" > Price 12* cents. Ik 1 v. MADAME RESTELL, WITH AN ACCOUHT? OF HER PROFESSIONAL CAREER, AMD SECRET PRACTICES. BY A PHYSICIAN OF NEW YORK. TO WHICH IS AIM)£n I A VIEW OF THE CASE NOW ON TRIAL BEFORE THE COURT OF SESSIONS. ""• ^fj.'jvr.-x V N E Ttf^^UV -. • CHARLES V. *sfalf H, CQR. BROADWAY AND CHAMBERS 81, J AND FOR SALE BY ALL DEALERS I5T CHEAP BOOKS AND PERIODICALS. 1847. Six Dollars per hundred. MISTRESS OP THE HOUSE. 00 MADAME RESTELL: AN ACCOUNT OF HER L.IFE AND HORRIBLE PRACTICES, TOGETHER WITH PROSTITUTION IN NEW-YORK, ITS EXTENT, CAUSES, AND EFFECTS UPON SOCIETY. Thou Shalt not commit adultery.—Bible. NEW YORK: PUBLISHED BY THE PROPRIETOR, AND SOLD BT ALL DEALERS IN CHEAP BOOKS. 1847. ADVERTISEMENT. Let not the reader suppose that the object of this work is to pander to vice, or to stimulate a prurient curiosity. It has other and far different ends. The Chapters on Prostitution in New York, its extent, causes, and results upon society, are particularly commended to the atten- tion of all thoughtful and conscientious miuds. They contain, the writer will venture to assert, the only true account of this branch of public morals in New York that has ever been writteu. The statis- tics have been taken from the Books of the Police, and the facts gene- v' rally are the results of extensive observation, made by the author while iu the practice of his profession. » It is but just to add, however, that many readers will be disap- $- pointed in some of the writer's conclusions and remarks. It is quite possible, also, that it will be seen that many of his speculative no- £ tioos (which will escape even in a work of dry narrative) do not 'jgt accord with what most people have been taught to respect^and - believe. Still he thiuks there is nothing at which any really enlightened miud need take exception ; and such being the case, he is quite willing to leave the book to its fate, satisfied if it shall con- tribute in any way to call attention to what is, without a doubt, the foulest crime of civilized communities. New York, October, 1847. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1847, BY CHARLES SMITH, In the Clerk's Office of the Southern District Court of New York. LIFE OF MADAME RESTELL. CHAPTER I. Reasons for the form and manner of this work—Universal interest of th? subject—Professional secrets. It may be thought that I owe an apology to my profes- sional brethren and the public, for laying before them the fol- lowing pages; but there are emergencies which justify the violation of all ordinary rules and momentous occasions which imperatively demand the sacrifice, alike of private feelings and professional observances. In no ordinary matter should I feel justified in publishing an anonymous work ; and upon no ordinary occasion should I feel authorized to appear professionally, addressing the public at large. My reasons for doing so now, shall be frankly stated. If they appear satisfactory to others, I shall be grati- fied fbut if these excuses will not shield me from the censure of others, they satisfy my own conscience; and this may be, after all, the best test of duty?) - My reasons for addressing the public, on the matter of the following pages,< is that the public alone is in fault. The medical profession? needs no light upon it. All our science teaches us, that violently interfering with the most important operations of nature, must be highly dangerous to the human constitution. Wrong, in a scientific sense, is a violation of natural law, and the subject of this work consists of a violation of one of the most important in the whole chain of being. Since the medical profession is necessarily well informed upon such a subject as this, I am forced to use some other channel than a medical journal, intended almost exclusively for professional reading. The newspapers of the day cannot spare the space for a full discussion of such a subject; or , they have a kind of fearful fastidiousness, which prevents them from presenting to the public the most important facts connected with the interests of society. 74* 4 My reasons for making this an anonymous, work, will, I trust, be found sufficiently weighty. Many of the circum- stances contained in the following pages, came to my know- ledge in the course of practice, as a family physician. They are connected with confidences that can never be violated, and professional secrets which can never be revealed, so far as the individuals are concerned. The knowledge of the authorship of this work would lead, easily, to that of the per- sons implicated ;(and however guilty these may be—what- ever the faults info which they have been betrayed, or the crimes of which they have been guilty, with me, their reputa- tions are sacred.; Their secrets are mine. At all hazards, I would preserve them inviolate-^yet, with the proper precau- tions, I see no good reason whythey may not be used for the benefit of the community.^) These are my reasons for the form and manner of this pub- lic caution; and, having frankly submitted them to the judg- ment of the reader, I proceed, without further introduction, to give an account of the life, career, and practices, of that ad- venturess, who has been again brought before the public eye, as an accused felnn. CHAPTER II. Personal Appearance—Early Life—Medical Education—First Appearance in New-York..Commences her Practice. The woman who is publicly advertised, and known as Madame Restell, was born of respectable parents, in the west of England. Now, at the age, apparently, of thirty-five, she has the beauty of a good complexion, and a full formed English shape. Her figure is of the medium height, and of fine proportions, tending to the em bon point; she has a pro- fusion of dark brown hair, which she dresses tastefully ; reg- ular, and rather intelligent features ; a handsome bust, like most English women ; and, dressed as she usually is, with elegance, and often with splendor, she would be considered anywhere a showy and attractive woman. It is pretended that when a girl the subject of this narrative 5 had a relative in France, by the name of Restell, a famous doctor, whom she visited. The story runs, that this doctor, dying, his wife, Madame Restell, took up his business ; and that she was assisted in an extensive practice, by her niece; and that it was in this way that she came to sell the medi- cines of Madame Restell, until, gradually, the name and pro- fession was forced upon her.C This may all be true ; but those who do not believe it, without better evidence than we ate able to give them, must not be too rashly accused of incredu- lity.^ There are circumstances which detract seriously from the probability of such a story; and it will be seen that there are others, which go to favor it. It is a question of no great importance, and ane we shall not attempt to decide. Whatever the original condition of the person now known universally as Madame Restell, and whatever her professional connection in Fiance, it is pretty certain that she came to New York as the wife of one Charles Lohman, a printer, and that they were in very humble, not to say needy circum- stances. Lohman worked at the case, an employment which yields with full and good employment from ten to fifteen dol- lars a week. At one portion of this period they boarded in Chatham-st., and printing being dull, Mrs. Lohman assisted in gaining a livelihood, by taking in sewing. With a bold, ambitious, and, as events have proved, auda- i cious woman—one formed for pleasure, and having a taste for \ luxury, this was not a state of things likely to continue. Ask Madame her story, and she will tell you that at this time she bethought her of the admirable medicines, and successful practice of that excellent woman, the relict, and professional successor of that good old uncle of hers, the famous Dr. Res- tell, whose pills were so famous with the ladies all over the kingdom. She might tell you that she recrossed the Atlantic, expressly to visit this good aunt, or grandmother, it is difficult to say which, and that having returned to America with these valuable " receipts,'' she proceeded to advertise the wonder- ful monthly pills, to remove obstructions, and the more won- derful powders, which prevent conception. Whether the pills do remove irregularities, " however produced;" and whether the powders, sold at five dollars a package, will ; prevent the functions of nature,) I shall speak more particu- larly of hereafter. ---~" 6 CHAPTER III. View of Society in Yew Nork—Her advertisements begin to appear—Ne- cessities of a foundling Hospital. But, whatever the course she thought necessary to pursue, one thing is certain j/'this shrewd woman had mixed enough in American society,/to know that there was much real vice with all its seeming virtuen(^he saw that reputation was dearer to many than purity^—that they dreaded exposure more than guilt—that they cared less for the reality than the appearance of virtue—in short, that with much of genuine goodness, there was mixed a full share of that hypocrisy, which would not hesitate to conceal a weakness, by commit- ting a cnmeD She saw, too—or some one, her husband, per- haps—saw for her, that people will pay liberally for the grat- ification of their passions and propensities, however close they may be in the common concerns of Iife7 ^} Having the s hrewdness to comprehend these principles, this woman, if we give her credit for the plan, had also the talent and courage, or audacity, to turn them to practical ac- count. It is now ten years, about, since the advertisements of^Iadame Restell—the venerable Madame Restell—ap- peared in the Sun and Herald, and perhaps other papers of this city. She had not been mistaken in her calculations ; the golden stream that poured in upon her, was quick and vi- olent. "^ Lechery and lust paid tribute to her pretensions, and as business increased, so did the hopes, the avarice, and the audacity of this woman. She took a house in Greenwich street, as an office for the sale of her medicines, and the ac- commodation of patients who sought her professional services. She also opened branch offices in Boston and Philadelphia— and thus, by extensive advertisements, and these arrange- ments, the business of Madame Restell became very exten- sive, and her profits proportionably large. It does not appear that at first this female^physician contem- plated any thing more than the sale of monthly pills, ingeni- ously advertised, so as to be purchased for improper uses, and .the preventive powders, to be used in solution, as an in- jection, and which probably consisted of powdered alum, or 7 some suchinnocent astringent; but the temptation to engage, in degree, if not in kind, more criminal baseness, was very great. In all countries, where maternity, without matrimony, is considered a disgrace, it has been found necessary to provide some means for the prevention of the two kindred crimes of abortion and infanticide. In England, there are foundling hospitals, where unfortunate mothers can hide at once their offspring and their shame In every large town in France, there are similar establishments ; and in Vienna, still better, there is a government hospital, to which any woman may go, and in absolute security, await the birth of her child, whom the laws of society does not allow her to cherish and protect as a blessed gift of heaven. - Here, we