Scores of girls do answer the ads. They usually range from 16 to 21
years in age. The majority of them come from families in only moderate
circumstances.
They are received with every courtesy. If the girl is good looking, of
good figure and a fair entertainer she is "accepted" by the fashionably
dressed manager. If she is not up to these requirements she is told to
come back.
When the girl signs the "contract" her fate is sealed. Great
inducements are offered her.
She is told that she must join a road company traveling in the west,
and which will perform in a city probably 100 or 150 miles away on a
near date.
The girl, happy at her good fortune, is enthusiastic. She bids her
family a fond good-bye, the last, probably.
The kiss she places fondly on her mother's brow is that of a person
going to her grave. The laughing farewells she has with her young
friends are the last. The homecoming within a few months' time is never
to be realized.
The signing of her name to the contract is the signing of her death
warrant--yes, even worse than that.
In that stroke of the pen she signs away her body to the slavers.
Happily, probably accompanied by a relative, she goes to the
"theatrical agency" office to obtain her railroad ticket. There she
is introduced to a stylishly dressed man. He is to accompany her and
several other girls down to the city where they are to join the troupe,
she is told.
The stylishly dressed man is, in reality, her guard. It is his duty to
see that none of the girls escape their fate. He is to hand them over
to the divekeepers for a sum ranging from $50 to $1,000 each, at the
end of their journey.
Until the girls are handed over to the denkeepers they are treated with
the utmost respect.
They go to their fate like innocent sheep to the slaughter pen.
Probably they are taken to the city where they were told they were
going. Probably there is a "sudden change of plans" after the girls are
at the depot. They are then taken to another city from the destination
told their relatives and friends.
On the arrival at the end of their journey they are met by a woman. She
is stylishly dressed and wears many beautiful diamonds. She is probably
introduced as the "leading lady." She has taken a special interest in
the new girls. She offers to show them about the city.
It is probably at dinner or while they sleep innocently that night,
dreaming of their good fortune, that they are robbed of their senses.
A handkerchief, wet with chloroform or ether, spread over their faces
does the work. Or it may be a small powder dropped in their coffee.
Then comes the awful awakening.
The scene changes to a den of vice. The young girls awake in a darkened
room. Each one is alone. All of her clothes have been taken from her.
She is nude. Her head seems to be bursting. It is the after-effect of
the drug.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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