Part 41 (1/2)

CHAPTER LXV.

DIVORCE LAWYERS.

In any issue of certain city newspapers, you will see such advertis.e.m.e.nts as the following:

”Absolute divorces legally obtained, in New York, and States where desertion, drunkenness, etc., etc., are sufficient cause. No publicity; no charge until divorce obtained; advice free. M----B----, attorney, 56----street.”

The persons so advertising are called divorce lawyers. They make a specialty of putting asunder ”those whom G.o.d hath joined together.”

The laws of New York specify but one ground for a complete divorce, adultery; but in spite of this these lawyers encourage persons to apply for a sundering of their matrimonial bonds.

A man or woman, wis.h.i.+ng to get rid of his or her partner, applies to one of these lawyers, and a bargain is drawn up, signed and sealed, pledging the payment of a good round fee in case a divorce is obtained.

The first step on the part of the lawyer is to obtain a thorough knowledge of the habits and movements of the person against whom the proceedings are directed. Private detectives, who also make a specialty of this kind of business, are set to watch the wife or husband. Every movement is observed, and every act tortured into meaning something unlawful. Sometimes a trap is laid in which the person is led and caught. Or, if evidence of a truthful nature cannot be procured; it is manufactured for a given price.

When everything is ready, a suit is brought in the proper Court.

Charges are made against the fidelity of the party from whom the separation is desired. These charges may be true or false. If true, they are the result of the system of espionage carried on by the private detectives. If false, they are sustained by the testimony of suborned witnesses. It is the custom of the Courts not to try these applications openly, but to refer them to some lawyer of ability, who hears the evidence in chambers, and reports the result to the Court, with a recommendation either in favor of or against the divorce.

Lawyers of ability are not always men of integrity. It is owing to this fact, doubtless, that the referee generally reports in favor of the divorce, which the Court grants upon the strength of this report.

However this may be, there is no doubt of the fact that divorces may be easily obtained by those who are willing to pay for them. There are many secret methods of procedure known only to the initiated, but there can be no doubt of the fact that justice has become so corrupt, in both this city and State, that its acts have lost that moral force which is so necessary to the national prosperity. Men of wealth can accomplish anything, and are sure of success from the moment their causes are presented in the Courts, while those who have not the means to pay for their freedom must remain yoked to their partners until death parts them.

CHAPTER LXVI.

p.a.w.nBROKERS.

The sign of the three gilt b.a.l.l.s is very common in the Great City, and where the ancient badge of the p.a.w.nbroker is not seen, the words ”Exchange Office” answer the same purpose. The law recognizes the fact that in all large communities, these dealers are a necessary evil, and while tolerating them as such, endeavors to interpose a safeguard in behalf of the community, by requiring that none but persons of good character and integrity shall exercise the calling. In New York, the Mayor alone has the power of licensing them, and revoking their licenses, and none but those so licensed can conduct their business in the city. ”But Mayors of all cliques and parties have exercised this power with, apparently, little sense of the responsibility which rests upon them. They have not, ordinarily at least, required clear proof of the integrity of the applicants; but have usually licensed every applicant possessed of political influence. There is scarcely any instance where they have revoked a license thus granted, even when they have been furnished, with proofs of the dishonesty of the holders.”

[footnote: Report of the Prison a.s.sociation.]

As a consequence, the p.a.w.nbrokers of the city are, with a few exceptions, a most rascally set. They are little more than receivers of stolen goods. The police frequently trace stolen property to them. Upon one occasion a whole basket of watches was found in one of these establishments. Another possessed a diamond worth over seven hundred dollars, which had been p.a.w.ned for two dollars and a half. It had been stolen by a servant girl.

Goods taken to these men are received by them without question. They advance a fraction of the value of the article which is to be redeemed at a certain time at a high rate of interest. If not redeemed, the article is sold. Some of these dealers do not wait for the expiration of the time when an article of value is concerned, but sell it at once, and flatly deny ever having received it. The rate at which all articles are taken is sufficiently low to render it certain that the sale of it will more than cover the advance.

The princ.i.p.al customers of these men are the poor. Persons of former respectability or wealth, widows and orphans, are always sure to carry with them into their poverty some of the trinkets that were theirs in the heyday of prosperity. These articles go one by one to buy bread.

The p.a.w.nbroker advances not more than a twentieth part of their value, and haggles over that. He knows full well that the pledges will never be redeemed, that these unhappy creatures must grow less able every day to recover them. Jewelry, clothing, ornaments of all kinds, and even the wedding ring of the wife and mother, come to him one by one, never to be regained by their owners. He takes them at a mere pittance, and sells them at a profit of several hundred per cent.

You may see the poor pa.s.s into the doors of these shops every day. The saddest faces we ever saw were those of women coming away from them.

Want leaves its victims no choice, but drives them mercilessly into the clutches of the p.a.w.nbroker.

The majority of the articles p.a.w.ned are forced there by want, undoubtedly, but very many of them go to buy drink. Women are driven by brutal husbands to this course, and there are wretches who will absolutely steal the clothing from their s.h.i.+vering wives and little ones, and with them procure the means of buying gin. G.o.d help them all, the sinner and the sinned against.

DIAMOND BROKERS.

The best cla.s.s of p.a.w.nbrokers lend money only on such securities as jewels. These are known as diamond brokers, and of course are patronized only by the upper cla.s.ses, both respectable and disreputable.