An interesting concept if applied to Mary Jane Kelly:
The snaring of Irish girls is accomplished with more art than by the
lassoing method that used to prevail in Ratcliff-highway. One of the
most ingenious, but most diabolical methods of capture is that which
consists in employing a woman dressed as a Sister of Merry as a lure.
This I have been assured by ladies actively engaged in work among the
poor is sometimes adopted with great success.
The Irish Catholic girl
arriving at Euston is accosted by what appears to be a Sister or Mercy.
She is told that the good Lady Superior has sent her to meet poor
Catholic girls to take them to good lodgings, where she can look about
for a place. The girl naturally follows her guide, and after a rapid
ride in a closed cab through a maze of streets she is landed in a house
of ill fame.
After she is shown to her bedroom the Sister of Mercy
disappears, and the field is cleared for her ruin. The girl has no idea
where she is. Every one is kind to her. The procuress wins her
confidence. Perhaps a situation is found for her in another house
belonging to the same management, for some broth-keepers have several
houses. Drink is constantly placed in her way; she is taken to the
theatre and dances. Some night, when worn out and half intoxicated, her
bedroom door is opened – for there are doors which when locked inside
will open by pressure from without – and her ruin is accomplished. After
that all is easy – except the return to a moral life.
W T Stead.
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