Fighting the Traffic in Young Girls Part 5

"If we escape and insist on not returning, they will send some one after us to propose that we leave for Denver, San Francisco, China or Panama. Most of those men who make their living off those girls are old thieves and gamblers, and most of them have served terms in prison.

There are very few girls who would tell, for those bad men surely would kill them if they found out who gave them away.

"If one girl is a good money-maker, they make her take one of those men to support. They say if she does not do this, she is not respected by their cla.s.s of people. They take all those poor girls' money every night, and they send them back to work the next day penniless. If they should not make enough for them they are beaten, and sometimes killed.

"When those runners bring us to those houses, they keep us sometimes weeks to teach us what to say in case the police or some one would try to rescue us, and with the threat to kill us if ever we would tell.

"Some one ought to do his duty and make war on those horrid men. They simply take girls for their slaves in all the country. For even if we are weak, some one with courage ought to help us not to be persuaded by those men.

"I am certainly glad that all the men are not bad, that some one takes our part. You can be sure that most of the girls are happy that some one came to make us strong.

"Have courage! G.o.d is with you, and many of the slaves."

It is well known that some of these brutal traffickers were legally hanged in California for murdering the women on whose earnings they were living.

E. A. B.

CHAPTER VI.

THE TRUE STORY OF ESTELLE RAMON OF KENTUCKY.

By Princ.i.p.al D. F. Sutherland, Red Water, Texas.

She is one to be pitied, and not slandered. She was as pure as the air which she breathed in her humble home among the blue hills of the winding c.u.mberland. "She was light of heart and gay of wing as Eden's garden bird."

John and Amanda Ramon, after they were married, bought a little farm and settled down near the battlefield of Mill Springs. John was one of these great, big, good-looking, honest and hard-working men from the mountains. His wife, Amanda Ramon, was a refined and well educated Kentucky woman and a woman who loved to be with the "society" folks. She loved to wear fine dresses and spent more in this way than her husband could really afford, and this caused him to have to work very hard early and late. He went to clearing and improving his little farm and everybody was talking about what a n.o.ble fellow young John Ramon was and how well he seemed to be getting along. His wife did not seem to be satisfied to live in the hills. She wanted John to sell out and move to Somerset.

Two years pa.s.sed away on the little farm, and Estelle Ramon was born.

John promised Amanda when Estelle grew old enough to attend school that he would sell out and move to town. Years pa.s.sed on and John Ramon continued to work hard, and by hard work and good management he began to prosper. He built a new house and bought Estelle a piano. His wife still wanted to move to town, but John didn't want to go. He told his wife that he had nothing in town and no work there to do, that they were beginning to get along fairly well and the best thing for them to do was to let well enough alone, and that he wanted her to release him from his promise to move to town, which by the entreaties of Estelle she reluctantly did. John was happy in his home life with his wife and little girl, who had now reached the age of fifteen years. She had from the time she could toddle around been constantly with her father. In the fields making the hay, gathering the crops, seeing after the stock, you would find Estelle and her father always together. After supper she would climb upon her father's knee and he would always tell her some little story to please her. She would ride the horse to the pasture and John would carry her back in his big, strong arms. She was essentially a papa's girl, and her father almost idolized his child. When she was old enough she attended the country school close by and was known as the brightest pupil in the school. She learned music from her mother, and it was her chief delight to sing and play in the evenings for her parents. She was loved by everybody in the neighborhood, young and old.

At an early age she joined the church, and she could always be found in her place in the church and in the Sunday school, first as a pupil of the Sunday school and later on as a teacher of a cla.s.s of little boys and girls. It was said that in after years every boy and girl in her cla.s.s became model Christians.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A DIVE "BOUNCER" THRUSTING OUT A MISSIONARY

Every dive has a big, strong man, usually an ex-prizefighter, who keeps order in the place. When a man has spent all his money he is thrown into the street. All "undesirables" are treated the same way, including missionaries.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Daisy at fourteen]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Daisy at seventeen--"Young and so Fair."

"DAISY"

The top picture shows a pure, winsome girl of fourteen going to school in a little country town. The bottom one is the same girl who left her home town to take a position in the city. The man she trusted deceived her.]

