The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-03-11
NEGROES'WHITESLAVE WOMEN
TWO SAID TO HAVE BEEN MUIR
DERED AND BUMED As BLACKS.
The Barred Prisons OF the Tenderioin and
COrnelIa street ElelIins Up More
I1ist Dries Little by LttIe-AdveFtiSes
ments for SerVGnts rs q Lure.

- bANNtS " w ~ '"
District Attorney Jerome has some evil
dence on which to base the belief that two
white women were murdered less than two
years ago in a diSorderly house in the
Tenderloin which a negro kept and in which
white women were held prisoners. II the
information in Mr.. Jerome's possession is
correct these women we're beaten to death
and their bodies we're buried In a negro
cemetery after false death certificates had
been issued. These women we're not killed
In the houses run by Bob Spriggs, the negro
who was indicted on Friday for abduction,
assault and keeping a d~isorderly house,
It was said at the District Attorneys Office
yesterday that the women were murdered,
according to the information obtained by
the District Attorney, in a house which
was run by a person now under arrest or
about to be arrested
This is one feature Of the investigation
by Mr.. Jerome Of disorderly houses in which
white women were detained after prac-
tically having been abducted and held by
the negro proprietors. Other arrests are
to be made. The house kept by Sallie
Bennett, within four doors OF the Tender
loin station, was raided on Friday night.
There is no contention made by the District
Attorney that the police were in league
with the proprietors of these houses, but
it is known that policemen who were
stationed in front Of them were paid money
This was not alone in the Tenderloin, but
in at least one other precinct.
The revelations were in no way brought
out through the developments in the
Claiche case of the relations OF Tenderloin
women with members of the vice squad
The investigation has been going on since
last November, but no move was made
until the District Attorney felt sure that
there was enough evidence against Spr1ggs
and the Bennett woman. The investiga-
ton is still going on, and it was said yester-
day that If a story which was brought TO
the office yesterday can be corroborated
there will be disclosures that will throw
into the. shade the history of the investiga-
ton Of the Red Light district.
It was through a Tenderloin missionary
that the District Attorneys office came to
take UP the investigation Of the disorderly
houses run by negroes. This woman,
whose name for obvious reasons is not
disclosed, was walking through West
Thirty-frst street early in November when
q girl was thrown out of a house. She was
a thin, frail ~wreck-too i'll to bs OF any use.
The house was kept by the Bennett woman,
who ia a negress. The girl had few clothes
and she was so sick that the missionary
sent her to Bellevue Hospital. Since then
she has recovered, and she is now in the
country being cared for. When she began
to get well she told the missionary what
she had gone through. A little iIYestiga-
tion bore out her story.
Her sister was in the house at the same
time. They had been lured there at diff
fereut times and neither knew that the
other was in the house until they met there.
When the girl was thrown out Of the house
here her sister begged to be allowed to
go and take care of her, but was prevented.
The missionary took the story to the
District Attorneys Office and told it. to
John A. Henneberry, Mr.. Jerome's chief
clerk. 1t was of such a nature that MIR.
Jerome Immediately took steps to get to
detectives were employed and Roundsman
Berry and Detective Flood OF the District
Attorneys office were put to work. Gradu-
ally they began to get infor nation that
confirmed the girls story and added to 1t.
Then something happened that helped
along the investigation. The police on
their wi hook and unawar OF what the
District Attorney was doing raided the
house kept by the Bennett woman, which
was then in West Thirty-frst street. Seven
white women we're taken prisoners and
two Of them we're held for the Grand Jury.
They we're indicted, and then one OF them,
haJtl0 warren, UDlu ileT blOIys ~ "db
another link in the chain OF evidence; Upon
what had been learned from the girl picked
up by the missionary and Hattie Warren
il wal decided to keep a close watch on
Spriggs and the Bennett Woman.
Bob Spriggs's father was a disorderly
house keeper before Inn and he has been
In thu business for eleven years. Spriggs's
clothes have been the envy OF Seventh ave-
nue. and his diamonds outshone anything in
the district. He was one OF the leaders OF
the colored Democracy and his political n
police influence made him a man to be feared.
Spriggs had two houses in Cornella street.
He has a home in Bayonne and a white wife.
Whenever there was trouble brewing for
him he stayed in Bayonne. In each OF the
Cornelia street houses he kept white women.
Both Of these houses were kept locked
and barred. The window sashes were nailed
down. The shutters were padlooked. 1t
h asserted that only once did a woman
ever escape from them. That was when a
girl by some chance got hold of an icepick
and pried open the basement door. She
was scantily dressed and went to a corner
saloon. She stayed there part OF the day,
when q messenger came from Spriggs and
told her that Spriggs would give her money
and clothes, and on his promises and In fear
Of his threats as to what would happen to
her II she disobeyed she returned to the
house. , &,
One woman held in his house was allowed
10 40 outside only three times in four years.
Then she was accompanied by q representa-
tive OF SDrlRgS, VINO was Calico Il uusCy'
She has the same dress that she wore when
she was lured to the house four years ago
and in all that time Spriggs has given her
only "a. This woman will be a witness egainst
Spriggs.
found how the white women were taken to
these houses. In some instances they an
swered advertisements Offering employ
ment. In other cases women who were in
straitened circumstances met white women
In the streets and were invited into a black
and tan saloon for a drink or two in the back
room. There would be one or two drinks
and then the stranger would wake up in
one of these houses. In each instance her
clothes were taken away and she was kept
prisoner.
There was always one or two negroes
around the house who were ready to beat
the women into subsection. According to
the stories told by several women witnesses
who nave been examined by Assistant
District Attorneys Caravan and Murphy,
Spriggs used to strike and kick the women,
and once he punched one woman 30 hard
that he knocked out four OF her teeth.
Then came the information about the
tu,o woman having been killed, 1t ia