by Kevin Murphy
Lastly, for almost a half century, everyone—from the members of the common council to the day laborers in the river wards—ignored prostitution, gambling, and liquor law violations. Did the bishops know that the time would come when respectable citizens would demand an end to vice? Would breaking age-old habits take a large and powerful police force? One guesses that someone in the city noticed the huge increase in police officers long before 1910. Regardless of how the matter was dissected, solely from a manpower perspective, the police department was never in a better position to crack down on vice.
Judge Garvan’s jailing of ten madames in July 1907 was about as powerful as the law gets, but as alluded to earlier, the Gilded Age sex industry just couldn’t be dismantled that easily. It was like trying to put out a root fire in a forest; you never knew where the fire would pop up next. Judge Garvan sent dozens of young girls running from the city, but the madames were still there—with rent bills to pay.
Besides the accumulation of pressure from the Law and Order League, the Federation of Churches, as well as the courts, newspapers and citizens groups—large and small—the Women’s Suffrage Group also helped by mobilizing housewives. In Hartford, Dr. Thomas N. Hepburn, a Scottish-American urologist at Hartford Hospital, was married to civic activist, Katherine “Kit” Martha Houghton Hepburn. (Kit eventually had six children, including the actress Katherine Houghton Hepburn, who was born in 1908.)
Kit Hepburn championed the entire spectrum of cutting-edge feminist issues of her time, from family planning to women’s suffrage. In the first decade of the twentieth century, Kit became deeply concerned with prostitution. While Dr. Hepburn led a lifelong campaign against venereal disease, Kit fought against white slavery, the unspeakable underpinning of the sex business. One finds it curious that Dr. and Mrs. Hepburn were such avid social reformers in their adopted home, while their housing situation bespoke uncertainty. The Hepburns rented houses from 1904 until 1919, when they purchased their first home on Laurel Street. Did it take them fifteen years to make up their minds about Hartford?
Kit Hepburn gave public addresses on the white slave traffic and prostitution to women’s groups who were shocked at the frankness of her words. Nevertheless, Mrs. Hepburn talked openly about “Patsy” Fusco and his trafficking in white slaves, and brought the whole matter out of the darkness. The Women’s Suffrage Group cannot be given all the credit, but the pressure generated by all of these groups was what brought action. While about ten cities in the United States still had red-light districts even after the First World War, closing the brothels in Hartford by 1911 must be viewed as an estimable achievement.
After two feckless Republican mayors—William Henney (1904-1908) and Edward Hooker (1908-1910)—Democratic Mayor Edward L. Smith became the city’s chief executive in April 1910. Immediately, representatives of various organizations besieged him to finish the clean up of the city.
By the end of 1911, public opprobrium breached the dam of inactivity, and Mayor Edward Smith decided that tolerance had run its course. On Friday, December 29, 1911, Mayor Smith ordered Chief of Police William Gunn to close all the remaining houses of ill fame at once. Chief Gunn lost no time in executing the orders. At the end of a long day’s work, Chief Gunn summarized the action for the press—
“The mayor has instructed the chief of police to close every house in this city that is reputed to be a house of ill fame. These instructions were executed today. . . . In giving them, the mayor has the full and undivided support of the board of police commissioners. He feels that whatever affect this policy may have upon the broad social question of prostitution, it cannot fail to have a deterrent effect upon the white slave traffic. [369]
Completing the interview, Mayor Smith said that he would issue any further orders that became necessary for a full and complete obedience to the spirit and letter of the law. He said that a vigorous campaign would be waged against streetwalking, houses of assignation, and other forms of vice as they exist . . . in Hartford. . . .[370]
Mayor Smith then appointed a fifteen-member vice commission and a vice squad. This commission compiled a massive amount of information. In 1913, this data was published in book form. Among other things, it said that the police department was free from graft or complicity in the conditions that had existed. However, the time had come for a change in the policy of laxity in these matters, and the order of suppression should continue in force. After the commission had published its work, the vice squad continued its efforts, making many arrests, conducting raids, and keeping the lid on vice.
Owing to the American Social Hygiene Organization, the Wasserman Test (1906) and Dr. Paul Ehrlich’s discovery of Salvarsan (1909), it became apparent that red light districts did not dampen vice and disease, but rather led to the proliferation of both.
Between 1910 and 1917, forty American cities ran vice studies, which showed that between 60 and 75 percent of all prostitutes had venereal infections. In Baltimore, infected prostitutes ran to 96 percent. Based on the information unearthed by these vice commissions, approximately 200 American cities—including virtually every one with a population over 100,000—closed their red light districts. The notorious Barbary Coast in San Francisco and the arrogant Storyville in New Orleans both disappeared by 1917.[371]
In the years after the War of the Rebellion, when the nation was sick with grief, the average person couldn’t care less about prostitution, gambling, or drinking. If a woman lost her husband in the war, what would she care if her neighbor placed a bet on a horse or took a drink on Sunday? She wouldn’t, and the same applied to prostitution. For almost a half century, America grieved. Then as the melancholic mourning period came to a close, the country pulled itself back together.
