The Genevan authorities reported that Catherine was hard to control at first but after she had been made to see that the whole world was not against her, she settled down, became very obedient and was one of their best girls. She had nothing vicious about her, was easily influenced for good and showed she had a great deal of good in her and much energy, which if properly directed would make her develop into a good woman.
When Catherine was fourteen years old her brother had her released from Geneva on parole to him. He took her to live with him in Rockford, Ill., where he had the reputation of being a very industrious man. He got Catherine a job, topping stockings in a factory for $7.00 a week and took all her earnings. Catherine worked steadily and well for six months.
Catherine got acquainted with her brother’s sister-in-law, Jennie Sopeka, a girl ten years older, with an exceedingly bad reputation. Ever since she came from New York six years before she had led a disgracefully immoral life, was known to have a venereal disease, which was thought to be affecting her mind. Catherine said she knew nothing of this girl when she came to see her and proposed they go to Chicago “to have a nice time and nice clothes.” But Catherine left Rockford with Jennie at once. They came to Chicago and registered at the Imperial Hotel. For a week some man supported them. They then became acquainted with two junior medical students.... These boys called on them at the hotel and after a two weeks’ acquaintance took them and another girl to their rooms. All lived together for about two weeks. The police then raided the apartment, arrested the boys and Jennie and the other girl. Catherine happened to be out when the raid was made, but the following day she called at the police station to know what had become of her friends and she was detained there. The boys were charged with rape, as Catherine was under the age of consent. Jennie, who was going under one of her many aliases, was fined $50.00 and sent to the House of Correction. She was later accused of pandering.
Every one felt sorry for Catherine. The Court said: “It seems as if she had never had a chance, but it would be dangerous to give her one now.” The Probation officer also felt sympathetic, though she thought Catherine had had a chance in Rockford and had not tried quite hard enough. Her brother refused to take her back into his home and the Court was in a quandary what to do with her. At first she said she would do housework, especially taking care of children, as she was very fond of babies and would like to be a nurse. Later, however, she decided she would not do housework and asked to be sent back to Geneva. This the Court would not do, and Catherine was sent to the House of Good Shepherd.[[64]]
63. Carrie is a colored girl, 23 years of age at the time of her commitment. She was sentenced to Bedford for possessing heroin. She was born on Long Island—the illegitimate child of a notorious thief and prostitute known only as “Jennie.” She was adopted when fifteen months old and went to public school until she was fifteen, in spite of which at the time of her commitment she could read and spell only with great difficulty. Foster mother was a very poor housekeeper, went out to work, and the rooms she occupied were unspeakably filthy. Carrie had served five previous terms in the New York City Workhouse and 30 days in White Plains jail. She was first sentenced to the House of The Good Shepherd, but returned to the Court on account of her color. She was then sent to Inwood House and returned for the same reason. She had been committed to the Workhouse Hospital for treatment for the drug habit. She had practiced prostitution since she was fifteen years of age, during which time she lived for considerable periods with two consorts, by one of whom she had a child, born in the New York City Workhouse. She had used drugs steadily for eight years, beginning with opium and more recently using cocaine and heroin. Her foster mother states that she was always a difficult child and very stubborn. When she was as young as nine years old the neighbors complained of her immoral conduct with young boys on roofs and cellars. She seemed to have no feeling of shame.
Physical examination showed Carrie’s condition to be fair. The mental examination showed her to be a trifle over nine years by the Stanford-Binet tests. Her attitude was that she preferred the life of prostitution and planned to return to it upon her release. It was felt that she would be a bad influence in the Reformatory and that in view of her sociological as well as her mental history she should be given permanent custodial care.[[65]]
I was present in a Juvenile Court when a young girl who showed charm and dignity was brought in for stealing from department stores an astonishing number of pretty things—a mirror, beads, a ring, a powder box, etc.—all on the same afternoon. And she did not forget to include a doll for her baby sister. The inquiry brought out that she worked in a book bindery in a suburb of the city. She had not lost a day for two years, until laid off temporarily. Then she visited the city. She gave all her pay, which was $9.00 a week, to her mother. Of this her mother returned ten cents for the girl’s own use. The girl had no other blemish and her thoughtfulness in stealing the doll for her sister created some consternation. On the advice of the court the mother agreed to increase the girl’s allowance to twenty-five cents a week.
On another occasion a father was asked by the court what he had to suggest in the case of his girl who had left home and was on the streets. He complained that she had not been bringing in all her pay. When told he must not look at the matter in that way, that he had obligations as a parent, he said, “Do what you please with her. She ain’t no use to me.”
The beginning of delinquency in girls is usually an impulse to get amusement, adventure, pretty clothes, favorable notice, distinction, freedom in the larger world which presents so many allurements and comparisons. The cases which I have examined (about three thousand) show that sexual passion does not play an important rôle, for the girls have usually become “wild” before the development of sexual desire, and their casual sexual relations do not usually awaken sex feeling. Their sex is used as a condition of the realization of other wishes. It is their capital. In the cases cited below Mary (case No. 64) begins by stealing to satisfy her desire for pretty clothes and “good times”, then has sexual relations for the same purpose. Katie (No. 65) begins as a vagabond and sells her body just as she does occasional work or borrows money, in order to support herself on her vagabonding tours, sexual intercourse being only a means by which freedom from school work is secured. In the case of Stella (No. 66) the sexual element is part of a joy ride, probably not the first one. Marien (No. 67) treats sexual life as a condition of her “high life”, including restaurants, moving pictures, hotels, and showy clothes. Helen (No. 68) said, “I always wanted good clothes.” To the young girl of this class sexual intercourse is something submitted to with some reluctance and embarrassment and something she is glad to be over with. Nothing can show better the small importance attached to it than the plain story of the many relations of Annie (No. 69). She objects only to being used by a crowd.
64. When Mary was 14 years old she was arrested on the charge of stealing some jewelry and a dress and waist, altogether worth $100. While employed as domestic she had entered a neighboring flat through the dining-room window and helped herself. When arrested she said her father and mother were dead. But it was found they were both alive. The mother said she was glad the police had gotten hold of Mary, who stole and refused to work. The probation officer stated that the home was very poor, the father would often not work and they had made Mary begin to work when 12 years old and give all her wages to them.