have nothing of this kind. Priding ourselves upon our purity of morals, we have regulated all the expedi- ents, brought into use by the experience of older communi- ties. The woman who becomes a mother, when unmarried, here passes a fiery ordeal, from which she shrinks with terror. If she makes known her condition, a public disgrace awaits her : if elie tries to conceal it, she is liable to-impiisonment, Society frowns upon her—the laws bring all their terrors. What is the result 1 A great degree of virtue may be one of them—but there are others- which may outweigh this ad- vantage. There are infants exposed in our streets, to be fro- zen, crushed, or, at the best, put to the Alms House ; there are still more, who float out in the tides of the North and East rivers, or are suffocated in sinks and sewers. The fruit of our rigid virtue is infanticide, murder, and of late, Restell- lsm—a name now fittingly bestowed, in some of our public prints, upon the procurement of abortion, by such medical and mechanical means as are said to be practised by Restell. It was m such a community as this, that a woman of the profession of Madame Restell might have expected to flourish, precisely because it is less moral than it wishes to appear, and because where there is only the appearance of virtue, vice, to be active, only asks impunity. This has been, and is the case in New York, and to a greater or less extent, every where. Foundling Hospitals and Lying-in Asylums are confessions of weakness. They say, we are weak—we are frail—we are liable to go astray and this is the remedy we provide—while here, we confess no weakness, we provide no remedies, and behold, the conse- 8 queuce, in a damning public infamy, like this business of Restell. ..^ Prompted by these views, and purely mercenary motives, Madame Restell offered to those who would not control their appetites, impunity. First, there were her powders, as a preventive ; if these failed, as without the greatest care they might, there were the monthly pills to overcome obstructions ; and if these were unsuccessful, as in many, perhaps most cases they would be ; there, as a last resort, was an asylum, in the house of Madame Restell—a private delivery, and a hired nurse ; powerful drug? to produce abortion, or the use of mechanical means to bring about a premature delivery. It is natural to suppose, that in such cases the fees were very large, according to the wealth and liberality of the parties. This is Restcllism-Xea catering to the weakness and wicked- ness of human nature,) which enables Madame to live in luxury, to dress with splencFor ; to take her daughter to Fiance, to complete her education, as it was very proper she should—to drive her carriage with four superb horses, and servants in li\ery, to indemnify bail of ten thousand dollars, and pay hiwyei.-:' fees of a thousand; which may have enabled her, with all her expenses, to have accumulated, even now, an enormous fortune. This career, which we have" not yet sufficiently characteri- zed, has not been all flowers and sun-shine. Madame Restell has been black mailed and abused in the papers—mobbed in public, and insulted in private—tried, and convicted, though illegally, in our courts ; and now, that the offence is made a felony, she is again called on to answer to the laws, for a.par- ticular instance, of a crime which common report charges her with being continually guilty of. * 0 CHAPTER IV. Attacks ofthe Press—A Seduction--The victim's despair—Applies to a Physician—The Mother consulted—A resort to Restellism—And its Consequences. During the almost ten years of the professional career of Madame Restell, there have been occasional outbursts of pub- lic indignation. After a period of quiet slumber, the volcano of the public press would burst forth. Fiend—demon— wretch—monster—have been applied to her, by those gen- tlemen of indignant virtue, the editors of certain papers. Others have stood aloof, and have dignifiedly refrained from any mention of the woman, or her practices; and neither, in my opinion, have done their duty. Her crimes require other consenting parties. In no case can she be considered the principal—in all she must be the hired instrument of a guilt, which she shares, but which, surely, she cannot monopolize. Yet the thunders of the press, the iudignation of the public, and the terrors of the law, have all been directed at her, as if one alone were guilty. It is true, that the guilt of others, detracts nothing from her own; but it is also true, that a consideration of her guilt alone detracts from public justice. '. The young and beautiful daughter of a Broadway mer- chant, warm with the impulses of youth*—warm with the ro- mance of a boarding school—warm, moreover, with a tender and confiding heart, trusting to the honor and faith of a man, who, in her eyes, seems a hero and an angel, though he may be a libertine in all others^this girl, in a moment of tender weakness, is overcome by her own passions, and the arts of a practiced seducer.> She wakes from a dream of passion and pleasure, to a reality of guilt and remorsef" The flower of her virtue is plucked arid withered, but pleasure still beacons her to enjoyment. So far, this is at least no fancy sketch: On the side of this young girl, all was love and confidence ; and though she shed tears of anguish at the thought of her weakness, she had to experience a deeper pang, at her lover's neglect. vThe novelty wore off—his appetite sated—all pre- tence of love soon vanished. The libertine became polite, formal, cold, and his victim awoke to the reality of her .« 10 terrible situation. v The result of her imprudence cannot long be concealed. ; Her father looks wonderingly at her eyes, so often red with weeping, and at her cheeks, from which the roses have vanished. Her mother regards her with a tender interest, and takes the first opportunity of enquiring the rea- sons of her unhappiness. What a situation ! It is difficult to picture the agony and despair of a poor girl, whom one moment of weakness has reduced to such a position as this. She cannot make the ter- rible confession.v. The only one that could save her honor^ treats her with disdain. A high spirited girl, thus circum- stanced, would welcome a death of tortures, rather than en- dure the disgrace of an exposure, as hundreds have. ( There are two courses often taken in such cases—a life of prostitu- tion—a death by poison or violence. There is one other re- source—that furnished in the procurement of abortion. < There are not many family physicians, of much practice, who have not been applied to, in cases like this. My heart bled, when I saw the situation of this poor victim of individ- ual duplicity and social hypocrisy. Yes, hypocrisy : for there is no one, who could not, in his own heart, pity and forgive • this girl; and yet the society formed of these individuals, by its harshness'drives them to desparation.i Applied to for advice, respecting her failing health, I sus- pected the cause of her trouble, and soon verified my suspi- cious. Overpowered by shame, she confessed her situation, and appealed to me to save her.. " Does your mother know of this ? " I asked her. "Oh! no," she sobbingly replied: " she must not. I should never dare to look her in the face again." " Your father, then." " My father would kill me. O, God! I wish I were dead ! " " This is all in vain, my poor child," I said ; " all useless ; you must not despair." She looked at me with anxious curiosity, and, as if her life depended upon my answer, asked— " Will you relieve me ? " " There is no relief but fortitude and prudence," 1 replied. " No relief! Oh ! do not say so, Doctor," she exclaimed, with emotion—"there is, there must be a remedy; others have been relieved from this horrible situation. There must be medicines." 11 " It requires poisons to destroy life, my poor girl." " I will take them—I do not fear death so much as dis- grace." " But I fear to commit a crime," I said, solemnly; " I fear to destroy a human being, whose existence has now begun I fear to put your life in peril, by such an attempt. No— your mother, as the most proper person, must first be informed of your situation." With much persuasion, she consented that I would break the matter to hermother. I did so. She was a haughty worldly, woman; and the explosion of consternation and grief which followed my disclosure, 1 shall not attempt to describe. I was again entreated to use the means necessary for procuring abortion, and but for the fear of possible conse- quences, a quarrel and dismissal would have followed my re- fusal. Two days afterward, I was sent for to go to the dwelling of this family, where I found this girl—pale, weak, the shadow of her former self. She smiled sadly as I took her hand. " You have become reconciled, I hope, to your situation," said I, at a loss, for the moment, to account for her appear- ance. " No, Doctor—I have nothing more to fear," she replied, with an expression I shall never forget. " What ! has any thing happened ? have you dared,-" " What will not the desperate dare ?" she said, bitterly. Then taking up a copy of the Morning Herald, which lay on the bed beside her, she pointed to an advertisement. A look passed between us, but not a word was ever spoken. I attended her for several months, and all was done thai. care and skill could do, to restore her; but she never fully recovered the shock, moral and physical, which she had re- ceived. I am much mistaken if she has ever had one happy hour since her fault, and the crime which concealed it. 13 t. CHAPTER V. Restelhsm—How far defensible. The narrative in the last Chapter, may be, and probably is, like many others. There are few persons who have not known of such incidents ; they are of continual occurrence. Let us suppose, now, that we place ourselves in the situation of a Magistrate, and call these parties to account. First summoning the girl, we ask—" How is it that you have com- mitted a crime, only less than murder, and which our laws punish as a felony 1" She answers—" Self-protection is the first law of nature. I submitted to this crime at the command of my mother, to avoid death by my own hands, or a fate, so much more terri- ble than death, that I would have committed suicide to avoid it." Receiving this answer, we*summon the mother, and ask— " How is it that you have induced your daughter to commit this crime ? " She answers—" To save her from a life of infamy, or a death Every female should be virtuous; but if nature overpowers reason in one case, let nature work out her own ends, j We should not make the more important depend upon the less, nor the natural upon the artificial.) It is highly proper that the girl should become a wife, but it is 17 very natural that she should become a mother. Now because she is so unfortunate as not to be a wife, it is no reason that she should commit a crime against nature to avoid being a mother. But society must accept this doctrine, and practice upon it, before it can influence individuals. CHAPTER VILI. Resteliism—How to moderate it. The truth is, that this very case of Madame Restell, with her whole life, career, practice, and alleged crimes, involves the whole unsettled question of morals and legislation, in re- gard to them. Restollism, which the laws are summoned to check and punish, exists, because there is either too much pretence of virtue in society, or too little practice. Our standard is too high, or from some cause, we fall too far below it. Either female frailty is looked upon too severely, or we do not take the right means to prevent it: either marriage is considered as of too much importance, or its sanctity is not well enough practised : either seduction is too harshly judged a crime, or we do not go to work lightly in its prevention and punish- ment.