The Anaconda standard., 1896-03-06
FOR FALLEN WOMEN
A Pleasant Home for Them Will Be
Established in Butte.
TRUSTEE ELECTION TO-DAY
Evangelist Morton Describes the
Work of the Florence Crittenton
Missions-1h he Local Subscrib-
ers to Meet 4 his Afternoon.

A meeting of all of the subscribers to
the fund of the establishment of a
Florence Crittenton Rescue home in
Butte and all who are interested In the
work will be held at the Auditorium
at 2:30 O'Clock this afternoon, at which
time the organization will be perfected
and trustees elected. The incorpora-
tion papers have already been pre-
pared and they will be filed as soon as
the trustees are elected. The institution
will be known as the Florence Critten-
ton Rescue Home and Mission.
1T is the intention" said Evangelist
Morton yesterday afternoon. ito start
out simply with a home and to even
tually make IL bo.h a home and mis-
sion. Until the mission is established
services will be held at stated times
for the benefit of the inmates The
home will be in charge of a matron
who will be under the direction of the
board of trustees, and when the mis-
sion Is started there will also have to
be a superintendent. The home will
be managed entirely by Butte people.
1t Will be a state institution, however.
and its doors will be open TO erring
women from any place in Montana,
and such being the case ii will be sup
ported by contributions not from Butte
alone but from all over the state 1t
will be strictly non-sectarian and will
be open to all ages, nationalities and
religions. No fallen woman who wants
to do right will be refused admittance.
Ut will not be in any sense a poor
house, however, but will be strictly a
nome for women who are seeking the
path of virtue from which they have
wandered. The inmates of all of the
Florence homes are always treated
with the greatest kindness and are al
lowed to stay as long as they want
TO. When they are in a proper condi-
ton to leave employment is secured for
them.
1--WE have visited a great many of the
fallen women in Butte. A number of
them talked of being sick of the life
they are leading and told us that IL any
way of escape was opened up they
would take advantage of it, One of the
greatest difficulties in the way of their
reformation is the lovers of these wo-
men, who beat them and treat them
like dogs and yet compel them TO sup
port them. -
"A very small percentage of the fall
len women of the country are in their
business because they like It, Mother
Prfnde, who has been in charge of the
Mother Florence Crtttenton mission in
Bleecker street. New York, for the last
Is years. ever since II was started.
who is prostitute through choice. We
estimate that there are 232, 900 fallen
women In the United States and that
their average life is five years. There
are about $1,000 of them in New York
and the same number in Chicago and
about half as many in San Francisco.
There are $4,000 fallen women in the
city of London alone.
I'VE heard all along the line before
we got here" continued MIR. Morton,
THAT we would see some very tough
sights when we got to Butte, but TAX
ing all OF the surrounding circum-
stances into consideration think Butte
Is very good town. Sin has the same
color everywhere to a man of God. The
old saying that the world is getting
better every day is not true from Gods
standpoint. The Christians OF the world
are improving but the other people are
learning to cover UP their sins. Sin is
becoming refined and refined sin is the
concentrated essence of iniquity."
Mr.. Morton will visit the business
men and citizens during the next few
days and exchange ideas with them in
regard to the home. The Butte home
will be the 2Sth that has been estab-
lished through the instrumentaIity of
Mr.. Crittenton.
The Florence Crittenton mission Of
New York has received and provided
vi aDVut lNtVOV SlTlS since III nrSt ODen-
ed Its doors in 1883 at an annual aver
age cost of about 10000 Besides
these girls and women who have been
lodged and fed and clothed and cared
for otherwise, there has been practi-
cal help given to those who could not
be taken into the mission for lack of
space.
Mr. Crittenton estimates that about
5000 girls and women who are alive
ana wen to-day, can truthfully saw
that they owe their redemption from a
life of sin and shame to the efforts OF
the Florence mission OF New York
alone.
1t is impossible, however. to fully es-
Innate the extent of the good that is
peing accomplished by these missions.
Mr.. Crittenton believes that God has
especially appointed him for the work.
ana with that faith immovable in his
head't ne continues to labor and nav
out the earnings of his business to save
these poor creatures from destruction
In this world and the world to come