Chapter 1
CHAPTER I. History of the White Slave Trade By the white slave trade is men commersed in white women and girls for wicked purposes. Most of its history cannot be written, for two reasons. That these crimes are kept secret as far as possible,
and that they are so revolting that their details cannot be published, and ought not to be read anywhere outside of the bottomless pit. Crimes against womanhood are as old as sin. From the day that the serpent beguiled Eve by his craftiness until now, there have been few days or nights when some daughter of Eve has not been deceived or forced into an evil life by some serpent or other.
Babylon In ancient Babylon, the dishonoring of girlhood was a part of the temple service, as it is to this day in many temples of India. In the opinion of the German historical scholar Dr. Grau, the temples of India probably derived the hideous custom from Babylon, which the Book of Revelation calls the mother of the harlots and of the abominations of the earth. No wonder that Babylon was denounced by prophets and apostles or that her crimes of slavery, cruelty, dishonesty and debauchery brought perpetual ruin upon the wicked city and nation.
Fallen, fallen is Babylon. up the valley of the euphrates from babylon and westward among the canaanites and phoenicians the horrible alliance of religion and last extended until it reached asia minor in greece greece at corinth a great commercial city and seaport business shrewdness was linked with sensuality and profanation and the great temple of venus was built where one thousand priestesses were required to lead the life of religious infamy to make money for the despicable masters
There were constant importations of new girls from Lesbos and the other Grecian Isles. Then, as now the devices of the white slave trader were assiduously employed to keep up and increase the number of profitable European and Asiatic girls. It is past time as well as business to these traffickers to drug, to make drunken, to deceive, to ensnare, or to debauch by force the innocent, the confiding, the thoughtless, the weak. Whether for the ancient temple of Venus at Corinth or for the dance of shame in the white slave market of Chicago or Paris, beautiful victims who will earn much money for their masters and captors must be hunted and trapped.
At Athens the lawgivers solemn established houses of shame by statute and filled them with slave girls for whom there was no possible escape. But whoever, man or woman, caused a freeborn Athenian girl to enter one of the houses incurred the penalty of death. It might be well if freeborn American girls were as thoroughly protected. An Athenian forfeited his citizenship on opening a house of shame. American citizenship in our large cities allows the white slave traders an astounding amount of political influence.
Rome In Rome, immoral women were enrolled by the police in a public register, and this public record of their evil life always remained to bar their way to repentance and respectability. modern European cities on the continent follow this hurtful custom and it has been introduced without authority of law in some American cities many bakers barbers and keepers of taverns baths
and drugstores were also traders in women these depraved traffickers were regarded with the greatest loathing by the Roman people. The white slave traders of ancient Rome probably differed little from the Italian traders to be found in so many parts of the world today, notably New York and Chicago. The poet Milton tells how his love of purity kept him in his youth from the evils practiced at bordellos presumably an Italian resort in London persons
desiring to know the traders boasting over a young and a beautiful girl who had come into his devilish power will find it described in the old English play commonly attributed to Shakespeare called Pericles Prince of Tyre an exceedingly bad example was said by some of the Roman emperors Augustus even in his old age sent out men to bring him women and girls the beautiful Malonia
stud herself rather than yield to the Emperor Tiberius the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus who was very virtuous and religious and wise according to Roman ideals persecuted Christians to the extent of legally condemning Christian girls to the houses of infamy. Young women were seized and required to sacrifice to idols. Upon refusing, they were dragged through the streets and given to a white slaver.
Some beautiful legends have been preserved which tell of miraculous deliverance of Christian girls from this most satanic cruelty. St. Agnes, the story runs, was seized and stripped, but immediately her hair grew quickly and covered her like a garment. Dragged to a deen of shame, she appeared transfigured, a wonderful light shining from her body,
and no one dared to harm her. At length one bold ruffian came near her, but was struck dead at her feet by a thunderbolt. The Emperor Diocletian renewed these terrible persecutions. The Church's only retaliation was the rescue of depraved women. Mary, an Egyptian, was a conspicuous penident who sailed for Jerusalem and spent her remaining years virtuously in the Holy Land.
The Christian Emperor Theodosius II, who died in the year 450, laid heavy penalties on traffickers in women. Justinian, who came to the throne in 527, punished procurers with death. He was merciful toward erring women, but was unsparing toward everyone who exploited them for gain. France The Latin writers conspicuously tacitus represent the Germans, Franks and Gauls as very virtuous and very severe in their punishment of offenders.
