied:
Don't touch me, Little Innocence; I'm
not worthy of il. You're good and I'm not
Her words touched me more than any
thing else and 1 felt that there was some
chance for good work when the most de-
graded would recognize the difference be-
TWEEN innocence and impurity. OF course
since then / have had wide experience In
SUM work. and I know that my innocent
conclusion then has been confirmed a dozen
times over. / am still young-and some say
pretty-but / am old in this work, and be-
leve that 1t is a grand duty to perform"
There is no place too low and vile for the
"slum sisters" to avoid, and their expert
ence enables them sometimes to reach a
class of criminals that even the police and
detectives fail to touch An old officer a
woman not yet past thirty-five, thus de-
scribes some of her experiences with GRIM
inal classes:
Yes we could collect a great deal of evil
dence against criminals for the police If
we wanted to, but We are not doing police
and fallen TO uplift them and not to bring
them to jail. They trust US and 1t would
be q crime TO betray their condolences Our
uniform is sign that what is confided to
us in secret shall never go any further
therefore, we are not unfrequently the
confessors of criminals who. unable long
er to keep the story off their. crimes to
themselves. pour forth all they know /
have had some terrible confessions told to
me-confessions that would send some men
and women to jail for life IL revealed in a
court room. But what is the use? They
would never have confessed to me if they
had not been truly repenant and why
should we punish a man or woman for
that? 1T is better to encourage them to
lead better life and that is our duty.
CONFESSIONS OF CRIME.
Il had one man tell me Of a murder that
he had committed when young person. II
| had haunted him up to the time of his
death, and he died easier after the story
| had been told to human ears AS the Incl
dent had long since been forgotten and mr.
good could have been done by revealing
the secret L promised the man upon his
death bed never to tell another soul. /
never have. The true story of that crime
is known TO no one to-day but me.
We have helped society. however. in
ways that 1t least suspects. One case at
least, In my own experience is worth re-
peatlng one dark. wet night in midwinter.
after shlvering in the cold streets for an
hour, trying to sell papers, / entered one of
the saloons to pray and exhort with some
poor sinners. A dozen men were scattered
around the old dingy saloon smoking.
passed from one to another talking and
pleading. While I was talking with one
half-drunken man I heard several voices
| conVersing in whispers behind me- While
| talking TO my companion could not helm
| from listening TO the words of those he
hind. Ihree men were gathered around a
| table, and they were Matching the plot of
a great robbery. Two of them soon
learned. We're professional burglars. while
the third, young man, was new appar-
| emily. at the business. 1t seemed that
| he held some position in bank and thev
| were trying to screw his courage up to the
| point where he would promise to let them
| into the building some night
They finally got him to promise but
| when they separated for the evening I fol-
| lowed the young man and warned him of
| his danger. told him that knew ali about
| the plot and ne broke down completely.
| and begged me to save him from ruin
readily gave him such promise and then
| talked and prayed with him for hours
| Well, he not only went back on the would
/ be thieves but he tItrned abruptly from his
| evil ways and became an upright man.
| That is a concrete example of what we
i sometimes do toward society. We saved a
great bank from being robbed but more
/ than that, we saved a young man from
| utter ruin.
"Of course there are some cases where
II Is nara for a woman to decide what Is
| best TO DO When you find a number of
professional thieves planning a midnight
attack Upon helpless old man it is dam
gerous work TO face them and tell them
that you know. their intentions On the
other hand to have them arrested means
| that you embtter them against all slum
sisters. | have tried both expedients.
an opium joint and told them plainly that
j had heard all of their plot. Then talked
| earnestly with them about the errors of
/ their way. and tried to show them that it
was better to live a good. pure life. They
seemed dumfounded at frst, but then I
saw a wicked CLEAN in the eyes of one.
| and trembled. II was the first time in all
| my work that | showed fear. ! felt that
! my life was worth but little. / moved OUT
into the open glare of the light but as
left the building saw the shadow OF some
| one following me- knew then that my
life must pay the penalty Of my disclosure
! But before-the fatal blow could be struck
| hand stayed the dagger and heard the
| other criminal mutter savagely at the
would-be murderer just tainted:
/
when l recovered / was alone i'm the
| street. but unhurt. The general impression
among the criminal classes that the Stun
sisters never reveal their secrets had
| saved me. But the next time took the OPP
| posite method of dealing with a pair OF
| criminals whose intention l had learned
| from another. ! brought in the police and
| had them arrested. When in prison / visit
ed them often. and tried to persuade them
| to lead better life. But they would not
| listen to me. All that 1 could say or do
MADE no impression upon them. All they
could reply was 'Ye sent us here, an
| that's enough
| Yes. 1t was enough l had lost complete
| sway over them. They never trusted me
| afterward. and doubt If they would trust
| 'slum sister of the army to-day If thew
are alive. You can judge for yourself which
| method was the best-to have the criminals
| arrested and punished. and lose all faith in
| you, or let them escape with a warning
| but with feeling that we never 'squeal.' y
/ WOULD NOT HEAR HER SING
! An Austrian Prima Donna ROycOtted