A Night at the Ariston Baths
Page 21
The police and the morality society had arranged a special hell for the men exiting the Ariston Baths that night. Every man that left the bathhouse had to run a gauntlet of reporters and other random men that had been recruited to stand outside the door and mock the men who exited. While there are no accounts of physical violence, there are accounts of hateful speech occurring.
Of the seventy-eight men detained, one by one some fifty-two of those men were interrogated, berated, and then released. The twenty-six men remaining were arrested. They were loaded into two horse-drawn wagons and taken to the Forty-Seventh Street station, arriving at around 3:00 a.m. Later that Sunday afternoon, City Magistrate Joseph Pool came to the station and one by one examined the men and the cases against them. Some of those men had their cases dismissed for one reason or another—some because they argued strongly and effectively that they had no idea such activities were taking place and had merely gone there for a bath.
Some of the men were assessed a nominal penalty fine, typically five or ten dollars, and they paid the fine and were released. There were twelve men whom the undercover officers had directly observed engaging in sexual activity with other patrons of the bath. These twelve men were charged with committing sodomy, which was a felony. They were all held over for trial. Bail was set for these men ranging from $1,500 to $3,500. Those who could not make bail were transferred to the Tombs, the New York City jail, to await their trials that occurred several months later between April and June of 1903.
Only the wealthy or well-to-do were capable of coming up with the money to make bail, but the average client at the baths was a working man who had no hope of ever coming up with so much money. Several men did indeed jump bail and were never heard from again. What became of them is a mystery, and since many of the men gave false names and addresses at the time of their arrest, it is impossible to know.
Of the twelve men, five were employees of the bathhouse. The manager, John Bagley, was charged with keeping a disorderly house and with serving alcohol without a license. It appears that none of the employees ever stood trial for the charges against them, instead paying either a $5 or $10 fine for disorderly conduct. If these men were tried, the records of those trials have disappeared.
Of the customers who stood trial, all were found guilty and most were sentenced to serve a term of seven years and two months at hard labor. They were sent to Sing Sing prison to serve their sentences. One man, a butler, was sentenced to serve twenty years in prison because he had engaged in sexual activities with multiple men that night.
Sources
BOOKS:
The Age of the Bachelor: Creating an American Subculture by Howard P. Chudacoff, Princeton University Press (November 15, 2000), 352 pages.
City of Eros: New York City, Prostitution, and the Commercialization of Sex, 1790-1920 by Timothy J. Gilfoyle, W. W. Norton & Company (March 17, 1994), 448 pages.
Dishonorable Passions: Sodomy Laws in America, 1851-2003 by William N. Eskridge, Jr., Viking Adult (May 1, 2008), 540 pages.
Gay New York: Gender, Urban Culture, and the Making of the Gay Male World, 1890-1940 by George Chauncey, Basic Books (1994), 478 pages.
Intimate Matters: A History of Sexuality in America, Third Edition by John D’Emilio and Estelle B. Freedman, New York: Harper & Row, 1988.
The Construction of Homosexuality by David F. Greenberg, University of Chicago Press (1990), 645 pages.
Washing “The Great Unwashed”: Public Baths in Urban America, 1840-1920 by Marilyn Thornton Williams, Ohio State University Press, 1991.
SCHOLARLY JOURNALS:
“Homosexuality and the City: An Historical Overview.” Robert Aldrich, Urban Studies, Volume 41, Number 9 (August 2004), Pages 1719-1737.
“New York City’s Public Baths: A Case Study in Urban Progressive Reform.” Marilyn Thornton Williams, Journal of Urban History, 1980.
“The History of Gay Bathhouses.” Allan Bérubé, Journal of Homosexuality, Volume 44, Issue 3-4 (August 2003), pages 33-53.
PANAMA CANAL RECORDS:
The Canal Record, Volume 5, August 30, 1911, page 5.
Obituary of George Alfred Caldwell.
Annual Report Isthmian Canal Commission, 1905, 1906.