^ The one way or the other, we are wrong; and un- natural causes produce unnatural effects. > In some way, we violate natural laws in our social habits, and these violations lead to other, and more fatal ones. Wroiig produces wrong —a little wrong brings a greater. A good tree does not bring forth evil fruit. As a professional man—as a student of nature, and of so- ciety— as a calm and philosophical observer, I cannot escape the conviction that this woman, Restell, is to be looked upon as an effect, rather than a cause.) She may hold out induce- ments to sin—she may proffer impunity—but stills he is not the original cause. With all the rest, she may be culpable ; with all the others, she may be punished ; but the legislator must go to the root of the evil, of which this abomination is the fruit. That root, 1 am satisfied, is popular ignorance and prejudice, founded on that ignorance.'! 18 CHAPTER Madame Restell at home- Her style of living—Her Family—Her dre»s in Broadway—Her own view of herself. It will have been seen by the reader, that Madame Restell is not, by any manner of means, in her personal appearance, the detestable old French hag that some imagine her to be. Not a bit of it ; the farthest from it. Call at her mansion, in Greenwich street, and it looks like any thing else than a den of horrors. Her spacious parlors, with folding doors, are carpeted with the richest Brussels— the furniture is elegant—the mirror superb—the candelabre and ornamental bejouterie, splendid ;f the pictures which adorn the walls, are gems of art, raie and costly, bespeaking the taste and wealth of the nwiier.,^ . v The lady, who reclines gracefully in a chaise lonyge, an American rocking chair, is the identical " female fiend" whose career we have endeavored to describe. Is she detestable ? On the contrary, she is charming; her figure is admirable— her toilet is irreproachable. To wear her dresses with such an air, she must have seen the beat society ; and so she has— professionally. Her short sleeve exposes a round, plump arm, that looks remarkably white and enticing. Her low- neck dress shows to great advantage her rouud, handsome shoulders, and a bust of faultless development. Her head is well formed, her hair is admirably arranged, and her features show energy and intelligence. That tall and handsome man, of thirty-five, is her husband, Charles Lohman, a printer by trade, who has been also an editor by profession, if the art preservative will allow me to make the distinction. And that pretty young Miss, of fifteen, is their only child. ( This is the domestic sanctuary juf Mrs. Lohman, as well as the business office of Madame Restell. A carriage drives dashingly up to the door, and a smart servant, in a neat and modest livery, announces that it waits her pleasure. Four superb horses are champing their bits, and an hour afterwards, they are rolling up the dust of the Third Avenue. All the fashion and gaieties of the city are out, and it is impossible to tell how many familiar faces 19 Madame Restell sees of an afternoon. Some nod a cold and haughty recognition—some steal a timid one—and many blush crimson, when they meet her, especially if they are with those they fear to observe them. Our" female fiend" rolls on, lolling serenely on her luxuri- ous cushions, without a frown, without a blush, but with many a slight smile, which changes from droll to satirical, according to those that meet her. After a pleasant drive, this " monster in human shape" crashes again the pavement, and taxes the admiration of Broadway, and returns to her mansion, to give her professional services to such as require them, and are able to pay for them. It will be perceived, from this little sketch, that Madame Restell differs somewhat from a portion of the press and the public, in her estimation of her own character and position. - It does not seem to occur to her that she is the horrible wretch they think her. c. It is certain that she looks upon all this as sheer persecution—the result of an ignorance she pities, or an envy she despises.' She turns up her pretty eyes at the idea of her being a female hyena ; and as for her committing any crime, she don't believe a word of it. No—Madame Restell is, in her own estimation, a philoso- pher, a philanthropist, and in more ways than one, a public benefactor^ She has the most serene and complacent ideas of her importance to society, and she really don't seo how the community could possibly get along without her. She would tell you, in a very affecting way, no doubt, of the fears 6he had allayed, the agonies she had removed, and the sorrows and misfortunes concealed. ) In all this she has the most un- bounded confidence. She positively thinks that she is one of the nicest, best, bravest little women in the world ; and she would be very indignant, if any one should offer to dis- pute it. After all, it is but a little difference of opinion, in her view, and in such a remarkably free country as this, a mere differ- ence of opinion may be toleratedv Madame is a philosopher, a reformer—and aims to be a benefactor.) If you don't ac- cept of her theories of society and morals ; at the best you need not quarrel with her. n Thus thinks Madame Restell ; but unfortunately for her "philosophy, the Legislature, the Grand Jury, and the Court of Sessions, appear to entertain somewhat different opinions. As no one must be condemned without a hearing, we will discuss these opinions,unfortunate- ly 60 conflicting, in another chapter. 20 CHAPTER X. The morality of Re.-tcllism discussed. The legislature of the State of New Vork has proved a set of sturdy unbelievers in the philosophy of Restellism. Refusing to pass any laws punishing seduction or adultery, they have passed a very stringent act against procuring abor- tion, so that it is quite evident that checks on population do not meet their approbation at all. At present, and in this country, population is wealth and a blessing, and the public is not disposed to look with favor upon any means for keeping it down. Old maids are ridi- culed, and old .bachelors abused. Every man who fails to marry, is looked upon as a bad citizen, and he who has no children, is looked upon as very unfortunate ; and if it was inspected that it was voluntary, a premeditated prevention, it would be thought a great wickedness. These seem to be the instincts or teachings of nature. Procrastination is the great universal law, and its only re- strictions are such as are lequired by good morals and the best interests of society.") Matrimony is provided, for the greater happiness of the parties themselves, and to enable them to properly take care of and educate their offspring. The first object of marriage, and of the sequal connexions, must be the procreation of offspring. J Any effort to prevent that legitimate end, then, is a violation of the laws of nature, and is therefore wrong. What proves ir. wrong is, that the same reasons which would justify the use of preventive mea- sures in the married state, would justify their use with the unmarried ; ran immorality which, of course, no one can in- tend to justify. For if the begetting of children is avoided, the main object of marriage is lost, and chastity ceases to be a virtue, ,if it could be made to appear that the practice of preventing conception is not a vice. So much for the use of the preventive powders; the efficiency of which, however, I by no means endorse. The taking of violent emmenagogues during pregnancy, to produce an early miscarriage, is a practice highly unnatural, dangerous, and wrong. No woman has the right to thus'in- terfere with the operations of nature, nor to tamper with her 21 own constitution. The grand processes of nature cannot be disturbed, withort the most fearful hazards. A pregnant wo- man is in a most delicate situation, and the more we rely on nature, and the less we have to do with art, the better. The drugs given to effect the destruction of a germ of being, are often poisons of the deadliest character, and too oftenfa double murder is committed by their administration. But when,, in a more advanced stage, itheconaes necessary to rupture certain membranes, by mechanical means, and thus bring on a real, though premature labor, the means and the end become at once detestable and diabolical; and the person who would be guilty of such an offence, would ^commit murder with a proportionably strong inducement.— This crime is perilous in the last degree. The constitution, preparing all its powers for the natural result, receives a ter- rific shock, from which it can scarcely recover. I know of no words too strong, with which to characterize the atrocity of this act. ^ I know of scarcely any punishment too great for all the principals to such an outrage on nature, and there- fore on society.) To say nothing of the demoralizing influ- ence of such practices—to say nothing of the natural results of holding out impunity to lasciviousness, these acts are, and ought to be, held in horror and detestation, by every intelli- gent and virtuous mind. CHAPTER IX- Particulars of the case for which Madame Resell w now on trial. The career of Madame Restell had not been without its trials and reverses. She was indicted, tried, and convicted of the offence, then only a misdemeanor of law, of commit- ting abortion ; but, her case being carried to the Supreme Court, on a bill of Exceptions, the conviction was found tech- nically informal, and Madame escaped the sentence of fine and imprisonment. But the Legislature of 1S46, having made this crime man- slaughter, in the second degree, and punishable as a felony, 22 by imprisonment in the State Prison, the last complaint against Madame Restell is of a very serious character. The complaint, in this case, came from a female, whose name is Maria Bodine. The history of this case is said to bo the following: Information came to the Magistrates of this city, that this female, Maria Bodine, being in a low state of health, had revealed to her physician, in Orange county, the fact that Madame Restell had performed upon her an operation, which had produced a premature delivery, of which her illness was the consequence. On being brought to this city, and examined before the Grand Jury, she made, substantially, the following state- ment. She stated that she had been in the employ of a man named Joseph P. Cook, a cotton manufacturer, residing at Walden, Orange county. She lived with him in the ca- pacity of a house-keeper, under which circumstances, as she avers, he seduced her ; and, becoming encientc, she was per- suaded by him to come to this city, to avoid exposure, and subsequently to apply to Madame Restell, to produce an abortion. She went—and, as her story goes, was asked by Madame, how much money she had. The amount was declared insuffi- cient, and she was advised to return to Orange county, and bring with her the necessary fee; which she did, having ap- plied to the instigator and