It is alleged that the lawyer in question has agents on Sixth Avenue keeping tab on the street walkers. When the girl is "picked up," these agents are on the ground and see that he gets the case; he guarantees to turn her out for $50 or more, whatever he can get, but under no conditions accepts less than $35. If the girl has no ready money and has jewelry, that is taken as security. The first thing he does is to have the case adjourned for two days, which means no less than $15 for bail. During the two-days' adjournment, the lawyer "feels out" the plain clothes man who "picked up" the girl. If the detective falls, he usually gets $15 from the lawyer's fee. If the detective insists on prosecuting, the lawyer has a man ready to swear that it was he who was in conversation with the woman at the time she was arrested, though this is not usually necessary. If the plain clothes man has made an affidavit prior to the granting of the adjournment and is ready to "fall," he will permit the lawyer to entangle him in his cross-examination and to bring it out that he, the plain clothes man, approached the girl, and, in other ways, will contradict himself "safely." This is resorted to when the affidavit is unfavorable to the girl. Despite the enormous volume of prostitution in Manhattan, the actual number of convictions is small, and the main culprits go scot-free. During a period of nine months, ending September 30, 1912, 143 disorderly house cases were tried in Special Sessions. Twenty-five pleas of guilty were entered, 82 were convicted, 32 acquitted, and other disposition was made of 4. The total number of disorderly house cases received in this court from January 1, 1912, to October 1, 1912, was 180, and on September 30, 1912, there were 62 actions still pending. Of the 107 cases in which the defendants were found guilty or pleaded guilty, the following dispositions were made: Jail sentences 80 Average term being 3 months and 27 days Fines 18 The total amount being $2,325.00 or an average fine of 129.00 Suspended sentences 9 In general, the convictions secured were those of employees, the prevailing rules of evidence making it almost impossible to reach the principals. In the matter of saloons, for the year ending September 30, 1912, the Excise Commission in New York County brought revocation proceedings which resulted in the denial of the privilege of traffic in liquor for one year in only 6 cases. During the same period, the Commissioner brought 143 actions to recover the penalty under bond, of which 18 were cash bond places. These cases, we understand, refer particularly to disorderly hotels.[303]