One day a messenger was sent in haste from the schoolhouse to John Ramon's home to tell him to come at once, that Estelle had become violently ill while playing on the school playground. John Ramon turned white and came near fainting, strong man as he was, when this saddest of all news reached him. In a few moments he had hitched up the horses to a carriage and he and his wife were going as fast as the horses could take them to their child, whom they found in a dangerous condition. She was carried in the arms of her father to the carriage and driven home. In a short time the doctor reached the Ramon home and was by the bedside of Estelle. She had been stricken down with typhoid fever. John Ramon, with his life almost gone out of him, waited for the doctor's report from the sick room. When he came out he asked him what were the chances for his child to get well. The doctor told him that she had a severe case of typhoid fever, and the chances of recovery were against her, but with close attention and nursing she had a chance to get well. John Ramon said, "Doctor, I am willing to take that chance." Day after day and night after night John Ramon sat by the bedside of his child as she lingered between life and death. The doctor would come and shake his head and say, "She is no better." For eight days and nights John Ramon had eaten scarcely anything and slept not a wink. On the evening of the eighth day the doctor came as usual. He told John Ramon that this night would determine whether his child would die or get well, that there would be a change before daylight for better or for worse. After giving John Ramon directions and telling him to wake him up if he saw any change in the child, the doctor lay down to get a much needed rest and some sleep. The clock ticked off the hours and no change came. The clock struck one, two, three. John Ramon had never, during all the long and weary night hours, taken his eyes off his child. There he sat in great trouble and sorrow, watching her. The clock struck three, and Estelle opened her eyes, looked at John Ramon, and said, "Is this you, papa?" He knew that she was better. He rushed into the room where the doctor was sleeping and awoke him. The doctor, not knowing whether the change was for the better or worse, hastened into the sick room and felt of Estelle's pulse and said, "John Ramon, your child is better, the crisis is pa.s.sed. She will get well." The joy of John Ramon and his wife could hardly be restrained. The doctor told them that they must be quiet, or they might excite her and make her worse. The crisis had pa.s.sed and Estelle improved rapidly and was soon able to sit up and ride out with her parents. John and Amanda Ramon were filled with joy and a great weight seemed to be lifted from the whole neighborhood on account of the recovery of Estelle, for she was dearly loved by all who knew her.

On an adjoining farm to John Ramon lived a neighbor by the name of David Scott, as true a man as ever lived among the hills of the c.u.mberland river. David Scott had one son, William Scott, as n.o.ble a lad as ever lived. He was honest, true, and like Estelle, was loved by all. William was just two years older than Estelle, and together they had played from early childhood. During Estelle's sickness no one, unless her parents, seemed more anxious about her than did William Scott. Never a day or night pa.s.sed but that William Scott called at the Ramon home to inquire about Estelle during the whole time of her illness. After she got well and took her place in the church and the Sunday school William Scott was there too. He thought that there was none like her, and she thought a great deal of him.

One day about three months after Estelle had recovered Mrs. Ramon said to her husband, "John, have you noticed that William Scott is showing too much attention to Estelle? I don't like it and we must stop it or the first thing we know he will be coming here to pay his attentions to her. Another thing, I believe that Estelle thinks a good deal of him."

"Well, suppose she does," said John Ramon, "is not William a good boy and a good companion for Estelle, or anybody else?" "Yes, I know that he is a good boy, but, if we continue to let Estelle a.s.sociate with him as she has been doing, the first thing we know he will be thinking of marrying her, and I could not bear the thought of having William Scott for a son-in-law." "I don't suppose there is any danger of our having to lose our Estelle soon, but when she is old enough to marry, I would rather she would marry William Scott than anybody that I know." "What!

Estelle marry Bill Scott? I would rather see her dead and buried."

"Well, Amanda, what objections can you find to William Scott?" "I have no particular objection to him, but he is not good enough for Estelle. I want her to marry a man who knows how to take her into society. I want her to marry a professional gentleman, and not a greenhorn like William Scott." "Well, Amanda, I don't care so much about Estelle going into what some people please to call 'society,' but I want her to marry a true man who can and will make her life happy. I have no fault to find with William Scott. I know that he is thinking a good deal of Estelle, and that she thinks quite well of him, and if they should want to get married sometime I am not going to interfere." "You may not interfere, but I tell you now that Estelle shall never marry William Scott."

