Show av coxton VICE IN CHICAGO JUDGED OUT OP OF ITS OWN MOUTH chicago papers are very earnest in their desires to reform utah and make the mormons cormons Mor mons become like the rest F of us the following account of one of the vices of humanity that are common in chicago appears in th news of that christian centre and while it horrifies the mormon mind it indicates that the journalists of that wicked city might profitably devote their energies to the evils of their own surroundings and give the sober temperate and industrious mormons cormons Mor mons a rest to see a girl reeling in the streets of chicago is no uncommon spectacle it is one too which is becoming more and more frequent for the drinking habit among girls and women and even among those who are recognized as ladies is alarmingly on the increase there are hnud hundreds reds of places of a public nature in chicago chete everyl afternoon and evening one may see women drinking it can be said of both the women and the places that some are called respectable some not in many families the old time custom of wine drinking is kept up though owing to a gradually ch changing augino public bublic sentiment the practice is far less less universal than it was reference is not made to this class of drinking however nor to the bacchanalian revels of female and their companions the drinking the startling increase of which has struck many observant residents of the city is among the wives and daughters of business and professional men not so very long ago any woman wio who drank in a public place virtually gave notice by the act that she was of loose character it is sono so no longer scores of wives of business men when on their shopping trips down downtown town step into some convenient drinking place and take a glass or two of beer or wine some are nut not content with a glass or two but in bulge in six or eight or perhaps more their trips down aown town are often more forthe for the purpose of drinking than shopping and not infrequently those who make them return to their homes with their brains all in a whirl occasionally they go into these resorts by themselves bu but generally in company with some male acquaintance RESORTS FOR FOK DRINKING WOMEN the resorts where women of the class referred to go to do their drinking possess various degrees of respectability tabi lity or 1 as many would prefer to say disrel at ability tile proprietors of a few of them are extremely vigilant in excluding all improper characters and it must be admitted succeed fairly eairly well A separate room is usually provided tor for ladies and for ladies accompanied by gentlemen gentlemen gentleman are not allowed to make acquaintances there through flirting and are not even allowed to enter the room alone such is the rule but of course itis it is impossible to prevent its occasional violation as it is also to exclude every improper character A close watch is kept however and any impropriety in speech or conduct is promptly tik rebuked and if repeated tile the offenders are requested to leave and not return again the character of these places is pretty well understood and few who are not wanted in them attempt to enter them then there are places whose proprietors prie tors and it may be added whose patrons too are not so particular one may find in them both disreputable female characters and those who pass for respectable members of society they sit an hour or more at a time at the table drinking and chatting their tongues with each successive suc cestive glass of liquor becoming more and more loosened and their conversation and manner less circumspect acquaintances are easily formed in such places W omen who are all propriety in their homes accept readily the advances of good looking strangers and while honestly believing that they are simply haville having a jolly time and lots of quiet fun un court a danger which ruins hundreds of characters and breaks up hundreds of homes every year the career they have entered upon cannot usually continue long on a level they must quit it or they are dragged down to ruin their husbands nus bands find out oat their habits and in many cases learn also that then their wives while reckless under the influence of liquor have been led astray A separation a divorce and the entrance of the woman on a life of shame is then the general rule this is not a fancy sketch the police know many an abandoned woman in chicago who took her first downward steps in the exact manner described TO RUIN but married women are not the only ones who are taking to the drinking habit young youna girls may often be seen in the streets referred may to the fast young men they associate with take them there at first just tor for a glass of wine going to such places comes to have a fascination for them many a girl in chicago has taken too much I 1 in some one of these places and come to her sober i senses only to realize with anguish and bitter tears that the line of virtue and self respect had been passed assed after that the tendency is rapidly downward some bear up under their terrible consciousness ot of disgrace and sin no more many such have turned squarely back bac led exemplary lives married and are now faithful wives and happy but for a hidden sorrow in their hearts which they cannot drive out but many continue their way downward and in time recruit the le ranks of the inmates of tile the disreputable houses or take their places among the brazen shameless number who dodge the police solicit on the dark street corners and ana take a ride occasionally to the police station in a patrol wagon when women or girls arrive at this stage or perhaps a short time before they reaca reach such degradation they frequent the lowest order of drinking places in chicago open to both among these are the dago shops or italian restaurants chicago is cursed with a hundred or more of these dens drunkenness and vile language here meet with no rebuke and are of almost hourly occurrence the girls and young ladies who drop in occasionally with their escorts to drink in the more pretentious resorts are for the most part well wel I 1 dressed and well behaved some are girls who are still in ill school some are living in idleness in comfortable homes many abany are from the vast number of those who are employed in stores offices or at other work luring the day and some come co me in from the country there are girls gills living in the suburbs even in saintly evanston Evan sion and in towns as far out as janesville and rockford Koc kford who come into the city occasionally expressly to have a lark a time 1 or whatever else it may be best to c call ll 11 it there are married women too who come in in from outside towns with the same purpose almost invariably they have some traveling gravelin man or other acquaintance in the city who meets them an and shares and usually directs their revels be they light or serious SOME INCIDENTS A few weeks ago there was seen on madison street about 11 at night a girl of 17 who was recognized as a pupil in one of the public schools she was so intoxicated that she staggered right and left despite the efforts of tier her escort to keep her steady she could not have taken a dozen steps alone without falling helplessly to tile the pavement her escort wa was taking her in a direction directly opposite to that of her home one night last week a girl who two years ago was working soberly and industriously i n in one of the hotels in the the city was seen going south in a cottage contag grove car alone at ac I 1 in t ane ile morning in such a state of intoxication that she could not keep f from rom lopp lopping ing i over in a stupor on the shoulder of the person sitting next to her ono one of tile dining room girls at the same hotel a year ago is now a daily visitor at one of the most notorious drinking resorts in in the city and the constant companion of men of loose morals A few months ago two girls f from roin jones ville wis wi 81 came to chicago under pretense of visiting a friend they did not go near the friends house but were on a continual spree for two days and nights with two strange young men whose acquaintance they made 0 on ahe I 1 he street about the same saine time a remarkably mar kably pretty girl ot of 18 whose f father a held a responsible position in a town about 40 miles from the city was found in one of the business blocks here one afternoon so 80 drunk she could not walk without assistance she had a bottle of whisky in her pocket and while efforts were being made to care for her insisted on taking a drink from it every few minutes she came into the city to visit a married sister numerous instances similar to the above could be mentioned doubtless manyi will recall one or more which has come within their own knowledge there are abundant evidences that drinking as a habit is rapidly increasing among the feminine population of this city and that the practice has already b become acome so common that it excites out but little comment it is said by those familiar with the large cities in the east that in none of them is drinking SO extensive as in chicago |