=Promises of marriage.=--In very many cases procurers endeavor, through promise of marriage or by actually going through the form of marriage, to obtain control of young women and girls, and finally force them into immoral lives. A case of this kind recently arose in one of the larger cities of the Middle West. In that case a girl seventeen years of age, and of good character, became acquainted, in an apparently unobjectionable manner, with a man who, like many of his kind, appeared, on the surface, to be of good character. After a brief courtship they were duly married and left on a wedding trip to a neighboring city, where the husband--claiming that he had lost his money and was unable to secure a position--attempted to persuade the young wife to engage in prostitution. She refused and was cruelly beaten by him. Apparently, however, even then she did not appreciate the nature of the creature to which she was married, and she went with him to one of our largest Eastern cities. There again he attempted to force her to engage in immoral practices, and upon her refusal she was beaten by him, food was withheld for days, and, finally, when she had reached the point of exhaustion and was thoroughly intimidated, she was forced by her husband to receive the foreigners whom he brought to her. By this means the girl was degraded to the point where her master was able to force her to solicit on the streets and finally she was transferred by her procurer, through a white slave agency in New York City, to a house of ill repute in the city of Washington, where she was when the facts as to the matter were developed by our Bureau. As [Illustration: AMERICAN PURITY CONFERENCE.--Touring Party at Los Angeles] a result of the prosecution in this case, the defendant was sentenced to five years in the penitentiary at Atlanta, Georgia, where the managers of the agency through which she was sold are also confined. The girl was restored to her parents, and has since been living a respectable life. =Examples.=--In another notorious case which occurred in one of our Southern cities, the defendant, who is now serving a term of three years in the Atlanta penitentiary, married a very young girl--a mere child--and took her from place to place, where he arranged with cab drivers and keepers of assignation houses for meetings between his wife and other men, he taking the proceeds. The investigation in this case showed that he had previously married other girls and mistreated them in a similar manner. In another recent case, which arose in one of our Eastern cities, one of these white slavers, as a result of carefully laid plans, covering a considerable period, succeeded in separating a very young woman from her husband, and under the pretext of procuring a divorce and of marrying her, led her into an immoral life and finally succeeded in compelling her to practice prostitution and turn over her earnings to him.