partner of her guilt. The operation, she says, was one of excrutiating torture, and the shock upon her system, by this violent and unnatu- ral procedure, brought her to the verge of the grave ; and in this situation she revealed her crime. Upon this testimony, the (Jrand Jury found bills of indict- ment for manslaughter, in the second degree, against Ma dame Restell, and she was arrested on a bench warrant, just as she returned from her daily drive, and was taken to the City Prison ; and, with a species of practical wit, which could only originate at the Tornbs, she was confined in a cell for- merly occupied by the pirate Babe. Her bail was fixed at ten thousand dollars; several persons were offered as bail, and rejected by the court; but, that which could not be refused, was finally obtained, by depositing a sum equal to the amount of bail required, in Treasury notes, and bv paving a bonus of $1000. J V J In the mean time, officer Boyer was sent up to Orange 23 county, where he arrested Cook-, who also gave bail, at the Court of Sessions. The Police Gazette gives the following description of Cook and bis paramour: " He is at least 50 years of age, quite bald on the top of his head, and wears his grey sidelocks tied across to cover his glistening nob. £ The contour of his face betokens a man of strong lascivious passions, with grey gravy eyes, such as are seen in the broad-horn/ed he goat.) His victim is a yountr woman, of about 25 years of age, of pleasing address, and face betokening the relics of much personal beauty." It has been stated in the public prints, that no complaint, in this case, would ever have been entered, but for the treatment Matia Bodine received fronTTJook, after her application to Madame Restell. It was said that he refused to give her money when she applied to him, or have any thing further to do with her, as she had been of sufficient expense and trouble to him already. It is also alleged that this female has sus- tained , aside from this, an immoral character ; and it would appear, that to make a sufficiently strong case for the pun- ishment of the parties to this crime, her testimony should be fully corroborated : as, for aught we know, may be the result when the case is brought to trial. The house of Madame Restell has been nearly two years under the strict surveilance of the police—and many persons who have visited her have been traced to their dwellings ; but this is the first case, in that period, that has been fastened upon her ; and it may be doubted, whether, even now, it is of a nature to convict her of the heinous crime, with which a Grand Jury, on their oaths, have charged her. But what- ever the result of this trial, it is to be hoped that means will je taken to suppress this odious business in all its branches ; and if nothing else will do it, let our Magistrates try the sug- gestion of the Sunday Dispatch, and arrest and punish a dozen of the most wealthy and aristocratic of the patrons of the abortionist. 94 PROSTITUTION IN NEW YORK: iTi EXTENT—CAUSES AND EFFECTS UPON SOCIETY—WITH SOME HINTS UPON THE BEST METHOD OF SUPPRESSING IT, CHAPTER I. Restellism may either cause or prevent prostitution—History, exteut, and importance ol this subject. Restellism, or the publications, and practices of Madame Res- tell, are accused on the one hand, of promoting prostitution; while it is contended on the other side, that they prevent it. Probably they do both. The girl who allows herself to be corrupted, but who, by any means contrives to escape the natural consequence of her fault, may still retain her position, and finally become respectably established in life: and this may also be the case, when pregnancy is commenced, and certain means are resorted to, for the purpose of concealment. It is very true that the agency of Madame Restell may pre- vent exposure, disgrace, and consequent abandonment to a life of prostitution—f that existence, which, however wrong, is still more wretched "than wrong/) On the other hand, it may be true, that many girls would have retained their virtue or chastity, so far as acts are con- cerned, were it not for the impunity held out and promised by the use of Madame Reslell's preventive or remedial measures. The career of guilty pleasure once begun, habit and inclina- tion may continue it, till all virtue, decency, and shame, are lost, and the girl becomes a poor abandoned creature. Or exposure ai.d consequent disgrace may come from other means. Libertines are but too apt to boast of their adven- tures. The last accident may set to wagging the tongue of scandal ; and a girl's reputation once lost, she is soon hunted from all reputable society, and almost forced up>.n the town. Thus it may be, that while Restellism may save some from the misery of prostitution, it may also precipitate others into 25 that condition of life, which it may be proper and well for us in this connection, to describe. I use the term of prostitution in its restricted sense, and by the term prostitute, mean those females who sell their favors promiscuously, and who depend principally upon thi6 resource for a subsistence. Prostitution appears to be every where the accompaniment of civilization, and one of its necessary conditions. This is a natural inference from the well known fact, that there is not, and never has been a nation in the world, removed from bar- barism, in which there did not exist the element of public prostitution. Prostitutes were common among the Jews, the Greeks, the Romans, and the Oriental nations—as much, or more so, as they are among all civilized countries at this day. In some countries and ages, they have been favored, cherished, and protected by the laws-^-in others, frowned upon and perse- cuted,'but in all they have been tolerated ; and in this respect society, in three thousand years, has experienced little change. Thebes, Jerusalem, Corinth, and Rome, were as well supplied with public women, as at this day are London, Paris, New York, or New Orleans ; and thus the subject is by no means a new one; yet it is one of the most important, in all its bear- ings, connected with the organization of society, and one which command the profound attention of physicians, philan- thropists, magistrates, and legislators. Viewed in this light, the whole subject may be con- sidered in such a serious manner, that it would not offend the feelings of the most fastidious. 2G CHAPTER II. Number of prostitutes in different citie9—Number in New York—Age- Condition and fate. / Of that unhappy order of females, who are deprived of standing and respectability in society : who are detested or pitied by their own sex, and often treated with cruelty and contempt by the other ; who are considered as the outcasts of society, the victims of their own necessities or condition, and of the appetites and passions of men—every city in the wot Id contains a portion. Certain circumstances make that proportion gieater in some, and less in others. A city with a fixed population, and little business, will have compara- tively few, while cities of great trade, extensive commerce, and which have from any cause a large floating population, have a much greater number in proportion to their population. Thus Rome, being a resort for strangers, Paris having always an immense number of visitors—London, a mart of commerce for the whole world, and New York, the first city on this con- tinent, have all of them a large number—and a number, it will be found, not far from equal, compared with the popula- tion. The real number in all these cities has been absurdly over- rated by persons(who seem interested in putting the worst possible face upon society/? The truth is bad enough, wjthout exaggeration./ ♦ There are in this city, according to the accurate returns of the Chief of Police,* 904 houses of prostitution in this city; and y.4S3 public prostitutes. That the re- turns of the bureau of Police are pretty accurate, any person may satisfy himself by an easy calculation. The whole popu- lation of this city is not far from four hundred thousand. The numbers of the sexes being nearly equal, we have two hun- dred thousand females. From this number let us take all under fourteen, and all over forty, and we may set down the number remaining, capable of prostitution, at, say sixty thou- sand. Now from this number of sixty thousand women, sub- tract all the virtuous wives and daughters of our citizens; all respectable women and girls, who support themselves in * See Report, Nov.U, 1816. 27 various occupations, such as milliners, seamstresses, book- binders, etc. etc., and the thousands of servant girls, and we necessarily narrow down the possible number of common prostitutes to the returns of the police. Not that all women, not included in this number, are virtuous—but that is not the present question, we are speaking of public prostitution as it exists among us. Still this number, when we consider it, is a very large one. It is a great many females, to be sacrificed to the vices of society, and plunged into a life of infamy. If we imagine this number drawn out in a line, like a body of troops on a field day, they present a heart-rending spectacle. • Let us not taik of the horrors of war, when we have such a horrid spectacle as this ever before us.^ The girls composing these thousands of common prostitutes, come from every rank of life, and from both city and country— but far the greatest portion are from tie lowest rank, in in- telligence and wealth. The examples of educated and ac- complished prostitutes, who have been surrounded by every advantage, are comparatively rare ; and in such cases, there is either strong depravity, unruly passions, some crushing misfoirtune, or some bitter wrong. Nine-tenths of these poor girls are very ignorant, and have grown up under every social disadvantage. It. is remarkable, how large a proportion of these girls are born and brought up in the country. Three-fourths of all, I do not think would be too large an estimate. Some are seduced in the country, and are brought to th% city as a refuge from exposure. , They are taken to a house of prostitution, and soon abandoned. Others first come to the city to seek employment in domestic service, or some trade ; and then their very igno- rance of vice, often proves the means of their downfall, which a city education would have led them to avoid. Many a mother, in neglecting to give her daughter proper instructions and cautions on this subject, has been more nice than wise, and the ignorant purity cf many a maiden's mind, has been the cause of her undoing.) . The ages in which women enter upon this life, are various. Many are far advanced in life. There are married women, who have been ill-treated by drunken or brutal husbands, or who have been deserted by scoundrelly ones, or who detected in some amour, hive been disgracefully divorced. Others enter upon this shocking career at an incredibly 28 early period, and a considerable number of girls have been arrested by our police, from ten to fourteen years of age. These were poor abandoned children, sent out to sell small articles, to beg, or steal, or for this very purpose, by unnatural parents. The corrupters of these very young girls, are usually men far advanced in life. Though the number of prostitutes is always about the same, ^—~j\n proportion to the population, the individuals which com- flpose ifejs