Estelle came in from school, and this ended the conversation. Estelle and William had told each other from childhood that when they got old enough they were going to get married. On Sunday before the conversation between John and Amanda Ramon, William Scott had reminded Estelle of their long ago agreement, and Estelle had told him that they would carry out this agreement some day when they were older. Estelle one day told William that her father liked him, but that her mother hated him and that it would be best that he quit coming to her home. It was on this occasion that William and Estelle plighted each other their love and he told her that nothing but death could ever separate him from her, and that he would, if necessary, give his life for her. In after years they both well remembered these words.

John Ramon continued to work hard and to prosper. One day when he came home from town he told his wife and Estelle that rafting logs down the river was dangerous, and that if anything should happen to him he wanted to leave them a living, and, for this reason, he had his life insured today while in town for $5,000. Heavy rains were falling up the c.u.mberland and John Ramon was working hard, he and his hired hands, to get the log raft ready to go down the river and carry his logs to Nashville when the river got high enough.

One evening John learned that a head rise was coming down the c.u.mberland, and he and all hands were making ready to cut the raft loose and carry it to the saw mills in Nashville as he had been doing year after year. Late on this evening John Ramon kissed his wife and Estelle good-by. He lingered longer than was his custom, and said that somehow he felt uneasy as if something was going to happen. At dark he reached the river and at ten o'clock they heard the head rise coming. The raft was cut loose and the rise struck it and carried it out into the middle of the river. The rushing waters bore down so heavily on the raft that it broke and went to pieces in the middle of the rushing waters. John Ramon became entangled among some of the logs and could not loose himself. He called for help, but no help could reach him in the darkness of the night and the fury of the waters. His voice rang out above the noise of the waters, and he cried out the last words he ever spoke on earth, "William, I'm gone. Promise me that you will take care of Estelle." The voice of William Scott rang out "I swear to you that I will do it." John Ramon went down; others of the crew escaped on logs.

I shall not undertake to describe the great sorrow in the Ramon home when, three days later, the body of John Ramon was found and brought home for burial. Who can tell the heaviness which bore down upon the heart of Estelle? He was buried, and week after week Estelle would carry flowers and place them upon his grave.

A year now has pa.s.sed away, and Estelle is seventeen, one of the most loveable and beautiful girls in Southern Kentucky. The death of her father had mellowed her life. She was a woman in ways, if a child in years. William Scott had watched her faithfully as he had promised her father in the hour of his death. Mrs. Ramon yet determined more than ever that Estelle should never marry William Scott. She had set her heart on some professional man for Estelle's husband who knew how to make her a belle of society. She was the only counsellor of her daughter, and in every way did she endeavor to cause her to break with young Scott. She often pictured to her the grand life she might live with some educated gentleman in the highest society; that her beauty and training could and would make her admired by everybody, and that she should not throw her chances away upon Bill Scott. She would never allow Scott to call upon Estelle, and managed to keep Estelle for the most part out of his company.

One day a well-dressed and handsome young man came into the Ramon neighborhood. He gave it out that he was an artist from Cincinnati, Ohio, and had come to make some sketches of the beautiful scenery along the c.u.mberland. He was polite and gentlemanly in his manners, a good conversationalist and entertaining. This artist, as he was thought to be, was introduced into the Ramon home and soon became a great favorite of Mrs. Ramon, and he did not fail to show every courtesy and attention to the fair Estelle. This artist soon found out that his success depended, not upon the girl, but upon her mother. He had been telling Mrs. Ramon of the beauty and the accomplishments of her daughter, and how she would shine in society if ever given an opportunity. He did not fail to impress upon her his own importance and society connections.

This suited Mrs. Ramon exactly, and she determined to marry Estelle to the artist. He declared to the mother his great and undying love for her daughter, and how it would be the delight of his life to give her the chance in the world to which her beauty so justly ent.i.tled her. Little by little did the mother, her child's only adviser, succeed in winning her over to her way of thinking. The artist had declared his love to Estelle herself. She hesitated, and thought of young Scott, whose heart she knew was breaking. Her mother persisted and the artist used his blandishments, and soon it was given out that Estelle Ramon would be married to the Cincinnati artist. When this reached the ears of William Scott, he was nearly prostrated by the terrible blow. He wrote Estelle a letter in which he told her of the promise that he had made to her dying father, and that he was going to keep that promise. He warned her against marrying this strange young man, of whom she knew nothing.