The earliest known legislation in the northern kingdoms is in the capitularies of Charlemagne, who was crowned emperor of the Holy Roman Empire by the Pope in St. Petrus at Rome on Christmas Day in the year 800. it early in his reign in his northern dominions charlemagne enacted that all who kept houses of shame or lend their aid to vice were to be scourged he would spare neither bad women nor vile men but succeeding kings of france very many of them were themselves models not of virtue and kingliness but of dishonor and abouts many of the clergy also were very immoral and the whole nation became
corrupt Louis the ninth made the first earnest effort to check the evil he issued an extreme edict in 1254 that all immoral women and all keepers and procurers should be at once exiled from France after a reaction Louis renew his efforts to excipate the iniquity and his son Philip continued to inflict severe penalties during the 13th and 14th centuries several notorious procurers were burned alive Paris in the 16th century in cities of the south of France
sometimes a woman of this detestable class was thrust into an iron cage and thrown into the river when almost dead from drawing she was drawn out and after a little the punishment was repeated many of the women who were burned as witches were really condemned because they were procuracies or or otherwise ideously immoral the rise of severely greatly increased the safety of good women and diminished immorality among men a higher moral tone was imparted to society everywhere
faithful preachers cried out against the traffic in shame the snoring of young girls in the modesty and immorality which were found in convents and even in churches in the reign of louis the 11th about 1475 father maillard a bold preacher of the time excoriated the whole company of traffickers and girls especially procuracies and citizens who led their property for houses of shame the procuracies he said ought to be burned at the strake and for women who corrupted the clergy
he had no mercy but invoked the wrath of god upon them louis the 11th was himself extremely immoral like so many of the kings of france catherine de mendes who became queen of france when her husband Henry II ascended the throne in 1547, exercised baneful influence during the three reigns. Her court of 200 ladies introduced from Italy worse vices than had before been known in France. She did, however, try to diminish prostitution in Paris. An ordinance of 1635
condemned all men engaged in what we now call the white slave trade to the galleys for life. Louis XV, at 15 years of age, married Maria, daughter of Stanislas, the dethroned king of Poland. The whole life of Louis was one of the idle sensuality. When he was old, he established a seraglio of 15-year-old girls, the most beautiful that could be bought or kidnapped.
On this hiring he spent a hundred million francs or twenty million dollars. It was he who, when warned of the imbending ruin of his nation, said, After me, the Delius. He died, detested by all, in 1774. Paris, the modern Babylon.
Paris, the capital of such kings and the scene of such debauchery, became the source and headquarters of the worldwide white slave trade of the present time. With the spread of legitimate commerce to every part of the world, the long-experienced traders in women sought a worldwide market for girls. There is not a civilized country which has not been exploited by the traders, unlike as a hunted ground for victims and as a market in which to sell them. All Europe, North America, Panama, South America, Egypt and other parts of Africa,
India, China and Japan are the fields of operation of these atrocious men and serpentine women. by no means all the traffickers are friends many are jews many are italians as sicilians some are austrians germans english americans greeks but it is paris that has made vice a fine art and has made the white slave trade a widespread systematized commercial enterprise It is as true as it is lamentable that the beautiful city of the banks of the Seine, the center of fashion and art, gained the shameful reputation of being the capital of the wild slave trade and deserved it by merit raised to that bad eminence.
In recent years, the French government and people have felt keenly the reproach of this condition and have been foremost in efforts to suppress the abominable commerce. White slavers in India In 1893, during my missionary service in India, a clique of white slave traders was discovered in Calcutta. They were found to be trafficking not only in European girls whom they could lure to India, but also in little native girls as young as nine years. There was great indignation in the capital
and throughout India when these criminals were exposed and arrested. The laws of India were at that time inadequate to punish them, but an old statute was found under which the Viceroy could report undesirable aliens so these wretches too abominable to be endured in withendom were shipped back to europe those were the first white slave traders of whom i a young missionary had ever heard last year in chicago a french trader told me that he had been in india and i could not but
wonder whether he had been deported from calcutta or bombay and made welcome in chicago the united states government soon afterward put him out of his wicked business reverend dr homer c stanzt formerly of calcutta now of new york told me of a frightened european girl who nervously rang his doorbell in Calcutta late at night. She had been deceived into going to India by false promises made to her by the hunters of girls. Learning their real purpose just in time, she fled from
them and inquiring the way to a missionary, she was directed to Dr. and Mrs. Tanst, with whom she was safe and thankful a million times. How many hundreds of innocent American and European girls have been led away to Wyden and Mohammedan lands on false promises of good positions as teachers,
governesses or even as missionaries, only the open books of the Day of Judgment will disclose. End of chapter 1