body change with remarkable rapidity, six or seven years being the average time in which persons remain in this • situation. The body is constantly recruited—in a few years —.there is almost a total change. The town has a constant suc- cession of new faces. Where do the old ones go to 1 They do not die off at this rate; by no means. The enquiry is a very curious one, and the results will surprise those who have not given the matter their attention. There are two remarkable things to be observed. Some girls, and by far the most elegant and beautiful, from the mo- ment their life of prostitution commences, go down a regu- larly inclined plane, to destruction and death. • Commencing as fashionable kept mistresses, they go next to the most luxu- rious houses : there getting bad habits, they go to those of a lower class, until with drink and disease, they go to the low- est brothels, the hospital, and the potter's field. On the other hand, there are an abundance of cases, where the course is precisely opposite. Commencing with the vilest debasement, I have seen girls rise gradually, through every grade, and fi- nally marry well, and live respected and happy. There are all intermediate conditions and destinies. It ap- pears, from the most accurate information I can obtain, that, as a general rule, prostitutes, in from five to seven-years, be- come utterly disgusted with a life of promiscuous prostitu- * tion, and take any means that offers to escape from it. Some in- duce their lovers, to whom they have become attached, to keep them, and the greater portion of them are finally married. Others induce rich men, who take a fancy, to set them up in some kind of business—such as millinery or confectionary. Others are carried off to the South and West, by men who take a liking" to them ; others resort to various means of ob- taining a livelihood ; but, in one way or another, more than two-thirds of all our prostitutes manage to escape from this mode of existence. The rest die of disease, generally after a wretched life, passing from one scene of drunkenness and debauchery to another^ 2S CHAPTER III Situation and Description of Houses of Prostitution in New York--and their Inmates. Of the number of houses of prostitution, given in the re- turns of the Chief of Police, there are some in every ward of the city ; but by far the greater number cluster in certain localities. There are a few houses in the First, Second, and Third Wards .scattered in by-streets, and generally but lit- tle known. There are more in the Fourth Ward, but the great mass of the lower part of the city lie in the Fifth, Sixth, Eighth, and Fourteenth. On the VVest side of Broad- way, commencing at Chambers street, the whole district bor- dering on Church street and West Broadway, with the cross- ing streets, is studded with houses of this description. This is particularly the case with Church, from Chambers to Franklin streets, and with Duane, Thomas, Anthony, and Leonard ^streets, particularly between Church and Hudson streets. This tract Includes, some of the most splendid, as well as some of the vilest, dens of infamy to be found in this city. ' Keeping still on the West of Broadway, there are a con- siderable number in Mercer street, and more or less in all the streets running parallel to Broadway, between Canal and Prince, and from Broadway to Varick street. Some of these have very few, but I doubt if any street in those boundaries is entirely free from houses of this description. Crossing to the East side of Broadway, we find in Reade street and Elm, and generally in all that neighborhood, houses of this kind, and generally of a very low grade. Crossing Centre,(we come to that sink of infamy—for such it is, literally and morally^-called the Five Points ; and for a certain distance around it, and generally the whole erea bounded by Broadway, Reade street, Chatham, the Bowery, and so on, there may be found an intermixture of houses of this description,' of all varieties, but generally the lowest. Leaving this vast infected district, we must cross over to the sailor boarding houses, which skirt the East River, and end 30 at the Hook in the# brothel dance houses of Walnut street. These houses are as various in their character, inmates, and customers, as in their situation. The first class houses are those which are of the most strictly private character.— Every thing is quiet and elegant; there is nothing which need give suspicion to the next door neighbor. None are admitted but acquaintances, and no one need think of gain- ing an cntre unless introduced. These houses are very quiet, very safe, in every point of view, and very expensive. They are patronized by the higher classes, are favorite resorts of distinguished strangers, and the confidential and respectable country friends of our more prudent citizens. The next class is that of the splendid and gorgeous des- cription. The houses are large, and built in the most elegant manner, with marble mantels throughout, mahogany doors, and silver plate knobs and hinges; you see nothing but the richest Brussels carpet, mirrors of plate glass, elegant chan- deliers, marble tables and wash stands, and furniture of gold and velvet, or brocade. Every thing is in proportion to this luxurious style. The " young ladies" are dressed in the heighth of the prevailing fashion, which suits their taste to a remarkable degree. The visitor is expected to buy Cham- paigne wine at three dollars a bottle. The young ladies would not object to a terrapin or oyster.supper, at one of the neighboring refectories; and h*e who is induced to remain till morning, must expect to find his purse from five to ten dol- lars the lighter./ But he runs no risk of being robbed, as in houses of this class the most scrupulous honor is observed, In other respects, however—1 mean health and reputation— he has no guarantee of safety/? The next class are like the above, only in being more nu- merous and less splendid—descending by degrees down to the common, the vulgar, and the low. The gradation is so natu- ral that we need not enter into particulars. We find an in- creasing carelessness, lor vulgar tawdriness of costume—a more open disregard of defiance of the proprieties of life-r- grosser or more openly displayed habits in the use of liquor and tobacco, and various other marks of difference. As we descend the scale, the admission of visitors is less partic- ular, and the language less choice., Common wines, brandy, and porter, often take the place of Charapaigne. Prices taken, though not the prices asked, deteriorate. In short, we go down, step by step, from bad to worse, through the whole range of prostitution and rowdyism. / 31 There is a class of houses, in other respects like these, which are of a still more dangerous character. They are pannel houses, where by onedevice or another, the clothes of the stranger are plundered by a confederate, while he is in bed. An alarm is then given—the pretended wife announces the approach of the terrible husband, and the plundered trav- eller, hurrying on his clothes, rushes out of the house, leaving his money behind. These thefts are managed with great adroitness, and most men prefer standing the loss in silence, to the disgrace of an exposure. There are houses of a lower class, where the unwary stranger, a sailor, or a green countryman, is made insensible, by drugging his liquor : and while in this state of oblivious- ness, he is robbed, and stripped, perhaps, and then, at night, shoved into some street; and when he wakes up, he can re- member so little, that he has no clue to the robbers. The brothels of the Five Points and the Hook, form the bottom of this scale. Every house is a dance-house, a grog- shop, and a brothel. Bad fiddling, bad liquor, and the most debased, drunken and wretchedly discarded of prostitutes /are found in these horrible dens of filth and debauchery.--^- TThe women found here are either such as have been plunged at once into this condition, or such as have descended, step by step, the ladder of vice and degradation. In either case, they are likely to be bloated with rum,(and rotten with dis- ease.j They keep memory drowned in intoxication—chew- ing snufl", smoking tobacco, and eating opium, perhaps, keeps up their stimulus. ^lt is impossible to conceive the pitiable condition of these poor wretches: exposed to every descrip tion of brutality, and the victims of every kind of excess.) 32 CHAPTER IV. Assignation Houses—Manners and Habits of 1'rostiuites. ., Besides the houses, mentioned in the last Chapter, j there is still another, and a considerably large one, called houses of Assignation. These, when kept entire- ly as such, contain no inmates, who are prostitutes, though, as a general rule, there are more or less to be found in near- ly all these houses. ,' The particular design, however, of a house of Assignation, is to furnish temporary accommodations to such as apply to them. *> These are used, not only by pub- lic prostitutes, but by such street walkers as have other occu- * pations, by married women and their paramours, and, in short, by all who have occasion for private accommodations of this character. Whatever may be thought of the necessities , of the houses of common prostitution, there can be no doubt of the very immoral tendency of houses of Assignation. They are the resorts of vice in the first steps of their down- ward progress. Thousands are led away from the paths of virtue, who would never have left them, but for the facilities of convenience and privacy furnished by these establish- ments. We may properly say something more upon the manners, habits, and mode of life, of these classes of prostitutes. Their life is usually as idle as it is dissolute. Generally with- out any taste for literary amusements, or any kind of em- ployment, they are only intent upon killing time. Cards are a common resource, but as they have little to win or lose, they do not gamble with one another, though most of them speculate in lottery tickets and policies. Cards are used mostly to tell fortunes; and, ignorant and superstitious, and living by luck, they place great reliance upon this lnode of looking through the curtain of the future. The love of stimulation seems to naturally follow a life without industry or object. Drinking gin is exceedingly com- mon. The use of opium is scarcely as much so ; yet that, among prostitutes, is sufficiently common ; but the almost universal stimulant is the yellow scotch snuff, with which 33 they fill their mouths several times a day, rubbing it upon their teeth and gums, until there is induced a complete intox- ication. Smoking cigars, and even pipes, for the same pur- pose, is by no means uncommon. As most prostitutes are sensual by nature, they eat and (sleep much, and have a tendency to obeiity. Three-fourths are of more than ordinary fatness. This peculiarity has been noticed by many physicians; but the true reason, is proba- bly, correctly stated aboveT} As night approaches, the duties of the toilette give them employment, and every one puts on whatever finery she pos- sesses ; and sometimes a single showy dress is the extent of her wardrobe. The girls who live in the first class of houses usually spend their evenings at home. Generally, they do not care to be seen in common places of public resort, and as their company comes in the evening, they remain to