The second and the third part of the Sin in The
Second City book really got me into the reading and I didn’t want to stop
reading. I was surprised by many things that occurred, and the many lives that
were affected by the decisions made by the people. Continuing on with the story
there was a man by the name of Ernest Bell who was a very religious man, and he
believed that god had a sole purpose for him. “If it be thy will to build the
University by my ministry, Empower me, if not deliver me, he wrote.” [1] He
wanted to make a difference in the world by speaking to others about the word
of god. Vic Shaw wanted to frame Minna Everleigh for the murder of Marshall
Field Jr. who had been shot to death. The Everleigh sister had her suspicions’
that Vic Shaw was behind this scheme. “Honestly we didn’t do anything, Pony
said he would give us $20,000 if we said you did it.”[2]
Ernest Bell Preaching.
Ernest Bell believed that white slavery was just a
problem to just deal with in the streets, but that the Everleigh Club that the
sisters ran was apart of the problem. The Everleighs disagreed with bell and
they believed that there club was free from violence and disease. “There’s
enough of them little ones already on the road, one madam protested, without
bringing them good girls into this hole.”[3]
Bell along with his Midnight Missionaries were in front of the Everleigh Club,
and were preaching while they raised their voices. They figured that this would
put an end to the Everleigh Club, unfortunately they weren’t successful. “If
the Levee thugs didn’t know his name before, they did now, and now his
character too was battered and bruised.”[4]
The Everleigh Club.
Many of Chicago’s white slaves were mainly Russian
immigrants who were refuges’ who fled away from Russia. Anyone who was caught
recruiting for disorderly houses could spend up to a year in jail, and also
receive a fine of up to $1,000 dollars. “Illinois became the pioneer state to
pass a pandering law, directed at the slave traffic in girls and women.”[5]
The federal immigration act of 1907, stated that it was against the law to
import women from other countries for the purposes of prostitution. The selling
young teenage girls ranged from $15 dollars and up. Most girls who were forced
into prostitution were sold between $200 to $1,000 Dollars.
On December, 13 a bomb went off in the coliseum and
left many debris of damaged buildings. The Everleigh Sisters paid about $800
dollars in protection payments to avoid being harmed by anybody. “Little was
the man sent personally by Ike Bloom to collect protection payments for
Bathhouse John and Hinky Dink.”[6] Minna
and Ada Everleigh left the Everleigh club for about six months, because there
were allegations thrown at them. They believed that during their absence there
club would still be in good hands with their girls, and they can be less
stressed out. On December 6 congress introduced the bill called the White Slave
Traffic Act. “Taft allocated $50,000 for the employment of special inspectors
and declared Mann’s bill constitutional.”[7]
The Coliseum that was bombed.
Minna Everleigh wanted a photographer to take
pictures of the Everleigh club to make brochures so the club could be well known.
After eleven years of having the most famous club the Everleigh Sisters were
forced to close down there club by Mayor Harrison. For the remainder years of
the sister’s they lived in New York together very peacefully. Until on July 13,
1948 Minna Everleigh passed away at Park West Hospital, and was eighty two
years old. Ada Everleigh felt very empty for those last twelve years of her
life. Ada Everleigh had an auction and sold her remaining possessions from the
Everleigh club. She lived with her nephew in Charlottesville, Virginia for the
remaining twelve years that she had left. Ada read a couple of holiday greeting
cards from when her sister was still alive. “Best wishes for a Happy New Year,
they read.”[8]
Ada Everleigh joined alongside of her sister on January 6, 1960. She was a few weeks shy of her 96th birthday.
Ada & Minna Everleigh.
[1] Karen
Abott, Sin in The Second City:
Madams, Ministers, Playboys and the Battle for America’s Soul (New York: Random
House Trade Paperbacks, 2007), 85.
[2] Abbott, Sin in The Second City, 96.
[3] Abbott, Sin in The Second City, 117.
[4] Abbott, Sin in The Second City, 135.
[5] Abbott, Sin in The Second City, 152.
[6] Abbott, Sin in The Second City, 179.
[7] Abbott, Sin in The Second City, 207.
[8] Abbott, Sin in The Second City, 297.
