The Roanoke Times

LONDON BY NIGHT.

The Streets of the World's Metropolis Alive with Vicious People

In the west end of London the odds of things at night would disgrace any enlightened community. It is almost impossible, says the Chicago News, to pass through some of the most fashionable streets without being molested by hordes of these wretched children of the night, who almost hound down the male passers-by in their desperate efforts. The neighborhoods of the great hotels frequented by American tourists are especially infested by scores of human wolves, who, in their desperation, are ready for anything from persistent begging importunities to garroting or robbing with violence—if the opportunity only presents itself. A couple of weeks ago an American gentleman, who had just left a large hotel in central London, was suddenly surrounded by a gang of abandoned men and women, dragged into a courtway and robbed of watch, jewelry and money in a few seconds, and then kicked into insensibility.

Complaints have been made by American ladies of the annoyance to which they are subjected here, even when under the protection of husbands, brothers or friends, from the importunities of "unfortunate" women. The thing has been an open scandal for years, and the authorities have always seemed powerless to check it.

The spectacle which the fashionable Piccadilly presents at night has for a long time past been a disgrace to this metropolis. Although it is the main thoroughfare between the leading theaters and some of the most aristocratic districts, it is blocked every night by rows of women, decked out in gorgeous apparel and wearing flashing jewels, lying in wait for clubmen. A hideous case of depravity was in the papers a day or two ago. Two young women were arrested for some trifling offense while driving with two men in a cab. The police discovered that the cabman was the father of the two girls and that the servant at the house where they lived in shame was actually their mother.

Many are the perils which beset the unwary American visitor who strolls about the streets of London. Not the least of these are the professional "blackmailers," an infamous gang who are the pest of the "modern Babylon." These vultures are of both sexes and woe betide the luckless individual who gets into their clutches. He will be confronted with the alternatives of trumped up charges entailing exposure, disgrace and social ruin or else must pay hush-money.

Let the American beware of the young, bright-eyed sirens who stroll demurely about the parks, the leading thoroughfares, or the quiet and exclusive nooks of the theaters here. These are some of the baits and decoys of the professional blackmailers and have been trained to endeavor, by all sorts of guiles and arts, to lead strangers into snares which will give the wretches who employ them opportunities of blackmailing.