There are a number of lawyers in New York City who are being constantly employed by the owners of disorderly houses to defend their cases in the courts. Their fees vary according to their standing. A former magistrate, who has an office on Broadway, charges $100 for appearing in Special Sessions. He has latterly succeeded in securing the acquittal of the madame of a West 28th Street[298] house. Another lawyer[299] with an office on Park Row, charges from $15 to $25 for his appearance in the police court, and $50 altogether if he has to appear in a higher court.
A few weeks ago one of the madames was sentenced to the penitentiary for three months. During the evening of the day on which she was sentenced, the lawyer who had appeared for her came to a resort[300] where a number of owners had gathered. They upbraided him for pleading “Guilty, your Honors.”
“Why didn’t you show fight?” demanded one.
“Well,” he replied, “there was a time when I used to walk into the court room and make a bargain with the judges when there were three or four charges pending against one woman. I used to say, ‘Your Honors, we will make this bargain day. There are four charges against this woman. What will you do? Unless you are lenient, I will fight you and take up your time.’ The fine as a rule was no more than $100 for three or four charges. At that time, the coppers used to break in a house and raid it just to get the money for the fine. But times have changed.”
As some street walkers are picked up by the plain clothes men and brought into court, they hire by preference a lawyer[301] who lives on West 10th Street.[302] This man agrees to procure their discharge for $50, distributed as follows:
$10 for the bondsman to bail her out, if necessary;
$15 for his, the lawyer’s services, and
$25 to go to the arresting officer for his testimony.
It is alleged that the lawyer in question has agents on Sixth Avenue keeping tab on the street walkers. When the girl is “picked up,” these agents are on the ground and see that he gets the case; he guarantees to turn her out for $50 or more, whatever he can get, but under no conditions accepts less than $35. If the girl has no ready money and has jewelry, that is taken as security. The first thing he does is to have the case adjourned for two days, which means no less than $15 for bail. During the two-days’ adjournment, the lawyer “feels out” the plain clothes man who “picked up” the girl. If the detective falls, he usually gets $15 from the lawyer’s fee. If the detective insists on prosecuting, the lawyer has a man ready to swear that it was he who was in conversation with the woman at the time she was arrested, though this is not usually necessary. If the plain clothes man has made an affidavit prior to the granting of the adjournment and is ready to “fall,” he will permit the lawyer to entangle him in his cross-examination and to bring it out that he, the plain clothes man, approached the girl, and, in other ways, will contradict himself “safely.” This is resorted to when the affidavit is unfavorable to the girl.
Despite the enormous volume of prostitution in Manhattan, the actual number of convictions is small, and the main culprits go scot-free.