Dillingham Commission Report

Document Text

Affidavit of Agent of Immigration Commission

STATE OF NEW YORK, County of New York, ss:

—— —— being duly sworn, deposes and says that he has been for a period of three years last past employed by the United States Government to make special investigations, and as a special agent, and is such at the present time. That during the years 1908 and 1909 he was employed in investigations into the violations of section 3 of the immigration act which has reference to the importation of women into the United States for immoral purposes; that prior to this employment deponent for a period of seven years had been in charge of the criminal department of a private detective agency, and by reason of his connection with investigations into criminal work deponent had become familiar with the restricted districts: had a personal acquaintance with the majority of the proprietors of the disorderly houses and knew many of the inmates of the houses; that his attention was first called to the violations of section 3 of the immigration act by the appearance of immigrant women, inmates of the restricted district, whose faces were unfamiliar, and from whose general appearance and actions deponent felt sure had only been in the United States a short time.

That during his employment as such special agent investigating into the violations of section 3 of the immigration act deponent has secured evidence of such violations in 68 cases, which cases were in different parts of the United States—some in Washington, Idaho, Oregon, and in Alaska. Some of these cases were in violation of the part of section 3 of the immigration act which prohibited harboring; some were in violation of that part of section 3 prohibiting importing; and others were against immigrant women practicing prostitution in the United States within three years after their entry into the United States.

That during the time when deponent was gathering evidence in these cases and during the prosecutions which followed as a result of the evidence deponent talked with a great many of the immigrant women and with a large number of the procurers and the persons responsible for the bringing in of these girls; that from the immigrant women in the United States in violation of section 3 of the immigration act, their procurers, and others responsible for their being so in the United States deponent learned the stories of their importation, the way in which they were placed into the life of a prostitute, the manner of that life, the amount of money derived from the services of such immigrant women, and, in some cases, the condition of slavery in which the women lived. Some of these stories so told to deponent and which deponent, from his knowledge of social conditions and his personal observations of this work, and from the additional fact that in many instances he was able to verify them by the records at the different ports of entry and by the evidence which came out in the different trials of similar cases, believes to be true, are as follows:

A Japanese girl, aged 16, was brought into the United States via Canada, through Victoria, and taken to Bellingham, Wash., in the spring of 1908. She was sent from Japan as a proxy wife to meet her husband, who was a Japanese laborer in America. The husband was represented at the immigration station by a Japanese interpreter who is known to be a Japanese procurer. At the immigration station the Japanese whose wife she was said to be met her and the couple were married in the presence of the immigration authorities, —— vouching for the husband's standing and character. The husband took the wife to Bellingham, Wash., and lived with her for several days in a rooming house which was occupied principally by prostitutes; the husband then left the woman and she was immediately taken charge of by a Japanese woman who managed a house of prostitution near by. At the end of two weeks' time the woman who ran the house of prostitution took the young wife to Seattle and sold her to a proprietor of a disorderly house named ——. The woman in Bellingham attempted to break the girl into the life of a prostitute; the girl refused to enter the life, and the woman beat her and starved her, which treatment continued during the entire time of two weeks. At the end of the two weeks the woman, realizing that she could not manage the girl, took her to Seattle and sold her, as above stated, for $1,600. ——, who bought the girl, made the purchase with the intention of sending the girl to Alaska, and the woman from Bellingham was to deliver the girl on the boat about to leave for Alaska. The $1,600 was to cover all expenses of importing the girl from Japan, the expense of the proxy marriage, including the price paid the Japanese who acted as husband, and all expenses of the delivery of the girl on board the boat for Alaska. The girl was taken to Alaska and placed in a house of prostitution. She rebelled up to the time the boat started and wept and fell upon her knees on the dock, begging not to be sent. The woman from Bellingham, who spoke English, forced the girl onto the boat and then explained to the officers of the boat that the girl was her daughter and did not wish to leave because she had a lover in Bellingham.

The truth concerning the entire case was not discovered until after the girl had sailed for Alaska.

