Fighting the Traffic in Young Girls Part 24

This letter was written by one who knew the facts in the case.

A very few days ago this pitiful case was, in an official way, brought to my attention. A little German girl in Buffalo married a man who deserted her about the time her child was born. Her baby is now about eight or nine months old. Almost immediately after her husband ran away she formed the acquaintance of an engaging young man who claimed to take deep interest in her welfare, and in that of a certain girl friend of hers. He persuaded them both that if they would accompany him to Chicago he would immediately place them in employment which would be far more profitable than anything they could obtain in Buffalo. Supposing that the work awaiting her was entirely legitimate and respectable the little mother took her baby and, in company with the young man and with her friend, came to Chicago. The next task of this human fiend was to persuade this "child widow" that it would be necessary for her to place her baby temporarily in a foundling's home in order that it might not interfere with her employment. This accomplished, he took the two young women at once to a notorious house and sold them into white slavery.

Thenceforth this fellow has lived in luxury upon the shameful earnings of these two victims. The young mother has attempted by every means imaginable to escape from his clutches and at last has importuned him into a promise to release his hold upon her on the payment of $300. She is still "working out" the price of her release. It is scarcely too much to say that she looks twice her age.

One other example from the current history of the white slave trade as it is pursued today. Only a few nights since a physician was calling professionally at one of the houses of Chicago's "Red Light" district.

Two men and a young woman entered the door just before him and took seats at a table. A glance at her fresh and innocent face was enough to convince him that she was out of her element and probably unaware of the character of her surroundings. Stepping abruptly to the table, the physician looked the young woman straight in the eye and asked:

"Madam, do you know that this is a house of prost.i.tution?"

"No," was the trembling answer.

"Are you a woman of the street?" he persisted.

She flushed indignantly, but finally replied:

"No--I am a respectable woman and I supposed I was being taken to a ladies' cafe."

Her companions bolted for the door and made their escape. The physician then called a policeman, who escorted the young woman to her home and found her statements to be true--that she was a respectable girl and had believed her "friends" to be taking her to a respectable restaurant.

Tragedies of this kind are happening every day and all over this country. It is time for the decent people of the United States to wake up, realize what is going on in the underworld and to take strong measures to protect their daughters and their neighbors' daughters from the hands of the most despicable and inhuman of all criminals, the white slave traders.

CHAPTER XXVII.

LAWS FOR THE SUPPRESSION OF THE WHITE SLAVE TRAFFIC.

By Harry A. Parkin, a.s.sistant United States District Attorney, Chicago.

The war for exterminating the white slave traffic has progressed so rapidly and has attained such enormous proportions, that it is not now confined to one state or country, but people from every state in the United States, in Canada, England, and other foreign countries, have taken up the slogan and are vitally interested in a.s.sisting to curb the monstrous traffic. Laws have been enacted in several of the states during the past sessions of their respective legislatures. In other states new laws are contemplated. Reports are received by the Committee on Legislation daily which are indeed encouraging and show the need of centralizing the effort and a.s.sisting citizens of the different states who so frequently are at a loss to know exactly what to do when a white slave case comes within their observation.

To meet this need and to further the effort to secure proper legislation, the Committee has decided to publish the following digest of the laws of every state in the Union, so far as practicable, for distribution to those who are interested in this warfare.

In this connection the Committee desires to acknowledge its very deep sense of grat.i.tude and appreciation to the governors of the respective states, their a.s.sistants and attorney generals, for the data furnished by them contained within these pages. It is indeed an encouraging sign when men in high public office stop for a time from the stress of their official duties to a.s.sist in a world-wide undertaking of this kind.

The reader will find in these pages all of the laws of each state in the United States, so far as obtainable, which affect in any way, and which may be used to throttle the white slave traffic. There will also be found simple directions to be followed by the citizen who becomes acquainted with a white slave case and who desires to have it properly prosecuted. The digest has been made as simple as possible, and technical legal terms and phrases have been avoided where possible in order that every one, be he lawyer or layman, may be able to read and act understandingly.

The Committee.

UNITED STATES.

The section of the United States statutes which is the basis of the Federal prosecutions is known as Section Three of the Act of February 20, 1907. It may be found in United States Compiled Statutes, Supplement 1907, page 392.

THE EFFECT OF THE SUPREME COURT DECISION.

The Congress of the United States, on February 20, 1907, pa.s.sed what is known as the Immigration Act. This Act covers twenty-three printed pages affecting the immigration of all cla.s.ses of peoples to the United States. Among other provisions, Section 3 of this Act attempted to prohibit the importation of alien women and girls for immoral purposes.

This section was made sufficiently broad to prohibit not only the importation, but the keeping, even with the consent of the alien, of any foreign woman or girl for immoral purposes. The Act is as follows:

Sec. 3. That the importation into the United States of any alien woman or girl for the purpose of prost.i.tution, or for any other immoral purpose, is hereby forbidden; and whoever shall, directly or indirectly, import, or attempt to import, into the United States, any alien woman or girl for the purpose of prost.i.tution, or for any other immoral purpose, or whoever shall hold or attempt to hold any alien woman or girl for any such purpose in pursuance of such illegal importation, or whoever shall keep, maintain, control, support, or harbor in any house or other place, for the purpose of prost.i.tution, or for any other immoral purpose, any alien woman or girl, within three years after she shall have entered the United States, shall, in every such case, be deemed guilty of a felony, and on conviction thereof be imprisoned not more than five years and pay a fine of not more than five thousand dollars; and any alien woman or girl who shall be found an inmate of a house of prost.i.tution or practicing prost.i.tution, at any time within three years after she shall have entered the United States, shall be deemed to be unlawfully within the United States and shall be deported as provided by sections twenty and twenty-one of this Act.

