Vaginal smears from the same persons were examined but it was possible to demonstrate the presence of the gonococcus in but five of them, although many of them show the presence of numerous pus corpuscles.[308]
The full significance of the results above stated does not appear until the statistics are summarized. Of the 466 girls tested, only 50, that is, 10.7 percent, are found to be free from venereal infection. Practically 90 percent showed infection; 170, or 36.4 percent gave positive reactions for both syphilis and gonorrhœa; 27, or 5.79 percent were positive for syphilis only, and 117, or 25.1 percent were positive for gonorrhœa only.[309]
Offenses:—Not all of the 647 cases studied were committed to Bedford for prostitution; but all were leading the lives of prostitutes in New York City at the time of their commitment and the specific offense which they committed was an incident in the life of prostitution.[310] [Table XXIV] shows that 105 women or 16.22 percent were convicted of felonies, while 450, or 69.55 percent were convicted of offenses directly connected with prostitution. The 25 cases committed as disorderly children were girls under eighteen years of age whose parents or relatives caused their arrest and brought them into court as the only means of taking them from the life. The 38 commitments for vagrancy were under Subdivision 3 and 4 of Section 887 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which defines a vagrant as “a person who has contracted an infectious or other disease, in the practise of drunkenness or debauchery, requiring charitable aid to restore him to health” or “a common prostitute who has no lawful employment whereby to maintain herself.”
The stories of the following girls will illustrate the relation between prostitution and crime in the cases of women sent to us for felonies or misdemeanors:
A. B. was a girl of eighteen, convicted of manslaughter in the second degree. She was not only leading a life of prostitution but was supporting her lover by it. As is so often the case, she was very fond of the man and intensely jealous when another girl won him away. She bought a sharp knife and carried it for a month before she met the girl, who had tried to avoid her. When at last they met, our girl stabbed her rival so seriously that she died from the effects.
C. D. was also only eighteen years of age. She was convicted of shooting her lover. The time had come when they were no longer happy together. A quarrel arose on the street over a trivial matter. She wished to go to one place and he to another. Neither would yield. He started across the street to go his own way. She drew a pistol and shot him dead. Asked how she happened to have a loaded pistol in her possession, she said that she has always carried one ever since she came to New York. She thought it necessary for self-protection.
The story of E. F., convicted of grand larceny in the first degree, was as follows: She came north from a southern city thirteen years ago with her mother, who died soon after. She had had a lover before her mother’s death. By him she had an illegitimate child. After the child was born he married her but they were not happy together. Another man coaxed her away from her husband. She claims he put her on the street, that she was violently in love with him and supported him by prostitution. Finally she was with a man whose watch she admired and coveted for her lover. She stole it and gave it to her lover in whose possession it was found. Both were convicted.
G. H. was a woman of twenty-four convicted of robbery. She had a husband and two children. The husband was entirely able and willing to support her. She became addicted to the use of opium. She claims it was first prescribed by a physician during an illness. As the habit grew, she stole money from the till in her husband’s shop to supply herself with the drug. The resulting friction between herself and her husband finally caused her to leave home and enter a life of prostitution. She had been living the life for two years at the time of her arrest for robbing a man of a diamond pin.
Three women, sentenced for corrupting the morals of a minor, had young girls with them whom they had brought to the city for immoral purposes.
The cases of assault were for the most part girls who had engaged in fist fights, usually on account of rivalry.