im to her room,
which is in one of the numerous Bed Houses of the city. These bed houses
are simply large or small dwellings containing many furnished rooms,
which are let to street walkers by the week, or which are hired to
applicants of any class by the night. They are very profitable, and are
frequently owned by men of good social position, who rent them out to
others, or who retain the ownership, and employ a manager. The rent,
whether weekly or nightly, is invariably paid in advance, so that the
landlord loses nothing.

[Picture: THE RESULT OF FOLLOWING A STREET WALKER.]

The girl leads her companion to one of these houses, and if she has a
room already engaged, proceeds directly to it; if not, one is engaged
from a domestic on the spot, the price is paid, and the parties are shown
up stairs. The place is kept dark and quiet, in order to avoid the
attention of the police. The houses are more or less comfortable and
handsome, according to the class by which they are patronized. They are
sometimes preferred by guilty parties in high life, as the risk of being
seen and recognized is less there than in more aristocratic houses.
These houses have a constant run of visitors from about eight o'clock
until long after midnight.

The Street Walkers not only infest the city itself, but literally overrun
the various night lines of steamers plying between New York and the
neighboring towns. The Albany and Boston lines are so thronged by these
women that ladies are subjected to the greatest annoyance.

We have referred once or twice to panel thieving. This method of robbery
is closely connected with street walking. The girl in this case acts in
concert with a confederate, who is generally a man. She takes her victim
to her room, and directs him to deposit his clothing on a chair, which is
placed but a few inches from the wall at the end of the room. This wall
is false, and generally of wood. It is built some three or four feet
from the real wall of the room, thus forming a closet. As the whole room
is papered and but dimly lighted, a visitor cannot detect the fact that
it is a sham. A panel, which slides noiselessly and rapidly, is arranged
in the false wall, and the chair with the visitor's clothing upon it is
placed just in front of it. While the visitor's attention is engaged in
another quarter, the girl's confederate, who is concealed in the closet,
slides back the panel, and rifles the pockets o