copal Church, at a
public meeting at the Cooper Institute, made the astounding declaration
that there were as many prostitutes in the city of New York as there were
members of the Methodist Church, the membership of which at that time was
estimated at between eleven and twelve thousand. In the spring of 1871,
the Rev. Dr. Bellows estimated the number of these women at 20,000.
These declarations were repeated all over the country by the press, and
New York was held up to public rebuke as a second Sodom. The estimate of
Dr. Bellows would brand one female in every twenty-four, of all ages, as
notoriously impure, and taking away from the actual population those too
old and too young to be included in this class, the per centage would be,
according to that gentleman, very much larger--something like one in
every eighteen or twenty. New York is bad enough in this respect, but
not so bad as the gentlemen we have named suppose. The real facts are
somewhat difficult to ascertain. The police authorities boast that they
have full information as to the inmates of every house of ill-fame in the
city, but their published statistics are notoriously inaccurate. As near
as can be ascertained, there are about 600 houses of ill-fame in the
city. The number of women living in them, and those frequenting the
bed-houses and lower class assignation houses, is about 5000. In this
estimate is included about 700 waiter-girls in the concert saloons.

This is the number of professional women of the town, but it does not
include these who, while nominally virtuous, really live upon the wages
of their shame, or the nominally respectable married and single women who
occasionally visit assignation houses. It is impossible to estimate
these, but it is believed that the number is proportionately small.
Their sin is known only to themselves and their lovers, and they do not
figure in the police records as abandoned women.

The fallen women of New York include every grade of their class, from
those who are living in luxury, to the poor wretches who are dying by
inches in the slums. Every stage of the road to ruin is represented.

There are not many first-class houses of ill-fame in the city--probably
not over fifty in all--but they are located in the best neighborhoods,
and it is said that Fifth avenue itself is not free from the taint of
their presence. As a rule, they are hired fully furnished, the owners
being respectable and often wealthy