receive them. There is a particular set, who habitually and constantly frequent the third tiers of the theatres. There may be two hundred in all, who nearly every night may be seen at the Park, Broadway, Bowery, Olympic, and Chatham. The char- acters of these girls vary curiously with that of the house. At the Park and Broadway they are genteel and formal ; at the Olympic, bizarre and grotesque ; at the Bowery and Chat- ham, sensual, bold, and roystering. The audiences of these Theatres do not differ more than the female frequenters of their third tiers. There is another, and a larger class, who walk the public streets. These may be found on both Broadway, from Ful- ton to Prince streets, and all the adjoining streets. Of these there must be three or four hundred. They generally live in houses of a smaller class, to which they take their company ; though many 6treet-walkers live in no regular house of pros- "* titution, and so resort to houses of Assignation with which thoy are acquainted. From dark till midnight, in summer and winter, these poor creatures may be seen walking up and down—before the hotels, and along the walk, turning down nearly every corner, to give those who wish to do so an opportunity to follow them. /Judge how wretched must be such a life of prostitution as this, and 6ay if it is not enough to drive these poor out-casts to drunkenness and despair.) We need not descend further into the scale. iDown to the lowest and filthiest dens of crime, every vice increases, and 34 'every virtue diminishes, until angelic woman becomes the ! most revolting creature that crawls upon the foot-stool of God. >*~Tt must not be. supposed that this picture has no lighter spots. There is certainly a deep shade over all, but there are still spots of comparative brightness. ' Unquestionably there are some who have fine and well-cultivated intellects —some who have hearts full of kindness and charity, and who o-ladly relieve the distresses of those around them. A deep ^ sense_of religion is often observed. Many "are scrupulously lionest and honorable in all their dealings ; they would not tell a falsehood, and might be trusted with untold gold. There are some, too, Who, amid all this profligacy and impu- rity, seem to preserve their souls, untainted, and are capabjp of all the love, fondness, truth and devotion of which any woman in the world is capable. These are exceptions. CHAPTER V. " Friends " of Prostitutes—Curioii.j Facts in this Connection. There is one circumstance in connection with prostitution in a large city, which is deserving of special attention, par- ticularly of public magistrates. It is the fact that correspond- ing to the class of prostitutes, and nearly equalling them in number, is a peculiar class of the male sex. It is found, that notwithstanding a woman's habitual prosti- tution of herself, she does not lose the natural desire of hav- ing one man as her constant friend and companion.* Thus, ^almost every woman pf the town, of every class, has her lover, who not only enjoys her favors without payment, but who, in a majority of cases, draws more or less of his support from her. The woman who keeps a house of ill fame, has her man. The kept mistress has her lover, to whom she gives the money which she has wheedled out of her keeper ; and the prostitutes of the town, of every class, have their "friends/' , Thus, we have in this, as in every large city, a class of men, who have no visible means of support, who dress well ac- 35 • cording to their various fancies, who are seldom without money in their pockets, who are always ready for a game of bowls, billiards or dominoes, who never neglect the races, who attend places of public amusement,-who are earnestly engaged in saving the country at every election, but who never do the slightest work, nor add in anyway to the wealth of society. It is often asked, " How do they live V Hero we have the answer. This class of men runs through every grade, from the exquisite who picks his teeth on the3steps of the Astor House, to the vulgar rowdy, who is ready to fio-ht any one that insults his woman. Strange state of society ! Yet not more strange than true. And these abandoned women, whom the world supposed so utterly heartless, make sacrifices for their lovers, which many a married woman would shrink from, if required by her hus- band. They go without the necessaries of life, to provide them money to support them in idleness. They submit to ill treatment—insane jealous quarrels—and are often beaten and maltreated ; but, though virtue is gone, fidelity and devotion remain, and the woman clings all the closer, it would appear, to the man who abuses her. It will be seen that any system for the reformation of society, so far as prostitution is con- cerned, must not fail to take this element into consideration. These connections, however, are not of unmixed evil; for it sometimes, perhaps often, happens that these young men, after having been for a time supported by their paramours, have such a fondness for them, that, in order to rescue them from the necessity of prostitution, they become industrious, and in turn support them in a reputable and virtuous manner, and in time become respectable, and even wealthy citizens, moving in the best classes of society. In this way, some portion of'this evil works its own cure. These attachments are generally stronger than one who had not had the opportunity of observing them could suppose them to be. They generally either iuin the man, or elevate the woman. Both rise, or both fall. Too often, it is to be feared, and too generally, the latter. I am aware that thousands will doubt the correctness of these'observations. How is it possible, they will ask, that a common prostitute, who sells her favors as a matter of trade, / who yields herself to any man who will pay her, can entertain / a strong attachment for any one ] It may not be easy to ex- \ plain how it is possible. I only know, from extensive obser- 36 vation, that it is true. I will leave to those who have more leisure for the enquiry, to explain the whys and wherefores. Yet, if we accent of the phrenological theories, we shall find, that the propensity which is the basis of friendship and union for life, is not necessarily destroyed by an improper exercise of amativeness ;rand besides this, it may not be im- proper for me to state, as a physiological truth, arid a very important one, the fact that a prostitute who takes no sort of pleasure in promiscuous intercourse, may yet vividly enjoy the embraces of the man she loves. *) This fact is so well known, and so perfectly understood, that among this class, the lover is not jealous of this common intercourse, while his, fiercest resentments are aroused at the suspicion that a con-< nection with any other than himself is attended with pleasure. Strange as this will appear to many persons, I have had oc-' casion many times to verify the correctness of this observa- tion. CHAPTER VI. The evils of prostituti'.'ti. The evils of prostitution are evident and manifold. Many of those, which visit the unhappy prostitutes themselves, I have already adverted to. I shall now speak of the evil results to society, in which they do, or do not share. The expense of public prostitution is an important matter in public economy. Here are several thousands of females, with their "friends" and dependants,who produce nothing to the public, and whom the public is obliged to support. They are the drones of the public hive, and a burthen, to the extent of all they consume, on the public industry. This is the general view of the case. When we come to particulars, we find that men are kept poor, by the extravagance of such ex- penditures-^!] at others take the money which should support their families; tp squander on prostitutes—that apprentices and clerks are induced to steal from their masters and em- ployers ; and that in this way habits of dishonesty are en- couraged. All these are great evils. 37 The loss of reputation incurred by young men, who fre- quent the society of prostitutes, is a serious evil in society. Many a young man of fair promise has been ruined in his worldly prospects, by such associations. Some of the most promising young lawyers and politicians in this city, have in a few months found their reputations utterly blasted by yield- ing to temptations of this character—a fact which could be testified to if need be, by at least one member of our State Legislature. The ruin of a young man of ability in this man- ner, is a real and a serious injury to society. Married men are too often led away by these beautiful syrens, from the duty they owe to their own lawful wives, causing jealousy, quarrels, distress, and scandal. This is a serious evil. The charm of wedded bliss, once broken in this manner, is seldom recovered. Confidence is gone, and with it, peace., However disposed to forgiveness women may be, they cannot forget sucli a slight, and too many of them take the readiest means of revenge; thus, increasing the evil. When men have growing families of children, a disgrace of this kind is reflected upon them, and children are always more or less judged by the character of their parents—nor is such judgment altogether unjust. Another serious evil is, that public prostitution prevents marriages. Men get a roving propensity, or form an impro- per attachment. In either case, they do not seek to mate with a virtuous woman The result is, a vagabond system of old bachelorism, and a forced celibacy or prostitution among females. Thus, if women are virtuous, they are by this means forced into a life of loneliness and poverty, when they should have the love, protection, and support of a husband, according to the order of nature. And this is a terrible evil. On the other hand ; the lack of au opportunity to marry, with a woman of strong passions, may plunge her into this very career of vice and abandonment. Thus prostitution reacts upon society, and supports itself. Prostitutes make men libertines, and in turn, libertines make women prostitutes. Thus there is a constant reciprocal action. But the most awful of all the evils of promiscuous prostitu- tion, is that of which I can, as a medical man, speak with the most propriety. This vice has been punished with the most horrible of human diseases—a disease which, when it first ap- peared, spread terror and desolation through the world— which spread over the globe with the most frightful rapidity, 38 and which scourged and desolated whole nations. I mean, of course, the disease usually called Syphilis, but which, since its first appearance, has received various designations; and I trust that at brief description of the history, nature, and effect of this disease, may have a beneficial effect. I shall make it as little technical, and plain as possible. The Syphilitic disease was not known in the civilized world, ' until the end of the fifteenth century. Up to this period, the grossest licentiousness had raged, unchecked by any such punishment. Neither in the Oriental nations, nor in Greece, nor Rome, in all the vice and abandonment of obscurity of which we have such full descriptions, do we hear of any vene- rial disease, which answers to the Syphilis, of the last three hundred years, and such a disease was not known in Europe until after the discovery of America by Columbus. At this period it broke out like