The Sunday globe., 1901-05-19
The small Hotel and drass Widow.

Inc murder OF the young Census OF
fee clerk brings to the surface a condi.
tion of affairs in the alleged small hotels
of this city unknown and imcomprehensi
BILE to the ordinary citizen. There isno
greater hot bed of immortality than these
establishments, which exist in nearly
every block in the central part of the
city. In many instances they are in.
habited by women, most Of whom may
be denominated in that uncertain class,
grass widows, or some other kind OF
widows, whose title does not come from
the grave of the deceased husband.
! Their attraction comes from the fact that
while they take on the appearance OF
seeming resemblance of respectablity, a
freedom or license is allowed in them
which would not be tolerated in repu.
table boarding house or hotel of stand
ing.
The majority OF them have a "recep-
tion room or parlor, which for all prac-
tical purposes ght be discarded, as the
'ladies' receive their gentlemen friends
in their rooms.
An experienced detective stated to a
reporter of The Globe recently, in dis.
cussing these places, that they had been
the pitfall of many young men and
women strangers in the city, who came
here to seek Government employment.
After securing employment these young
people make the acquaintance of the
people in the offices where employed,
and unfortunately too often the most un-
desirable of their fellow workers are the
one Chat seem to take the welfare of the
embryo servant of Uncle Sam most to
heart. 1t is an easy step to induce the
young woman to leave the humdrum of a
respectable boarding house to come to
a "hOtel where there are all convent
ences and 80 much enjoyment, If the
young woman has not been we'll steeled
at home to temptation, it does not take
long to work her downfall, when she
sees women, elderly many of them, lack
ing in personal attractiveness, toileted in
the richest OF garments, and resplendent
in jewels, who earn no more than she
does.
1t is impossible for the police to eradi-
cate these pest holes, worse by hun
dredfold than the notorious brothel,
which can hold out no enchantment.
A short time since rhe Globe had oc-
casion to call at one of these so.called
hotels with high.sounding name in the
neighborhood Of Franklin Square, to see
a woman who was mixed up in q divorce
case. The place had the regulation ap-
pearance of reputable hostelry on a
small scale. There was the little office,
the youthful clerk with an insipid smile,
and the reception room. Everything
bore out as far as appearance was con-
cerned what the place claimed to be--a
reputable abode for people of moderate
means. The card was sent by darky
to the Gladys" room. The message
was returned for the gentleman 'to come
up" With some timidity we followed
the dusky boy to the 'lady's s" door, In
response to knock a female voice
chirped "Come in. The door opened,
and there the subject of the quest was
reclining in an abandon position upon a
couch, clothed in that comfortable if not
conventional gown for receptions, a
loose-ftting gown, generally known as
a "Mother Hubbard" The woman was
a blonde of the home e-made fashion; not
fair but fat and forty. She holds a re.
munerative position in one Of the Gov
eminent Offices by the grace Of her be-
witching ways. She is always gowned
in the extreme of fashion, and does not
attempt to hide her real life, which she
faunts in the face of the worthy and
reputable women who, through force of
circumstances, are compelled each day to
work with her,
A rounder informed the reporter that
the "hotel" was pretty loose joint, and
everything went in it as long as the bills
were met at the end of the month
A divorce lawyer stated that the ma
jority of the cases in which he appeared
had one or more characters from these
"hotels."
The Globe has no desire to appeVr in
the light of woman hunter, but for
common decency, if no other reason, let
the Secretaries in the Cabinet of Presi-
dent Mckinley sift from among that
great army of women employed in the
Government service these disreputable
grass widows who too often hold up
to scorn and ignominy the worthy fe-
male employees of the department
They are as well known in the de-
partments as the signs on the doors, and
their influence is in the mouth of every
man and woman in the offices in which
they are employed. 1t is about time for
the arch civil service reformers to drop
the subject in the abstract and take il up
on basis Of decency, making the life of
the deserving, self sacrificing woman in
the Government service one at least rot
of disgust, but pleasure to strive to
edncate the little ones dependent upon
her, or make the last days Of an aged
parent comfortable and serene.
The reformer, civil service or other
wise, is generally gentleman with eye
glasses that see the knat on the back of
his neighbors and misses the running
sore which confronts him.
In subsequent issues The Globe will
have more to say of this subject, and If
the meaus can not be found to eradicate
this evil some Of the grass widows and
their male companions will find the
summer days exceedingly hot,
Philantropists, with other peoples
money to burn, are threatening to put
up temperance bars and moral 'joints"
around about the New York Tender
loin, so that When Reuben Comes to
Town" in quest of his periodical stiff