Inspector Sebring, 9th district, says, in answer to question 1, “This precinct does not contain any houses of prostitution that I am aware of;” and in reply to question 4: “Scattered through the precinct there are probably fifty.”
Inspector Squires, 11th district, says, in answer to question 1: “None, properly speaking. There are many low drinking places where dissipated persons of both sexes often meet, and where, no doubt, prostitution is sometimes practiced, but no regular houses of that character.” To question 3: “There are about a dozen lager-beer-saloons where Dutch girls of loose character assemble and dance at night. They do not remain long in the same place, but when driven from one place they locate in another.” To question 4: “I presume there are fifty young women and married women, some of whom pass for respectable persons, who are in the habit of going across to the eighth, fifteenth, and other disreputable wards for purposes of prostitution, and some of the lowest of these are even said to visit the fifth ward, but I have never been able to ascertain this fact positively.”
Inspector Porter, 12th district says, “This precinct, comprising all that portion of the island north of 86th street, is not infested with any of the evils enumerated in the within questions.”
Inspector Williamson, 14th district, says, in answer to question 4, “I should suppose about 125.”
Inspector Carpenter, 16th district, says, in answer to question 4, “It is generally conceded by those of us who presume to know that there are in this precinct at least five hundred prostitutes, of all ages, nations, grades, and colors.”
Inspector Hartt, 17th district, says, in answer to question 4, “This being a hard question to answer, the answer must be taken as entirely guess-work: supposed to be about one hundred and fifty.”
Inspector Curry, 20th district, says, in answer to question 4: “Probably two or three hundred, but this is mere guess-work. We know there are a great many; some of them very young.”
Those reports from which no extracts have been made consist simply of figures without any remarks, and are given fully in the synopsis. It will be observed that all the officers quoted give the number of prostitutes more as a conjecture than a certainty; and although their avocations would lead them to know most of the disreputable women in their several districts, none of them assume to be so thoroughly informed as to be enabled to answer positively. To the numbers they give must be added the floating prostitute population of station-houses, city and district prisons, hospitals, work-house, alms-house, and penitentiary, which varies from one thousand to two thousand, and may be taken at an average of one thousand five hundred. This, with those known to the police, makes a total of 5357, and the balance of six hundred and forty-three (643), required to raise the number to six thousand (6000), is but a moderate allowance for those who have escaped the eyes of the officers when taking the census. As before remarked, it is better to overestimate than underestimate the abandoned women of the city.
But to this number are to be added those whose calling is so effectually disguised as to prevent its being known—those who practice prostitution in addition to some legitimate occupation, and those who resort to illicit pleasures for the indulgence of their passions. To obtain information on these points some supplementary questions were addressed to the captains of police at the commencement of this investigation in 1856, and their replies are now submitted.
The first inquiry was, “How many houses of assignation are there in your district?” It was known when this interrogatory was propounded that the secrecy maintained in these places would in some instances baffle the keenness, not often at fault, of our shrewdest police officers, and no surprise was felt when their replies indicated that only seventy-four (74) of these houses were known to them. Reliable information from other sources led to the conviction that this was understated. The investigation of May, 1858, fixes the number at eighty-nine (89), which is also too low; and we shall be perfectly justified in estimating the number of houses of assignation in New York at one hundred (100).