Slowly, the machinery of vice was broken down. In some smaller cities like Hartford, the houses of ill fame closed down just before the First World War. The houses in the larger cities lasted until World War I was almost concluded. No matter how the matter is analyzed, 1917 marked the end of an era. The people of America regained their moral consciences and the houses of ill fame closed. Throughout this period, there was widespread speculation as to whether or not the houses of ill repute would remain closed. They did, and of course, white slavery ended. However, vice never goes away forever because human nature is constant. Whenever a brothel strikes a low-class character as a good business opportunity, a new house of ill repute pops up. The place does a brisk business until the bishops tell the mayor to have the police close it down.[372]
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[1]
Appendix A
Hartford Houses of Ill Fame (Taken from Police Raids) — 1850-1917
Albany road N. J. Snow - 1857
Albany road Dorrance Cadwell (1862)
76 Ann Street Matilda (née Bridget Troy) Elliott
74 Ann Street Mary Barnard (née May Smith)
Ann Street Simmons sisters from Providence - 1898
Allyn Street Minnie Greene –1904
111 Allyn Street Henry Brown - 1907
5 Arch Street Ada Leffingwell - 1885-1900
Grace Howard - 1900-1902
When Jennie Hollister died on April 29, 1900,
Ada bought 76 Wells Street for $14,000. Ada died on November 16, 1901.
Grace Morton - 1902-1906
Kate Edwards - 1907
116 Asylum Street Howard and Marie Parsons
(Foster Block)
255 Asylum Street National Hotel - Julia Anderson - 1906
142 Grove Street Grace Lombardi - 1902
146 Grove Street Belle Young and Julia Fitzgerald
22 Hicks Street Charley Cusick
24 Chapel Street Wm. Roberts - 1907
39 Chapel Street Adelaide Young
17 Charles Street Joseph Ferrante - 1897
34 Chestnut Street John Corrington
22 Commerce St. John Stoszek - 1900
101 Commerce St. Mary Bernard - 1902
103 Commerce St. Benjamin Benjamins - 1904
1
09 Commerce St. Louise Duval
133 Commerce St. Grace Gorman
253 Commerce St. Sarah McKennan
36 Elm Street B. A & Jane Davis
Exchange Hotel Peter Suzio - 1899
Ferry Street Minnie Pease - 1880
32 Ferry Street Julia Ann Harlow-1852
Mary Ann Atherton-(a.k.a. Polly Ann) - 1863
John Bertrand & Lewis Tracy-1883
46 Ferry Street Mrs. Jacob Jordi - 1876
49 Ferry Street Bartholomew Mahoney -1883
55 Ferry Street Charles Johnson
Ada Jackson
76 Ferry Street River House - “the great red hotel by the river”
James Wilson - finished building in 1871
Mary Ann Atherton (Wilson)-1871-1901
10 ½ Ford St Gertrude Burnham - 1898
May Smith
6 Ford Street Minnie Greene - 1902
Wallace Peterson
70 Front Street Joe Cronin - saloon - backroom
88 Front Street Joe Emmons’s saloon - backroom
184 Front Street Napoleon Champagne saloon - brothel
278 Front Street John Mack & Emma Smith - saloon - backroom
Front Street Laura Peck (near New England House) - 1860
Front Street Rosa St. Germaine
327 Front Street Frederick Bedlow and Margaret Goodrich
352 ½ Front Street May Marquette – 1910
526 Front Street Pasquale “Patsy” Fusco (crnr. Talcott Street)
585 Front Street Pietro and Jennie Madeneso – rest. - backroom
17 Gold Street Yee Tan
26 Gold Street Sarah Andrews - 1873
Grove Street Delia Pluff
Grove Street Margaret Delaney
Grove Street Josie Perry
Grove Street Mamie Doyle
136 Grove Street Louise Duval - 1912
142 Grove Street Grace Lombardi
22 Hicks Street Charles Cusick
46 Hicks Street Dora Crossler
43 Kilbourn Street Jennie Taylor’s - Tom Hollister bought 43 Kilbourn Street from John Meek in June 1867. Hollister knew Jennie ‘Taylor’ McQueeney well and rented the place to her. The police arrested Jennie for keeping a house of ill fame there in 1868. Later, she changed her name to Jo Bullock and started a new house at 21 Sheldon Street.
47 Kilbourn Street Joseph Barney (left Hartford after arrest)
136 Main Street Frank & Carrie Rose Stahl – massage front - backroom
232 Main Street Helen McIsaacs
Hotel Alexander
217 Main Street City Hotel - back room - T.F. “Jim” Callahan
483 Main Street Grace Howard - 1898-1900
Main Street, Upper Mary Barnard (née May Smith)
Main Street, Upper New England Cafe- (opp. Fourth Cong. Church)
Main Street, Upper Joe Weeks- 1866
577 Main Street Woodruff Cadwell-1866
755 Main Street Antoine Germaine
1094 Main Street Elliott House-Matilda (née Bridget Troy) Elliott
1160 Main Street Elizabeth Gray - 1916
1233 Main Street Quincy House - Timothy Foley - 1901
1246 Main Street Mary Schick - 1914
4 Market Street Joe Weeks
22-28 Market Street 1851 Lafayette House (1st class hotel)
1860 Lafayette House . . . Joseph Clark, later Wm. Stratton
1868-Woodruff Cadwell buys the property-$13,000
1868 Central House . . .Dorrance Cadwell, hotel keeper
1875 Derby House . . ..Augustus Derby
1878 prop. reverts to Cadwell. . . When Frank Cadwell dies on Oct 17 1879, age 27, his wife Lizzie Cadwell runs the place until 1882.