Estelle when she read this letter came near declining to marry the artist. Her own heart told her that William Scott was right, but the artist and the mother persisted. For fear that Estelle would yet refuse to marry the artist, the wedding day was set for the following Sunday.

Sunday came, and Estelle, as pale as death, walked out on the floor, and she and the artist were married. How happy was the mother; how sad were Estelle and William Scott!

Soon the Ramon home and all the property were sold, preparatory to taking Estelle and her mother to the city. The $5000 of insurance and the $3000 which the home and other property were sold for were turned over to the artist to invest in a home in the city. Mrs. Ramon was to visit her people for a short while and Estelle and the artist were to go on and make ready the home in the city. On the morning before Estelle left she received a note from William Scott, saying that if ever she needed his a.s.sistance she would get it. She and the artist took the train at Somerset, and Estelle Ramon was whirled away to her doom. She was carried to Cincinnati, Ohio, where her husband told her that they would spend a week before looking out for a home. She spent this week in a lodging house in the outskirts of the city. At the end of this week the artist told her that they had better rest up another week before they began looking around. The second week pa.s.sed away as the first, and when he tried to put her off again she grew suspicious and became alarmed for the first time. She told him that he must get the home, or that he had to take her back to her mother. He went out and pretty soon came back with a telegram from, he told her, a friend of his in Cleveland, inviting them to visit Cleveland and procure a home there.

Reluctantly she went with the artist to Cleveland, where they were met by some one in a closed carriage and driven to a house, which she soon learned was a house of ill-fame. On reaching this place she was carried to a room in a secluded part of the building. Her husband then informed her where she was and that here she would have to remain. That he was done with her, and for her to give his regards to her mother if they ever met again; that he was much obliged to her for the $8000 in cash, and that he wished her a good time with the madam. Estelle fainted, and this devil turned on his heels, walked away and has never been heard of since. The madam knew how to treat girls who fainted, for she had seen them faint in her house before, and she brought Estelle back to consciousness. Who can picture now the horrors which rose up before Estelle? It can not be done, and I must leave it for the imagination of the reader. In vain did Estelle beg and plead to be let go. Useless were her piteous moans for freedom. The madam told her that she had bought her and paid for her, and that she was going to keep her; that the best thing she could do was to quiet down and submit to her fate willingly, and was informed of what she was expected to do and had to do. The madam told her that she had often paid as much as $100 for pretty girls like her, but that she only had to pay $50 for her by solemnly promising that she would not let her get away. Three months she was confined in this prison. It is beyond the power of man to describe the darkness, the blackness, the fearfulness and the horrors of her life now. Her only hope was the words of William Scott. She knew that he meant every word he said, and would rescue her if possible. How could he find her, was the question she would ask herself in her despair. Yet she hoped against hope that in some way or other he would find her.

Three months had pa.s.sed away and the mother of Estelle had heard no tidings of her child. She was wild, she was frantic, she was mad. The terrible strain had been more than she could bear. She became a maniac, and in her ravings she would call for Estelle to come back to her. She would talk of nothing but Estelle. Amanda Ramon had destroyed her own life and the life of her child.

Where is William Scott, the child playmate, the youthful lover of Estelle, the one who promised to defend her?