Report of the Department of Sanitation of the Isthmian Canal Commission for the Year 1911, 1912.
LEGAL RECORDS:
Court of General Sessions Minutes, New York Municipal Archives, New York, NY, Roll 67.
District Attorney Scrapbook, New York City Municipal Archives.
Manhattan District Attorney’s Papers (DAP), New York Municipal Archives.
Manhattan Seventh District Magistrates’ Court Docket Book, Unnumbered volume covering the period October 16, 1902 to April 18, 1903, 235-36, New York Municipal Archives.
Report of Cases Heard and Determined, New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Vol. 91 (1904).
Sing Sing Prisoner Intake Register, New York States Archives (Albany, NY).
Supreme Court of the State of New York, Appellate Division—First Department. The People of the State of New York vs. Michael Schnittel, Case on Appeal. Volume 766 (1904).
Trial Transcript Collection
John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York,
People v. Galbert, DAP 41,914 (tried June 16, 1903).
People v. Walter Bennett, DAP 41,915 (tried June 8, 1903).
People v. Michael Schnittel, DAP 41,921 (tried April 9, 1903).
People v. Theodore Casson (tried April 6, 1903).
People v. Abraham Kregal, DAP 41,916 (tried March 15, 1903, and again on April 7, 1903; both trials ending in a hung jury).
OTHER ORIGINAL RECORDS:
New York Society for the Suppression of Vice Records (1871-1953)
MSS34587 Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, DC (Finding Aid, 2012).
World War I and World War II Draft Registration Records.
Census Records:
1890 United States Census (only fragments survive)
1900 United States Census
1905 New York State Census
1910 United States Census
1915 New York State Census
1920 United States Census
1930 United States Census
NEWSPAPERS:
New York Tribune, February 22, 1903, “Police Raid Ariston Baths.”
New York Tribune, February 23, 1903, “Many Raid Prisoners Held.”
The Sun, February 23, 1903 (Page 9), “26 Prisoners from Baths.”
New York Tribune, February 25, 1903, “Ariston Prisoners in Court.”
New York Tribune, February 25, 1903, Page 12, “11 Held for Felony.”
New York Times, March 17, 1903, “Pleas of Prisoners in Raid on Baths.”
New York Tribune, May 5, 1903 May 5, Page 8, “Ariston Baths Hoefer Held—Arrested on Charge of Keeping a Disorderly House.”
The Sun, June 23, 1903, “Rebukes Supreme Court—Recorder Resents a Reduction of Bail—Prisoner Jumps the Bail.”
New York Tribune, June 24, 1903, “Kregal Bail Reduction Case.”
The Sun, October 17, 1903, “Ariston’s Owner Bankrupt—Raid on the Baths There, Which He Did Not Control, Hurt His Property.”
New York Tribune, November 19, 1903 (Page 3), “Pardons Ariston Bath Man—Gov. Odell Acts Without Consulting the Prosecutor.”
St. Paul Globe, December 1, 1903 (Page 1), “Helps Convict to Liberty—Miss Alice Roosevelt Secures the Pardon of George Caldwell.”
The Sun, February 24, 1904, “Why ‘Galbert’ was Pardoned—Odell Says It Was Because of Good Character and His Denial Under Oath.”
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Please stop by www.gayromancewriter.com to learn more about him.
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Book Fair
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Little Squirrels Can Climb Tall Trees • Mano’s Story
A Night at the Ariston Baths
The President’s Husband
Swan Song for an Ugly Duckling
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When Dachshunds Ruled the Serengeti
You Can’t Go Home Again
Published by DREAMSPINNER PRESS
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of author imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
A Night at the Ariston Baths
© 2016 Michael Murphy.
Cover Art
© 2016 Anna Sikorska.
Cover content is for illustrative purposes only and any person depicted on the cove
r is a model.
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ISBN: 978-1-63476-819-1
Digital ISBN: 978-1-63476-820-7
Library of Congress Control Number: 2015952958
Published April 2016
v. 1.0