a plague, arid spread all over Europe, creating the greatest consternation. Evidently modified, and much checked by medical science, it has been continued down to the present day. Syphilis is a disease produced by the inoculation of a spe- cific poison or virus. The smallest quantity, applied to an abraded surface, produces, first a pustule, then an eating sore, called a chancre. The virus, if not checked or neutralized, is then absorbed into the system, and in a short time, breaks out in a sore throat, eats away the tonsils and palate, and de- stroys the bones of the nose. Eruptions come out all over the body—pains in the bones, and deep ulcers, make their ap- pearance—the bones of the legs, arms, face, and skull, rot away, and finally the patient dies miserably, one mass of poi- son and disease. This poison is communicated from one per- son to another—is given to a virtuous wife by a libertine hus- band, or vice versa, and contaminates the system of the un- born babe. Such is the general character of this horrible dis- ease, for which science has found no certain prevention, and but one cure, and that by no means an infallible specific. This disease, carried by French or English sailors to the South Sea Islands, in a few years almost depopulated some of the largest nations in the Pacific Ocean. . It is held by some, that this disease was the punishment designed by Providence for licentiousness. Were this true, it would alwavs have fol- lowed it—but it is only three hundred years since "it has been known—it only follows licentiousness in certain cases, and 39 the innocent suffer with the guilty. Viewing it in this light, I cannot assent to such a theory. It is impossible, in a brief space, to describe the deplorable effects of the Syphilitic disease. When the poison has once entered the system, we can neve'-be sure of its extermination. Apparently cured in its primary stage, it breaks out in the secondary ; seemingly subdued in the secondary form, it may appear again, after months or years, in the tertiary; appa- rently neutralized in the pareut, it may develope itself in the child, in all those dreadful forms of disease, distinguished as scrofulous and tuberculous. Attacking the lungs, it may pro- duce consumption—in the brain it is idiocy or insanity. CHAPTER VII. How should Prostitution be regulated by Law ? The laws," while they are severe upon prostitution, are quite powerless. They provide punishment for keeping houses of ill fame, and declare prostitutes to be punishable as vagrants ; yet no magistrate thinks of using these laws for any other purpose than that of keeping the necessary evil within certain bounds. Any effort to put a stop to prostitu- tion is looked upon by every man of experience as absurd, and perhaps dangerous. The evil, if suppressed in one form, would burst out in another. In very rare instances, and for some special reason, a house is broken up, and its keeper fined. Girls who are diseased, and wish to be cured ; or who are drunken and disorderly, are sent up to Blackwell's Island for a short period. This is merely the regulation of prostitution. Our magistrates do not aim at its suppression, and it would be madness for them to attempt it. Since, then, it is a settled thing, that under the present con- stitution of society prostitution cannot be suppressed and done away with ; and since the whole action of our magis- tracy and police consists in its regulation, it becomes an im- portant question, whether that regulation is properly and suf- ficiently attended to. It is this subject to which I propose to give my most serious consideration, and I demand for it the 40 attentive perusal of our legislators, magistrates, and police authorities. Since it is evident and admitted that you cannot put an end to prostitution—since it is equally evident that your only efforts are for its regulation, I demand, why are not those ef- forts more effectual ? You endeavor to protect men from being robbed of their money, and have even sent several prostitutes to state prison for picking men's pockets. I de- mand, why do you not go further, and protect thut which is far more valuable, the health and lives of the community ? If you reply, that men who are vicious ought to suffer from dis- ease, why do you try to save them from being robbed 1 Or, if you are not inclined to save the men themselves, are you not bound to protect their wives and children ? Undoubt- edly it is the duty of the police to check the ravages of infec- tious diseases, which directly attack the public welfare— which disable our soldiers and sailors—which interfere more or less with the industrial avocations of every class of citizens; It is not a question of virtue. That is settled. The laws cannot make men virtuous. They must be made so by other means. But the police can, and should check the progress of an infectious disease, which is sapping the vitality of so- ciety ; and yet they go on, and, year after year, allow such a disease to be disseminated with impunity. The communication of the syphilitic infection should be a misdemeanor of a very high grade. It ought to be punished ; or rather it ought to be prevented. Being a specific disease, always communicated, and never, at this day, originating spontaneously, it can be in a great measure, if not wholly eradicated. The civilized world has only to unite in the ef- fort, and humanity would have one curse the less. Taught by the experience of centuries, the governments of Continental Europe, acting under the advice of enlightened physicians, have taken measures to protect the public health. Sanitary regulations have been extended to all the houses of prostitution in Paris. The disease is almost entirely eradica- ted in Belgium. The regulations in Holland and Germany are so excellent, that there is almost an entire freedom from the risk of infection. England and the United States are al- most the only civilized countries which continue to breed a pestilence for the rest of the world, and to be a reproach among the nations, for the perpetuation of a filthy and horri- ble disease. 41 If it be decided that we cannot be relieved of prostitution, what is the next course to pursue ? Why, obviously to reT move as many as possible of its evils, and this is at once the greatest, the most terrible, and the most easily removed. The only objection is, that the fear of disease deters some per- sons from vice. Not one in a hundred. Are the ninety-nine to be sacrificed for the benefit of the hundredth 1 On the whole, would it not be better to remove the worst evil of prostitution from a hundred, rather than to subject the ninety- nine to it, because one is frightened into virtue, or more pro- bably turns his passions to the seduction of innocence ? * No, magistrates ! no, reformers ! The men who are fright- '\ erfed from prostitution by the fear of disease, find their vic- tims am<>ng those who would otherwise remain innocent, j The best possible protection to virtue and chastity, would be to free prostitution from the evils which are now connected with it. Is not this the dictate of plain common sense 1 CHAPTER VIII. Causes and necessities of Prostitution. I have spoken of prostitution as one of the necessary evils of our present civilization, and the fact of its being so will be considered by most persons as the strongest argument that could be given for a social reform. Considered in this light, the matter may require more explanation. We have in the port of New York, at all times, several thousands of sailors, belonging to all civilized nations. They are, a great many of them, men of wild, roving, dissolute habits, and strong animal passions. They come from long and short voyages, and their first impulse upon landing, is to gratify their passion for the other sex, which is so much the stronger, from their being deprived generally of all female companionship. I ask the moral philanthropist how, other- wise than by prostitution, could the imperious wants of this large class be gratified 'I What man's wife, or sister or daugh- ter, would be safe from their assaults, unless there were some such provision ? 42 Again, we have in this city at all times, and particularly in the spring and fall, some thousands of visitors, for busuiess or pleasure, from all parts of the United States, Single men in a strange city, or married men separated from their wives, living luxuriously at our excellent hotels, feeding on oysters and other shelly luxuries, they plunge eagerly into the vortex of pleasure ; and prostitution appears to be for this class, a necessity. When, in addition to these, we consider the great number of single men, of rakes, of libertines, of men of strong and un- controlled passions, there must be in such a large population as ours, we find all that makes a demand for prostitution, and all that in a very short period would create an adequate sup- Plv- On the other side are poverty, pride, passion, and all the motives and temptations which drive or beckon vve.ak.andjg- norant women from the path of virtue. So much is this the case—so powerful are all these causes, that were every pros- titute in New York banished to-morrow, their places would all be supplied in three months. Hence the utter uselessness of any laws for the punishment of these women, or the suppression of this practice. Hence the utter futility of all the efforts of the Moral Re- form Society to reform girls of the town. If they •have the virtue of reformation in them, they will reform themselves. If they have not, it is a waste of time to endeavor to plant it. Besides, the supply will be kept up, and for every prostitute reformed, there is 6ure to be another to take her place ; so that the best way to preserve the virtuous pure, is to let the vicious remain as they are. This seems a hard doctrine, but I will leave it to any man of sense and experience, if it is not a true one. The law of supply and demand, is the fundamental law of civilization, I care not what it is—how immoral, how detes- table, how revolting, let it be wanted, and it will be had, at one price or other. If girls could not be found in the city, there are those who would procure them from the country ; and if they would not come willingly, there are those who would not hesitate to bring them here by force. But, though there are some hor- rible stories told of such things, and though they do doubtless occur, in particular instances, as a general rule, there is poverty and immorality enough to keep the market fully sup- 43 plied, and almost overstocked. A poor girl, working fifteen hours a day for a very scanty subsistence, finds a life of ease, luxury, and what she fancies to be pleasure, such a tempta- tion as requires strong virtue, or a considerable degree of in- telligence to resist. Many—many a poor girl in this city has plunged headlong to ruin, from mere disgust of constant over-burthening labor and care—others take the same course from a miserable vanity of wearing fine dresses—others still ate seduced by their affections, and betrayed by those they trusted. The necessity of prostitution is proved, then, by the existence of an absolute, powerful, and continual demand on the one side, and by certain active causes on the other which tend to the supply, and these things constitute a necessity. Agd this necessity exists, in spite of all our newspapers, all our pulpits, all our