Another girl, Polish Jew, aged 17, entered the United States through the Ellis Island port, booked for Montana. The procurer in this case was a Jew, and got this girl near the border of Russia by promises of marriage after they reached the United States. At the immigration station he gave their names as man and wife. He took the girl directly from New York to Montana, and broke her into the life there. He put her in a crib, and forced her to lead the life of a prostitute. They stayed in —— about six weeks, and he then took her to Seattle, Wash. and put her in the crib house of which ——, a Japanese, is the proprietor, and in which there are Japanese, Jewish, and French women as inmates. He kept her there about a month, and then moved her to the —— House, a house of prostitution of French and Jewish inmates. At the time he placed her in the —— House the girl was about two and a half months pregnant. Up to this time she had hoped that the man would marry her. When he found that she was pregnant he refused to marry her, but made her work as an inmate in the house of prostitution daily, and collected all her money; he refused to give her any street clothes, and made her continue to work during her pregnancy and up to the time she went to the hospital. She did not go to the hospital until the day before her child was born. She was forced to continue her work when she was too ill to walk, and suffered terrible pain. The man refused to give her any money, and she went to a charitable hospital. While she was in the hospital, the man took another prostitute and left Washington for Butte, Mont.

Another girl, French, aged 19, was brought by a man from Paris to Seattle via New York. The man who imported her was ——, a well-known French importer and procurer of women, and a man whose chief business is to trade and traffic in girls in the following manner: If a procurer is unable to satisfactorily control his girl, he notifies ——, and —— advises him to let the girl go, and for a consideration he will immediately get him a girl in her place. —— then becomes acquainted with the girl and introduces her to another man who is in similar trouble with his girl; that is, a man who has a girl whom he can not satisfactorily control. Before the girls realize it they have exchanged positions and —— has been paid by both men.

When —— arrived in Seattle with the girl he sold her to another man, who placed her in crib No. — in —— crib house in Seattle. She became pregnant and was forced by her owner to continue work for seven months, during which time she was forced to turn over all her earnings to the man. She rebelled, but it did no good, as she was told she must continue to work. Finally, in desperation, she took to robbing her patrons, and in this way a complaint was made against her by a patron to the officer on the beat. This deponent was with the officer at the time, and went with him to arrest the girl. After seeing her condition and hearing her story, no arrest was made. Two days later the girl was taken by another girl to the hospital. The man would not give her a cent of money or aid her in any way. He disappeared from Seattle after learning that the story of the girl's condition had been told to the officers. At the time the officers went to make this arrest it was past midnight; the girl had been working in the crib since 4 o'clock of the afternoon before, and the only money that she had with which to pay her car fare (from their room to her crib) and to buy food was 15 cents, which was all the man would give her. She paid 5 cents car fare and 10 cents for a ham sandwich and two butter cakes.

Another girl, French, aged 15, was working in Paris in a factory. On her way home, one evening, she met a man and woman who spoke to her and asked her into a drinking place to have something warm. She went, and they told her she was unusually pretty and that they had a young man friend whom they would like to have her meet. The next night they met her again and had with them the young man. The young man made love to her and accomplished her ruin—after which she left her parents and never returned to them. The man put her on the streets in Paris. She became pregnant and continued to work as a prostitute until the end of six months' pregnancy. The man took care of her and after her child was born pursuaded her to leave Paris and come to America with some friends of his who were in Paris. She did not want to leave her child, but did so and came to America with these friends. They took her to Chicago and she was there turned over by the —— to a man who took her to Butte, Mont. She lived with this man in Butte, Mont., for about a year, turning over all of her earnings to him; then she discovered that while she was giving him all her money from her earnings in a crib he was treating parlor-house girls to wine. Violent disagreements then arose between them and she was finally placed in jail for stabbing him. After her time was served she left Butte and went to Seattle, where she has since practiced prostitution, but has at no time given any of her earnings to a man. From her earnings she has been sending money to Paris to care for and educate her child. At the present time she is in ——, ——, where she has two houses of prostitution, one with four inmates and the other with three inmates. She does not practice prostitution herself at the present time.

Sworn to before me this 6th day of November, 1909.