William Scott had believed that the "artist" was a scoundrel the first time he laid eyes on him. No sooner had suspicions of foul play been aroused in the neighborhood than young Scott took the train for Cincinnati. There he employed a detective to aid him in his search for Estelle. After one week of close search in every part of the city, the place was found where the "artist" and Estelle boarded during their two weeks' stay in Cincinnati. Where they went could not be learned from any source, so well had the "artist" covered up his tracks. He advertised for her in the newspapers and secured the services of detectives in several cities. He concluded after a search of two months that she had been killed or taken to New York City, and perhaps across the ocean to some foreign country. His money was by this time all gone. He wrote home to his father and told him to see his friends and the friends of Estelle and send him money with which to continue the search, for he intended to find her, if alive. The money was raised immediately and sent to William Scott. He next went to New York, where he spent day after day and night after night in searching for the lost girl, but with a sad heart he had to give it up, for not the remotest clew could he get. He resolved to go back to Cincinnati and see if he could find out anything more about her in the neighborhood where she spent the two weeks. He learned nothing new and had almost lost all hope. One night while sitting in the lobby of a hotel he overheard a conversation between two gamblers. One of them was telling the other about being in Cleveland and at a certain place where he met the most beautiful girl that he ever saw. He went on to describe her to the other gambler, and wound up by telling him that she fought like a tiger, and showed him the scratches which he said this girl had made on his face with her finger nails. The description given by one of these gamblers to the other was that of Estelle. William Scott later said that he could hardly keep from killing this man then and there in the hotel. Young Scott took the first train for Cleveland, not daring to seek further information from the gambler. He was fully convinced that Estelle was in a house of ill-fame in that city. By this time he had learned that it would not do him any good to tell his troubles to the police, for some of them would be more likely to help the madam secrete the girl than to help him get her away. On reaching Cleveland, he determined to tell no one of his mission or why he was there. He determined to form his own plans and carry them out. He felt sure that he and Estelle were now in the same city and the thought almost made him wild. He knew that if she was in a house of ill-fame she was there against her will and was forced to remain there. He determined to visit every house of prost.i.tution in the city or find her.

The third night of his rounds he visited one of these houses and was admitted into the parlor. The madam came in and asked him if he wished to see some of the girls. He told her that he would not object if she had one real pretty. She told him that the girls were all out now except one she called the "fighting girl from the country." He told her that he didn't guess that she was much of a fighter and that he didn't mind her fighting. He could hardly control his feelings. He paid the madam $5 and went upstairs. "What if she screams when she sees me and gives the whole thing away?" thought young Scott to himself. He felt sure that she was Estelle, and that he was going to meet her now. The door was unlocked, and he entered. She had dozed off into a sleep. He locked the door and waited till the hall was clear before waking her. He turned on the light, looked into her face. She was Estelle! He pulled two revolvers out of his pockets and laid them where they would be handy, for he had resolved to take her out of this place this night or die in the attempt.

The light shone on her face and showed him how pale and troubled she looked. He could see the great sorrows of her soul written in her face as she lay there sleeping. He bent over her, touched her face and whispered, "It is William Scott, from Mill Springs, Kentucky, who has come to take you home. For your life, don't make any noise." She opened her eyes and saw him and knew him and fainted away from joy. He bathed her face and soon returning consciousness came to her. She realized at once how necessary it was for her to keep quiet. They held a whispered conversation as to how to escape. He did not want to raise any scene, for this might lead to his arrest and defeat all his plans of getting away. He determined to steal her out of the house quietly and get away.

He opened the door to see if there was any one in the hall, as there was no chance to escape through a window from the room. He went out in the hall and carefully locked the door behind him so as to make no noise. He then went to a window at the far end of the hall; it was open. He went back to the room and tied some bed covers and sheets together and they went out again, locked the door as before, went to this window and tied one end of the sheet and covers to a radiator and threw them out.

Estelle went down and he followed. In the alley where they landed it was dark and they were soon out of sight of this building. He told her that he was afraid to take her to the depot in the city, so they walked on in the darkness till they came to the railroad. They took down this road and walked till they reached the next station, some miles away, reaching it just a few minutes before the southbound train came along. Here they took the train for Cincinnati and for home. Who could tell of the joy which Estelle now felt on being rescued from her prison house, from the worst slavery ever known to the world? At Cincinnati William Scott and Estelle took the train for Somerset and soon reached home. Great joys oftentimes have great sorrows, and such awaited Estelle. William had not told her about her mother on the trip home. He knew that she would learn it soon enough. Mrs. Ramon's people thought, perhaps, if Estelle could be found, that she might come to her right mind, but such was not to be. Soon after the marriage of Estelle and William Scott Mrs. Ramon died in an insane asylum.

CHAPTER VII.

OUR SISTER OF THE STREET.

By Miss Florence Mabel Dedrick.