Woman Reveals Haunts of Vice

Woman Reveals Haunts of Vice Mother of Child Adopted by Kentucky Rosebud to Aid in Crusade Sherman Woman Fails to Regain Children When Girl Testifies Against Character of House Immigrant officials have joined the police in the crusade against disorderly resorts in the Eighth ward, particularly on Warnock street, an investigation concerning which began two weeks ago, when proceedings were instituted to recover possession of a white child that had been found in the possession of "The Kentucky Rosebud," a negro prize-fighter, who is the reputed proprietor of one of the resorts. The child was that of Mrs. Mollie August, who is under arrest, and whose husband, Abraham August, was taken into custody yesterday at Atlantic City by Detective Reese, of the Department of Health and Charities. He will be brought here for trial on a charge of desertion, a warrant having been sworn out against him by his wife. Mrs. August, who is being detained by the immigration officials, is accredited with having made startling statements regarding conditions in connection with the disorderly resorts, and may be a witness against persons who probably will be arrested before the crusade ends. According to Detective Reese, the woman declares she was placed in one of the resorts within a few days after her arrival in the country last September. Say She Sold Child It developed that the woman and her husband were married the day after she arrived. She was ill when she came here and the immigration officials refused to permit her to land. The marriage followed, and the action against her was withdrawn. According to the authorities she now asserts that her husband married her merely for the purpose of aiding her to evade the immigration officials, and that he subsequently deserted her. When the woman's child was born she was without money, and needed funds, it is asserted. She sold the child to the negro prize-fighter. A charitable society afterward instituted proceedings against the negro and the child was taken from him, but it was not restored to the mother. In a statement which she is reputed to have made the woman tells how she was compelled to live in houses frequented almost exclusively by negroes. It is understood that she will be deported after she testifies in cases that may develop from the investigation. Lieutenant Steck, of the Fifteenth and Locust streets station, whose district embraces the Eighth ward, received instructions yesterday to continue the crusade against the disorderly resorts, and all of the establishments will be either raided or closed. Superintendent Taylor, who is directing the investigation by the police, said that he would expect the lieutenant to enforce the orders that were issued, and that unless proper action was taken the lieutenant would be held responsible. To Try Policemen The Superintendent also announced that Charles H. Wilson, a negro patrolman of the Fifteenth and Locust streets station, who is alleged to have accepted money from Mrs. Dora Sherman, 814 Locust street, whose house was raided on August 6, and where Mrs. August was living at the time, will be tried before the Police Court of Inquiry on Monday. Policemen Edward Daly and William Irwin, of the Tenth and Buttonwood streets station, accused of collecting "hush" money from the proprietress of a house in the Tenderloin, and who, like Policeman Wilson, are under suspension, also will be arraigned the same day. In an effort to gain possession of her two little children, a boy and a girl, who were taken from her by the police, Mrs. Sherman appeared before Judge Staake in the Juvenile Court yesterday, but her application was denied. Mrs. Sherman contended that her home was respectable, but Jane Schwartz, a young woman, who was the principal witness, gave testimony to the contrary. She said that she had lived at the house, and that Mrs. Sherman was a financial gainer thereby. Girl Justifies Raid She declared that Mrs. Sherman wrote her to come to this city from Jamaica, Long Island, and that while she took care of the woman's children and also acted as cashier in a restaurant conducted by Mrs. Sherman, she also paid $15 a week for the use of a room for immoral purposes. Sergeant Fenn, of the Fifteenth district, testified that he raided Mrs. Sherman's house because he did not consider it a proper place for her two children, and that Mrs. Sherman and her husband were held in $600 bail for trial. Jane Schwartz, who was also arrested at the time, was fined $11.50. While there was doubt in the mind of Judge Staake as to whether Mrs. Sherman could be held for harboring minors in a house alleged to be disorderly, when the children were her own, the court apparently agreed with officers of the Pennsylvania Society to Protect Children From Cruelty, that the house, or the neighborhood at least, was not proper for the children, whom he gave into the custody of relatives of the woman. Mrs. Sherman, however, was informed that the children would be returned to her if she moved to a more respectable neighborhood. She promised to do so and mentioned the address of a house that she had rented. All Children Removed The police declare that there are now no children in any of the other disorderly resorts, but Mrs. Erskine, secretary of the Pennsylvania Society, is of a different opinion. "Chinatown does not hold a candlestick to that section of which Warnock street is the centre," she said. Lieutenant Steck stated that he issued orders two weeks ago that children should be taken from all houses of disreputable character and that he was certain this had been done. He declared that he did everything possible to suppress vice, and while unnecessary arrests and raids had not been made, the evil resorts had been restricted to the smallest possible boundary. He also said that there were fewer resorts in his district than there were two years ago. In speaking of vice in the Eighth ward, Mrs. Erksine, of the Pennsylvania Society, further said: "For moral depravity of the lowest type with whites and negroes mixed, that section below Walnut street is the worst that the mind can imagine. It is simply horrible that children should be allowed to pass through those streets, and it is more terrible that we should permit them to live there. "At the present moment our agents are making a careful, almost house-to-house canvas, and if a child is left there it will not be our fault, and we are prepared to care for each child rescued and give it a good home. It is extremely difficult for us to work, however, as we have to get the most positive evidence, as was seen today in the Sherman case; but with such a fair man on the juvenile bench as Judge Staake our efforts are greatly enlightened." Friends of Dr. Abraham M. Wolfe, of 527 Pine street, who was committed to the House of Correction for three months after testifying against an inmate of one of the disorderly resorts, are endeavoring to have him released, but in doing so they will encounter an obstacle in the form of a detainer that has been lodged against Wolfe by the authorities, who expressed the belief that the physician was more to blame than the young woman whose arrest he caused. The crusade against disorderly resorts extended to the Tenderloin, where seventeen girls of various ages who were arrested on Thursday as they were loitering on the street, were arraigned before Magistrate Haggerty yesterday and fined $10 and costs, the money being supplied in each instance by men, who afterward escorted the young women from the court room. Acting Lieutenant Hamilton, of the Eleventh and Winter streets station, under whose direction the arrests were made, says he is determined to accomplish what he has set out to do, and that despite the fact that through the aid of their male friends they were able to obtain releases yesterday, he will eventually keep them off of the streets. Testimony was given at the hearing that when Policeman Cullom tried to arrest Ida Dannebaum yesterday morning at Eighth and Arch streets, Benjamin Goldstein, of Ninth and Arch streets, interfered. He was held under $500 bail for interfering with an officer. In consequence of complaints from neighbors, the police raided the house of Michael Harding, 2715 Flora street, where they found four children, the father of whom was released on promising to move to another neighborhood. His children were restored to him on this condition.