In the meantime, Lizzie Cadwell buys out Jennie and Tom Hollister at 165 State Street in 1883.
1882 Revere House W. A. Newton
1890 Revere House Mrs. Isaac Van Wagner
1891-1901 Columbia House . . . Timothy F. Meagher (N.Y.-Spfld.)
Aug. 1, 1902- Columbia House torn down.
138 Market Street Grace Morton
Mary Montagne -1906
253 Market Street Julliette Kenard
261 Market Street Emmanuel Valenti - 1912
304 Market Street Samuel Herrop
306 Market Street Belle Meech
Market Street Gertrude Burnham – 1898
Market Street Hannah Coogan
87 Morgan Street Wm. C. and Belle Daley, saloon - backroom–1866
89 Morgan Street John Clough - saloon - backroom
13 Mechanic Street Adolph ‘Duffy’ Pluff and Della Pluff
Mulberry Street Pat Phlelan’s saloon - back room
1008 Park Street Mary “May” Wing-1900
Pearl Street Isaac Warriner- 1865
81 Pleasant Street Lillie “Swamp Angel” Taylor - 1900
30 Portland Street Louis Hamkahib - 1911
Margaret Hamkahib
10 Potter Street Annie Russell - 1907
16 Potter Street Catherine Collins - 1894
Jeremiah Mahoney - 1896
Belle LeClare - 1907
82 Potter Street Elizabeth Benedict - 1904
Prospect Street Brower House (crnr. 25 Central Row) - Wm. “Bill” Crowley and his partner, Morgan Sherman . . . (later Hotel Climax- men only, but women were imported in droves.)
18 Sheldon Street Maria Coffee - 1895
21 Shelton Street Jo Bullock (Jennie Hollister)
107 State Street Frank Russell’s saloon
137 State Street Caroline Webster- 1899
163 State Street Maria Jacob’s place (with her husband
Henry)-1895
Adolph and Minnie Russell, Anna Castaybert
Anna Castaybert –1899
May Minor - 1900
Laura Phillips
165 State Street Tom Hollister- 1866-1874
Tom Hollister & Jo Bullock- 1875-1883
Lizzie Cadwell’s-1883-1894
Grace Howard & Billy West- 1893-1896
Billy and Cora West-1896-1900, then Billy West
to Norwich.
Jessie Lansing - 1902
Grace Howard - 1902-1907
Tony Mousette’s Boulevard Hotel - 1908
167 State Street J. E. Durant’s – 1874
Charles Rosenthal – 1875 – saloon - backroom
“Diamond Lucy” Chapman - 1877-87 (to New
Haven)
169 State Street Liz Cadd
Daniel Dolancy - 1900
171 State Street May Curley
179 State Street Carrie Farnham -1880
181 State Street Mary Montagne - 1894
Carolyn Webster - early 1895
Grace Morton
Clara Simmons- 1903
191 State Street Julia Jaquith - 1893
May Cadwell - 1898
Lillian Stanley -1899
“May” Smith
Lena Wooley- 1903
Belle St. Clair -1907
193 State Street Emma Kealey-1899
Minnie Simmons- 1903-1907
197 State Street Louise Clark - 1906
Gussie Smithian -1907
218 State Street Kate Lamphere
245 State Street New England House . . .Ethel Graves (later with Dick Hyland)
246 State Street Mary Elliott - 1896
Eva Beck - 1899
253 State Street Charley Patterson’s- 1874 - (crnr of Commerce)
Nellie Roach
261 State Street Blanche Russell- “Canadians, Italians, Irish, Swedish”
Thomas F. & Nellie Somers - 1893
Mrs. Herman Hunnebuck
263 State Street Joe Weeks & Chas. Andrews - saloon - backroom
265 State Street Mrs. Herman Hunnebuck -1896
269 State Street Daniel Delaney, a.k.a. Amos Delurie - 1895
State Street (lower) May Alton - 1906
State Street Kate Pratt’s - 1874
Statehouse Square American Hotel - backroom
28 Temple Street Mrs. Martha Johnson’s
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Rodney & Minnie McGinnis -1898
38 Temple Street William C. Dwight’s saloon - backroom
44 Temple Street W. W. Hunter’s - saloon - backroom
46 Temple Street Toot’s place, H. B. & Toots Goodale
52 Temple Street Hibbert “Hub” Smith’s saloon - backroom
