New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-06-17
IN MURPHY'S DISTRICT.
cadets" WORK OPENLY.
Dissolute Women Walk Brazenly an
ShadOSC of Tammany Hall.

A careful and systematic investigation of the
conditions existing at the present moment in
the police precinct which includes the Assembly
District of Charles F. Murphy, the Tammany
leader reveals the fact that this section of the
city is being run absolutely wide open. WITHIN
a block Of Tammany Hail. in three directions
number Of Raines Law hotels are engaged IN d
business resembling that which made the old
Red Light District" notorious. and the women
in this section are working under the direct SUI
pervision of several notorious cadets.
This investigation was made by a Tribune re-
porter In company with Travers H. Whitney,
assistant secretary of the Citizens Union and
as a resident of the district, connected with the
work of the Peoples Institute Glass A Add
tional information concerning the situation IN
this district was obtained from Frederick "A.
King, a resident Of the University settlement
formerly a probation officer. Other representa-
tives of various social workers IN the oistrlcts
assisted in gathering evidence.
The XVIIIth Assembly District and the Twen-
ty-second-st precinct end at Fourteenth-st
Several nights of observation showed that the
end of Charles f. Murphy's home district was
also the southern boundary of street walking.
Women who ventured south into Captain NC
Dermotts precinct were promptly arrested. Few
ventured. Unless accompanied by escorts they
stopped at Fourteenth-st. and turned back
Three Ra1neS law notes. tWO III ING biONh ia
Third-ave, between Fourteenth and Fifteenth
SITS, and ono in Irving Place. are the bases of
operations of the women and their escorts.
Early in the evening the women come out of
these hotels and accompanied by a sprinkling
of escorts, cross FOurteenth-st. and go into the
back rooms of several hotels and concert halls
near Tammany Hall. The men leave them here
and go back and get more. Last night. when
the place visited by a Tribune reporter,
with Mr.. Whitney. fifty women were sit
ting at separate tables Outside the door were
men of tho cadet" type. Trips to nearby places
showed similar scenes. In half block one
side of the street there were more than two
hundred women. and at least a score of men
watching the women. sometimes holding whis-
pered conversations with them and in various
ways indicating their proprietorship.
Among these women Mr.. Whitney pointed out
a number whom he recognized as nightly
patrolling the streets, After the coming Of the
women the concert hall gradually filed up. The
cadets waited in groups outside.
Two of the hotels referred to were recently
indicated by Mr.. King being wide open, and
district rumor declares that under protective
tariff they making $1,000 week Before
the doors of each OF these hotels a number of
cadets were seen.
The cadets steadily took women TO the halls.
and frequently returned with those who had been
evening at least three hundred girls passed in
and out OF these halls under the watchfuI eyes
OF the cadets. Mr.. Whitney pointed out a num-
Der OF women walking 10 the corner where Mr..
Murphy's district ends and then turning back.
only when escorted by the cadets or other men
did they venture across the dead line" Above
this limo the women were 10 be seen in unusual
numbers. recalling the Bowery in the old days.
The fact that the police precinct tallying
actly In its southern boundary with the district
Of the Tammany leader should be wide open is
significant But. apparent as the street scenes
laVefa he at riot
who live near the Raines law hotels which are
the rendezvous OF the women declare that they
afraid 10 raise their windows because of the
scenes that the open windows reveal. showing
that the situation that existed on the East Side
IN the days when Captain Herlihy was at the
Eldridge-st. station. and the tenement houses
were overriden with disorderly characters, again
obtains
The situation south OF Fourteenth-st fur
nishes an interesting contrast. Captain CAL
lagher. who rules in Charles +. Murphy's home
district has evidently received the proper Zip"
Captain McDerInott. In Fifth-st. acting. IT is
declared. under specific orders from Commits
sioner McAdoo has closed his district tight
All the present scenes of Tammany purity eX-
ist directly beneath the shadow of Tammany
Hall. From it's windows Mr. Murphy might.
II he chose. see the whole proceedings. In dis
cussing the situation, Mr.. Whitney, who lives
near by said:
have been watching the conditions here for some
WgsS I've as here Sg 0h eass the
cortns Of the women from the hotels TO the resorts
because If they venture south without escort they
promptly arrested They find men there The
development Of the escort is the result OF the
geographical coutiguty OF open district and
closed one but he Is old cadet acquaintance
every time. Only last night noticed one OF these
approach woman in Irving Place, In front OF
a resort there, and say:
There isn't any man yet; you viii have to walt"
And subsequently saw her meet one of the cadet
crowd. who escorted her to Of the
south side Of FOurteenth-st. and left her.
Nightly / have seen the crowds going 20 and from
the hotels. ! have been able 10 recognize some OF
the women and a considerable number OF the
This section has become q Veritahle centre. These
back rooms and concert halls thronged with
women every night. Fifty and even hundred in
room. the largest IS not infrequent. The
thing is done fairly quietly but the district Is be
coming overrun with the women, and the people Of
the district beginning TO realize Ii. began my
observation in earnest about the time Mr.. Murphy
declared that his fight against McCarreu
purely moral grounds he did In official utter
ance. The sincerity of that utterance will be- ap-
parent any who will take the trouble
come into Mr. Murphy's own district and what
he must see and therefore must permit.
From Mr. Whitney from residents of the dis
trict and from the observation of the reporter
It was absolutely unquestiOnable that In the
Tammany leaders own district. in the Red
Light" district in the regime OF Martin Engel,
the infamous cadet" system is IN vogue.