Robert Wilhelm - Wicked Victorian Boston

Published by The History Press

Charleston, SC

www.historypress.net

Copyright 2017 by Robert Wilhelm

All rights reserved

First published 2017

e-book edition 2017

ISBN 978.1.43966.171.0

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017934949

print edition ISBN 978.1.46713.750.8

Notice: The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. It is offered without guarantee on the part of the author or The History Press. The author and The History Press disclaim all liability in connection with the use of this book.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever without prior written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

For my mother, Marian Mallory Wilhelm

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

Victorian Bostonthe phrase evokes images of stately brownstone homes on tree-lined streets, of monumental churches, libraries and universities, the shrines of faith and reason. It brings to mind elegant works of arta twilit cityscape by Childe Hassam, a Henry James novel of manners and ideasand brilliant discoveries that changed the world like Alexander Graham Bells telephone. Then, as now, the vision of Boston as a center of culture, learning and morality was proudly promoted by the citys elite.

But not too far beneath the surface, Victorian Boston had a wicked side that was growing faster than the city itself. Boston had thousands of saloons, both licensed and unlicensed, paying little heed to laws regarding hours of operation and Sunday closing. Many of the citys groggeries ran backroom faro banks or poker games with little fear of police interruption. The lowest dives became headquarters for violent criminal gangs. Though illegal, sports betting became a million-dollar business. Throughout the city, saloons, hotels and theaters were little more than fronts for brothels, operating freely in locations well known to the police. Confidence men from New York viewed Boston as easy money and plied their trade not just in saloons but also at the docks, railroad stations, hotels and even the sidewalks of Beacon Hill. Boston Police would follow up complaints and intercede when the order was disturbed but did little to prevent vice in the city.

Most citizens of Boston remained unaffected by the citys underground culture of vice. Of course, they read the newspaper stories and frowned upon such bad goings-on, but on a day-to-day basis, anyone not actively involved in immoral behavior could blissfully ignore it. But some found Bostons moral backsliding intolerable and believed that returning the city to its Puritan roots was essential to Bostons survival. As the citys population grew increasingly diverse, its cultural elite, consisting of prominent clergymen, educators and social reformers, moved to suppress anything that might further debase the lower classes or demoralize impressionable childrenfrom saloons and brothels to indecent literature and immodest advertising. They called on Bostons patrician class to set an example and protect the innocent from corrupting influences.

Boston Common at Twilight, Childe Hassam, 1885. Wikimedia Commons.

But lines of morality were becoming blurred, and social standing was not a solid indicator of righteous behavior. The haunts of vice in Boston no longer catered exclusively to the common people; men of prominence frequented the lowest dives and brothels and even took ownership of them. Scandal rocked the finest families in Boston, as young debutantes dabbled in pornography, civic leaders were sued for domestic abuse and clergymen were charged with adultery. The seemingly endless string of very public court cases generated by Bostons disgraces drew the attention of the national press and added to the impression that the city was losing its moral compass.

The changing ethnic complexion of Boston in the Victorian era was also altering the nature of vice in the city. The rapid influx of Irish immigrants was disconcerting for the old Yankees; they despaired at the newcomers fondness for hard drink and gambling and feared that the Catholic newcomers would owe their first allegiance to the pope of Rome. Xenophobia in Boston took the form of the anti-immigrant Know-Nothing Party, which briefly overwhelmed state and city politics.

But no one seemed to notice the miniature Chinese city growing in their midst. Chinese immigrants in Boston were happy to build their own society, with their own laws and customs, separate from the rest of the city. It would take a violent murder in 1886 to draw attention to Bostons Chinatown, revealing that the miniature city had an oversize network of vice, including prostitution, gambling and opium.

Victorian Boston was a battlefield in the war for the souls of men, with the forces of righteousness battling sin at every turn. Throughout the chapters of Wicked Victorian Boston, two names recur, their actions and words depicting the two sides of the moral war. On the side of darkness was Bose Cobb, an African American saloonkeeper whose dance hall was a center of depravity and temptation; and on the side of light was Reverend Henry Morgan, an outspoken Methodist minister who investigated Bostons vice firsthand and spoke and wrote in the most alarming terms of Bostons moral decline. These two men were the standard-bearers in the war that was won by neither side.

View of Boston, 1880. Library of Congress.

Unlike other American citiesmost notably New York, Chicago and New Orleansthat seemed to revel in wickedness, making no attempt to hide their vices, Boston preferred to sin in secret, speaking and writing of its transgressions reluctantly and then only to warn the unwary. Compiling a comprehensive history of vice in Victorian Boston would be a daunting task. This book, instead, is an anecdotal account of the characters and events that brought public attention to Bostons sinful side. The Victorian era was hardly the beginning of vice in Boston and its passing by no means meant its end, but for a brief time between the iron rule of Puritanism and the violence of twentieth-century organized crime, the city took some quiet joy in being wicked.

Chapter 1

SINS OF A GREAT CITY

Two men on a drunken spree in the early hours of August 8, 1885, decided to venture inside Bose Cobbs dance hall, drawn by the light and music pouring from its open door. James Barnes and George West entered the crowded barroom and were immediately approached by painted women looking for a dance and a drink afterward. West was willing, but amid the noise and chaos, Barnes realized he was drunker than he had thought. His partner found a bench where Barnes could lie down and sleep it off and then left him to join the fun. Some time later, Barnes awoke. Still drunk and now disoriented, he pulled a revolver from his pocket and brandished it in fear. West saw what Barnes was doing and rushed to his side, easily wresting the pistol from his hand, but Barnes had a second revolver, and this one went off, shooting West through the neck. James Barnes fled the scene before the authorities arrived to ask questions.