It is this section of the Act under which the prosecutions in the Northern District of Illinois were inst.i.tuted by United States District Attorney Sims in June of nineteen hundred and eight, and which resulted in the imprisonment of so many procurers and keepers of houses of ill-fame. Among the cases which were tried before a jury and which resulted in a conviction of the keepers, was a case ent.i.tled United States v. Keller and Ullman. These defendants were charged with having harbored Irene Bodi, a native of Austria, within three years after she had entered the United States, and found guilty by the jury and sentenced to imprisonment in the penitentiary at Fort Leavenworth for one and one-half years each. They thereupon prosecuted an appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States, alleging among other things that the law under which they were convicted was unconst.i.tutional, in that the clause "keep, maintain, control, support, or harbor," attempted to embrace powers not given by the const.i.tution to Congress, but reserved to the respective states and to be within their police powers. This contention was upheld by the Supreme Court. The result is that so much of Section 3 of the Act of February 20, 1907, as attempted to prosecute a keeper who simply harbored or permitted to be within his house of prost.i.tution an alien woman or girl within three years after her arrival in this country was wiped out of the statute, and the section of the Act must now be read as follows:

Sec. 3. That the importation into the United States of any alien woman or girl for the purpose of prost.i.tution, or for any other immoral purpose, is hereby forbidden; and whoever shall, directly or indirectly, import, or attempt to import, into the United States, any alien woman or girl for the purpose of prost.i.tution, or for any other immoral purpose, or whoever shall hold or attempt to hold any alien woman or girl for any such purpose in pursuance of such illegal importation, shall, in every such case, be deemed guilty of a felony, and on conviction thereof be imprisoned not more than five years and pay a fine of not more than five thousand dollars; and any alien woman or girl who shall be found an inmate of a house of prost.i.tution or practicing prost.i.tution, at any time within three years after she shall have entered the United States, shall be deemed to be unlawfully within the United States and shall be deported as provided by sections twenty and twenty-one of this Act.

It will thus be seen, by comparing the Act as originally signed by the President and the Act as it now reads, after the decision of the Supreme Court, that it is necessary in every case to show that the person who holds the alien had directly or indirectly imported the same alien into the United States for immoral purposes. In other words, the federal authorities are now restricted to cases where they are able to prove that the defendant imported the girl prior to the time she was found in his house of prost.i.tution. This will very materially lessen the number of federal prosecutions, as it is extremely difficult in the vast majority of cases to show that the person in whose house the alien was found was in every instance responsible for her importation. It is to be hoped that Congress during its coming session shall see fit to enact remedial legislation which shall correct that clause of the Act declared unconst.i.tutional, or if this shall be found impossible, to at least broaden the present scope of Section 3 of the Immigration Act so that it can be made more comprehensive and far-reaching.

[Ill.u.s.tration: WHERE YOUNG MEN BUY INSANITY CHEAP

A whole row of low dives and vice resorts. It is here that the white slaves are taken; it is here where the sinful pleasures of the young men wreck their bodies and steal their manhood.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: OLD GLORY AND OLDER GLORY--"THESE DIVES MUST GO"

The author, Rev. Ernest A. Bell, holding a meeting in the vice district--at the open door of a notorious resort]

Another result of the action of the Supreme Court is to emphasize the great need for legislation by the respective states looking to laws which shall minimize the placing of girls in houses of prost.i.tution within the several states, and which shall prevent the migration from one state to another of women for immoral purposes. Many of the states have already responded. The State of North Dakota has enacted a law to hit White Slavery. South Dakota has done the same. Illinois has already pa.s.sed two excellent bills drawn on the lines suggested in the March issue of the Woman's World. The State of Iowa has also enacted a law aimed at White Slavery.

Procedure.

Prosecution for violation of the Federal laws rests with the United States district attorney in the respective districts. The matter should be brought to his attention and the evidence submitted for his examination. The usual procedure is to then present the matter to the Federal grand jury, if one be sitting, or to arrest the defendant and prosecute him before a United States commissioner.

ALABAMA.

In Alabama any person who takes a female from her father, mother, guardian or other person having the legal charge of her without his or her consent, for the purpose of prost.i.tution or concubinage, shall be imprisoned in the penitentiary not less than ten nor more than twenty years.

Alabama Code, 1852, Sec. 3095; 1871, Ch. 56, Sec. 3.

Any person who takes any female unlawfully, against her will, with the intent to compel her, by menace, duress or force to marry him or any other person, or be defiled, shall on conviction be imprisoned in the penitentiary not less than ten nor more than twenty-one years.

Alabama Code, 1852, Sec. 3094; 1871, Ch. 56, Sec. 3.

The above section is aimed at one who takes a female with the intent to compel her to suffer the crimes enumerated. There is a further section aimed at the person who actually accomplishes the result intended and covered by the previous section. The latter section is as follows:

Any person who takes any female and by menace, duress or force compels her to marry him or any other person or be defiled, shall be imprisoned in the penitentiary not less than ten nor more than twenty-one years.

Alabama Code, 1871, Ch. 56, Sec. 3.

It is no defense to a charge of abduction that the elopement was with the consent of the female and at her request, and the burden of proof as to the chast.i.ty of the woman abducted, in an indictment, is upon the defendant.

Any parent or guardian or person having charge or custody of a female such as is mentioned by the preceding paragraphs, who permits or encourages or abets in the commission of the crimes above set forth can be punished the same as the person who actually seduces the girl.