The day book. [volume], December 08, 1916, LAST EDITION, Image 21

About The day book. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1911-1917

Image provided by: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library, Urbana, IL

                
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THE DAY BOOK
N. D. COCHRAN
EDITOR AND PUBLISHER.
BOO S. PEORIA ST. CIIICAUO, ILI
eiepnvnei, CinuUMn, Monroe SMS
Subscription By Carrier in
Chicago, 50 cents a month. By
Mail, United States and 'Can
ada, 50 cents a Month.
Entered as second-class matter April
21, 1914, at the postoffice at Chicago
III., under the Act of March J, 'is 7 9.
THE ANGEL OF'NIGHT COURT.
Those who knew New York's night
court in the past few years knew also
Mary. Bell, a little middle-aged wom
an who devoted her time and her
slender means to helping fallen wom-
'en back on the path of virtue.
Night after night she attended the
night court's sessions, always with
a cheery word, sometimes with an
offer of a job, frequently with the
contents of her purse forv the victims
of New York underworld the wom
en caught in raids, fined and sent
back to the streets.
Day after day she 'met the boat
. from Blackwell's Island, to aid and
advise the girls released from the re
formatory to face again the problem
of life for women marked with the
scarlet letter. '
Little was known of Mary Bell ex
cept that she kept a rooming-house
in West 24th street and djevoted all
her earnings to the succor of unfor
tunates. Then came a night when a prison
er in night court told Mary Bell of
relatives in Jersey vCity; when the
"angel of night court" prevailed on
the judge to discharge the woman,
and then' emptied her purse so that
society's victim might go home to
her kin.
With' not even carfare left, Mary
f -Belhtrod the miles to her rooming- ,
house in a drizzling rain. Next day;
she had a cold, but she met the
Blackwell's Island boat; that night
her cold" was worse, -but she attended, N
night court just the same. For a
Week she fought both sickness and.
the forces that oppress; then she?
died.
With her death it was discovered
hat Mary Bell was really Mary
Goode, once keeper ofhe most no
torious resort in New York, who tes
tified against the police in the Ros
enthal case, and later made charges
of vice graft that sent seven men to
prison.
After these disclosures the police
turned on Mary Goode the full power
of their persecution. ' She tried to
liye a decent life, but wherever "she "
went she was hounded. Landlords,
informed by the police of her past,
turned her into the street Employ
ers, told by the police of her his
tory, discharged her from her' jobs.
One day she disappeared. '
She did not reappear.
"Eat river!" was the probable
thought in the minds of her perse
cutors. But the death of Mary Bell, "angel
of night court," bared the story of
one Magdalen who DID go her way -and
sin no more, and who DID out-
with the "system" Jhat makes the re
form of fallen women next To impos
sible.
Has Mary Goode, the modern Mag
dalen, atoned for her past sins?
o 0
SHORT ONES
True ejoquence scorns eloquence.
Pascal.
A eood wav to Duntsh cold storage
egg hogs would be"tolimit them to a
diet of cold storage eggs.
A musical comedy chorus hit the
Billy 'Sunday trail in Boston. We
haven't Heard whether the show ,was
able to continue.
We know one fellow who has
solved the problem of the high cost
of living but not the problem cf
keeping out of jaiL