official notice of cessation was countersigned by the keeper of the _jōroya_, so that by her own effort she could not free herself. In the year 1900, one of these girls in a provincial city appealed to an American missionary for help in getting her liberty. Through his aid, and that of his Japanese helpers, her case came before the court, which decided that the contract under which she was held was opposed to the public welfare and good morals, and that the keeper must affix his seal to her notice without regard to her debt. Although the local police refused to act in the matter, and although the missionary and his helpers were subjected to personal violence by the employees of the _jōroya_, an appeal to the authorities at Tōkyō resulted in an enforcement of the court's decision, and the girl was freed. At this juncture the Salvation Army, which has a valiant contingent in Tōkyō, and which was actually spoiling for a good fight with the world, the flesh, and the Devil, in any form, took up the cause of the oppressed _jōrō_. A special edition of the "War Cry" containing appeals to the girls to leave their lives of shame, and offering aid to any one who might apply to the Army, was published and hawked through the Yoshiwara. When the keepers and their employees found out what the strangely costumed news-venders were about, they charged down upon them, and after a street fight, drove them out of the quarter. Thus the war began, but the Tōkyō police took up the matter, the Tōkyō press joined hands with the Salvationists, and in the end the whole country was stirred to aid in the attack. In return, the brothel-keepers and their employees, feeling that the profits of their business were at stake, made it extremely warm for any Salvationists or newspaper reporters who dared set foot in the disreputable quarters, and in their zeal sometimes made mistakes and drove out their would-be patrons. The office of one newspaper was wrecked by sympathetic roughs, and it took a squad of fifty or sixty police to escort Army officers when they had occasion to visit any of the houses to secure the release of a girl. No lives were lost, though some hard knocks were received, and the work was kept up with unabated noise on both sides, until every girl held in unwilling bondage knew how she might escape and to whom she could go for aid.