The Vice Bondage of a Great City; or, the Wickedest City in the WorldHarland, Robert O.
History
The Vice Bondage of a Great City; or, the Wickedest City in the World
Harland, Robert O.
Chicago (Ill.) -- Moral conditions; Prostitution -- Illinois -- Chicago
There are honest policemen in Chicago. Far be it from us to cast mud of
dishonor and obloquy at all members of the department. We simply state
that a large majority of the members are corrupt and that is a positive
and known fact, although these men have managed through the protection
afforded them by their political masters to escape the penitentiary.
The police duties, consequent on the assumption to such a position are
numerous. In Chicago these are forgotten daily.
Wherever vice and sin flourish as they do here, the same condition of
police corruption is to be found. It was found in San Francisco,
Louisville, Seattle and other big cities.
THE LOST CHILD THAT IS NEVER FOUND.
To kidnap an innocent child, to rob a fond mother of the greatest treasure
God can give her, to tear away from a mother's sweet and pure embrace her
own flesh and blood--that is a crime as heinous as murder.
Kidnappings are reported to the police each day.
What is the result? About forty-five per cent of the kidnapped children
are never found.
What of the remaining? God alone can tell of the tragedies which they have
probably endured. Many of them have been slain by the demons who stole
them, many, particularly those of maturer years, have been sold into
abominable White Slavery, and others have been made slaves in other ways
to make a living for their masters.
It is the custom of the police to put the name of a missing child, who is
usually a kidnapped child, lured away from its home, on the pages of the
"missing book."
The story is sent over police wires to the various stations and precincts
as a kind of conformity to the letter necessity. These cases are not given
individual attention by the police. They are forgotten and all that is
left of the case is the faded, written report.
Occasionally a tragedy that has brought sorrow and misery to some home,
driven a mother mad with grief and robbed a father of his reason, comes to
light through the powerful influences of the newspapers.
The cases which are given display heads in the papers with pathetic
pictures accompanying them, are but few in hundreds of the stories of
missing and kidnapped children in which the tragedies are just as deep,
just as abiding and just as horrible.
These cases are usually found by some energetic and enthusiastic reporter
who "happens" upon them by chance. The circumstances appeal to him and he
"gets busy."
Day after day he prods the police into annoying activity. He finally
arouses public sympathy and interest and the police are of necessity
obliged to make a pretense at hard labor. They work on the case and
frequently obtain successful results that gladden the heart of some
frantic mother.
Did they accomplish the work?
To be fair and honest--No. The thanks are due the unknown members of the
press and not the police department.
THE EXPOSURE OF BIG CRIMES.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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