Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1910-01-27
WHITE SLAVERY
IN ROCK ISLAND?
Authorities Inquiring Into Case
of the Collins and Helm
Girls.
BURGY MAINTAINS A DEN
Said to Have Induced Young Men to
Take Companions to His Place
on Market Square.

Charles Burgy, whose arrest for as
sault on two young girls was told of
in last evenings Argus, is believed by
the authorities TO be what is known in
the underworld as cadet" a vulture
who traffics in young women, leading
them into the meshes of immortality by
bringing them into association with
fallen women.
Burgy is in Jail in default of $4,000
bond. under which he was held to the
grand jury by Justice ]. II. Cleland on
information furnished by H. NJ. Schri-
yer, the assistant states attorney. The
charge he will have to answer to is
assault with intent to commit rape.
Seeking Girls Companions.
Just now the authorities are seeking
out the two young men who brought
the girls, Nellie Collins and Viola Helm.
TO the room maintained by Burgy at
223 IS Seventeenth street They are
known, but they have been missing
from their familiar haunts since the
exposure following the arrest of the
two girls last Monday. Both of the
latter were declared delinquents in
the county court and ordered commit
ted to the Geneva school. The parents
of the Helm girl pleaded that their
daughter be given another chance to
reform, and on their promise to be
more watChful of her future conduct !
she was allowed to go home with them. /
They reside in South Rock Island The /
Collins girl was taken to Geneva yes
terday by Miss Dina Ramser, proba- /
ton officer of the county court
Young Men Scared Away.
The missing young men are said to .
have been employed in Moline. The /
story that the police get is that they
knew Burgy and that he rented out /
his room to them. After they had oC-
cupied it for time Sunday night, he
returned and warned them that the
police were aware of their presence
there with the girls and he advised
them to get away. They took his ad
vice with the understanding that the
girls were to remain in the room until
morning, and to meet the young men
the day following at a restaurant on
Twentieth street between Second and
Third avenues. After the young men
departed, so the girls claim, Burgy at
to assault them.
SOIicIts for Room.
Burgy is known to the police as a
saloon hanger-on II is said he gained
a livelihood chiefly by inducing young
men to take girls to his room, charging
a rental of so cents or any amount
that he could get for the accommoda
ton. Street walkers are said to have
used his room taking men they would
meet on the streets there. This prac
tice came to the ears of the police and
they were looking for Burgy to arrest
and prosecute him. He was tipped off
by some of his henchmen and he went
to Davenport. He returned later, and
business at the old stand a
should Be Driven From City. i
u G.. Collins. father of the Collins
girl, claims to know the names of the
young men that were with his daugh-
ter and the Helm girl, and they will be
punished to the limit of the law when
hey are apprehended Burgy's record
IS to be inquired into further, and he
will be made an example of if he proves
% be all that is suspected of him.
There are others of his stripe that =
ire tolerated in this city The police
department. could easily learn who
hey are and where they hang out.
They ought to be driven from the sight
If respectable people. The majority
If them came here from Davenport
when the red light district there was
wiped out. .
Promised Trips TO Big City.
In the case of the Collins and Helm ,,
,irl they were promised trips to st. ;
1ouis by the young men. That is the {
ystem followed by the white slave"
rafficker. He pictures the excitement
If the city to a young girl; tells her he
will pay her railroad fare both ways I
md when he gets her to the city turns s
Ter over to a resort, where she is COM |