Chicago and its cess-pools of infamyWilson, Samuel Paynter
History
Chicago and its cess-pools of infamy
Wilson, Samuel Paynter
Chicago (Ill.) -- Social conditions; Prostitution -- Illinois -- Chicago
Where these two men took her she did not know—but by the most violent
and brutal means they quickly accomplished her ruin. For a week she
was subjected to unspeakable treatment and made to feel that her
degredation was complete and final.
And here let it be said that the breaking of the spirit, the crushing
of all hope for any future save that of shame, is always a part of the
initiation of a white slave. Then the girl was shipped on to Chicago,
where she was disposed of to the keeper of an Italian dive of the
vilest type. On her entrance here she was furnished with gaudy dresses
and wearing apparel for which the keeper of the place charged her $600.
As is the case with all new white slaves she was not allowed to have
any clothing which she could wear upon the street.
Her one object in life was to escape from the den in which she was held
a prisoner. To “pay out” seemed the surest way, and at length, from her
wages of shame, she was able to cancel the $600 account. Then she asked
for her street clothing and her release—only to be told that she had
incurred other expenses to the amount of $400.
Her Italian blood took fire at this and she made a dash for liberty.
But she was not quick enough and the hand of the oppressor was upon
her. In the wild scene that followed she was slashed with a razor, one
gash straight through her right eye, one across her cheek and another
slitting her ear. Then she was given medical attention and the wounds
gradually healed, but her face was horribly mutilated, her right eye is
always open and to look upon her is to shudder.
When the raids began she was secreted and arrangements made to ship
her to a dive in the mining regions of the west. Fortunately, however,
a few hours before she was to start upon her journey the United
States marshals raided the place and captured herself as well as her
keepers. To add to the horror of her situation she was soon to become
a mother. The awful thought in her mind, however, was to escape from
assassination at the hands of the murderous gang which oppressed her.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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