moral reform societies—in spile of public sentiment, in spite of legislators and magistrates, because that it exists in accordance with the organization of society, and is, indeed, an integral portion thereof. It is useless, then, for the press to condemn—useless for the pulpit to denounce—useless for philanthropists to endeavor to suppress—useless for legislatures to make enactments, and useless for magistrates to endeavor to enforce useless laws. All cannot alter the constitution of society by attacking one of its results. No, gentlemen—prostitution, as a result, as a necessity, will and must exist just as long ap the present form of society exists. It belongs to it. It is its natural and inevitable con- sequence ! CHAPTER IX. Regulation of Prostitution " What can't be cured, must be endured"—was the old law. What can't be removed, must be made as"* bearable as possi- ble. Hence, then, it is certain, that either our social state, or human nature, must change, before prostitution can be done away with : and since a change in either of these must be so gradual that they are not likely to be effected in 44 our day and generation, k becomes a question of some im- portance what we are to do under these perplexing circum- stances. The prostitute takes her rank in the social body, and is to be treated according to the position she occupies. The virtuous must condemn vice, and its representatives. This is natural; but justice should be tempered with charity. It is not expected that virtuous women should associate with those who are abandoned. It would be an outrage for them to do so. The rules of social observance are, though some- what arbitrary, well defined; All are alike at Church—all professing to feel themselves guilty sinners before God ; there is no necessity of making comparisons. We never hear of a prostitute being turned out of* Church. At the Theatre, it is different; and there are but three places in which a woman of notoriously loose character can appear—and those are the third tier—the gallery, where those who wish to go more privately, appear thickly veiled— and the stage. The rest of the house is considered sacred, even by the divinities of the third tier, who-will not allow a woman of the town to appear in any other part of the house than the place already designated, if they know it. In the street, there is only this distinction : ladies do not appear in the evening unattended. After dark, all females who appear alone upon the walk, are liable to a reasonable suspicion of being no better than they should be. Under no circumstances can a prostitute appear at a res- pectable ball, party, or assembly. They have balls and par- ties of their own, which are often of a very brilliant char- acter. In public saloons of common resort, such as Castle Gar- den, confectionary and ice-cream saloons, and gardens, no exceptions can be taken ; nor is any attempt made to exclude them from places of public conveyance. In all these matters, custom has established certain rules, which cannot be vio- lated. Something more is required in the way of protection from the police. There are rowdies and rioters, who habitually abuse women of this class ; but there can be no doubt that they are, to the fullest extent, entitled to all the protection the laws can afford them, from,-.-personal violence and insult. The great necessities of this class, and of the community, however, are those connected with health. We have here 4/5 accurate police returns; but we should have, as at Paris, compulsory registration. Every keeper of a house should be made to report to the police, all necessary particulars concerning it—and especially the names and members of the inmates. There should be regular aud frequent surgical ex- aminations, at a Hospital or Dispensary provided, or by visit- ation ; and every diseased person should be instantly placed under medical treatment. A small tax, laid upon the houses or individuals, would pay all the expense attending these reg- ulations, and they would preserve the health of thousauds, prevent the perpetration of the most fatal diseases, and save men from untold misery. This is what is absolutely demand- ed by a proper regard for the public welfare, and it is to be fervently hoped, that, since the evil cannot be eradicated, these palliations may be adopted. I can see of but one remedy, and that but a gradual and partial one for this social evil, while society shall remain as it is. Education in these subjects must produce refinement— refinement produces disgust at promiscuous intercourse. The effect will be. to make men desire the proper and honorable condition of marriage, and next to that, the kind of union, during the choice of the parties, which has many of the ad- vantages of matrimony, and which may become such to all intents, where experience increases the attachments of the parties. These unions are becoming more and more com- mon every day. We may condemn them as compared with marriage, but we cannot fail to give them the preference to the heartless sensuality of promiscuous amours. A further reform must begin at the foundations of society. The position of women must be changed—the marriage rela- tion purified, and freed from all considerations but those of affection—men and women must be placed in a position of independence, by the more general distribution of wealth. The standard of both male and female education, and char- acter, must be improved. We can imagine a state of society in which prostitution would not be a necessity. 46 CHAPTER X. Seduction and Adultery Laws. It may be expected, that in a work upon morals of society, I should make some observations upon the measures now taking to procure the action o'f laws to punish offences against morality. By the common law of England, and the statues of the State of New York, neither fornication nor adultery are pun- ishable as criminal offences. In both cases, the remedy at law is by a civil suit, in an action of damages. Several of the states, however, have passed laws, punishing criminally, these offences against chastity. In Massachusetts, seduction is made a misdemeanor, and adultery a felony. A law has been passed in Pennsylvania, making seduction pun- ishable by fine and imprisonment. But it is found necessary to have these laws- so carefully guarded, that they are of little use, and can be easily evaded. The danger in such laws is, that they may be used to oppress the innocent. In case of assault and battery, it is easy to show the injury committed. In case of fraud or theft, there is a palpable injury committed. But how is this to be shown in a case of seduction. Who is to fix the exact amount of in- jury sustained, or the real guilt of the party inflicting the in- jury ? Where can be the proof that the male was the real seducer, and how can a jury be sure that there had not been a seduction previously ? It is not safe to take a woman's naked oath in such a case, since such a law may be taken advantage of, from motives of malice, or for gain, from jealousy or re- venge. It is necessary, therefore, to make such distinctions, and require such testimony as will protect the innocent, and this must'of necessity defeat the object of the law. The only seduction law that could be formed in Pennsylvania, was one to punish the seduction of girls under twenty-one years of age, who were actually seduced under the promise of mar- riage—and the law requires these circumstances to be proved by other testimuHig^lB^^j^gtif^jl.e girl. I confess I have no faith in the possibility ofany*l^|d>remedie8 for an offence of this description. A proper educatioS for girls is worth all the laws in the world. 47 Adultery is a crime of a higher grade, and a more specific character. In the case of seduction, the parties concerned are engaged in the act, as consenting parties. In the case of adultery, there is a third, the party-injured, who does not as- sent. Here is a clear injury, and a crime. For the man who commits adultery with the wife of another, though she, as a party to the guilt, can have no claim against him, both have committed a crime against the husband. There can be no objection, that I see, to a law punishing adultery, though that of divorce may be sufficient. This, however, reaches directly but one of the guilty parties. In matters of morality, the laws are well nigh powerless. Custom—the force of public opinion is far more powerful. Law, in fact, is but the written expression of public sentiment; and while society does not frown upon the seducer—while ,th« man of gallantry 4 the roue, the libertine, are tolerated, and even caressed in the social circle, and while adultery is a jest —a matter of ridicule, we can expect no laws which will be other than dead letters upon our statute book. When a se- ducer is looked upon with the same aversion as a thief—we can give him the same punishment, but not till then. When the violator of his neighbor's bed, is looked upon with the same detestation as the violator of his trunk or pocket-book, we may expect adulterers to be sent to state prison. Finally, when. society, by a thorough reformation, has removed the causes of these social evils, the effects will be no longer visible,Nand no legislation on morals will be required. CHAPTER XI. A strange Phenomenon. There is a phenomenon of prostitution, which has astonish- ed and puzzled every observer. It is the extreme and mar- vellous rapidity with which the purest girls become depraved, by this course of life. I have had many—too many opportu- nities to observe it. A girl, seemingly as pure, as modest, and as innocent; •- .; ■ ,■■ that ever breathed, becomes seduced, and is abanct ,.^d to 4S promiscuous prostitution. In the brief space of a few months, she has become a bold, brazen, impudent, audacious, foul- mouthed, vulgar prostitute, apparently destitute of-all sense of decency or shame. This is a startling phenomenon; but it is not difficult to be accounted for. The seeds of good and of evil are in every nation, and it depends upon circumstances and education, which are culti- vated, and which repressed. In this case, all good influences are removed, and all bad ones have their full sway. /'There' is no surer way of making a man a rogue, than by letting him know that every body thinks him one. 1 It is the same with a woman. Let her reputation be lost, and all is abandoned. She plunges headlong into infamy and vice.) \ The great motives to correct behavior in men and women, 'are self-respect, and a love of approbation. With the pros- titute, too generally, all self-respect is lost, and the love of approbation in evil associations, tends directly to evil—so "that the very motive which leads to every propriety of conduct in one case, is the spring of every extravagance and excess of wickedness in the other. Nor must the rapidity of this change seem surprising. When the young girl is thrown into the company of libertines and prostitutes, she finds that her most beautiful feelings, her shrinking modesty, her delicacy, her tenderness, are subjects of ridicule, and she hastens to rid herself of all that make!1 her the'jest of her associates. It is hard to conceive how very rapidly one can become wicked, if they only set earnest- ly about it. Our feelings tend to extremes. We turn from love to hate, from resentment to pity. So do we turn from purity to depravity. THE r.N'O. r '■/ n