The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-12-24
VICTIM Of HURLEY DENS |
SCENE In A MOST SHOCK
ING TRAGEDY
INDIANA GIRLS SAD FATE
Travelling Alone, She Is Lured to
Den of Shame and Ends
Her Life in the
River.


Hurley, Wis, ended here yesterday, when
the body Of Honora Benton, a young
! woman of Leesvi1le, Ind, was quietly
! buried. Miss Benton, who was a country
girl. was to have been married TO a
! young woman living in Portland, Ind,
two weeks ago. She left her home on
Dec. to join her future husband IN
| Portland. But she never reached the In
| diana town
| Thursday her dead body was found in
| the river near Hurley. Wis, IN the neigh
| borhOOd Of one &C The dives common III
| the lumber woods OF Northern Wisconsin
and Michigan. She had escaped from
| slavery by death.
| young man whom Miss Berton met
on the train on her way to Portlond
! was the cause of her ruin and death.
Miss Benton, who had never travelled be-
! fore, asked the young man to tell her
where she should change cars. He prom
ised to see her safely to her destination,
| and at the supposed transfer point he
procured her some lunch and a cup of
coffee. She drank the coffee and knew
no more until she came to in a Chicago
| depot
Her ruin in Chicago and imprisonment
in the den in Hurley followed. She sue
ceeded in getting two letters to her rela-
tives, and every effort was being made
to rescue her, but she deSpaired of
escape from the life into which she had
been betrayed and committed suicide
by drowning at the first opportunity
The Chicago detective force is trying to
capture the young man, who is thought
to be professional procurer for the
Hurley dens.
Two days after Miss Benton's disap.
pearance her lover in Portland received
| a letter from her, written from Chicago.
| The letter said that when Miss Benton
aWoke from the sleep induced by the
drug the young man told her that the
coffee had made him sleepy also, and
that both had been carried past Portland
to Chicago Tle told her how sorry he
was, and suggested that he would take
her to a good hotel, where she could stay
until morning, as there was 10 train
back to Portland that night. She could
go back in the morning, he told her. Still
trusting him, Miss benton allowed him
to take her to a "hotel," which was de-
ScIibed as being somewhere on Clark
street. There the young man accom-
plished her ruin
Finding scrap of paper in the dresser,
Miss Benton succeeded the next day
in writing a letter in the absence of the
woman who was placed to guard her,
telling her lover of all that had hap
pened and ending with this appeal:
DO save me from this man. l thought
he was a gentleman. He says now 1 am
married to him ard that tomorrow he
is going to take me to town in Wis
coHsin called Hurley. He tells the peo-
pie here that am his wife There is a
policeman who comes here. 1 told him,
and he laughed and said I would feel
all right in a few days. The woman
who waits on me says I am crazy, hut
it is enough to make any one mad, what
this man has done to me. This place
is on Clark street. They do and say
such nasty things here. Dear, dear Jess,
do save me! Your unfortunate
-"Honora"
The lover responded to the plea of his
unfortunate fiancee. He wrote to the
only relative he had in Chicago, a work
ingman of the name CT Murphy, inclos-
ing the letter and implorirg him to res
cue the girl.
TRIES TO SAVE SWEETHEART.
Being ignorant of Chicago, he thought
that the rescue could be easily accom-
plished. He also wrote to Miss Bentons
uncle in Leesville, with whom she had
made her home since the death of her
parents in early girhood, telling him Of
what had befallen his niece. This uncle
is poor, and did not have means to make
an active search.
Murphy did all he could to find the
girl. Capt Colleran was notified, and
detective was detailed on the case. Muir
ply went to several dives on South Clark
street in company with the detective,
but in the third dive they visited the pro-
prietor told him that had heard they
were coming and Murphy gave up the
Search in that quarter, thinking that all
the keepers had been notified. Reference
to the postmark on the envelope showed
that the letter had been mailed from
Lincoln park substation, and an una
vailing search was made along North
Clark street.
Murphy finally telegraphed to the sher-
if at Hurley, giving Miss Benton's de-
scription and telling him that she mad
probably been taken there by pro-
curer. The sheriff was asked to answer
at Murphy's expense, but he failed 20
answer the telegram. Two days later
second telegram was sent to the sher-
iff
The search dragged along in Chicago
while Miss Benton was being subjected
to all the horrors of the life in the dens
hidden in IL lumber woods. Again the
unfortunate woman tried to reach her
relatives by letter This time she wrote
to the uncle In Leesville, telling him
where she was and Of the life which she
was forced to live.
SAID SHE WOULD DROWN HER
SELF.
She said that she thought she saw
possibility Of escape to the river, and If
she succeeded in getting away she would
drown herSef. EVl1ently Sne thought
her lover had forsal1en her in her ex-
tremity, and despaired both of escape and
of happiness in the future.
Miss Benton's uncle lest no time IN
going to Hurley. He found the den in
which his niece had been held, in the
woods several miles from the town, but
she was reported as missing by the pro-
prietor The river was dragged, and
the body of Miss Benton was found. The
Hurley authorities Gid nothing. The
body was prepared for burial on order
of the uncle and shipped to Chicago fof
| i-terment Miss Benton was within
two months of being twenty one years of
| age when she ended her life. She was
| to have inherited $1,000 upon her twenty
! first birthday.
Chicago is the headquarters for the
men and women who ply the vocation
! of furnishing women for the dives. Many
are secured through innocent advertise
ments for mattresses end chambermaids,
| and do not know Of the trap into which
they have fallen until they find them
| selves prisoners and slaves in some low
dive in the region Of Hurley, Marinette,
Pembina, Iron Mountain and other towns
| in the lumber and iron regions of the