s of a
discordant piano, but above all other sounds were the harsh orders of
waiters. "Draw six," "one green seal," "two martinis," "four straight
whiskies," "high ball and two gin fizzes." Down the long line of tables
they passed men and women who leered at each other, drinking to each
other's health, both sexes smoking cigarettes, some singing, some
arguing, some swearing such oaths that the visitors fain would have fled
the place. At the foot of the staircase, commanding the whole place and
surrounded by painted creatures in the latest wraps, sat the proprietor,
a man of fifty, dark and swarthy, with black curly hair and mustache.
His face was filled with lines, the accumulations of years of
debauchery. Upon his hands were diamond rings, seemingly too numerous to
count, a watch fob with more gems than a fashionably dressed ball
attendant would wear, hung below his vest, and his shirt front was
literally ablaze with "sparklers." The poor dupes about him in this
whirling vortex of hell were receiving their infamous commissions for
inducing men who visited the resort to purchase drinks.

"And from whence come these sisters and daughters?" asked Chiquita.

"Go to the great sales counters of some of the cheaper grade of stores
and follow the life of some poor unfortunate; seek the divorce court and
find a victim of misplaced affection; go to the political fountain and
gaze at the high chief whose influence restrains the guardian of the
public peace from interfering with these dens of vice where voters
congregate to do honor to the chief. Seven thousand saloons in the city,
with a following of twenty to each saloon to vote for their master who
wields the baton of wide-open hell holes to the end of obtaining blood
money from those who are protected! Senorita, this is the black spot on
our fair Christian land. It is so to a greater or lesser degree in all
cities, in all lands, where civilization endures. This bartering of and
in human souls within the business districts of Chicago must come to an
end. Now we will step into the police headquarters, only a block away,
while I ask the desk sergeant a couple of questions."

As they started up the steps leading to the central detail headquarters
a cab drove up to the curb, and a young man, whom Mr. Dunbar immediately
recognized, stepped to the walk, followed by a detective in plain
clothes. They lifted a good-sized sack of something from the cab and
carried it past the late vis